| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Minoan Crete | the earliest civilization in the aegean region; dissapered; had pluming and bronze |
| Mycenean | 1600-1100 BCE; Indo-Europeans who settled on the Greek mainland, ended in a dark age |
| Dorians | Greek-speaking people who migrated into mainland Greece after the destruction of the Mycenaean civilization. |
| Greek Dark Age | 1100-750 BCE; decline in food production and population, many migrated across the aegean sea |
| Ionians | greeks who settle on a strip of Asia Minor territory known as Ionia during dark ages |
| iron | after greek dark age, metal replacing bronze in weapons for affordablilty |
| Greek alphabet | 8th Cent BCE; writing system adopted from the Phonecians |
| Homer | famous Greek writer of the Iliad and the Odyssey |
| Trojan War | around 1200 BCE; a great war fought between Greece and Troy because trojan prince kidnapped spartan queen helen |
| polis | around 750-500 BCE; a Greek city-state |
| acropolis | the meeting point of athens used as a sanctuary |
| agora | an open place below an acropolis that served as both a marketplace and a place for citizens to assemble |
| hoplites | est. 8th cent. BCE; heavily armed infantrymen in greece who wore bronze or leather armor |
| phalanx | a rectangular formation of greek hoplites |
| greek colonization | 750-500 BCE; islands occupied by greek migrants, colonies were connected by culture and religion;colonies led to increased greek trade and industry |
| greek tyrants | 7-6th cent BCE; rulers with complete control, not necessarily evil |
| aristocratic oligarchy | a government ruled by a few aristocrats |
| Sparta | a Greek city-state that was ruled by an oligarchy, focused on military, used slaves for agriculture, discouraged the arts, rivals of athens |
| Messenia | 7th cent BCE; neighboring city-state enslaved to Sparta as helots |
| helots | Spartans serfs from Messenia, means "capture" |
| reforms of Lycurgus | 800-600 BCE; law set in Sparta giving militaristic discipline |
| Spartan women | women with the most freedom in Greece; lived at home, encouraged to exercise to birth strong healthy children |
| gerousia | Spartan council of elders (over 60 yrs old) |
| Athens | est. 700 BCE; Greek city-state, was monarchy then aristocracy, had economic turmoil at the end of 7th cent. BCE |
| Solon | ruled 594 BCE; a pro-reformer; cancelled land debts, outlawed slavery from debt; unsuccessful because of not redistributing land |
| Pisistratus | ruled 560-510 BCE; an aristocrat, gave land to the poor, aided trade, ended in citizens rebellion |
| reforms of Cleisthenes | ruled 508 BCE; an Athenian reformer, installed Council of Five Hundred |
| democracy | emerged 5th cent BCE; athenian way of gov't, "power of the people" |
| Classical Greece | 500- 338 BCE; an era of Greek history, begins with confrontation between greek city-states and the persian empire, ends in conquest of macedonian king philip II |
| Persian War | 490 BCE; Persians seek revenge on Greeks for the Athenian helping Ionian revolt in 499 BCE |
| Darius | died 486 BCE; emperor of Persian Empire, responsible for a lot of expansion |
| Marathon | a plain located 26 miles from Athens, or a modern-day 26 mile race |
| Xerxes | 486 BCE; Persian emperor, succeeded Darius, invaded Greece 480-479 BCE |
| Delian League | est. 478-477; a Greek defensive alliance against the Persians led by Athens, centered in island of Delos |
| Pericles | 461-429 BCE; Athenian aristocratic ruler, advanced Athenian democracy, height of Athens, rebuilt Athens with Delian League money |
| Peloponnesian War | 431-338 BCE; Sparta and allies afraid Athens became to powerful so declare war; weakened the major city-states |
| Herodotus | 484-425 BCE; famous Greek writer, wrote History of the Persian Wars |
| Thucydides | 460-400 BCE; famous Athenian writer, considered the greatest historian of the ancient world |
| greek tragedy | Greek plays based on the suffering of a hero and usually ending in disaster, sometimes presented in a trilogy (set of 3) |
| Parthenon | built 447-432 BCE; a temple that is a classical example of greek architecture, located on athenian acropolis |
| philosophy | "love of wisdom" deals wih critical or rational thought about the universe e |
| sophists | 5th cent BCE; a group of philosophical teachers who rejected "normal philosophy" |
| Socrates | 469-399 BCE; a famous philosopher, believed education improved individuals |
| Plato | 429-347 BCE; great greek philosopher, socrates' disciple, wrote alot |
| "The Republic" | Plato's dialogue which had his ideas of government |
| Aristotle | 384-322 BCE; Plato's pupil and Alexander the Great's tutor |
| skepticism | the philosophy of questioning a belief or concept |
| Olympian religion | 12 gods lived on Mount Olympus, each polis singled out which of the Olympian gods they worshipped as the guardian deity |
| Delphi | The place of the oracle of Apollo, located on Mount Parnassus |
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