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Greek Terms

Terms in this set (78)

a period in human history, beginning around 3000 B.C. in some areas, during which people began using bronze, rather than copper or stone, to fashion tools and weapons

An undeciphered writing system used in Crete in the 17th century B.C., Minoa's first written language; has not been translated.

a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age

A set of syllabic symbols, derived from the writing system of Minoan Crete, used in the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age to write an early form of Greek. It was used primarily for palace records, and the surviving Linear B tablets provide substantial information about the economic organization of Mycenaean society and tantalizing clues about political, social, and religious institutions.

Olympian deities

In Greek religion, sky gods and goddesses who lived on mountaintops and were worshiped mainly by the Greek aristocracy

chthonic deities

gods of the underworld

A long narrative poem about the adventures of an almost superhuman character

an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.

name derived from a paternal ancestor

A series of exploits, or deeds of bravery, centered on a single hero.

God of old age.

Greek code of hospitality; guest friendship

Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject

word for history, act of inquiry

The territory of Greek settlements on the coast of Anatolia; the main bone of contention between the Greeks and the Persian Empire.

King of Lydia, destroyed his own kingdom because of a misinterpreted oracle

The most important Greek festival in honor of the god Dionysus, and the first to include drama.

a wild choral hymn of ancient Greece, especially one dedicated to Dionysus

a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.

ancient Greek form of tragicomedy, They always featured a chorus of satyrs and were based in Greek mythology and contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality (often including large phallic props), pranks and general merriment

exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people.

entrance song of the chorus

contest, struggle

Panhellenic Games

Games open to all Greeks and forming an athletics circuit that provided venues in which athletes could compete on a regular basis; among the best known are the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean Games.

in ancient Greece, an athletic competition held every four years in honor of Zeus

the most important festival for Athens and one of the grandest in the entire ancient Greek world. Except for slaves, all inhabitants of the polis could take part in the festival.

The principal enclosed area of a Greek temple, containing the cult statue of god or goddess.

votive offering/dedication

A gift of gratitude or an offering made to a deity; often in the form of a small statuette.

sculpted or painted image representing a god or holy person, and the focus of devotion or worship for a particular religious group

wooden cult image

an enclosed sacred area reserved for worship in ancient Greece

a person thought to be a source of wisdom or prophecy

a great sacrifice

a drink poured out as an offering to a deity

a type of drinking vessel used in ancient Greece, typically having the form of an animal's head or a horn, with the hole for drinking at the bottom.

An ancient Greek shallow drinking cup with two handles and a stem.

A style and technique of ancient Greek vase painting characterized by red clay colored figures on a black background

a style in Greek pottery decoration composed of black figures against a red background

an archaic Greek statue of a young man, standing and often naked.

Greek, "young woman." An Archaic Greek statue of a young woman.

the art of painting in several colors, especially as applied to ancient pottery, sculpture, and architecture.

A city-state in ancient Greece.

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

tyrant who extended Athenian citizenship to those who did not own land

a government that is run and controlled by a SMALL ELITE GROUP of people

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

A citizen-soldier of the Ancient Greek City-states. They were primarily armed as spear-men.

Formation of soldiers carrying shields close together for defense; any very close group of people

born from the earth

Greek word for Church/assembly

council of 500 citizens chosen for 1 year terms

The third king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He ruled the empire at its peak. He organized the empire by dividing it into provinces and placing satraps to govern it. He organized a new uniform money system, along with making Aramaic the official language of the empire. He also worked on construction projects throughout the empire.

son of Darius; became Persian king. He vowed revenge on the Athenians. He invaded Greece with 180,000 troops in 480 B.C.

king of Sparta and hero of the battle of Thermopylae where he was killed by the Persians (died in 480 BC)

The woman ruler of Halicarnassus, on the Aegean coast of modern day Turkey who fought with the Persians against the Greeks at the battle of Salamis

A Greek military leader who convinced the Athenians to build a navy. This helped Athens win a major battle against Persia, the Battle of Salamis. He was ostracized around 471 BCE.

Battle of Marathon

(490 B.C.E.) Battle where the Persians who invaded Greece were defeated on the Plain of Marathon by an Athenian army.

Battle of Thermopylae

(480 B.C.E.) Battle in which Spartan king Leonidas and his army of 300 Spartans and other Greeks refused to surrender to the numerically superior Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae; they were annihilated to the man but allowed the other Greek forces to prepare for the Persian invasion.

Battle of Salamis

480 B.C.E. The battle that effectively ended the Persian war. The Greek fleet, although vastly outnumbered, defeated the Persian fleet. This helped end the Persian war, freeing Greece.

Codification of Athenian law

Reforms of Solon

outlawed slavery to pay debts, citizenship to foreigners, tried to stabilize government in Athens, in 594 BC

"shaking off of debts"-when Solon banned enslaving debtors, freed all debt slaves and recalled all exiles due to debts

Reforms of (k) Cleisthenes

Most severe restriction on Democracy concerned who was considered a citizen, 10 new tribes

The governing council of Athens, originally open only to the nobility. It was named after the hill on which it met.

Periklean Building Program

the act of restoring many ancient Athen buildings

A temple dedicated to the goddess Athena

an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon.

the marketplace in ancient Greece

the large land-mass which forms the southern part of mainland Greece

an alliance headed by Athens that says that all Greek city-states will come together and help fight the Persians

Battle of Sphacteria

Cleon's greatest victory. This battle saw the surrender of the Spartan forces and their humiliation in Athens. (425)

Peace of Nicias

50 year peace treaty that concluded the first phase of the Great Peloponnesian war. It lasted 7 years.

Sicilian Expedition

Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415-413, results in the Athenian defeat and the complete destruction of Athenian forces

the thirty tyrants

Pro-Spartan oligarchy established after the Great Peloponnesian War. It lasted only a year.

(n.) reasoning that seems plausible but is actually unsound; a fallacy

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