Chp 2: The Greeks
Terms
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- Agamemnon
- King of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus. Very arrogant and stubborn; commander of the Greeks, married to Clytemnestra, son of Atreus; murdered by Cly on his return from Troy
- Cleon
- Ruthless ruler in Athens after the death of Pericles; he opposed the Peace of Nicias
- Battles of Marathon
- one of history's most famous military engagements. It is also one of the earliest recorded battles. Their victory over the Persian invaders gave the fledgling Greek city states confidence in their ability to defend themselves and belief in their continued existence. The battle is therefore considered a defining moment in the development of European culture.
- Agora
- in early Greek city-states, an open area that served as both market and a meeting place
- Peace of Nicias
- this brought the Peloponnesian War to its first true halt after nine years of war
- theseus
- (Greek mythology) a hero and king of Athens who was noted for his many great deeds: killed Procrustes and the Minotaur and defeated the Amazons and united Attica
- Homer
- Greek author who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
- Draco
- Athenian statesmen who changed the rules concerning homocide
- Polis
- Greek city-state including the city and the land around it
- Acropolis
- At the center of the city of Athens, the most famous example of a citadel
- Linear B
- Minoa's second written language; has been translated
- Hoplites
- Heavily armed Greek infantry who carried long spears and fought in closely spaced rows.
- Darius
- great Persian king who put satraps in place and built the Royal Road
- Melian Dialogue
- Athenians wish to conquer Melos. They go to Melos where the ask if they can take over, after their refusal they kill every man and take the women/children as slaves. the dialogue refers to the famous argument between the leaders of each state
- minotaur
- (Greek mythology) a mythical monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man
- Mycenae
- major city and military stronghold in Greece
- Odysseus
- King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemanchus, son of Larertes. He is the first of the Greek epic heros to be renowned for his brain as well as his muscle. Hero of the Trojan War
- Xerxes
- Persian leader who invaded Greece; son of Darius
- minoan crete
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- Peloponnesian War
- A war, lasting from 431 to 404 B.C., in which Athens and its allies were defeated by Sparta and its allies.
- Sappho
- the Greek lyric poet of Lesbos; she wrote about love, and women
- Menelaus
- Spartan king married to Helen
- Themistocles
- Athenian statesman who persuaded Athens to build a navy and then led it to victory over the Persians (527-460 BC)
- Eucles
- tbd
- Sparta
- Militaristic Greek City-State
- Cleisthenes
- An aristocrat, created a council of 500 and helped form Athenian democracy around 500 BC
- Ostracism
- starting in 487 BC, all citizens of Athens would vote on the most dangerous man by scratching his name on a broken piece of pottery. He would be sent into exile for 10 years.
- Mount Olympus
- The highest mountain in Greece where the ancient Greeks believed many of their gods and goddesses lived
- Hector
- warrior prince of Troy; Paris's older brother
- Thermopylae
- a famous battle in 480 BC, where the Persians attacked the Spartans; battle held in a mountain pass; 300 Spartans remained
- Ephialtes
- Traitor of the Spartans who wanted to get rich quick, he showed the Persians a goat trial to defeat the Spartans and flush out the remaining Greeks
- Alcibiades
- Ancient Athenian statesman and general in the Peloponnesian War (circa 450-404 BC)
- Zeus
- (Greek mythology) the supreme god of ancient Greek mythology
- knossos
- The capital city of Minoa; archaeologists found many remains of the Minoan culture there
- Thucydides
- Greek historian/Author
- Persian War
- conflict between Persia and Greece; Persia wanted to punish Athens for helping another city-state
- Linear A
- Minoa's first written language; has not been translated
- Leonidas
- King of Sparta and hero of the battle of Thermopylae where he was killed by the Persians (died in 480 BC)
- Paris
- son of King Priam; abducts Helen from Menelaus
- Troy
- an ancient city in Asia Minor that was the site of the Trojan War
- Odyssey
- a Greek epic poem (attributed to Homer) describing the journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy
- Pericles
- Athenian statesman whose leadership contributed to Athen's political and cultural supremacy in Greece
- Attica
- Region (about 1,000 square miles) that Athens dominated
- Delian League
- Pact joined by Athenians and other Greeks to continue the war with Persia
- Helen
- wife of Menelaus; son of Zeus and Leda
- Hesoid
- Greek poet; source of mythology - 700 BC
- minos
- The Minoan culture was named for this legendary king
- Phalanx
- formation of infantry carrying overlapping shields and long spears; group of men packed together (for attack or defense)
- Ephors
- five officials in ancient Sparta who were elected for one-year terms to make sure the kings stayed within the law
- Dark Age
- Greek cultural decline; very few records from this period
- Pisistratus
- Athenian tyrant who took land from nobles and gave it to peasants, reduced privileges of nobles; helped to develop democratic ideals in Athens
- Iliad
- a Greek epic poem (attributed to Homer) describing the siege of Troy
- Solon
- poet and statesmen whose courageous, compassionate work made him an important Greek figure; Athenian reformer of the 6th century; established laws that eased the burden of debt on farmers, forbade enslavement for debt
- Ecclesia
- Assembly of free men; these men can help to make laws; yearly elected 9 men called archons; their job was to run Athens; they decide if someone is guilty of a crime, not a trial; after an archon served, they became eligible to be one of 300 Areopagus: Council that deals with homicide crimes
- Achilles
- Greatest Greek warrior, husband of Briseis whom Agamemnon steals, only vulnerable place is his heel, prophecy that he would die in the Trojan war, which he does at the hand of Paris
- Strategoi
- elite group of 10 generals who headed Athenian government, were elected yearly by Ecclesia, and between them voted for commander in chief
- Dorians
- 1 of 3 major tribes of Greece; took control of Greece during Dark Age; illiterate people
- Nicias
- A member of the Athenian upper class because he had inherited a large fortune from his father; was the main reason for the Peace of Nicias