Greek Vocab
greek voabulary- quiz on january 12
Terms
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- agora
- the open space that served as the civic center and market place of ancient Greek cities
- Linear B
- the modern name for the script, composed of signs and pictures, in which Mycenaen Greeks kept records on tablets of clay
- Mount Olympus
- highest mountain in Greece
- drachma
- Greek silver coin; name derives from the word for "handful."
- democracy
- "power of the people" or "rule by the people"; form of government that originated in Athens in which political institutions were open to all male citizens rather than being controlled by the wealthy few
- polis
- self-governing city-state; the basic political unit in Greece
- helots
- peasants forced to stay on the land they worked
- Socratic-Method
- used a question and answer format that led others to discover things for themselves by using their own reason
- libation
- ritual pouring of a liquid on an altar or on the ground to honor gods or heroes, of the dead; wine, water, milk, oil or honey were used
- phalanx
- term for the battle formation of Greek hoplites
- Ionia
- area along the central west of Asia Minor colonized by settlers from mainland Greece from about 1000 B.C.
- Corinth
- a leading city of ancient Greece famous for architechure, pottery, and shipbuilding
- Terra-cotta
- baked clay; commonly used to fabricate such items as roof tiles, figurines and household vessels
- Asia Minor
- the western Asian peninsula comprising most of modern-day Turkey, known to the Greeks as Anatolia
- amphora
- a two-handled jar used for the storage and transport of wine, oil, dried fish, and other commodities
- peplos
- the traditional garment of Greek woman- sleeveless ankle length tunic pinned at the shoulders and belted
- Plato
- one of Socrates' students; greatest philosopher
- direct democracy
- a form of government in which citizens rule directly and not through representatives
- Classical Age
- term referring to the period of Greek history that begins with the defeat of the Persian invaders in 480 - 479 BC and ends with Alexander the Great's accession in 336 BC or with his death in 323 BC
- ostrakon
- a broken piece of clay pottery used for writing
- Nike
- goddess of victory in military or athletic contests, depicted with wings
- ephors
- a group of five men who were elected each year and were responsible for the education of the youth
- epic poem
- long poem that tells about the deeds of a great hero
- Minoan
- the name given to the great civilization of Crete
- acropolis
- an "upper city"; a common feature of ancient Greek cities; an elevated site for religious observances
- rituals
- another name for ceremonies or rites
- aristocracy
- meaning "power of the best"; hereditary, landowning nobility in charge of Greece
- symposium
- an after-dinner drinking party attended by elite males
- gymnasium
- a sports complex, which also functioned as an important social and educational center in classical Greece
- Attica
- a 1,000 square mile promontory in southeast central Greece that formed the territory of the Athenian city-state; rugged terrain that yielded high-quality marble and potter's clay as well as silver and lead
- Thessaly
- fertile region in northeastern Greece bounded by mountains
- Dark Ages
- term for the 200 year period in Greek history
- myths
- traditional stories- usually about their gods
- Asklepios
- god of medicine, with sanctuaries throughout the Greek world
- oracle
- a sacred shrine where a god or goddess releaved the future through a priest or priestess
- oligarchy
- "leadership of the few"; a form of government in which the full exercise of political rights and power in a city-state was limited to the affluent ... many of them were aristocrats. In the 5th century BC, Sparta was the leading proponent
- grammatistes
- a poorly paid male instructor who taught reading, writing arithmetic, and literature, especially Homer poetry, to elementary-level students/ these teachers were not highly regarded.
- ostracism
- procedure used by the Athenian assembly in the 5th century BC to banish an unpopular or potentially dangerous citizen for ten years
- Hellenistic
- a word meaning to "imitate Greeks";
- Socrates
- started off as a sculptor, but his true love was philosophy.
- Plutarch
- Greek biographer the first to early second century AD. Author of Parallel Lives which compared famous men of classical Greece and republican Rome.
- Olympian gods
- the most important gods of the Greek pantheon, who were believed by Greeks to inhabit Mount Olympus
- Peloponnese
- the large land-mass which forms the southern part of mainland Greece
- Sicily
- the Mediterranean's largest island, colonized from the eighth century BC by Greeks and Carthaginians who frequently warred with each other or the island's native people
- hoplites
- heavily armed Greed infantrymen who marched and fought in close ranks
- comedy
- scences filled with lots of humor
- tyrant
- term for a new type of monarch that first appeared in various Greek states in the seventh century BC
- philosophy
- organized system for thought
- cella
- the chief room of a Greek temple, where the statue of the god was located and, frequently, the temple's treasure was kept
- Aristotle
- was a pupil of Plato; did not accept Plato's theory of ideal forms
- tragedies
- the first Greek dramas; presented in a trilogy- themes such as love, hate, war, betryal