Ancient Greece
Terms
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- Ostracism
- temporary banishment of a citizen, decided upon by popular vote
- Thucydides
- Greek historian. Considered the greatest historian of antiquity, he wrote a critical history of the Peloponnesian War that contains the funeral oration of Pericles
- Herodotus
- Greek historian whose writings, chiefly concerning the Persian Wars, are the earliest known examples of narrative history
- Hellenic Culture
- regarded by many as one of the most creative periods in world history. Works developed in this period inspired developments not only in Rome and Western Europe, but also among Persians, Buddhists and Muslims as well
- Socrates
- 469?-399 b.c., Athenian philosopher socrates wrote nothing, his method of question and answer is captured in the dialogues of Plato, his greatest pupil
- Athens
- The capital and largest city of Greece, in the eastern part of the country near the Saronic Gulf. It was at the height of its cultural achievements and imperial power in the fifth century B.C. during the time of Pericles
- Hoplite
- a heavily armed foot soldier of ancient Greece
- Pisistratus
- Athenian tyrant remembered for encouraging athletic contests and literary efforts.
- Mycenaeans
- being the Aegean civilization that spread its influence from Mycenae to many parts of the Mediterranean region from about 1580 to 1120 B.C.
- Dorian Invasion
- according to the ancient Greeks, a group of men from the North, who spoke Greek, invaded the Peloponnese. There could have been such an invasion, in which case it might explain the loss of the Mycenaean civilization
- Aristocracy
- a class of persons holding exceptional rank and privileges
- Acropolis
- the citadel or high fortified area of an ancient Greek city
- Peloponnesian Wars
- War chiefly between Athens and Sparta, caused by growing distrust and jealousy between the two large city-states
- Phalanx
- a group of heavily armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep, with shields joined and long spears overlapping
- Solon
- Athenian statesman
- Aristotle
- Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great, and the author of works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, natural sciences, politics, and poetics, he profoundly influenced Western thought. In his philosophical system, which led him to criticize what he saw as Plato's metaphysical excesses, theory follows empirical observation and logic, based on the syllogism, is the essential method of rational inquiry.
- Tyranny
- arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power
- Persian Wars
- Series of wars fought between Persia and Greece
- Helots
- One of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta
- Alexander the Great
- 356-323 b.c., king of Macedonia 336-323: conqueror of Greek city-states and of the Persian empire from Asia Minor and Egypt to India.
- Hellenistic Age
- The period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 b.c. to the middle of the first century b.c. It was marked by Greek and Macedonian emigration to areas conquered by Alexander and by the spread of Greek civilization from Greece to northern India
- Oligarchy
- a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique
- Polis
- an ancient Greek city-state
- Delian League
- Several Ionian cities joined together in the Delian League for mutual protection against the Persians. They placed Athens at the head because of her naval supremacy
- Sparta
- an ancient city in S Greece: the capital of Laconia and the chief city of the Peloponnesus, at one time the dominant city of Greece: famous for strict discipline and training of soldiers.
- Monarchy
- a state or nation in which the supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in a monarch
- Archon
- a higher magistrate in ancient Athens
- Plato
- Greek philosopher. A follower of Socrates, he presented his ideas through dramatic dialogues, in the most celebrated of which (The Republic) the interlocutors advocate a utopian society ruled by philosophers trained in Platonic metaphysics. He taught and wrote for much of his life at the Academy, which he founded near Athens in 386.
- Minoans
- native or inhabitant of ancient Crete
- Pericles
- Athenian leader noted for advancing democracy in Athens and for ordering the construction of the Parthenon.
- Democracy
- a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system
- Cleisthenes
- Athenian statesman
- Homer
- greek poet who is famous for writing the Odyssey and Illiad
- Ephors
- one of a body of magistrates in various ancient Dorian states