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Athena
The patron goddess of Athens, worshiped as the goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, and warfare. She is often allegorized into a personification of wisdom. Also called Pallas. Identified with the Roman goddess Minerva. TERM 2
Oracle (Delphi)
DEFINITION 2 The oracle at Delphi where a priestess supposedly delivered messages from Apollo to those who sought advice; the messages were usually obscure or ambiguous. TERM 3
Hesiod
DEFINITION 3 One of the earliest known Greek poets, he wrote the Theogony, an epic poem on the genealogies of the gods. TERM 4
Sappho
DEFINITION 4 Greek lyric poet considered one of the greatest poets of antiquity although only fragments of her romantic lyrics survive. TERM 5
Pythagoras
DEFINITION 5 Greek philosopher who founded a school in southern Italy that sought to discover the mathematical principles of reality through the study of musical harmony and geometry. The Pythagorean theorem is ascribed to him.
Logos
The rational principle that governs and develops the universe. TERM 7
Hoplite
Phalanx
DEFINITION 7 A formation in which the hoplites would line up in ranks in close order. They would lock shields together, and the first few ranks of soldiers would project spears out over the first rank of shields. The phalanx therefore presented a shield wall and a mass of spear points to the enemy, making frontal assaults against it very difficult. TERM 8
Gerousia (council of
elders)
DEFINITION 8 A gerontocracy that was made up of 60-year-old Spartan males. It was created by the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus in the seventh century B.C., in his Great Rhetra ("Great Pronouncement"). TERM 9
Lycurgus
DEFINITION 9 Spartan lawmaker. He is traditionally held to have been the founder of the constitution and military regime of ancient Sparta. TERM 10
Helot
DEFINITION 10 A member of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta who were intermediate in status between slaves and citizens.
Trireme
An ancient Greek or Roman galley or warship, having three tiers of oars on each side. TERM 17
Thermopylae
DEFINITION 17 A narrow pass between the mountains and the sea linking Locris and Thessaly: a defensible position on a traditional invasion route from Northern Greece; scene of a famous battle (480 B.C.) in which a greatly outnumbered Greek army under Leonidas fought to the death to delay the advance of the Persians during their attempted conquest of Greece. TERM 18
Xerxes
DEFINITION 18 King of Persia (486-465) who organized a vast army that defeated the Greeks at Thermopylae and destroyed Athens (480). After the defeat of his navy at Salamis (480) and of his army at Plataea (479), he retreated to Persia, where he was later assassinated. TERM 19
Delian League
DEFINITION 19 An alliance of ancient Greek states formed in 478-77 B.C. to fight Persia. TERM 20
Pericles
DEFINITION 20 Athenian leader noted for advancing democracy in Athens and for ordering the construction of the Parthenon.
Aspasia
Athenian leader noted for advancing democracy in Athens and for ordering the construction of the Parthenon. TERM 22
Thucydides
DEFINITION 22 Greek historian. Considered the greatest historian of antiquity, he wrote a critical history of the Peloponnesian War that contains the funeral oration of Pericles. TERM 23
King's Peace
DEFINITION 23 Also known as the Peace of Antalcidas. A peace treaty guaranteed by the Persian King Artaxerxes II that ended the Corinthian War in ancient Greece. The treaty's alternate name comes from Antalcidas, the Spartans diplomat who traveled to Susa to negotiate the terms of the treaty with the king of Achaemenid Persia. TERM 24
Parthenon
DEFINITION 24 The temple of Athena Parthenos on the Acropolis at Athens, completed 438 B.C. by Ictinus and Callicrates and decorated by Phidias: regarded as the finest Doric temple. TERM 25
Plato
DEFINITION 25 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.
