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4 The Ancient Greeks
JAHKMLHS C4 The Ancient Greeks
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Democracy | “the rule of many”—government by the people either directly or through elected representatives |
| Alexander | 20 years old when he takes over Macedonia for his father; conquers the Persian empire and extends his empire to India |
| Philip II | 359 B. C.; built a powerful Macedonian army and turned Macedonia into the chief power of the Greek world. |
| Plataea | 479 B.C. Greeks formed largest Greek army of the time and defeated the Persian army at this place or battle |
| Peisistratus | 560 B.C. seized power; encouraged trade and gave land to the peasants to win support |
| Solon | 594 B.C given control in Athens, instituted a number of reforms including the abolishing of most debts relating to land and claims on a person’s labor |
| Phalanx | a battle formation in which the soldiers marched shoulder to shoulder in a rectangular formation |
| Polis | a city or town and the surrounding country side |
| Acropolis | a fortified area at the top of a hill that was a gathering place and sometimes the site of temples and public buildings |
| Sophists | a group of traveling teachers who rejected speculation. It is too difficult to understand the universe. It is more important for individuals to improve themselves. |
| Herodotus | a historian who wrote History of the Persian Wars which is often identified as the first real history in Western civilization. He traveled widely and questioned many people to obtain his information. |
| epic poem | a long poem that tells the deeds of a hero |
| Epicureanism | A philosophy which stated that happiness was the pursuit of pleasure and pleasure was freedom from worry. It stresses the avoidance of public activity and is the ideal of friendship. |
| Stoicism | A philosophy founded by Zeno in which happiness is harmony with the will of God which enables one to bear whatever life offered. There is a nobility in public service. It is the ideal of citizenship. |
| Draco | a politician who codified the laws of Athens, adding harsh penalties, including slavery for debtors |
| Thermopylae | a relatively small number of Greeks (7000) were able to hold off a superior enemy force of Persian at this pass until a traitorous shepherd showed the Persians how to use a mountain path to outflank the Greeks. |
| Oligarchy | “rule by few”—a small select group of people exercise control |
| Plato | a student of Socrates He was fascinated with the question of reality: How do we know what is real? He explained his ideas about ideal government in his work entitles The Republic. |
| Thucydides | an Athenian general who fought in the Peloponnesian War and later wrote its history. He examined the war clearly and fairly, placing much emphasis on the accuracy of his facts. He also provided remarkable insight into the human condition. |
| Agora | This place is an open area that served both as a place where people could assemble and as a market place |
| Euripides | an outstanding Athenian dramatist; wrote Medea; tried to create more realistic characters in real-life situations; He was controversial because he questioned traditional values, portraying war as brutal and barbaric. |
| Apollo | the Greek god of the sun and poetry. |
| Themistocles | Athenian who built a Greek navy to be ready for the next Persian invasion |
| Aristotle | attended Plato’s Academy. He analyzed and classified things based on observation and investigation. He slightly favored constitutional government which can be democratic as the best form for most people |
| Zeno | began the school of thought called stoicism; find happiness by living in harmony with the will of God; public service is noble. |
| Spartans | citizens of the city-state in which society is based on military discipline and barracks life |
| Aeschylus | composed the trilogy called the Oresteia, which is the only complete trilogy in existence. |
| Helot | conquered Messenians and Laconians who became serfs and were made to work for the Spartans |
| Croesus | Croesus was the king of Lydia who was incredibly wealthy. He made war on the Persians after an oracle assured him that “he would destroy a mighty empire.” His empire was crushed. |
| Eratosthenes | determined that the earth is round and about 24,675 miles in circumference (born c. 276 bc, Cyrene, Libya—died c. 194B. C.) |
| Pericles | dominant figure in politics between 461 B.C. and 429 B.C., who led Greece through its Golden Age |
| direct democracy | every male citizen participated in government decision making through mass meetings. |
| Epicurus | founder of a Greek philosophy that believed that human beings were free to follow their own self-interest and make happiness their goal; pleasure was freedom from emotional turmoil and worry; people had to free themselves from public activity |
| Odysseus | great hero who fought for the Greeks at Troy and then faces a series of challenges on his return home |
| Achilles | hero of Iliad whose anger leads to disaster |
| Ephor | in Sparta this a group of five men who were elected each year and were responsible for the education of youth and the conduct of all citizens. |
| arête | kind of excellence or virtue that establishes one’s heroism and honor and must be won through a struggle or contest. |
| Xerxes | lead the Persian army against the Greeks; eventually successful at Thermopylae; lost his navy at Salamis, and is defeated at Plataea |
| Darius | led the first invasion of Greece because he wanted to punish Athens for assisting the Greek Ionian city states in trying to rebel against Persian authority and was defeated at Marathon |
| Alexandria | This city housed a library with more than 500,000 scrolls; encouraged the study of language and literature |
| Ostracism | method to protect against ambitious politicians. Athenians could write the name of a person they considered harmful on a pottery fragment and that person banned from the city for 10 years if he had the majority of the votes. |
| Homer | one of the great poets of Greece who wrote Iliad and the Odyssey |
| Menander | Perhaps one of the most successful playwright producing comedy that was meant solely to amuse and entertain; avoided political commentary |
| Greek Dark Age | period from about 1100 B.C. to 750 B. C. in Greece in which the population declined and food production dropped; few record exist to suggest what happened |
| Chaeronea | Philip II crushes the Greeks in this battle and brings the freedom of Greek city-states to an end |
| Paris | prince of Troy who kidnapped Helen, the wife of the King of Sparta, which outraged the Greeks |
| Cleisthenes | put in place reforms that built the foundation for Athenian democracy by establishing the Council of 500 |
| Tyrant | rulers who seized power from aristocrats by using hired soldiers |
| Aristarchus | This man calculated that the sun was the center of universe and earth rotates around the sun (c. 310—c 230 B. C.) |
| Pheidippides | supposedly raced from Marathon where the Persians were defeated to Athens to announce, “Rejoice! We win!” He then dropped over dead. |
| Socrates | taught many students but accepted no pay. He believed that the only goal of education was to improve the individual. He developed a method of teaching which used question-and-answer techniques and became known as the Socratic Method. |
| Helen | ten year Trojan war was fought over her |
| Sophocles | the author of Oedipus Rex. |
| Salamis | Here the outnumbered Greek fleet defeated the Persian fleet; |
| Marathon | Although this battle was a minor defeat for the Persians, this victory proved to the Athenians that the Persians could be beaten and gave the Athenians new confidence in their city-state. |
| Archimedes | He worked on the geometry of spheres and cylinders and also established the value of the mathematical constant pi. Developed Archimedes screw; specific gravity (c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC) |
| Polyclitus | He wrote down systematic rules for proportions that he illustrated in his work Doryphoros. His theory maintained that the use of ideal proportions, based on mathematical ratio found in nature, could produce an ideal human form. |
| Euclid | wrote Elements a textbook on plane geometry (born c 300 B. C.) |
| Aristophanes | wrote Greek comedies and filled his plays with puns and satire. |
| Apollonius of Rhodes | Wrote the epic poem, Argonautica, which tells the story of Jason’s search for the Golden Fleece. |
| Zeus | chief Greek god, as well as the father of the gods. |
Created by:
jim.haferman
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