Ancient Greece Vocab Flashcards
(19 cards)
Aegean Sea
A sea surrounding Greece that was an important transportation route
Black Sea
A neighboring sea to Greece, next to Romania, that was an important transportation route
Crete
A large Greek island upon which the Minoans lived
Minoan
A seafaring and trading people that lived on Crete from 2000-1400 BC. They were considered one of the first civilizations in the Greek area.
Mycenaean
An Indo-European person who settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 BC.
Homer
A blind man who was the greatest storyteller in the Dorian Age. He wrote epics between 750-700 BC and one of these was the “Iliad”
Ionia
A city-state in the Persian Empire, coast of Antolia
Epic poem
Narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
Arête
A Greek heroic ideal meaning virtue and excellence
Polis
city state; fundamental political unit in ancient Greece made up of a city and its surrounding countryside, which included numerous villages
Acropolis
A fortified hilltop in an ancient Greek city-state where an agora was.
Agora
Marketplace in which citizens gathered to discuss
Hoplite
Foot soldiers in a Phalanx
Phalanx
A military formation of foot soldiers armed with spears and shields
Tyrant
A powerful individual who gained control of a city-states’s government by appealing to the poor for support
Democracy
A government controlled by its citizens, either directly or through representatives
Oligarchy
A government ruled by usually 2 powerful, wealthy people
Helot
A slave from ancient Sparta
Ephor
One of five senior Spartan magistrates who is elected anually
