Ancient Greece Vocab Flashcards
bards
storytellers
peninsula
land surrounded by water on all sides but one
acropolis
a high hill (literally means: “city on a hill”)
polis
a city-state
tyrants
people who seize power by force
democracy
government by the people
oligarchy
the government by a small group of wealth people
agora
the center of a Greek city
hoplites
foot soldiers
phalanx
a unified battle formation
zoastrianism
the Persian religion based on the belief in one god
immortals
an army of 10,000 men who protected the king of Persia
philosophers
thinkers/teachers who reflect on the meaning of life
philososohy
literally means: “love of widsom”
Socratic Method
the use of questioning to gain truth
direct democracy
a form of democracy in which all citizens debate and vote on laws
representative democracy
a form of democracy in which citizens elect a smaller group of people who represent and make laws (representative democracy = republic
helots
slaves in ancient Spart
Ephors
high-ranking officials in ancient Sparta who enforced the laws and collected taxes
Delian League
an alliance of Greek city-states to prevent the Persians from coming back
Golden Age of Greece
a time after the Persian Wars when Athens rebuilt its city under the leader, Pericles
myths
traditional stories about gods and heroes
rituals
actions that are part of a religious ceremony
oracles
sacred places where priests and priestesses spoke for the gods
epics
long, story-telling poems (like the Iliad and Odyssey)
fables
short stories that teach a lesson (Aesop’s Fables - “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and “The Hare and the Tortoise”)
