Glossary

Although most of the unfamiliar andforeign words are explained within the text of this encyclopedia, this glossary serves to highlight some of the more important terms. This glossary consists of words that appear within the text of the encyclopedia and is not a comprehensive lexicon of the ancient Greek world.

T. J.S.

Academy: school of philosophy established by Plato and located in Athens Achaea: Homeric word for Greece Achaean: Homeric word for Greek

Acropolis: hill on which a citadel was built and around which a Greek city often was built; the Acropolis of Athens is the most famous example aegis: breastplate of the goddess Athena, made of a goatskin and decorated with a Gorgon head agog:: Spartan educational system

Agon: contest or competition, often athletic or poetic in nature agora: religious, commercial, and political center of a Greek city Amazons: mythological society of female warriors ambrosia: food of the gods

Amphora: two-handled Greek jar with a narrow neck, a wide mouth, and a large belly usually made of clay and used for storage and transport, especially for oil or wine

Anagnorisis: recognition, especially a scene in a Greek drama in which a character learns the truth or his or her true identity andron: public room of a Greek house in which males gathered Aphrodite: Greek goddess of love

Apollo: god known for healing, purification, prophecy, care for the young, poetry, and music; portrayed as a young, handsome athletic man; many cults arose around him

Archon: one of the nine members of the Athenian democracy; the chief archon served as chief executive Ares: Greek god of war arete: Greek ideal of excellence and virtue

Aristocracy: rule by the best families Artemis: Greek goddess of chastity and the hunt aryballos: small oil flask

Asceticism: a simple way of life, usually involving self-denial, that is often followed by religious figures, who renounce materialism and sensualism to pursue a higher level of spirituality Asclepius: god of healing, often depicted as a mature, bearded man holding a staff with a snake coiled around it ataraxia: tranquillity, the Epicurean concept of avoidance of pain by leading a quiet life

Athena: goddess of war and crafts, known for patronage of crafts including carpentry and metalworking as well as for helping heroes Attic orators: ten Athenian orators given classic status by the second century c. e.: Lysias, Isaeus, Hyperides, Isocrates, Dinarchus, Aeschines, Antiphon, Lycurgus, Andocides, and Demosthenes aulos: flutelike musical instrument

Bacchant: female follower of Dionysus; also called a maenad Bacchus: another name for Dionysus, the Greek god of wine; probably from the Greek word “to shout” barbaros: anyone who was not Greek or did not speak Greek bas-relief: sculptural relief; the raised part of the sculpture is shallow, without undercutting basileus: king boule: Greek council bouleuterion: Greek council chamber

Boustrophedon: writing technique in which alternate lines are written in different directions

Bronze Age: period between 4000 and 3000 b. c.e. and the start of the Iron Age in which human cultures used bronze for tools and other objects

Caduceus: staff carried by the Greek god Hermes catharsis: cleansing or purgation

Charon: ferryman who carried the dead across the river Styx into the Underworld

Chiton: tunic worn by both men and women in ancient Greece chorus: group of performers who sing and dance together cithara: stringed musical instrument

City-state: independent state consisting of a city and its environs

Comedy: a Greek drama usually based on contemporary issues in a humorous theme

Corinthian order: Greek architectural style characterized especially by ornate, flowery capitals cremation: burning of a body after death

Cynicism: school of philosophy founded by Antisthenes of Athens in the fourth century b. c.e., based upon the principle that human behavior is motivated by self-interest

Dactylic hexameter: meter of Greek epic poetry consisting of six metric units based upon a dactyl (long, short, short) deme: a village; the organizational unit of Athenian democracy Demeter: Greek goddess of grain

Democracy: a government ruled by the people, usually through majority rule

Despotism: rule by a despot, or autocrat, a rule with absolute power Dionysus: Greek god of wine and intoxication, also ritual madness, ecstasy, the mask (theater), realm of the dead; object of many cults dithyramb: song sung by a chorus to honor Dionysus; performed in contests at festivals such as the City Dionysia Doric order: Greek architectural style characterized especially by simple, curved capitals

Drachma: unit of currency roughly equivalent to a day’s pay for a worker in fifth century b. c.e. Athens

Drama: a play, usually a tragedy or a comedy, performed by actors and a chorus, often in honor of the god Dionysus

Ecclesia: the Assembly of citizens at Athens

Ecstasy: literally “the state of standing out”; a state of being beyond all reason and self-control or a mystic, prophetic, or poetic trance, especially associated with the god Dionysus

Elegy: form of poetry written in couplets consisting of one line of dactylic hexameter and one line ofdactylic pentameter and sung to the accompaniment of a flute

Enthusiasm: literally “the state of a god in”; the state of being possessed by a god, especially Dionysus

Ephor: one of five Spartan magistrates who served as chief executives of the government

Epic: long oral narrative poem about a hero

Epicureanism: school of philosophy founded by Epicurus of Samos in the fourth century b. c.e., based upon an atomistic vision of the universe and upon the principle that the goal of life is pleasure (the avoidance of pain) epinician ode: epinicia; victory odes, choral songs usually performed after an athlete’s victory, either at the festival or upon his return home Erinyes: goddesses of vengeance and retribution Eros: Greek god of falling in and out of love; also called Cupid

Frieze: highly ornamented or sculpted band, usually on a structure or furnishings

Gymnasium: Greek athletic facility where males trained and competed in the nude

Hades: Greek god of the underworld; also the underworld itself hamartia: Greek for “mistake or sin,” a term used by Aristotle to describe the cause of the downfall of a tragic hero harmost. title of Spartan garrison commanders or military governors when abroad

Hellas: Greek word for Greece Hellene: Greek word for a Greek

Helots: heilftai, state-owned serfs; believed to be between free men and slaves in status

Hera: Greek goddess of women and married life; wife of Zeus herme: stone or stele erected as a boundary marker, often in honor of the god Hermes

Hermes: Greek messenger god

Hero: human being with special status and powers, usually the offspring of a deity and a mortal hetaira. courtesan or prostitute hippodrome: Greek horse-racing course hoplite: heavily armed Greek foot soldier

Humor: one of the four elements of the human body (blood, phlegm, bile, black bile) based on the four primal elements (earth, air, fire, water)

Iconography: traditional symbols or pictures associated with a religious or legendary subject; also pictorial material illustrating a subject ideograms: pictures or symbols used in a writing script to represent a concept or object but not the word used for that concept or object

Inhumation: burial in the ground inscription: writing carved in stone

Ionic column: column produced by ancient Greek architectural order in Ionia; fluted column with scroll-like ornamentation at its top Ionic order: Greek architectural style characterized especially by capitals with volutes

Iron Age: historical period beginning in about 1000 b. c.e. in western Asia and Egypt in which people smelted iron and used it in industry; followed Bronze Age

Isis: Egyptian goddess who was the exemplary wife and mother, the healer, the bestower of fertility and prosperity, the patroness of the dead, and the great magician; a large cult developed around her and spread to Greece

Kore: an unmarried Greek girl; the goddess Persephone; a statue of a fully clothed Greek female

Kosmos: Greek word for “order” or “universe” kouros: a Greek youth; a statue of a naked Greek male

Lekythos, lekythoi (plural): Greek vessel with a narrow neck and single handle, usually made of clay and highly decorated, used to hold oil as a grave gift

Libation: portion of food and drink given to the dead or to the gods Lyceum: Athenian school founded by the philosopher Aristotle lyre: stringed instrument often associated with the god Apollo

Maenad: female follower of Dionysus, also called a bacchant megaron: the great hall, the central room of an early Greek palace; the palace itself

Metamorphosis: change of shape monarchy: absolute rule by a single individual monotheism: worship of a single god, admitting of no other gods Muse: Greek goddess of inspiration

Mystery religion: any religion based upon wisdom or ceremonies shared only by adherents or initiates

Necropolis: literally “city of the dead”; expansive and elaborate ancient cemetery

Nectar: drink of the gods

Neolithic Age: late Stone Age; historical period of time in which people used polished stone implements

New Comedy: comic plays or poems using situation comedy; many examine relationships, love, and family life

Obol: Greek monetary unit worth one-sixth of a drachma Old Comedy: carnivalesque form ofpoetry/drama that made fun of topical people, institutions, and issues; its origins were in rituals of fertility and verbal abuse and its defining features were grotesque costumes, obscene language, and fantastic plots

Oligarchy: rule by a small group, often for selfish or corrupt purposes omophagy: ritual eating of raw flesh, in honor of Dionysus omphalos. Greek for “navel”; used in reference to Delphi as the center of the universe

Oracle: religious shrine where a deity gave answers to difficult questions;

The reply of such a god was often a riddle orchestra. usually circular area in a Greek theater where the chorus danced orgia: sacred rites, often secret in nature

Orgy, orgiastic (adjective): exoteric religious ritual performed in honor of a god or a goddess and characterized by wild singing, dancing, and drinking; later, wild, drunken, licentious revelry of festivity

Paean: hymn to the gods, especially Apollo

Palaestrum: Greek athletic facility used especially for wrestling and boxing Panathenaic festival: annual festival in honor of the goddess Athena in Athens

Pantheon: a grouping of all the major Greek gods papyrus: writing material made from the pith of the papyrus plant, a tall sedge

Parthenon: temple of Athena in Athens pediment: triangular gable end found on many Greek buildings penteconter: fifty-oared warship replaced by the trireme peplos: woolen dress worn by Greek women; the garment presented to the goddess Athena annually at the Panatheneic festival perioikos, perioikoi (plural): free inhabitants of Laconia who were not citizens of Sparta

Peripeteia: Aristotelian term for the transition of a character from good to bad or bad to good in Greek tragedy

Persephone: divine queen of the underworld, wife of Hades and daughter of Demeter

Phalanx: battleline or formation of Greek foot soldiers 924

Pictograms: drawings or pictures used to represent words or parts of words

Polis, poleis (plural): Greek city-state polytheism: worship of more than one god Poseidon: Greek god of the sea

Rhapsode: singer of Greek songs, often in competition River Styx: river in the underworld by which the Greek gods were said to swear

Satrap: provincial governor in ancient Persia

Shrine: place hallowed by its religious associations, often where a deity or religious figure is worshipped

Skene: Greek word for “tent” that came to mean the prop building in a Greek theater which was painted to represent the setting of the drama Sophists: itinerant teachers giving lectures throughout Greece sparagmos: ritual tearing apart of sacrificial animal (usually a goat) in honor of Dionysus

Stade: unit of linear measure equal to one stride of a human male; a running race covering 100 stades, approximately equivalent to the modern sprint stadion or stadium: area or building where foot races and other athletic competitions were held; named after the “stade.” stele, stelai (plural): a rectangular stone on which writing or a design has been carved

Stoa: long, rectangular-shaped building with a series of rooms and a colonnaded front, usually used for commercial or administrative purposes Stoicism: school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in the early third century b. c.e., based upon the principles that the only knowledge is based upon the senses and that virtue is the sole good Stone Age: historical period preceding the Bronze Age; distinguished by people’s use of tools and weapons made of stone strategos: military commander or general; in fifth century c. e. Athens, they also had political importance

Strigil: instrument used to scrape down skin in Greek baths or gymnansia symposium: drinking party

Talent: Greek monetary unit worth 6,000 drachmas telesterion: room of mysteries in a Greek religious shrine, like that in honor of Demeter at Eleusis temple: building in which religious exercises take place theogony: birth of the gods, especially a poem by Hesiod of that name thiasos: band or company marching through the streets with dance and song

Tholos: round Greek building used especially as a tomb or a temple thyrsus: staff consisting of a pole topped by a pinecone carried by the Greek god Dionysus and his worshippers tragedy: a Greek drama with a serious theme, usually based upon mythological themes

Trireme: galley (ship) with three banks of oars

Tyrannicides: killers of tyrants; often used to refer to those who killed Hipparchus of Athens

Tyranny: monarchy set up by those who seized power (usually fringe members of the ruling aristocracy) in the city-states of the seventh-sixth century b. c.e.

Tyrant: ruler who seized power rather than obtaining it by hereditary right

Xenia: Greek law of hospitality or guest-friendship

Zeus: chief god of the Greek pantheon; father of the gods who rules from Mount Olympus