Greek History Midterm I

Primary Source

Sources created during the time of study - could be Greek, Hittite, Egyptian, Roman, Assyrian, or Persian documents, coins, inscriptions, or sites.

secondary source

Works of modern scholarship on the subject.

cycladic figurines

Marble sculptures from Bronze Age Greece named for the circle of islands in the southern Aegean, the Cyclades. Purpose unknown - many fabricated and stolen.

The Minoans

Bronze Age Greek civilization based mainly on the island of Crete. Palatial complexes, such as in Knossos, initially led Sir Arthur Evans to name them for the story of Theseus, King Minos, and his Minotaur son in the labyrinth. This mythological story was not known by the Minoans. Super into bulls.

Knossos

Excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in 1900 CE - notable labyrinthine structure and colorful frescoes.

Sir Arthur Evans

Wealthy British archeologist responsible for excavation of Knossos in 1900 CE.

Linear A

Minoan writing system. Inscriptions found on Phaistos Disc. Not enough evidence - remains undeciphered.

redistributive economy

“A process by which the population brings wealth and goods to a centralized administration, and then the administration ‘redistributes’ these resources back to the population.”

cabotage

“Seaborn trade characterized by the movement of goods along the coast from one port to the next in succession.”

Akrotiri

A Bronze Age Greek civilization from the island of Thera, north of Crete in the Aegean Sea. Destroyed c. 1628 BCE by a volcano.

Iliad

Primary Source describing the Trojan War. Homeric Poem, orally composed. Used by Heinrich Schliemann to identify the site of Troy in Turkey. Written in dactylic hexameter.

Odyssey

Primary Source following Odysseus’ journey home. Generally characterizes life in the Early Iron Age. Written in dactylic hexameter.

Troy

Located in Hisarlik, Modern-Day Turkey. It is unclear which ‘layer’ of Troy is the one from Homeric poetry - probably Troy VI, or maybe Troy VII.

The Mycenaeans

A large Bronze Age Greek civilization extending across Attica, the Peloponnese, coastal Turkey, and later, Crete. Used Cyclopean Masonry, lion imagery, tholos tombs, linear B, and palatial architecture.

Mycenae

Palatial settlement in NE Peloponnese. Not the actual center of the Mycenaean civilization.

Heinrich Schliemann

A German arms dealer turned archeologist who dug up Troy and Mycenae. Dramatic, Homerian, and prone to lying.

megaron

The large central room in Bronze Age palaces, sometimes also called the throne room. Used for throne or worship.

shaft grave

A deeply dug grave, sometimes containing multiple stacked burials. Common in Mycenaean civilization and the early Iron Age.

cyclopean masonry

Masonry using huge uncut stones, fit together imprecisely and bolstered by smaller stones. Named because ‘only a cyclops could have lifted the stones.’

tholos tomb

A circular or beehive-shaped grave of the Bronze Age, buried under a mound of earth called a tumulus.

Linear B

The syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greece; an early form of Greek. Earliest records from c. 1450 BCE

wanax

‘Ruler’ in Linear B

Tomb of the Griffin Warrior

Discovered in Pylos in 2015, burial of a man of 30-35, dates to c. 1450 BCE. Contained around 1,500 grave goods, including the Pylos Combat Agate and bull figurines, indicating a relationship between the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.

Sea People

“most likely a coalition of different tribes and ethnic groups who plundered coastal territories around the Levant region.” Multi-ethnic, had run-ins with Egypt.

Lefkandi

A settlement North of Attica that arose during the early Iron Age, featuring burial sites and apsidal buildings/long feasting halls.

heroon

A burial site for a hero.

oikos

Patrilinear household

polis

city-state

metropolis

mother-city

oikist

Founder of a colony - often a semi-mythological figure.

Oracle of Delphi

Active starting in the Iron Age, this was likely an older woman called the Pythia who resided at Delphi who interpreted instructions from the God Apollo.

Theogony

Means ‘The Birth of The Gods,’ this was a poem written by 8th-century poet Hesiod.

the Greek alphabet

Adapted from the Phoenicians (semitic alphabet) c. 720 BCE, inscriptions found starting in the late 8th century.

agora

This was the central ‘marketplace’ of a city or settlement.

Olympics

Athletic competition featuring races, jumps, discus, javelin, and combat sports. Founded in the late Iron Age at Olympia.

panhellenic

‘All Greek’ Greek inclusion and truces for Olympics, also exculsion tool

arete

‘Excellence’

kleos

‘Fame’

stasis

Internal conflict among greek city-states. Key to development of Archaic age states like Sparta and Athens.

Corinth

Archaic polis in northern Peloponnese - hub for trade dur to being located on an isthmus (narrow land strip) between Corinthian Gulf and Saronic Gulf.

tyrannos

A tyrant → Anyone who takes power by force.

Sparta

A southern Peloponnese polis of the Archaic Age - warlike due to their helotage of the Messenians.

Lakonia

The peninsular region of the Peloponnese that Sparta is located on.

eunomia

‘good order’ → A core value of the Spartans

Lykourgos of Sparta

Early Spartan lawgiver, founded much of Spartan culture and political structure - strong women for childbearing, Krypteia, schooling.

the Spartan mirage

The common perception of Spartans as warlike strong heroes - also sometimes anti-slavery. Not very accurate portrayal.

Tyrtaios

Spartan Poet. Reinforced warlike nature, anti-cowardice, Spartan exceptionalism under Herakles (Hercules).

Messenia

A settlement west of Sparta which was annexed by the Spartans after the Second Messenian War, populace turned into slaves (helots).

Spartiates

The highest social class of Sparta - men trained for war from 7 and who participated in the Apella (part of gov’t).

helots

Ethnically Messenian slaves of the Spartiates.

agoge

“the Spartan age-class training system” - militant, hypermasculine

syssitia

Communal ‘messes’ of Spartiates, war units

oliganthropia

A shortage of men in Sparta due to constant war which led to ‘polyandry,’ of women having reproductive relations with multiple Spartiate men.

oligarchy

oligos = ‘few’ , archo = ‘rule’ , the rule of the few.

Great Rhetra

An account of the Spartan constitution preserved by the Roman Plutarch. Tell the story of Lykourgos and the gerousia (council of elders).

gerousia

A council of 28 elder Spartiates and the 2 kings of Sparta - veto power and power to initiate bills and proposals.

ephors

damos

krypteia

Athens

chattel slavery

synoecism

Ekklesia

archon

Kylon

Drako

Solon

anarchia

seisachtheia

Solon’s 4 census classes

Peisistratos

The Athenian Agora

The Athenian Akropolis

Panathenaia

The Tyrannicides

Kleisthenes

demos

The 10 Kleisthenic tribes

trittys

deme

Boule

ostracism

democracy