Western Civ, Chap 3

Polis

The ancient Greek city-state, consisting of an urban center and its surrounding countryside, acting as a tight-knit community of citizens.

Hoplites

Heavily armed Greek infantry soldiers who fought on foot using bronze armor, long spears, and large shields.

Phalanx

A tight, rectangular military formation of hoplites marching shoulder-to-shoulder to create an unbroken shield wall.

Tyrants

Greek rulers who illegally seized absolute power by force rather than through traditional inheritance or election.

Perioikoi

Free, non-citizen inhabitants of Sparta who worked as artisans or merchants and were required to pay taxes and serve in the army.

Helots

State-owned serfs or slaves in Sparta who were bound to the land and forced to perform agricultural labor.

Oligarchy

A type of political system meaning 'rule by the few,' which in Greece typically meant governance by a small council of wealthy elites.

Sophists

Traveling teachers in Athens who rejected absolute truth, taught public speaking (rhetoric), and argued that truth is relative to the individual.

Great Peloponnesian War

The catastrophic conflict (431-404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta that shattered the power of the Greek city-states.

Socratic method

A cooperative teaching dialogue using a question-and-answer format to challenge assumptions and force students to think critically.

Metics

Resident aliens living in ancient Athens who were free to work in trade but possessed no political rights or citizenship.

Hetairai

Highly educated, sophisticated Athenian female companions known for their intellectual talents, musical skills, and witty conversation.

Peloponnesus

The massive peninsula forming the southern portion of mainland Greece, serving as the home to Sparta and Olympia.

Macedonia

A mountainous, tribal kingdom located north of the Greek city-states that grew into a military superpower under King Philip II.

Knossus

The massive, highly complex palace center on the island of Crete that served as the wealthy capital of the Minoan civilization.

Mycenaean

The first advanced, warrior-based civilization on mainland Greece during the Bronze Age, known for its heavily fortified palace centers.

Heinrich Schliemann

The nineteenth-century amateur German archaeologist whose excavations at Mycenae and Troy proved that many Homeric epics were based on history.

First Peloponnesian War

A preliminary series of smaller skirmishes and shifting alliances (c. 460-445 BCE) between Athens and Sparta before the main conflict.

Herodotus

Recognized as the 'Father of History,' he wrote The Persian Wars and introduced systematic, critical historical investigation to the West.

Socrates

A foundational Athenian philosopher who wrote nothing down, focusing entirely on human ethics and virtue before being executed by the state.

Aristotle

A brilliant student of Plato who rejected abstract ideals, choosing instead to analyze and classify the physical world through observation and logic.

Homer

The legendary Dark Age epic poet credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey, which established the ultimate Greek moral code of heroism.

King Philip II

The Macedonian monarch who systematically reorganized his nation's army, crushed Greek resistance, and successfully unified the Greek mainland.

Odysseus

The legendary Greek king of Ithaca and clever hero of Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, which details his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War.

Xerxes

The ambitious Persian king who launched a massive, vengeful invasion of mainland Greece in 480 BCE, famously fighting the Spartans at Thermopylae.

Delian League

An anti-Persian alliance of Greek city-states formed under Athenian leadership, which Athens eventually converted into its own personal empire.

Plato

An ancient Greek philosopher and disciple of Socrates who founded the Academy and shaped Western political thought by arguing that true reality exists in ideal Forms and that society should be ruled by philosopher-kings.