Ancient Greece

City-State

A city with an independent government.

Unification

Bringing together, becoming one unit.

Cyclopean Walls

Walls that looked like they were built by Cyclops, since they were very messy-looking.

Acropolis

A fortified hilltop.

Polis

A city-state.

Monarchy

Rule of one.

Oligarchy

Rule of the few, power by rising to the top.

Aristocracy

A type of oligarchy, power by wealth.

Tyranny

Rule of one.

Democracy

Rule of many.

Representative Democracy

A type of democracy where people elect leaders to speak on their behalf.

Direct Democracy

Everyone votes and has a say.

Limited Democracy

Only certain citizens could vote and have a say.

Assembly

All citizens came together in one place.

Council of 500

A group of 500 citizens randomly selected from a lottery.

Debt Slavery

When you don’t have enough money to pay off your debt, the creditor can take you as their slave.

Palace of Knossos

A place where people would talk about government, adorned with frescos.

Trojan Horse

A wooden horse that Odysseus and a few soldiers hid in to infiltrate the city.

The Odyssey

One of Homer’s famous two poems, about Odysseus’s journey home to Ithaca.

The Iliad

One of Homer’s famous two poems, about the Trojan War.