Final Exam archeology terms

Cypselus

Period: c. 657–625 BCE (7th c. BCE)
Location: Corinth
Significance: Overthrew Corinthian aristocracy; used popular support and military backing to rule. Marked the rise of tyranny as a political solution to elite imbalance.
Memory Hook: “Cypselus cracks Corinth’s elite control.”

Periander

Period: c. 625–585 BCE
Location: Corinth
Significance: Son of Cypselus; major patron of trade, infrastructure, and monumental architecture. Promoted Corinth as a powerful commercial state.
Memory Hook: “Periander = Power, Ports, and Projects.”

Pheidon

Period: 7th c. BCE
Location: Argos
Significance: Standardized weights and measures and possibly early coinage; strengthened Argive military power.
Memory Hook: “Pheidon fixes money and soldiers.”

Peisistratos

Period: c. 561–527 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Most important Athenian tyrant; expanded festivals, built aqueducts, promoted arts, and began major building projects later continued by Perikles.
Memory Hook: “Peisistratos = Pipes, Parties, and Public Works.”

Hippias

Period: 527–510 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Son of Peisistratos; ruled harshly after his brother’s assassination. His fall led directly to the rise of Athenian democracy.
Memory Hook: “Hippias = harsh → overthrown → democracy.”

Hipparchos

Period: d. 514 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Brother of Hippias; assassinated by Harmodios and Aristogeiton (tyrannicides). His death triggered tyranny’s collapse.
Memory Hook: “Hipparchos falls → tyranny falls soon after.”

Obol

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Small silver coin; 6 obols = 1 drachma. Shows early standardized economy.
Memory Hook: “Obol = one small coin.”

Drachma

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Main Greek silver currency unit; essential to trade and state power.
Memory Hook: “Drachma = dollar of ancient Greece.”

Spits/firedogs

Period: Early Archaic
Location: Greece
Significance: Iron rods used as proto-money before coins. Literally used as exchange tools.
Memory Hook: “Money before coins = metal cooking tools.”

Xoanon

Period: Archaic & earlier
Location: Sanctuaries, especially Erechtheion
Significance: Wooden cult statue believed to house the deity’s spirit; shows early non-realistic religious practice.
Memory Hook: “Xoanon = spirit inside wood.”

Votive

Period: All periods
Location: Sanctuaries
Significance: Object dedicated to a god in exchange for favor, healing, or thanks.
Memory Hook: “You give → God gives.”

Pythia

Period: Archaic–Roman
Location: Delphi
Significance: Priestess of Apollo delivering divine prophecy; political and military decisions depended on her words.
Memory Hook: “Pythia = prophetic priestess.”

dō ut dēs

Period: All Greek religious practice
Significance: “I give, so you may give” — core religious contract between humans and gods.
Memory Hook: “Religion = divine business deal.”

Cella/naos

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greek temples
Significance: Inner sacred room holding the cult statue.
Memory Hook: “Cella = sacred cell for the god.”

Doric Order

Period: Archaic
Location: Western Greece
Significance: Heaviest, simplest Greek order; no base, plain capital.
Memory Hook: “Doric = thick, tough, simple.”

Ionic order

Period: Archaic
Location: Eastern Greece
Significance: Slender columns with scroll capitals; more elegant.
Memory Hook: “Ionic = fancy scroll hair.”

Triglyph

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Doric frieze
Significance: Triple-grooved block symbolizing wooden beam ends.
Memory Hook: “Tri = three grooves.

Metopes

Metopes

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Doric frieze
Significance: Sculpted myth panels between triglyphs.
Memory Hook: “Metopes = mini myth pictures.”

Entablature

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Above columns
Significance: Structural system holding roof (architrave, frieze, cornice).
Memory Hook: “Entablature = entire top section.”

Parthenon

Period: 447–432 BCE
Location: Athens, Acropolis
Significance: Temple to Athena Parthenos; treasury of Athenian empire; symbol of democracy and victory over Persia.
Memory Hook: “Parthenon = power + politics + piety.

Temple of Athena Nike

Period: 427–424 BCE
Location: Acropolis
Significance: Ionic victory shrine; features Nike adjusting sandal relief.
Memory Hook: “Nike = Victory on the edge.”

Propylaia

Period: 437–432 BCE
Location: Acropolis
Significance: Monumental gateway separating human city from sacred space.
Memory Hook: “Propylaia = the sacred doorway.”

Erechtheion

Period: 421–406 BCE
Location: Acropolis
Significance: Sacred temple with Caryatids, olive tree of Athena, and trident mark of Poseidon.
Memory Hook: “Erechtheion = weird shape, sacred stuff.”

Kouros

Period: Archaic
Significance: Idealized nude youth statue; symbol of perfection and vitality.
Memory Hook: “Kouros = young rigid body.”

Kore

Period: Archaic
Significance: Dressed female votive statue; religious dedications.
Memory Hook: “Kore = clothed girl gift.”

Kritios Boy

Period: c. 480 BCE
Significance: First true contrapposto — weight shift = Classical realism.
Memory Hook: “Kritios leans = Classical begins.”

Discobolos

Period: c. 460 BCE
Significance: Perfect athletic motion frozen in balance.
Memory Hook: “Discus = spinning frozen athlete.”

Black figure

Period: 600–480 BCE
Significance: Incised black silhouettes on red clay; myth storytelling.
Memory Hook: “Black shapes carved in.”

Red figure

Period: After 530 BCE
Significance: Painted details allow realism and anatomy.
Memory Hook: “Red bodies = real bodies.”

Bilingual Vase

Period: c. 530 BCE
Significance: One side black-figure, one side red-figure — shows transition.
Memory Hook: “Two styles, one vase.”

Euphronios

Period: c. 510 BCE
Significance: Master of anatomy, death scenes, foreshortening.
Memory Hook: “Euphronios = muscles + motion.

Berlin Painter

Period: c. 490 BCE
Significance: Isolated elegant figures on dark backgrounds.
Memory Hook: “Berlin = one calm figure.”

Protoattic Pottery

Period: c. 700–600 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Early Athenian narrative vase style showing mythological scenes before Black-Figure fully developed. Important for tracking the rise of Athens in pottery production.
Memory Hook: “Protoattic = Athens learning to tell myths on pots.”

Protocorinthian Pottery

Period: c. 720–620 BCE
Location: Corinth
Significance: First style using true Black-Figure technique; animal friezes; dominant export ware across the Mediterranean.
Memory Hook: “Proto-Corinthian = tiny animals, huge influence.

Chryselephantine

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Major sanctuaries
Significance: Sculpture made of gold (chryso) + ivory (elephantine) used only for the most important cult statues (Athena Parthenos, Zeus at Olympia).
Memory Hook: “Chrys = gold, elephant = ivory.”

Varvakeion Athena

Period: Roman copy of 5th c. BCE original
Location: Athens (original was in Parthenon)
Significance: Best surviving model of Pheidias’ Athena Parthenos, showing armor, Nike, and shield imagery.
Memory Hook: “Varvakeion = model of Athena’s gold statue.”

Artemis at Ephesos (Cult Statue)

Period: Archaic–Roman
Location: Ephesos (Asia Minor)
Significance: Multi-breasted fertility goddess form; very different from Greek huntress Artemis; shows regional religious diversity.
Memory Hook: “Ephesos Artemis = fertility version.”

Temple of Hephaestu

Period: 449–415 BCE
Location: Athens, Agora
Significance: Best-preserved Doric temple in Greece; dedicated to Hephaestus and Athena as patrons of craft and labor.
Memory Hook: “Hephaestus temple = ironworker survives the best.”

Stadion (Race Track & Race)

Period: All periods
Location: Sanctuaries (Olympia, Delphi)
Significance: Short foot race and the physical length of the track (about 600 Greek feet). Most prestigious Olympic event.
Memory Hook: “Stadion = sprint + stadium.”

Pankration

Period: Classical
Location: Panhellenic games
Significance: Brutal no-holds-barred mix of boxing and wrestling; one of the most dangerous Greek sports.
Memory Hook: “Pankration = ancient MMA.”

Panathenaic Amphorae

Period: 6th–4th c. BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Prize vessels filled with sacred olive oil; always depicted Athena on one side and the athletic event on the other.
Memory Hook: “Panathenaic pots = oil + Athena + victory.”

Zanes

Period: Classical
Location: Olympia
Significance: Bronze statues funded by cheating athletes as punishment; warned others not to cheat.
Memory Hook: “Zanes = shame statues.”

Artemision Zeus

Period: c. 460 BCE
Location: Cape Artemision (Aegean Sea)
Significance: Masterpiece of Early Classical bronze showing god mid-throw (thunderbolt or trident).
Memory Hook: “Artemision = flying god throw.”

Peplos Kore

Period: c. 530 BCE
Location: Acropolis
Significance: Famous kore showing early use of painted sculpture and ceremonial clothing.
Memory Hook: “Peplos Kore = colorful sacred fashion.”

Chiton

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Lightweight linen garment worn by both genders; contrasts with heavy peplos.
Memory Hook: “Chiton = light and flowy.”

Sophilos

Period: c. 580 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: First known signed Greek vase painter; early myth narration.
Memory Hook: “Sophilos signs first.”

Amasis Painter

Period: c. 550–530 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Precision Black-Figure master; excelled at both myth and daily life scenes.
Memory Hook: “Amasis = clean lines.”

Genre Scene

Period: After 525 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Shows daily Greek life such as wine making, school, athletics — not myth.
Memory Hook: “Genre = real people.”

Symposium

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greek homes
Significance: Elite male drinking party with poetry, music, politics, and philosophy.
Memory Hook: “Symposium = wine + talk + power.”

Tondo

Period: Classical
Location: Interior of kylix
Significance: Circular painted scene revealed when wine was finished.
Memory Hook: “Tondo = surprise at the bottom.”

Euthymides

Period: c. 510 BCE
Location: Athens
Significance: Pioneer of foreshortening and three-dimensional movement in Red-Figure.
Memory Hook: “Euthymides bends bodies.”

Kylix

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Shallow drinking cup used at symposia.
Memory Hook: “Kylix = wide wine cup.”

Krater

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Large mixing vessel for wine and water.
Memory Hook: “Krater = wine mixer.”

Skyphos

Period: Archaic–Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Deep everyday drinking cup.
Memory Hook: “Skyphos = simple deep cup.”

Mimesis

Period: Classical
Location: Greece
Significance: Artistic goal of imitating reality as closely as possible.
Memory Hook: “Mimesis = make it real.”

Elgin Marbles

Period Removed: 1801–1812
Original Location: Parthenon, Athens
Current Location: British Museum
Significance: Central global debate over cultural repatriation and museum ethics.
Memory Hook: “Elgin = stolen Parthenon art debate.