Ancient Greek History and Literature: Thucydides, Aeschylus, and Semonides

Flashcards providing comprehensive coverage of key historical figures, events, civic themes, and literary archetypes from Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, Aeschylus' Agamemnon, and Semonides' Poem 7 on Women.

Hellen, son of Deucalion

The mythological ancestor whose growing power with his sons in Phthiotis led neighboring cities to invite them as allies, causing the inhabitants to gradually adopt the collective name of Hellenes.

Minos

The earliest figure recorded by tradition to establish a navy; he gained mastery of the Hellenic sea, colonized the Cyclades after expelling the Carians, and eradicated piracy to secure maritime revenues.

Ameinocles

A Corinthian master shipwright who built four naval ships for the Samians approximately three hundred years before the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War.

Delos Purification

An Athenian wartime religious purification involving the opening of all island tombs, which revealed that over half of the interred were Carians, identified by their buried armor and burial customs.

Hippias and Hipparchus

Sons of Pisistratus; Thucydides corrects the common Athenian belief that Hipparchus was tyrant when killed by Harmodius and Aristogiton, demonstrating that Hippias was actually the eldest son in power.

The Real Cause of the Peloponnesian War

The underlying historical reality identified by Thucydides—kept formally out of sight—which was the growth of Athenian power and the fear and alarm it provoked in Sparta (Lacedaemon).

Public Sepulchre in the Beautiful Suburb

The burial place outside Athens where citizens who fell in war were traditionally given public funerals and buried, with the singular exception of those slain at Marathon, who were interred on the battlefield.

School of Hellas

Pericles' characterization of Athens in his Funeral Oration, presenting the city as an instructive model of versatility, intellectual culture without soft luxury, and civic engagement.

Plague of Athens

A catastrophic epidemic originating in Ethiopia that struck Athens in the war's second year, producing violent bodily inflammations, internal burning, high mortality, and widespread social and moral collapse.

The Beacon Relay

The overland and overseas chain of signal fires organized by Clytemnestra from Mount Ida through Lemnos, Mount Athos, Macistus, Messapion, Cithaeron, and Arachne to relay the fall of Troy to Argos in one night.

Omen of the Eagles and the Hare

The roadside portent at Aulis in which two eagles—one black, one white-tailed—tore apart a pregnant hare, interpreted by Calchas as the Atreidae destroying Troy, which incited the wrath of Artemis.

Calchas

The prophet of the Greek army who deciphered the bird omen and declared that the goddess Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter to calm the contrary winds holding the fleet at Aulis.

Iphigenia

The maiden daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who was gagged and sacrificed like a goat over an altar at Aulis to secure passage for the Greek fleet to Troy.

The Purple Tapestries

The lavish, crimson-dyed embroideries spread before Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, tempting him to commit hubris by trampling sacred, costly textiles as he re-entered his palace.

Cassandra

The captive Trojan princess and prophetess of Apollo who was granted true foresight but cursed never to be believed after breaking her promise of union to the god; she foretells Agamemnon's murder and her own death.

Feast of Thyestes

The ancestral crime wherein Atreus slaughtered the young children of his brother Thyestes and served their cooked flesh to their father at a banquet, precipitating a lasting curse upon the house of Pelops.

Aegisthus

The surviving son of Thyestes and lover of Clytemnestra who helped engineer Agamemnon's murder as righteous vengeance for Atreus butchering his siblings and driving his family into exile.

The Pig-Woman

In Semonides' classification of women, the type crafted from a hairy sow; she is filthy, leaves her house in disorder, wears unwashed garments, and sits fattening on dung heaps.

The Fox-Woman

In Semonides' classification, the woman derived from a fox; she is exceptionally sharp, malicious, hyper-aware, constantly variable in mood, and prone to calling good evil and evil good.

The Dog-Woman

In Semonides' taxonomy, a restless, inquisitive woman who pokes into everything, talks ceaselessly, and cannot be stopped from yapping by threats, sweet talk, or having her teeth knocked out with a stone.

The Earth-Woman

The type formed by the Olympian gods from mud or earth; she is indolent, lacks moral discernment, possesses no practical skills, and only knows how to eat and pull her chair closer to the fire in winter.

The Sea-Woman

A two-faced woman whose temperament fluctuates unpredictably like the ocean, appearing charming, gentle, and praiseworthy one day, but ferocious, wild, and snapping like a nursing dog the next.

The Ass-Woman

A stubborn woman derived from a gray donkey who works only under constant force and verbal abuse, eats ravenously day and night, and indiscriminately accepts any lover.

The Weasel-Woman

A loathsome, completely unalluring type who is sex-crazed yet repellent to partners, and continually steals goods from neighbors and sacred sacrificial meals.

The Mare-Woman

A delicate, proud woman born of a maned horse who refuses domestic chores, sweeping, or oven soot, continually bathes and perfumes herself, and is an expensive ornamental burden fit only for kings.

The Ape-Woman

Described by Semonides as Zeus's greatest curse to men; she has a grotesque, neckless, buttockless body, behaves shamelessly as a town laughingstock, and spends her days plotting malicious schemes.

The Bee-Woman

The single ideal female type in Semonides' poem; she causes the household to prosper, loves her husband, bears handsome children, avoids lewd gossip, and is enveloped in divine grace.