Ancient Greece: Politics, Athenian Democracy, and Culture

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the political structures, colonization, Athenian democracy, culture, mythology, and the rise of science in ancient Greece.

Politics

The way people rule their city(-state), country, kingdom, or empire; it concerns how people exercise power over others.

Greek City-State

An independent, self-governing political community with its own system of government, shared language, shared religion, and shared temple-building styles.

Aristocracy

A system of government where power is held by a small group of nobles or the 'best men'.

Tyranny

A system of government where one person seizes power through violence and rules alone without law.

Monarchy

A system of government where power is held by a king.

Democracy

A system of government where power is held by the people, in which power belongs to all citizens and everyone is equal before the law.

Colonisation (Greek)

The movement between 800 and 550 BC where Greeks established overseas settlements due to limited fertile land and overpopulation, resulting in the spread of Greek culture.

Culture

The lifestyle of a society in history, including language, tradition, art, and religion.

Koiné

The common Greek language shared by Greeks across different city-states that helped create cultural unity.

Drachme

The standard silver coinage used across Greek city-states, serving as a shared cultural and economic element.

Barbarians (βάρβαρος)

Strange, wild foreigners whom the Greeks deemed uncivilised and savage, which contributed to a shared sense of connectedness among Greeks.

Myth

A traditional story about gods and heroes used by the Greeks to explain events related to nature, such as the cycle of the seasons.

Science

The practice of gaining knowledge through research or investigation based on evidence.

Ratio

Common sense and rational thinking used by Greek thinkers to question mythological explanations and critique the negative human attributes of gods.

Hippocrates of Kos

A Greek physician who applied scientific inquiry to medicine and developed new methods to cure illness.

Democritus

An ancient Greek philosopher who applied rational investigation to understand the natural world and discovered atoms.

Cleisthenes

The Athenian leader who installed democracy in Athens in 509 BC after citizens sought influence in government following the overthrow of tyranny.

Popular Assembly

The gathering of eligible Athenian citizens where the most important political decisions were debated and voted upon in Athenian democracy.

Citizenship (Athens)

The political status granted exclusively to free Athenian men older than 18, giving them the right to vote while excluding women, slaves, and non-Athenians.

Direct Democracy

A democratic system, such as that in ancient Athens, in which eligible citizens vote on decisions and laws themselves.

Indirect Democracy

A representative democratic system, such as modern Dutch democracy, in which citizens elect politicians to make political decisions for them.

Statue of the Tyrant Slayers

A monument erected on the Agora depicting the heroes who killed one tyrant and helped banish another (514–510 BC), serving as a reminder against tyranny to protect democracy.

Agora

The central public space in Athens where civic life took place and monuments like the statue of the tyrant slayers were placed to protect democracy.