PSCI 2301: Classical Western Political Thought Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering classical Western political thought, Athenian democratic institutions, Homeric epic values, Greek tragedy, and Thucydides' historical and realist analysis of the Peloponnesian War.

Polis

A small, autonomous, self-governing Greek city-state developed during the archaic period, typically comprising an urban core, surrounding countryside, and a central gathering space known as the agora.

Dēmos

The Greek word designating the general body of citizens or common people within a city-state, providing the etymological root of democracy.

Kratia

The Greek root meaning rule, power, or sovereignty, which combines with dēmos to establish democracy as the 'rule of the people.'

Oligarchy

A form of political rule derived from the Greek terms oligoi (the few) and arkhein (to rule), denoting government concentrated in the hands of a small ruling elite or propertied class.

Solon's Reforms (~594 BC)

A series of constitutional and legal measures enacted in Athens in the early 6th century BC that laid the institutional foundations for Athenian democracy.

Cleisthenes' Reforms (508–507 BC)

A structural political reorganization in ancient Athens that divided citizens into ten regional tribes and established the democratic Council of 500 (Boule).

Ekklesia

The principal sovereign assembly of Athens in the 5th century BC, meeting two to three times per month with an attendance of roughly 6,000 citizens to debate and vote directly on military, financial, commercial, and political matters.

Isegoria

The equal right of all Athenian citizens to speak, deliberate, and present arguments before the public Assembly.

Parrhesia

The democratic civic privilege and norm of frank, bold, and candid public speech practiced in classical Athens.

Boule

The Athenian Council of 500 citizens chosen annually by lot, responsible for setting legislative agendas, preparing business for the Ekklesia, and supervising everyday administrative affairs.

Prytaneis

The 50-member executive rotating committee of the Athenian Boule, drawn from one of the ten tribes, whose daily presiding chairman was selected by lot.

Dikasteria

The popular court system of ancient Athens, comprising up to 6,000 jurors chosen annually by lot to rule on private disputes, crimes, debts, naturalization, and political offenses.

Ostracism (Ostrakon)

An institutional mechanism whereby the Athenian assembly could cast votes using pottery shards to sentence an overly powerful or destabilizing citizen to ten years of exile.

Hermeneutics

The science and method of textual interpretation, named after Hermes, the messenger of the gods, which focuses on recovering the meaning, rhetorical structure, and context of historical texts.

The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI

A work by Cory Doctorow examining the critical human, ethical, and societal implications of artificial intelligence and large language models.

Epic Poem (Epos)

A long, traditional hexameter narrative recounting grand, heroic deeds and journeys across both mundane and mythical landscapes, exemplified by Homer's Odyssey.

Xenia

The ancient Greek ethical and political convention of sacred hospitality and reciprocal guest-friendship shown to strangers, overseen and enforced by Zeus.

Xenos

A Greek term carrying the dual, reciprocal meaning of both an unknown stranger or foreigner and a host or guest-friend bound by mutual obligation.

Noman Maneuver

Odysseus's cunning verbal strategy of telling the Cyclops Polyphemus that his name is 'Noman' (or 'Nobody'), exploiting language and ambiguity to ensure his crew's escape.

Ulysses deriding Polyphemus (1829)

An 1829 painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner depicting Odysseus gloating over the blinded cyclops from his ship, illustrating the interplay of pride, passion, and maritime daring.

Nostos

The ancient Greek concept designating a hero's homecoming journey from war, central to questions of personal identity, memory, family (oikos), and belonging in Homer's Odyssey.

Tragedy (Tragōidia)

A dramatic genre that emerged in 6th-century BC Athens exploring human suffering, moral conflict, fate, and civic values, performed in open-air theaters during civic religious festivals.

Chorus

A collective ensemble of performers in Greek drama who sing, chant, and dance lyric interludes between scenes to provide philosophical and civic commentary without entering the core spoken dialogue.

City Dionysia

The major civic and religious festival in ancient Athens held in honor of Dionysus, hosting competitive dramatic tragedies and satyr plays for the political education of the citizen body.

Divine Law vs. Positive Law in Antigone

The fundamental tension between unwritten, immutable religious/moral duties (represented by Antigone burying Polyneices) and enforceable civic statutes enacted by the political ruler (represented by Creon's edict).

Historein

The Greek verb meaning to investigate, inquire, or learn through systematic inquiry, from which the modern discipline of history derives.

Histor

A wise individual, arbiter, or judge in ancient Greece who investigates evidence and serves as an authoritative witness to establish truth.

Herodotus and Thucydides

The pioneering historians of classical Greece; Herodotus recorded the Persian Wars with broad ethnographic scope, while Thucydides analyzed the Peloponnesian War through rigorous, evidence-based political analysis.

Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC)

The nearly three-decade-long conflict between the Athenian Empire (Delian League) and the Spartan alliance (Peloponnesian League) that devastated the classical Greek world.

Fragment of Book IV of Thucydides

An ancient papyrus manuscript preserving sections of Thucydides' historical text on the Peloponnesian War.

Ktēma es Aiei ('Possession for All Time')

Thucydides' famous designation of his work, written not as an ephemeral performance-piece for contemporary applause, but as an enduring study of human nature and political crisis across time.

Truest Cause of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides' realist conclusion that the underlying cause of the war was the growth of Athenian imperial power and the fear (phobos) this growth inspired in the Spartans, forcing them to fight.

Plague of Athens (430 BC)

A devastating epidemic that struck besieged Athens in the early stages of the Peloponnesian War, killing a substantial portion of the citizen body and eroding civic morality and law.

Epitaphios

The formal public funeral oration delivered by an appointed prominent citizen over Athenian soldiers who died fighting in war, celebrated in Pericles' speech of 431/30 BC.

School of Hellas

Pericles' characterization of Athens in his Funeral Oration, presenting the city's democratic institutions, cultural excellence, and versatile citizens as an education and model for all of Greece.

Erastes of the City

Pericles' injunction in the Funeral Oration that citizens should become passionate 'lovers' of Athens, gazing daily upon her magnificent public power and dedicating their lives to her preservation.

Athenian vs. Spartan Manners

The sharp cultural dichotomy framed by Thucydides contrasting Athenian daring, innovation, motion, and acquisitive ambition against Spartan moderation, tradition, rest, and conservative caution.

Melian Dialogue (416 BC)

The dramatic debate recorded by Thucydides between Athenian envoys and the magistrates of Melos, encapsulating the confrontation between imperial realism and idealistic appeals to justice.

Thucydidean Realism

The political outlook voiced by the Athenians at Melos, asserting that justice applies only between parties of equal power, whereas the strong do what they can and the weak accept what they must.

Nicias

The experienced, cautious Athenian general who advocated peace with Sparta and vigorously opposed the Sicilian Expedition, urging moderation and warning the Assembly of the immense risks.

Alcibiades

The ambitious, flamboyant young Athenian general who persuaded the Ekklesia to approve the Sicilian Expedition (415 BC) to advance Athenian hegemony and personal glory.

Sicilian Expedition (415–413 BC)

A massive Athenian naval and military expedition sent to conquer Syracuse and bring Sicily under imperial sway, which ended in total disaster and the destruction of the Athenian forces.

The Paradox of Political Action (Sicilian Debate)

The rhetorical miscalculation wherein Nicias outlined an overwhelmingly large list of troops and ships to frighten Athens away from the Sicilian Expedition, which instead convinced the demos that safety was guaranteed and spurred unanimous enthusiasm.