CL101 Midterm

Cyclades

group of Islands south of mainland Greece in the Aegean Sea

cycladic figurines

artistic sculptures from the Cyclades, often depicting human figures.

Cycladic “frying pans”

flat Cycladic artifact with a handle. purpose unknown

obsidian

naturally occurring volcanic glass forming from lava. highly traded resource in ancient Greece. Used in blades or speartips

Akrotiri

Cycladic Bronze age settlement site on the Greek island of Santorini.

Horns of consecration

Minoan religious symbol representing stylized bull horns on roofs, altars, and shrines during the Bronze Age

Minoans

bronze age civilization centered on the island of Crete between 3500-1100 BCE. named from mythological King Minos

Knossos

archaeological site in Crete. center of Minoan civilization, Palace of Minos located here

Palace of Minos

in Knossos. Inspired the legend of the Labrinyth with Theseus and the Minotaur. Daedalus and Icarus and Ariadne.

Sir Arthur Evans

British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. The first excavations at the Minoan palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete began in 1877. Coined the term Minoans

Labrys

Minoan double axe. Found in Akrotiri. Used for bull sacrifice or ritual weapon

Labyrinth is believed to be derived from this word. accompanies female goddesses.

The Minoan “Snake Goddess”

Figurine from palace at Knossos. Excavated by Arthur Evans. Are they priestesses or a goddess.

Linear A

Writing system used by the Minoans of Crete. Script similar to hieroglyphics. Has not been deciphered, the language is not in Greek.

Linear B

script used for Mycenaean greek, the earliest form of the Greek language. Predates the Greek alphabet. adapted from Linear A

Mycenae

Area in the Peloponnese. Taken over Knossos from Minoans. Major nexus for trade and Greek civilization. dominated southern Greece, Crete, and Cyclades.

Lion gate

symbolizes protection and power. at entrance to the Citadel at Mycenae. Goddess flanked by two lionesses

Boar tusk helmet

made using ivory from boar tusks. description of a boar's tusk helmet appears in book ten of Homer's Iliad, as Odysseus is armed for a night raid to be conducted against the Trojans

Heinrich Schliemann

amateur archaeologist in the 19th century. dug into the Trojan ruins and other places mentioned in Homer. Excavated nine layers of archeological remains including what is believed to be Homeric Troy. His work lent weight to the idea that Homer's Iliad reflects historical events

Judgment of Paris

Goddess Eris made she isn’t invited to wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Crashes the wedding with a golden apple for the fairest goddess. Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera each think they deserve it so they select Paris of Troy to decide who is the fairest. Aphrodite bribes him with Helen.

Dactylic hexameter

style fo epic poems. style in which the Odyssey is written. emphasis on short syllables and long syllables

Kronídes

epithet of Zeus. Describes Zeus as the son of Kronos.

Atreḯdes

patronymic epithet to describe a son or male descendent of Atreus. Refers to Menelaus and Agamemnon

Agamemnon

Brother of Menelaus. King of Argos, a Mycenaean settlement. Married to Clytemnestra. Summons chiefs of the Greek world to form an army to get Helen back —> start of the Trojan War

Aigisthos/Aegisthus

Clytemnestra’s lover who did not go to Troy. Aegisthos seduced CLytemnestra while Agamemnon was away at Troy. In the Oresteia, he does not kill Agamemnon directly. Other retellings have him kill Agamemnon. Killed by Orestes in Libation Bearers.

Klytaimnestra/Clytaemnestra

wife of Agamemnon. lover of Aegisthos. plotted her revenge with Aigisthos on Agamemnon after he sacrificed their daughter. Killed by her son Orestes. Hated by her daughter Electra. Related to Helen and Penelope.

Orestes

Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Persuaded by Apollo to kill his mother and Aigisthos after she killed his father. Was exiled away during the events of Agamemnon. Kills Clytemnestra using a plot cooked up by him and Electra.

Xenia

concept of guest-friendship or hospitality. Examples: Telemachus and Menelaus/Nestor. Violating xenia —> Odysseus and Polyphemos. Suitors and Ithaca.

Rude to ask guests questions before providing hospitality.

reciprocity expected, guest not to be a burden.

Helen

Wife of Menelaus. Stolen/left willingly with Paris to go to Troy. “the most beautiful woman in the world.” represents Menelaus’s honor and masculine pride —> reason for Trojan War

Menelaos

Husband of Helen. Ruler of Sparta. Brother of Agamemnon. Member of the house of Atreus.

Kalypso/Calypso

nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia. Kept Odysseus there for seven years against his will. Promised him immortality but he declined. After divine intervention, she was forced to let him go. the Odysseus opens with Odysseus weeping on Calypso’s island. Known as “the concealer,” keep the hero with her.

Nausikäa/Nausicaa

daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaekia. Goes to wash her clothes when she is startled by a naked Odysseus asking for help. Helps him reach Arete in secret.

Polyphemos

one-eyed giant son of Poseidon from island of Cyclopes. blinded by Odysseus. Eats some of Odysseus crew and locks up the rest when they enter his cave. He looks after sheep and blocks the entrance of his cave with a stone.

Polutropos

many ways. Refers to Odysseus mind and his journey home to Ithaca. Also similar to Penelope and her tricks as well as her weaving.

Kirke/Circe

nymph/witch living on the island of Aiaia. Turns Odysseus men into pigs. Hermes helps Odysseus by giving her the antidote and telling him to draw his sword. Odysseus lets a whole year go by on her island, not captive like with Calypso. Circe helps him and tells him what to do so he can go home after he returns from the underworld.

Sirens

female creatures who lure men to their deaths with their voices. Odysseus ties himself to the mast of his ship to hear the song. The rest of the crew stuff beeswax in their ears.

Phaiêkians

Ruled by King Alcinous and Queen Arete. A seafaring people who help Odysseus reach Ithaca by giving him a ship. It’s prophesized that the Phaiêkians will be punished for helping someone by Poseidon. We never find out if it comes true because the story is interrupted. Foretold the island will be blotted out with a mountain and their ships are turned to stone.

Phoenicians

contrast to Phaiêkians who helped Odysseus and required nothing in return. After Odysseus leaves Phaiêkia, he reaches the Phoenicians. They are given a hefty share to convince them to help him. Odysseus tells them he is from Crete.

Dodona

oldest Greek oracle, oracle of Zeus. second only to Delphi. Odysseus says (when disguised as a beggar) that Odysseus consulted the oracle at Dodona before returning to Ithaca, asking if he should return in disguise or openly

Argos

Odysseus’s dog who is neglected in Odysseus absence. Upon his return, Odysseus sees the dog and the dog recognizes him even disguised as a beggar. Argos dies shortly after seeing his master.

city-state in Peloponnese. Where Agememnon rules and the story of the Oresteia takes place

Eurykleia

Odysseus and Telemachus’s nanny in Ithaca. she was purchased for 20 oxen by Laertes. recognizes Odysseus by the scar on his leg. A faithful servant/slave.

Eumaios

Swineherd and friend. Meets Odysseus while he is in disguise. He was brought from his family with a nurse on a ship as part of a payment. When she died, he was brought to Ithaca by the sailors. Xenia with Odysseus the beggar. He is bitter towards the Suitors and loyal to Odysseus

Herakles

son of Zeus, foster son of Amphitryon. Greatest of hellenic chthonic heroes.Famous for his twelve labors which were done to atone for killing his wife and child in a Hera-induced rage.

Telegony

lost epic poem that serves as a sequel to the Odyssey. follows the story of Telegonus (son of Odysseus and Circe).

Penelope

Odysseus’s wife. Sister of Helen. She is the object of many suitors affection but does not want to marry them. She weaves. Her weaving is crafty in that she unravels at night — telling the suitors she eill marry them after the piece is complete. mother of Telemachus.

Odysseus

Main character of the Odysseus. Epic war hero known for his cunning and many tricks. He fights at Troy for 10 years and takes 10 more years to come home in the Odyssey. Kills the suitors in an overarching theme of restoring xenia.

Telemakhos/Telemachus

Odysseus and Penelope’s son. Foil to Orestes. Goes on a journey in books 1-4 of the Odyssey to meet Nestor and Menelaus for information on the whereabouts of his father. Assists his father in killing the suitors. Odyssey is a story about his arc towards manhood

Cleisthenes

Greek noble who founded democracy in Athens. Created the boule of 500.broke up familial ruling into phule (areas split for governance by geography). Established ostracism

Demokratia

demos = people

kratos = rule

origin of the term democracy

introduced in Athens around 500 BCE

Athenian phylai

divisions of the citizen body; tribes that the polis were split into for governing purposes

Boulē

council that had the responsibility of establishing the assembly’s agenda. 500 members, ten from each phylai

Ekklēsia

the assembly of adult male citizens which had the ultimate decision-making power in a Greek state

Barbaros/barbaroi

modern version: barbarian. Antithesis of Greeks. Outsiders or foreigners with a negative connotation. Non-greek speakers, replicates how their language sounded to a greek “bar bar”

Darius I

Deceased character in the Persians but his ghost comes back to speak to his wife Atossa. King of Persia. Father to Xerxes. Expanded Persia into a great empire taking over parts of Asia.

Xerxes

Son of Darius and Atossa, Characterized as cowardly in The Persians by Aeschylus. Invaded Greece (failed to) and fought in the battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

Ionia

ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of Anatolia. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a fully unified state.

Marathon

Battle fought at Marathon in 490 BC. Battle between Athenians and Persians. First Persian invasion of Greece. Persians led by Darius I.

Salamis

Battle fought at Salamis in 480 BC. Persians attempted to overtake Greece again. Alliance between Greek city states. Greeks were outnumbered but won the naval battle. Xerxes fled with some of his men back to Persia.

Themistocles

Athenian general in the Persians. Figure important in the battle of Salamis. proposed building up the Athenian navy wih the silver they found. Was ostracized by Athenian society

Trireme

Ancient ship used by Greeks. Had three rows of oars. Used in Persian wars

Ostraka

pieces of pottery used in voting and notes. Used in ostracism. People would write the name of a person they wanted ostracized and cast their vote for that person to be exiled.

Aeschylus

Athenian. Poet of the Persians and The Oresteia. Wrote mainly tragedies. Presented his plays at the Dionysia (festival of Dionysus)

Atā/atē

blind folly. based on goddess of folly and impulse. Mentioned in Aeshylus’ players referring to Agamemnon stepping on the tapestries and Xerxes in the Persians.

Yoke

a wooden bar connecting two draft animals when working in a pair like oxen in a field. Part of Atossa’s dream in the Persians: she dreams that her son yoked a Persian and Greek sister. The one is unruly, the other obedient but he is thrown from the Chariot to his father’s dismay.

Sōphrosynē

keeping one’s mental faculties intact. related to Electra in the Libation Bearers, trying to keep it together when she sees her brother before her. Also in the Persians

Hubris

violent pride, excessive. Agamemnon’s prideful sacrifice of his daughter and his arrogant walking on sacred purple tapestries. Clytemnestra shows hubris by seizing power

Kosmos

order, harmony, and, by extension, the world or universe as an ordered system

Iphigeneia

daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She is murdered by Agamemnon as a human sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. Artemis is mad at Agamemnon because he killed one her sacred animals and Artemis will not let the winds take their boats to Troy.

Cassandra

Trojan priestess gifted with true prophecy by Apollo, but cursed never to be believed. Brought back to Argos by Agamemnon as a war prize from Troy.

Hermēs chthonios

Epithet for the god Hermes. Focused on his role escorting shades to the Underworld.

Pylades

companion of Orestes. Raised with Orestes during his exile (the events of Agamemnon) returns to Argos with Orestes during Libation Bearers. Pylades convinces Orestes to follow through with his plan for revenge and carry out the murder