Ancient Greece: Warfare & Religion - HIS 1001

Obi's term list and bolded terms

*Polis

The ancient Greek city-state, typically built near the sea and comprising a central city and surrounding rural territory.

Acropolis

The highest part of the polis (city), serving as a fortified hilltop housing key civic and religious structures.

Agora

An open space in an ancient Greek city-state that served as a central meeting ground for citizens and as a marketplace for commercial activiity.

Agon

Contest or competition; a central pillar of Greek life influencing drama, politics, daily life, agriculture, war, and internal self-contest.

*Hesiod

Greek farmer and poet who lived around 700 B.C.E. His poem Works and Days describes the annual cycle of farming and gives advice based on observations of the night sky.

*Hoplites

Amateur Greek infantrymen of a required economic standing of land who provided their own equipment and fought in dense phalanx formations.

Phalanx

A military formation made up of around 8 ranks deep of hoplites forming side-by-side shield (hoplon) walls to drive less densely arrayed opponents from the field.

*Hellenes

The term used by the Greeks of the city-states to distinguish themselves from surrounding non-Greek populations.

*Barbaroi

The Greek term for non-Greeks or foreigners surrounding the Greek city-states.

Altar

The most important architectural expression of Greek religion, upon which animals were sacrificed; it was far more ubiquitous than temples and statues.

**Sacrifice

The central public religious ritual involving the killing, roasting, and eating of an animal, where burning fat and smoke rose to delight the gods while humans devoured the carcass.

Apeturia

A ritual initiation in some city-states where boys were prepared and introduced by a father or uncle into a religious brotherhood to be inscribed on civic rolls.

Artemis

The goddess associated with a countryside sanctuary ritual where girls aged 13–14 wore bear skins before reemerging as marriageable women.

All Athens Festival

An annual festival (panathenaea) in Athens featuring a procession through the agora to the acropolis for cattle sacrifices on the altar to Athena.

*Athens

A major Greek city-state in Attica that developed from aristocratic rule toward democracy and became an important political, military, and naval power.

Athena

Deity honored at Athens; cattle were sacrificed to her at the All Athens Festival, and a temple to her stood on the Acropolis

**Mystery Rites / Initiation

Private religious initiations or cults (such as the Eleusinian Mysteries) that provided individuals with a private relationship with the spirit world.

Demeter/Kore (Persephone)

The deity cult associated with the earliest and most famous mystery rites at Eleusis, linked with the appreciation of nature and its cycles.

Hades

The brother of Zeus and god of the underwoorld. Associated with the Demeter/Kore tradition and the Mystery Rites/Eleusinian Mysteries.

Isis

An Egyptian principal deity famous for curing the sick and bringing Osiris back to life, whose popular mystery cult spread to Greece in the Hellenistic Period.

Delphi

The sanctuary of Apollo regarded by Greeks as the center of the universe, where Apollo directly answered petitioners' questions.

Oracle

A sacred site where Greeks believed the gods communicated with humans; at Delphi, Apollo's oracle answered questions through priestesses.

Apollo

Deity associated with Delphi. Greeks sought answers from him through the oracle at Delphi and sought his approval before establishing colonies.

Homer

Greek poet traditionally associated with the Iliad and Odyssey, which provide important evidence about early Greek society and Dark Age warfare.

Enthousiasmos

A state of divine possession in which a deity infused themselves into a person, such as Apollo infusing his priestess to speak through her at Delphi.

Delphic Council (Amphictyonic council)

Also known as the Amphictyonic council, an administrative body housed at the sanctuary of Delphi.

Dionysus

The Greek god considered Apollo's opposite, who practiced a dangerous form of enthousiasmos.

Pythian Games

Panhellenic athletic and musical games dedicated to Apollo and held at the sanctuary of Delphi.

Olympic Games

Panhellenic athletic and religious games dedicated to Zeus, distinct from the Pythian Games.

Zeus

Major Greek deity associated with storms and lightning; the Olympic Games were dedicated to him.

Closed Formation

A tactical arrangement where soldiers stood side by side to create shield walls, effectively utilizing new maneuverable shields introduced around 675 bce.

Mycenaean Kingdoms

Early Greek kingdoms whose rise and fall spanned from 2000 to 1100 B.C.

Dark Age

The period in Greek history from 1100 to 800 B.C., characterized by honor-driven warfare among aristocrats.

Archaic Age

The period in Greek history from 800 to 500 B.C., marked by population expansion, colonization, and military innovations like new shield designs.

Classical Period

The period in Greek history from 500 to 338 B.C., during which agon expanded as an internal personal contest within oneself.