Classical Archaeology and Ancient Greece Midterm Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering archaeological stratigraphy, Greek history, pottery techniques, Homeric epics, and the end of the Bronze Age.

Archaeological Stratigraphy

The study and analysis of occupational layers formed when people drop material in the dirt, describing human occupation and revealing details of past daily life.

Archaeology as Destruction

The principle that unearthing layers and artifacts inherently damages the site, meaning once excavated, it can never be re-examined directly and only studied through notes, pictures, and recovered objects.

Archaizing

The intentional practice of making something look ancient or belong to antiquity, such as avoiding modern elements like blue jeans in historical films.

Carbon-14 Dating

A scientific dating method measuring the half-life of radioactive carbon in organic samples from when they stopped interacting with sunlight and air, dating when the material died rather than when it was used or burned.

Who was Thucydides and what subject matter did he write about?

An Athenian aristocrat and exiled general of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta who wrote a historical account based on cause and effect rather than appeals to the gods.

What was the Battle of Marathon and what technique was used??

A military engagement between the Greeks and the Persians in which the Greek commander Miltiades deployed a strong flank and a weak center to swallow and surround the Persian forces.

What is the original definition of the word “trophy”?

Originally, a monument or captured military item taken to commemorate a victory in battle.

Rescue Excavation

A rapid archaeological dig conducted immediately before a site is destroyed in order to salvage and preserve artifacts.

Classical (Archaios)

A term derived from the Greek for 'the study of old stuff,' referring specifically to ancient Greece and Rome in Western traditions, though differing in cultural definition globally.

Cyriac of Ancona

An early figure in classical archaeology who recognized that ancient monuments were being destroyed by quarrying and traveled to sketch and record them.

Johann Winkelmann

An early scholar and librarian whose access to extensive collections of antiquities enabled foundational studies in ancient art.

Lord Elgin

A British diplomat and art collector who removed significant marble sculptures from the Acropolis in Athens.

The Grand Tour

An extended educational journey across European capital cities undertaken by elite young British aristocrats, culminating in Rome where portraits were often painted against classical ruins.

Description de l’Égypte

A comprehensive multi-volume publication documenting Egyptian monuments, history, and environment produced by scholars, scientists, and artists accompanying Napoleon's expedition.

Eye Cup

A Greek drinking vessel painted with large eyes, used to watch onlookers and ward off hexes, curses, and the evil eye while drinking.

Oxidizing Phase

A stage during kiln firing where oxygen circulates and reacts with iron in the pottery clay, turning the vessel red.

Reducing Phase

A stage during kiln firing where green wood is introduced to create moisture and carbon monoxide, turning the clay vessel black.

Rich Athenian Lady

A Geometric-period grave containing fine pots, prestige sealstones of authority, and fetal remains, indicating the deceased died in childbirth and received an elite burial comparable to that of fallen warriors.

Multiple Brush

A ceramic painting tool consisting of several bristle sections joined together to produce concentric or parallel geometric designs on pottery.

Horror Vacui

The 'fear of empty space,' an artistic convention where ceramicists cover an entire vessel with dense patterns, leaving virtually no plain surface.

The Suicide of Ajax (Exekias)

A renowned Greek vase painting by Exekias notable for focusing on the psychological tension immediately before suicide rather than the violent act of death itself.

Corinthian Pottery

An ancient Greek pottery style recognizable by its distinctive pale yellow fabric and clay handle rivets modeled after metal vessels.

Moldmade Bowl

Hemispherical ceramic drinking bowls decorated with relief scenes formed by pressing clay into a patterned mold mounted on a potter's wheel.

Homeric Questions

• who was Homer

• were the Iliad and Odyssey both written by him

• how was the oral poetry recorded in writing

Bellerophon’s Tablet

A passage in Homer demonstrating that the concept of written tablets existed in the epic tradition, even though writing was not yet used by Homer for literary storytelling.

Guslari

Traditional Croatian oral bards who recite extended narrative epics in meter while playing stringed instruments, illustrating how complex poetry like Homer's could be maintained orally.

Linear B

A Bronze Age syllabic script deciphered by Michael Ventris, Emmett Bennett, Alice Kober, and John Chadwick, used primarily for administrative and economic records in early Greek.

Frank Calvert

The archaeologist who correctly identified the mound (tel) of Hisarlik as the true location of ancient Troy prior to extensive excavations.

Why is Priam’s Treasure in Russia?

A cache of Bronze Age artifacts discovered at Troy that was seized by Soviet forces during the Battle of Berlin in World War II as restitution for wartime damages and remains in Moscow.

Multiplier Effect

A systemic collapse model where a succession of compounding crises—such as crop failures, natural disasters, domestic revolts, and foreign invasions—destabilized Late Bronze Age civilizations.