Ancient Greek Civilization: Spartan and Athenian Institutions

Vocabulary flashcards covering key civic, political, and military terms of ancient Greek civilization, with a focus on Spartan and Athenian institutions.

agoge

The Greek word used in the Hellenistic period for the educational system developed by Sparta.

ephebe

Originally a boy who had reached puberty. Beginning in the late fourth century BC, Athenian boys in their eighteenth year underwent two years of military training (the Ephebia)—spending the first year in Athens with state instructors and the second in frontier fort garrisons—which later shifted in the Hellenistic period to a non-mandatory cultural education centered on the gymnasium.

ephor

'Overseer,' an office found in Sparta and other Dorian states. In Sparta, a board of five ephors was elected annually by the assembly, the senior ephor gave his name to the year, and they held great power, including general control over the kings' conduct.

eunomia

Meaning "lawfulness," an ideal of good government sometimes identified with the government of one's own state; Spartans boasted of the eunomia of their system, while Athenians considered eunomia to be democracy.

Gerousia

The 'council of elders' (from geron 'old man'), a term used at Sparta and in other poleis for the aristocratic council. The Spartan gerousia consisted of the two kings plus twenty-eight men over age sixty.

Great Rhetra

A mysterious document (rhetra meaning "statement") said to have been given to Lycurgus by the Delphic oracle. Existing early in the Archaic period or earlier, portions are preserved in the poetry of Tyrtaeus (7th century) and Plutarch (46-120) and deal only with military and political issues.

helot

Groups of conquered people in Greece forced by conquerors to work as serfs on their former lands. Most commonly associated with Sparta, where they sometimes outnumbered citizens seven to one in Laconia and Messenia, and whose threat of uprising discouraged Spartans from distant campaigns.

homoioi

Meaning 'similars' or 'peers,' the Spartan term for full Spartan citizens, referring to their common experience in the agoge and the Spartan army.

kleros

An allotment of farmland sufficient to support a citizen-family, passed on in perpetuity in the male line. In oligarchic states, full citizenship was frequently tied to the possession of a certain amount of land.

krypteia

Meaning 'the secret thing,' a part of the Spartan agoge where selected young men in their late teens wandered the countryside at night, empowered to kill at will helots who seemed less submissive than expected.

Lacedaemon

Another name for Sparta in antiquity, whose inhabitants could also be referred to as Lacedaemonians.

Peloponnesian League

The modern name for a 6th-century BC organization led by Sparta and allied states that swore to have the same friends and enemies as Sparta. It included Corinth (providing naval power) and outside members like Thebes; after the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), Spartan interference caused friction until the League dissolved in the 360s BC.

Perioikoi

'Those who dwell about,' neighboring peoples subordinate to a dominating polis. In Sparta, perioecic communities of Laconia and Messenia were treated as half-citizens with local autonomy and military obligation, but no say in policy conduct.

Spartiate

An adult male citizen of Sparta who had gone through the agoge and served in the phalanx.

Syssition

Meaning 'common meal,' a group of fifteen men who ate and socialized together. Admission required a unanimous vote by existing members, and failure to join or maintain a required monthly food contribution resulted in loss of full Spartan citizenship.

xenelasia

The term used in Sparta for the ritual expulsion of foreigners.