Archaic Greece Flashcards

Dorians

Ethnic group from Doris that migrated into Greece after the Bronze Age collapse. Largely displaced the original Ionian Greeks and became the predominant ethnic group in Greece. When Doris appeals to Sparta for help against Phocis, they use it as an excuse to sail into northern Greece and fight Athens, starting the first Peloponnesian War.

Eunomia

“Good laws.” A foundational cultural tenet for the Greeks. They believed that the individual was nothing without the community, or polis, and thought that good laws were needed to make an individual good. Without good laws, morality fails.

Messenians

The people of the region of Messenia west of Laconia. Were conquered by the Spartans during Archaic Greece and were forcibly enslaved and turned into a chattel slave class by the Spartans. Outnumbered the Spartans 7 to 1.

Gerousia

The Spartan council of elders which was the main power base within the Spartan government. Consisted of 30 men who were elected for a lifetime, and became eligible for election after turning 60. Acted as the Supreme Court within Sparta, prepared legislation to be voted on, as well as could even put Spartan kings on trial.

Syssitia

The common meal that Spartan soldiers would take part in with their peers from the Agoge. After leaving the Agoge, Spartan soldiers were still expected to have their meals with their squad, having to bring their own food to each meal. Failure to provide their own share meant being stripped of citizenship.

Agoge

The state school that every Spartan boy would be sent to starting at the age of seven.

Hoplite

A soldier who fought in a hoplite phalanx. The hoplite phalanx developed around 700 BCE, and it was characterized by its soldiers who wore full bronze armaments, as well as a spear and a large bronze shield called the hoplon. The hoplites would provide their own armor to fight in, so the emergence of hoplites is associated with the creation of a new middle class in a post Dark Age Greece.

Delphi

The “navel” of Greece. A panhellenic center where the Oracle at Delphi was located, who was a priestess who would give advice to anyone who came. It was said the gods spoke through her.

Eleusinian Mysteries

Secret religious rites that would occur every year for the cults of Demeter and Persephone. Initiates would be purified and given directions on how to receive a blessed after life.

Hippias

The son of Peisistratus who inherited the throne with his brother Hipparchus. After Hipparchus’s assassination, Hippias would become increasingly despotic and was deposed by Cleisthenes. After the failed Ionian Revolt, Persia wanted to reinstall Hippias in order to make Athens a loyal puppet state to them.