Chapter 1 to 7: Ancient Greek Civilization and Philosophy

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical periods, literary figures, and pre-Socratic and Sophist philosophical concepts from the lecture transcript.

Hellenic Culture

The culture of ancient Greece that laid the foundation of Western civilization through its human-centered vision, rational thought, democratic ideals, and achievements in art and philosophy.

Minoan Civilization

An ancient Aegean civilization originating on the island of Crete (c. 2600–1100 BC), named after King Minas, known for palace centers like Knossos, trade across the Mediterranean, and an absence of protective walls.

Mycenaean Civilization

An aggressive warrior civilization that developed on the Peloponnesus (c. 1600–1100 BC), famous for conquering Troy, rule by local kings in fortified cities, and inspiring Homeric epic poetry.

Peloponnesus

The rugged lower Greek peninsula where the Mycenaean civilization developed and established its fortified kingdoms.

Dark Ages (Greece)

The period from 1100 BC to 800 BC following the fall of Mycenae, characterized by relative isolation, loss of writing systems, retreat to simpler forms of life, and transition into the Iron Age.

Oligarchy

A form of government in which political power and concentration of wealth are held by a few individuals or powerful families.

Archaic Age

The era of ancient Greek history from the 9th to 6th centuries BC marked by political innovation, the emergence of the polis, overseas colonization, and cultural transformation.

Polis

An ancient Greek city-state that molded its citizens into an organic body with a collective identity controlling cultural, religious, and political life.

Acropolis

A fortified hilltop in an ancient Greek polis that served as the city's citadel and stronghold.

Agora

An open public space in an ancient Greek polis where citizens gathered to conduct public and private matters.

Anthropomorphic

The attribution of human physical characteristics, emotions, desires, and weaknesses to divine beings, as seen in ancient Greek polytheism.

Mount Olympus

The highest mountain on the Greek mainland, believed by the ancient Greeks to be the specific geographical home of their gods.

Theocracy

A system of government ruled by or subject to religious authority, such as divine kings, priests, or religious leaders.

Epic Poetry

A lengthy narrative poem concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.

Homer

The ancient Greek blind poet, traditionally credited as the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, who profoundly shaped Greek cultural identity and education.

Iliad

Homer's epic poem focused on the legendary ten-year siege of Troy, Achilles' wrath, heroic combat, and the suffering brought by war.

Odyssey

Homer's epic poem detailing the ten-year voyage of Odysseus back home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, celebrating cunning intelligence, perseverance, and loyalty.

Achilles

The central Greek hero of the Iliad, renowned for his martial prowess, intense pride, tragic wrath, and fatal vulnerability in his heel.

Odysseus

The king of Ithaca and central character of the Odyssey, renowned for his cunning intelligence, curiosity, and resourceful survival skills.

Hubris

Excessive, arrogant pride that leads individuals to commit foolish or dishonorable actions with tragic consequences.

Lyric Poetry

A genre of poetry originating in late archaic Greece, written to be sung to the music of a lyre, expressing personal thoughts, private emotions, and individual feelings.

Sappho

An ancient Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos (c. 600 BC), celebrated as the greatest author of solo lyric poetry depicting romantic passions and emotional states.

Systematic Thought

The Greek intellectual innovation of organizing knowledge and reality into an orderly, unified, and methodical system of inquiry.

Milesian School

A 7th-century BC pre-Socratic school of thought in Miletus (Ionia) that initiated naturalistic, non-mythological explanations of the physical universe.

Thales of Miletus

An early Milesian engineer and philosopher (636–546 BC) who reasoned that water is the primary element of the universe, initiating rational philosophy without supernatural references.

Anaximander

A Milesian philosopher (611–547 BC) who proposed that all things emerge from an uncreated, imperishable substance called the boundless or indefinite.

Heraclitus

A pre-Socratic philosopher (535–475 BC) who taught that reality is in eternal flux and constant motion, ordered and guided by the universal Logos.

Logos

In Heraclitus' philosophy, the universal guiding intelligence or principle of order that directs the continuous changes of the universe.

Democritus

A pre-Socratic philosopher (460–370 BC) who formulated the atomic theory, proposing that indestructible, indivisible particles called atoms ($\text{atoma}$) combine and separate to form all material reality.

Pythagoras

A Greek thinker (582–507 BC) who combined mathematics with dualistic philosophy, introduced formal proofs, proposed that Earth revolves around a central fire, and taught the transmigration of souls.

Sophists

Fifth-century BC Greek teachers, led by Protagoras, who shifted philosophical focus to human behavior, rhetoric, and ethics, holding relativistic views on truth and morality.

Protagoras

A leading Sophist philosopher (481–411 BC) famous for proclaiming 'man is the measure of all things,' expressing total relativism in truth, beauty, and justice.