CC101 Final

Perikles

influential athenian statesman during the Golden Age who led athens during the start of the peloponnesian war and delivered the funeral oration (also help expanded with the parthenon)

persian war

series of conflicts between the greek city-states and persian empire where greece emerged victorious

polis

development of independent greek political communities that each had their own government, laws, and military (e.g. Athens)

Peloponnesian War

long war between Athens and Sparta, recorded in detail by Thucydides, which ended in Athens’ defeat and decline

citizenship

legal and political membership in a polis; an example is in athens, it meant voting, jury service, and military service

triremes

fast, maneuverable greek warships powered by three tiers of rowers

perikles funeral oration

idealized vision of athens as a model for all of greece; a speech honoring the war dead in the peloponnesian war

melian dialogue

dramatic account of negotiations between melians and athenians; melos appeals to fairness athens argues for power and kills the melians when they didn’t agree

mytilnean debate

athenian debate over punishment for the mytilene revolt

diodotus

Advocated for cool-headedness over emotion, focusing on what was best for Athens (expediency). Argued extreme cruelty incentivized rebels to fight to the death, making them harder to subdue.

cleon

Claimed compassion would encourage rebellion and that Mytilene was an oligarchic, not democratic, entity during mytilenean debate. Severe punishment serves to teach a lesson.

acropolis

fortified hill in athens that helped protect the parthenon

phidias

chief sculptor and artistic director responsible for parthenon being built; designed the massive gold and ivory athena parthenos inside the temple

metopes

square sculpted panels showing mythical battles (e.g. centaurs vs lapiths which was the diff between order vs chaos)

pediment

triangular space at each end of the temple’s roof

stylobates

the platform on which columns stand

sophocles

author of ajax and one of the three major athenian writers of tragedy

ajax

greatest greek warrior after achilles during the trojan war; falls into madnessa and kills livestock thinking they are animalsa

odysseus

cleverest greek hero and wins achilles’ armor through persuasion; later on argues for ajax to receive a proper burial

tecmessa

ajax’s wife and pleads for him to abandon suicidal plans by showing him his domestic life (humanizing force for ajax)

eurysaces

young son of ajax and tecmessa who is the symbolic inheritor of his shield

teucer

ajax’s half brother who defends ajax’s right to burial despite opposition from menelaus and agammenon

menelaus

greek commander and brother of agamemnon who argues that ajax is now an enemy to the army and does not deserve burial

agamemnon

leader of greek forces at troy who initially opposes ajax’s burial but eventually is persuaded by odysseus to relent

ti draso

greek question expressing moral paralysis

hector (his enemy)

who gave ajax the sword on which he killed himself?

piraeus

the republic begins in this port city that is diverse and politically active

cephalus

elderly, wealthy arms maker who represents traditional values through his first definition of justice as telling the truth and paying one’s debts

polemarchus

the son of cephalus and argues that justice is “helping friends and harming enemies”

thrasymachus

argues that morality is created by those in power and there is no universal justice on ‘rules that benefit rulers’

sophists

traveling teachers who taught persuasion rather than truth/associated with relativism

ring of gyges

a story showing why people behave justly only because they fear consequences; shown through a mythical ring that grants the owner invisbility at will

guardians, auxiliaries, craftsmen

three classes in the perfect city

noble lie

citizens are “born” from the land and belong to the city

noble lie

people have gold, silver, or bronze souls determining their class

euripides

author of hecuba

calculation, spiritedness, desire

soul’s three parts

allegory of the cave

humans live like prisoners mistaking shadows for reality; education is the painful turning of the soul toward truth and not everybody wants it

aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny

5 regimes ranked best to worst

polymestor

thracian king that killed polydorus and gets his eyes stabbed by hecuba

theatron

seating where greek citizens watched tragedies

hecuba

former queen of troy who was enslaved after the war ended

polydorus

young son of hecuba who is murdered for his treasure

polyxena

daughter of hecuba who was sacrificed on achilles’ tomb for the greeks

athenian approach to melian dialogue

"the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must"

frieze

a continuous story around the ceiling of the parthenon depicting the Panathenaic Procession, ancient Athens' grandest festival for Athena