HUMN 2112 Kyle Kemp "Greece" Vocab

Themistocles

He was an Athenian politician and a general who persuaded the people of Athens to invest in building a fleet of 200 triremes, in which he lead the Greek allied navy to defeat the invading Persian Empire at the battle of Salamis

Trireme

Was a type of Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks, it derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar, in battle it was used as a guided missile

Mycenaean Civilization

An early civilization of Greek speaking peoples who flourished during the period
roughly between 1600 BC and 1100 BC, this ancient city-state was the basis for Homer's Iliad documenting the Trojan War and other texts steeped in Greek mythology

Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, King of the Mycenaean civilization who led the Greek armies against the Trojans in Homer’s Iliad documenting the Trojan War

The Iliad

Along with the “Odyssey”, this epic poem is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, attributed to Homer, set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states lead by King Agamemnon

Homer

Author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey and other works. (His)epics stand at the beginning of the western canon of literature, exerting enormous influence on the history of fiction and literature in general

The Lion Gate

Built within the citadel, the best known feature of Mycenae it was constructed in the form of a ‘Relieving Triangle’ in order to support the weight of the stones

Corbel Arch

Is constructed by offsetting successive courses of stone at the springline of the walls so that they project towards the archway's center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway

Tholos

Used as a tomb for Mycean Kings, also known as a Corbel Dome is a burial structure characterized by its false dome created by the superposition of successively smaller rings of mud bricks or, more often, stone

Polycrates

With a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant on his city state of Samos he built an aqueduct from a spring through a mountian by tunnleing from both sides meeting in the middle under the mountain

Pericles

Was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, he started an ambitious project that built most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon)

The Delian League

Founded in 477 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to protect the Greek city states from Persia and other hostile invaders, a kind of ancient NATO, but was really taken advantage of by the Athenians to create a defacto empire

The Parthenon

Is a temple in the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their protector. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. It is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments

Phillip II

This king modernized the Macedonian economy, improved the army, and concluded several marital alliances. He reorganized his kingdom subdued the Greek city-states, which never regained their independence again, he did this with one goal in mind, to defeat The Persian Empire

Phalanx

A rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, or similar weapons. The term is particularly (and originally) used to describe the use of this formation in Ancient Greek warfare

Sarisa

The spear the Macedonian phalanx used a which was a much longer and heavier spear which required the use of two hands

Alexander the Great

Tutored by the famed philosopher Aristotle, was a king of Macedonia who by the age of thirty was the creator of one of the largest empires in ancient history, stretching from the Ionian sea to the Himalaya. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time

Tyre

Was a strategic city coastal base on the Mediterranean Sea, The Macedonian army was unable to capture the city through conventional means because it was on an island and had walls right up to the sea. Alexander the Great ordered his engineers to build a causeway and once within reach of the city walls, he used the first siege towers from both the causeway and his ships to batter and finally breach the fortifications

Siege tower

Is a specialized weapon, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification, it was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on top of it and shoot into the fortification

Hellenism

Is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and language following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon. The result was that elements of Greek origin combined in various forms and degrees with local elements

Pergamon

Is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and language following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon. The result was that elements of Greek origin combined in
various forms and degrees with local elements

The Theater

Was probably the most important legacy the Greeks left to western culture, it affected literature, dance, story telling, and any form of entertainment you can think of today

Ptolemy I

Was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and then took the title of pharaoh, he made Alexandria the center of knowledge of the ancient world by building the Great
Library of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at
Alexandria, Egypt. Its purpose was to guide sailors into the harbour both night and day, with a height variously estimated at between 393 and 450 ft it was as tall or taller than the statue of Liberty, it was for
many centuries among the tallest manmade structures on Earth and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Library of Alexandria

Seems to have been the largest and most significant collection of scrolls and information of the ancient world, It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship and ancient thinktank

Hero of Alexandria

Was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineer who was a resident of a Ptolemaic Egypt. He published a well recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile; is considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition