Ancient Greek History and Culture - Exam II Study Guide

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, cultural practices, institutions, and concepts from the Ancient Greek History Exam II study guide.

Panathenaea

A major Athenian religious festival honoring Athena, featuring processions, sacrifices, athletic competitions, and other celebrations.

Caryatid

A sculpted female figure used as an architectural support in place of a column.

Olisbos

An artificial phallus, or dildo, used in ancient Greek society.

Kottabos

A drinking game played at a symposium in which participants flicked the dregs of wine from their cups at a target.

Hetaira

An educated female companion or courtesan who might participate in elite social gatherings and entertain men.

Pericles

The Athenian statesman who jumpstarted the restoration and expansion of the Acropolis.

Thucydides

An Athenian historian and participant in the Peloponnesian War who served as the main source for most of the war and described the symptoms of the Athenian plague.

Ostracism

A political procedure in which Athenian citizens could vote to exile a person for ten years to prevent a perceived political threat.

Delian League

An alliance founded around 478/477 BCE, led by Athens, to protect Greek cities and continue the fight against Persia, which eventually developed into an Athenian empire.

Cleruchy

A settlement that placed Athenian citizens on land outside Athens while they retained Athenian citizenship, differing from an independent colony.

Apoikia

A Greek colony that was more independent than a cleruchy and generally developed its own political identity.

Piraeus

Athens's principal port, strategically connected to the city by the Long Walls, supporting maritime trade, naval power, and transportation of supplies.

Alcibiades

The Athenian general implicated in the mutilation of herms in 415 BCE who subsequently defected to Sparta.

Herm (Herma)

A pillar-like sculpture, often featuring a head of Hermes and sometimes an erect phallus, associated with boundaries and protection.

Haloa Night Banquet

A festival celebration associated with fertility symbolism, sexual humor, and phallic imagery, in which women had a particularly prominent role.

Sappho

An Archaic Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos, known especially for poetry about love, desire, and personal emotion.

Contrapposto

A sculptural pose in which a figure places most of its weight on one leg, creating a natural shift in the hips and shoulders.

Hippodamian Grid

An urban planning system that arranges streets in a regular grid, usually intersecting at right angles.

Naos

The inner chamber of a Greek temple, where the cult statue was usually housed.

Laurion

A silver-mining region in Attica whose revenues helped Athens finance its powerful navy.

Peplos

A draped garment commonly associated with women, often worn by aristocratic women or goddesses in Greek art.

Dikastai

Citizen jurors who served in Athenian courts.

Klepsydra

A water clock used by Athenians to keep time in court.

Logographer

A professional speechwriter in ancient Athens who prepared court speeches for clients.

Sacred Band of Thebes

An elite Theban military unit traditionally described as 150 pairs of male lovers, associated with Theban military success and destroyed at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE.

Tragōidos

A Greek word that literally means 'goat-singer'.

Sarissa

A very long pike used by Macedonian infantry in the phalanx formation, introduced by Philip II.

Philhellene

Someone who admires or supports Greek culture.

Thirty Tyrants

An oligarchic regime installed in Athens after its defeat in 404 BCE, backed by Sparta, that ruled harshly before being overthrown.

Sophists

Traveling teachers in ancient Greece who taught rhetoric, argumentation, public speaking, and other subjects, often for payment.

Archē

The fundamental principle, origin, or underlying substance from which reality arises in Greek philosophy.

City Dionysia

An Athenian religious festival honoring Dionysus that featured theatrical performances and competitions.

Theban Hegemony

The period from 371 to 362 BCE when Thebes became the dominant Greek city-state after defeating Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra.

Symposium

An elite drinking party in ancient Greece attended by men after a meal, where participants drank diluted wine, talked, and played games such as kottabos.

Battle of Leuctra

A battle in 371 BCE where Thebes, led by Epaminondas, dealt a crushing defeat to Sparta.

The Diadochoi

The 'successors' of Alexander the Great—his generals and commanders who fought over and divided his empire after his death in 323 BCE.

The Melian Dialogue

An account in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War describing 416 BCE negotiations where Athens demanded Melos submit, asserting power determines relations between states.

The Sicilian Expedition

Athens's large-scale military campaign against Syracuse in Sicily launched in 415 BCE, ending in catastrophic failure in 413 BCE.