Greek History and Archaeology Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary practice cards based on the lecture notes covering Greek history, archaeology, and the Bronze Age collapse.

Microregion

A small, geographically distinct area such as a valley, plain, or island cluster with its own ecology and resources, studied as a semi-independent unit; Horden and Purcell argue the Mediterranean is a patchwork of these.

Connectivity - trade

The degree to which regions are linked through exchange of goods, people, and ideas, particularly across the sea, which enabled the spread of pottery, alphabets, and cults.

Environmental Determinism

The theory that environment and geography directly shape culture and behavior; modern historiography often criticizes this model as overly simplistic compared to human agency.

Historiography

The study of how history has been written, including the methods, sources, and biases of historians like Herodotus and Thucydides.

Epigraphy

The study of inscriptions carved or written on durable materials like stone, metal, or pottery, providing direct evidence of Greek political and social life.

Archaeology

The study of past human life through material remains like buildings and artifacts; it is the primary source for Mycenaean and early Greek society when records are scarce.

Franchthi cave

A site in the Argolid with occupation from the Upper Paleolithic through the Neolithic, showing early evidence of seafaring via obsidian from Melos dated to ~$11,000\,BP$.

House of tiles, lerna

An elite residence from the Early Bronze Age (EH II) at Lerna in the Argolid, suggesting complex social hierarchy before the Mycenaean palaces.

Knossos

The largest Bronze Age palatial site on Crete, occupied since $7000\,BCE$; ceremonial activities began $3000\,BCE$, its palace was built $1900\,BCE$, and it was taken over by Mycenaeans $1400\,BCE$.

Pylos

A Mycenaean settlement in the southwestern Peloponnese occupied since $2600\,BCE$; its palace was established $1300\,BCE$ and destroyed by fire in $1180\,BCE$, preserving a Linear B archive.

Redistributive economy

An economic system where goods like grain and oil are collected by a central authority, such as a palace, and then redistributed to the population.

Gift exchange

A system of reciprocal giving (e.g., xenia) between elites that builds status and alliances, linking distant courts in the Bronze Age and Homeric society.

Uluburun shipwreck

A Late Bronze Age shipwreck from the $14^{th}$ century BCE found off the coast of Turkey, providing proof of trade networks linking Greece, Egypt, and the Levant.

Wanax

The Mycenaean Greek term found in Linear B for a supreme ruler or king of a palatial center.

Linear A / Linear B

Two Bronze Age writing systems: Linear A (Minoan, undeciphered) and Linear B (Mycenaean Greek, deciphered by Michael Ventris in $1952$).

Heinrich Schliemann

A $19^{th}$-century German businessman-turned-archaeologist who excavated Troy and Mycenae to prove the historical accuracy of Homer's epics.

Troy

An ancient city in northwestern Anatolia excavated in layers (Troy I–IX), where destruction layers (Troy VIIa) fuel debate over the historicity of the Trojan War.

Ahhiyawa

A Bronze Age kingdom mentioned in Hittite texts, widely believed to refer to the Mycenaean Greeks as a real political power.

Homer

The (possibly legendary) poet credited with the Iliad and Odyssey, whose works founded Greek literature and culture.

Iliad

An epic poem attributed to Homer focused on the Trojan War and the wrath of Achilles, emphasizing values of honor (timē) and glory (kleos).

Oral Poetry

Poetry composed using formulas and transmitted by memory; pioneered by Milman Parry and Albert Lord in the $1930s$ based on Balkan fieldwork.

Trojan War

A legendary conflict between Greeks (Achaeans) and Troy traditionally dated to around $1200\,BCE$.

Late bronze age collapse

A widespread societal collapse around $1200\,BCE$ that destroyed palace civilizations and led to the Greek "Dark Age."

Sea peoples

A confederation of seafaring raiders/migrants who attacked Eastern Mediterranean powers including Egypt around $1200\,BCE$.

Hichoria

A settlement site in Messenia showing the transition from Mycenaean palace collapse to a post-collapse community when written records disappeared.

Hesiod

An early Greek poet known for Theogony and Works and Days, who provided insight into everyday farming life and cosmology.

Works and days

A poem by Hesiod that combines moral instruction, the myth of Pandora and the Five Ages of Man, and practical advice on agriculture.