Unit III Vocabulary
MYCENAEANS- name given to people who settled the Greek mainland around 2000 BC; name came from the leading city Mycenae
TROJAN WAR- the Mycenaeans fought a 10 year war against Troy, an independent trading city located in Anatolia; according to legend, a Greek army besieged and destroyed Troy because a Trojan prince had kidnapped Helen, the beautiful wife of a Greek king
HOMER- Greeks learned about their history from storytellers. The greatest story teller was said to be Homer, a blind man who wrote man epics; one of his greatest is the Iliad
EPIC- narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds
MYTHS- traditional stories about Greek gods; through myths Greeks sought to understand the mysteries of nature and the power of human passion
POLIS- city-state
ACROPOLIS- fortified hilltop where citizens gathered to discuss city government
MONARCHY- single-person, referred to as a king, ruled the government
ARISTOCRACY- government ruled by a small group of noble, landowning families
OLIGARCHY- a government ruled by a few powerful people
TYRANTS- powerful people, usually nobles or wealthy citizens, would sometimes seize control of the government by appealing to the common people for support
DEMOCRACY- government ruled by the people
HELOTS- peasants forced to stay on the land they worked under Sparta
PHALANX- a formation of fighting in which foot soldiers holding a spear and a shield became the most feared force
PERSIAN WARS- between Greece and the Persian Empire, began in Ionia. The Greeks had long settled there, but the Persians conquered it and the Ionian Greeks revolted. Athens provided support by sea. Darius the Great defeated the Greeks and vowed to get revenge on Athens, but Athens was ready and quickly and easily defeated the Persians despite the fact of being outnumbered.
TRAGEDY- serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, or betrayal; had a main character or tragic hero
COMEDY- contained scenes of slapstick situations and crude humor; playwrights often made fun of politics and respected people
PELOPONNESIAN WAR- as Athens grew in wealth and power, Sparta grew angry; war between the city-states; Athens had the better navy and Sparta, the better army. During the war a plague hit Athens destroying 1/3 of their population, but the war raged on until for about 10 years when the two finally signed a truce
PHILOSOPHERS- “lovers of wisdom”; Greek thinkers based their assumptions on two things: 1) the universe is put together in an orderly way, and subject to absolute and changing laws; 2) people can understand these laws through logic and reason
SOCRATES- disagreed with Sophist philosophers in that he believed absolute standards did exist for truth and justice & he encouraged Greeks to go farther and question themselves and their moral character
PLATO- student of Socrates; wrote The Republic where he set forth his vision of a perfectly governed society, not a democracy but rather three classes: farmers/artisans, warriors, and the ruling class
ARISTOTLE- questioned the nature of the world and of human belief, thought, and knowledge. He invented a method for arguing according to rules of logic; became the basis for the scientific method
PHILLIP II- Macedonian king who dreamed of controlling Greece (knew how weak it was due to the Peloponnesian War) and then taking Persia; he took over Greece, but before he could take Persia, he was stabbed to death
ALEXANDER THE GREAT- King Phillip II’s son; student of Aristotle; invaded and conquered the Persians; unified an empire and created policies to unite a vast empire
DARIUS III- Persian king defeated by Alexander the Great when Alexander realized he was outnumbered, found a weak point in Darius’ army and broke through and charged Darius. King Darius, turned and fled followed by his army.
HELLENISTIC- under Alexander the Great’s policies, Greek (Hellenic) culture mixed with Egyptian, Persian and Indian influences creating Hellenistic culture
ALEXANDRIA- became the foremost center of commerce and Hellenistic culture; strategic site on Western end of Nile Delta & trade ships from all of the Mediterranean docked in its harbor
EUCLID- highly regarded mathematician who taught in Alexandria; he created some of the most fundamental parts of geometry
ARCHIMEDES- scientist who estimated the value of pi (Π) and the law of the lever
EPICURUS- founded the school of thought called Epicureanism; taught the gods had no interest in humans
COLOSSUS OF RHODES- Hellenistic statue that stood more than 100 feet tall; one of the seven wonders of the ancient world which was toppled by an earthquake