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Ancient Greece
Vocabulary
Geography
• Strait -A narrow water passage
• City-state -A central city and its surrounding villages
who collectively follow a similar way of life
• Polis -A term used to denote a city-state in ancient
Greece such as Athens or Sparta
• Acropolis -The fortified center of a city-state, often
found on elevated ground
• Athens -City-state in ancient Greece focused on
education and creativity
• Sparta -City-state in ancient Greece focused on war
Geography
• Crete – an island southeast of mainland Greece
where a pre-Greek civilization grew between
2600 – 2000 BCE
• Colony-an area that is controlled by or belongs
to a country and is usually far away from it
Religion (Mythology)
• Polytheism - Belief in many gods
• Zeus - Father of the Gods
• Athena -Goddess of wisdom and warfare and
guardian of Athens
Accomplishments (history)
• Trojan War -A ten-year long conflict
between the people of the ancient
cities of Sparta and Troy about which
the Illiad is written. The authenticity of
this conflict and the myth it inspired
(the Trojan Horse) have been in doubt
for thousands of years. Recently, ruins
of what many believe to be the ancient
city of Troy were discovered along the
Turkish coast.
• Peloponnesian War – A war between
Athens and Sparta – 431 – 404 BCE
• Olympics -Athletic competitions held
between various city-states to honor
Zeus
Accomplishments (Architecture)
• Doric, Ionic and Corinthian - The
three orders of the classic style of
architecture famously used in
ancient Greece
– Doric
Ionic
Corinthian
• Parthenon -Temple on the
Acropolis dedicated to the goddess
Athena
Accomplishments (Literary)
• Homer -An ancient Athenian who lived in the
dark ages and is credited with writing the
Odyssey and the Illiad
• Tragedy - a serious drama that has a sorrowful
or disastrous ending.
Political
• Monarchy - Rule by a king or queen, often kept within
a particular family, passed down from father to son
• Aristocracy - Rule by a wealthy elite class. In the case
of ancient Athens, this consisted of landholding,
wealthy, adult Athenian males.
• Oligarchy - Rule by a small business class
• Democracy - System of government where all
individuals have a say in the decisions that affect them.
• Assembly-a group of people who make and change
laws for a government or organization
• Tyranny-government ruled by a tyrant
Economic
• Agora – a large open market place found in all
ancient Greek city-states.
• Trade-the activity or process of buying, selling,
or exchanging goods or services
Social
• Philosopher – people who studied the processes that
governed thought, perception and morality
• Socrates - Athenian who is widely considered the
father of Western philosophy
• Plato - Student of Socrates, writer of philosophy, and
founder of the Academy in Athens
• Aristotle - Student of Plato and teacher of Alexander
the Great who helped organize the thoughts that led to
the foundation of Western philosophy
Social
• Oracle – a prophetess – who was thought to
be the human voice of Apollo
• Tyrant – a person with absolute supreme
power that ruled the city-states
• Alexander the Great - Macedonian king who
created one of the largest empires of the
ancient world