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DEFINITION
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Crete
Mycenae
Location of walled palaces of
Asians who invaded the
Greek mainland around 1900
B.C. and conquered the
Greeks.
Later named Mycenaeans, the people
of this civilization became the first
Greek kings.
Peloponnesus
Agamemnon
Peninsula
Body of land with water on
three sides
Although Greece has hundreds of
islands offshore stretching from
Greece to Asia, mainland Greece is a
peninsula.
Risings population after the Dark
Ages caused cities to begin sending
people outside Greece to start
colonies.
Colony
Polis
Agora
Sparta
Athens
An area below the acropolis
that served as a marketplace
or are for debate in ancient
Greek cities
Founded by the Dorians,
Sparta was an early Greek
city-state that developed the
form of government known
as oligarchy
Boys treated harshly to make them
tough; men dedicated to the military
(win or die, no surrender); girls
trained in sports to be fit; women had
more freedom in Sparta
Word
Solon
DEFINITION
Trusted Athenian whom both
nobles and farmers trusted;
reformed govt. in Athens by
canceling farmer debt,
allowed all males citizenship
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Despite freeing enslaved farmers,
gaining rights for male citizens, he
refused to take land from nobles and
return it to farmers
Peisistratus
Cleisthenes
Became the most important
leader in Greece after the death
of Peisistratus. He reorganized
the assembly to play a central
role in governing
Tyrant
Became one of the most powerful
governments in early Greece.
Oligarchy
Democracy
Form of government that
developed in Athens in
which all citizens share in
running the government
Helot
Cyrus the Great
Darius
Xerxes
Ruled from 559 B.C. to 530
B.C., he united the Persians
into a powerful kingdom
This is the same Cyrus who invaded
Mesopotamia, captured Babylon and
allowed the Israelites to worship God.
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Themistocles
Persia
Marathon
Site of battle where Greeks
defeated Persians during the
Persian Wars; a plain located
just outside Athens
Thermopylae
Because Greek ships were smaller,
faster and easier to steer than Persian
ships in this geographic feature,
Greeks were able to destroy the
Persian fleet
Salamis
Plataea
Satrapies
Also known as provinces,
divisions of an empire to
make it easier to control
Satrap
Zoroastrianism
Delos
Still practiced today in small
numbers, this religion also believes
that good will triumph in the end
Beginning location of the Delian
League’s treasury
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Pericles
Aspasia
Direct
Democracy
Representative
Democracy
Philosopher
Not a native Athenian, one of
the few women in Athens
who managed to achieve
some public rights
People gather at meetings to
decide on government
matters; every citizen can
vote firsthand on laws and
policies
This is the type of democracy is what
we use in the US. This system is best
because of the US having millions of
people—direct democracy would not
work.
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