Download Glossary of Greek Words

Glossary of Greek
agon: In athletics or war, a contest or struggle; in debate, an argument. The term is often used to refer
to scenes in tragedy in which the exchange of speeches breaks down into stichomythia debating
some vital point.
anagnorisis: According to Aristotle, the crucial moment of recognition in a tragedy.
anthropomorphism: The representation of non-human entities in human form and with human
emotions.
Areopagos: The “Hill of Ares” in Athens; meeting site of the Areopagos council, whose powers were
restricted in 462 B.C. to hearing cases of murder, arson, and malicious wounding. In Aeschylus’s
Eumenides, it is the site of Orestes’s trial for the murder of Clytemnestra.
Attica: The peninsula on which Athens is located; in the 5th century, it was unified under Athenian
government.
choregos: “Chorus leader”; the wealthy citizen whose civic responsibility it was to fund a tetralogy at the
City Dionysia.
City Dionysia/Greater Dionysia: Annual Athenian festival in honor of Dionysus, at which dramatic
competitions were held. Tragedy may have been performed at the City Dionysia as early as 534
B.C.; other scholars place its inception there at around 500.
Delian League: An alliance formed between Athens and various other Greek poleis, including many
Aegean islands, in 478/477 B.C. Originally a defensive alliance to guard against a third Persian
invasion, as the century progressed, the league became more and more a de facto Athenian
empire. The name reflects the fact that the league’s meetings were held on the island of Delos,
where its treasury was also kept (though the funds were moved to Athens in 454).
Delphi: Site of Apollo’s most important oracle and the temple complex associated with it. Oracles at
Delphi were spoken by the Pythia, a priestess supposedly inspired with prophetic powers by the
god.
demes: Local districts or villages in Greece. Cleisthenes’s reforms of 508 gave the demes of Attica a new
importance when the tribes were reorganized to reflect deme membership, not family descent.
deus ex machina: “God from the machine”; refers to Euripides’s practice of solving a plot’s difficulties by
having a god flown in on the mechane at the end of a tragedy. In literary criticism, the term has
come to mean any ending of a play, novel, or other work in which difficulties are suddenly
solved by improbable coincidences or outside agents.
didaskalos: Greek for “teacher”; used for a playwright. The implication is probably that the playwright
“taught” the actors and chorus their roles orally.
Based on E. Vandiver’s glossary for Greek Tragedy
1
Developed Oct. 2012
dithyramb: Choral songs in honor of Dionysus. Aristotle says that tragedy developed out of dithyramb
when the leaders of dithyramb “separated themselves” from the chorus.
eisodos (pl. eisodoi): The entrance ramps into the orchestra of the Greek theatre (also called parodoi).
ekkyklema: Literally, “the rolled-out-thing.” A device used to display “interior” scenes in tragedy. Its
exact nature is uncertain, but in its earliest form, it was probably a small wheeled platform that
could be rolled out of the skene door.
episodes (epeisodia): In a tragedy, scenes involving one or more actors and the chorus. The episodes are
divided by stasima.
exodos: The chorus’s exit song at the end of a tragedy.
hamartia: A “mistake” or “error.” According to Aristotle, the main character of a tragedy undergoes
reversal of fortune not because of any intentional evil-doing but because of a hamartia made in
ignorance. The term has often been translated “tragic flaw,” but this definition is misleading.
mechane: The crane used to “fly” gods (and occasionally heroes) into the theatre. The details of its use
are uncertain, but most scholars think that it deposited actors on the roof of the skene.
messenger speech: One of the characteristic elements of tragedy; a narration by a “messenger” of
crucial events that have happened offstage.
monody: A “solo song” by one actor. For the most part, in tragedy, the chorus sings and the actors
speak, but at times, actors sang individual lyric pieces, usually expressing some strong emotion.
oikos: “House.” Refers both to the physical household and to the family.
orchestra: The “dancing floor” of the Greek theatre. The perfect circle of 4th-century theatres, such as
Epidauros, is almost certainly a late development; in the 5th-century Theatre of Dionysus, the
orchestra was probably more or less rectangular. There may have been a low stage in the 5thcentury theatre, but most of the drama’s action took place in the orchestra.
parados (pl. parodoi): The chorus’s entrance song in a tragedy or the entrance ramps into the orchestra
of the Greek theatre (also called eisodoi).
Peloponnesian War: War between Athens and Sparta and the allies of each polis; it began in 431 B.C.
and continued (with brief interruptions) until 404, when Athens was defeated.
peripeteia: According to Aristotle, the unexpected turn of events in tragedy.
Persian Wars: The great conflict between the vast Persian Empire and Greece. The wars occurred in two
stages ten years apart; Persia’s first invasion of Greece took place in 490 B.C. and ended with
Athens’s victory at Marathon. The second invasion began in 480, the year of the Spartan defeat
at Thermopylae and the Athenians’ victory at the naval battle of Salamis, and ended in 479 with
the Greeks’ victory at Plataea.
Based on E. Vandiver’s glossary for Greek Tragedy
2
Developed Oct. 2012
polis: The basic political unit of Greece in the 5th century (and in fact, the origin of our word “political”).
Often translated “city-state” to indicate the lack of any precise English equivalent; a polis was
small enough to qualify as a city by modern standards but was also self-governing.
prologue: In a tragedy, the part before the chorus’s entrance. It usually sets out the subject of the
tragedy and identifies its timeframe and location.
protagonist: Literally, “first contestant.” Refers to the first actor and/or the primary character of a Greek
tragedy, such as Oedipus in Oedipus the King.
rhapsodes: Specially trained reciters of Homeric epic.
rhesis (pl. rheseis): A formal speech in tragedy.
satyr play: A short burlesque or satirical play performed after a trilogy of tragedies.
Sicilian expedition: Athens’s disastrous naval expedition of 415–413; it was the largest military
expedition Athens had ever made. The expedition ended in a stunning defeat for Athens; the
entire army was either captured or killed.
skene: Greek for “tent.” In the earliest 5th-century productions, probably this structure really was a tent
at the back of the orchestra where the actors would change costumes and masks. Later, the tent
was replaced by a permanent wooden structure and, later still, by a stone skene building.
Aeschylus may have developed the wooden skene for use in The Oresteia.
skenographia: “Markings upon the skene.” Aristotle says that Sophocles introduced this; it is unclear
what the term means. It is almost certainly incorrect to assume that it means some full system
of (re)movable scenery.
Sophism/Sophists: An intellectual movement of the 5th century. The Sophists were first and foremost
itinerant teachers of rhetoric. They also espoused a naturalistic view of morality and religion and
questioned the universal validity of morals. The most famous Sophist was Protagoras, best
remembered for his dictum “man is the measure of all things.” Their opponents accused them of
corrupting morals and weakening religious beliefs.
stasimon (plural stastima): Choral passages dividing the episodes of a tragedy.
stichomythia: Rapid-fire conversation, usually in one-line segments, between two characters in tragedy.
tetralogy: Refers to the three tragedies and one satyr play entered into competition by a tragedian.
Some scholars think that the term should be restricted to groups of plays written on a unified
theme. See also trilogy, satyr play.
Theatre of Dionysus: The theatre of Athens, where the great tragedians produced their works. The
extant remains are all much later than the 5thcentury. It has been estimated that the 5thcentury audience capacity was between 14,000 and 17,000.
Based on E. Vandiver’s glossary for Greek Tragedy
3
Developed Oct. 2012
Thebes: The setting for several major tragedies, including Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Bacchae.
Thebes appears as a kind of “anti-Athens” in tragedy.
Thesmophoria: A religious festival in honor of Demeter, celebrated in the autumn. It was a women-only
festival, and the celebrants left their homes and camped out together for three days. We know
little about the rituals associated with it except that they involved obscenity and some sort of
sacrifice.
Thorikos: A small, trapezoidal-shaped theatre in Attica, about 20 miles from Athens. It probably dates
from the early 5th century B.C. and is more or less contemporary with the burgeoning of tragedy
in Athens.
thyrsus: A staff or wand carried by Dionysus and his Maenads. Usually represented in art as being
topped with ivy or a pinecone.
transliteration: The system of representing the sounds of one language (e.g., Greek) in the alphabet of
another (e.g., English).
trilogy: The three tragedies entered into competition by a tragedian. Each trilogy would be followed by a
satyr play, making a tetralogy. Aeschylus wrote unified trilogies on a single theme; The Oresteia
is our only surviving example. Some scholars think the term “trilogy” should be limited to these
unified groups of plays. See also tetralogy, satyr play.
xenia: “The guest/host relationship.” Our term “hospitality” does not adequately convey the seriousness
of the concept. Xenia was protected by Zeus and covers the whole range of obligations that
guests and hosts (xenoi, singular xenos) have to one another. Violations of these obligations
bring dire consequences: Paris’s theft of Helen was, among other things, a violation of xenia.
xenos: A guest, host, friend, stranger, or foreigner (cf. xenophobia). The range of this word’s meanings
reflects the essential nature of xenia (see previous entry), which does not depend on prior
acquaintance but operates between strangers. Once two men have entered into a relationship
of xeniaby one of them staying in the other’s house, they are “guest-friends” and have
obligations to each another.
Based on E. Vandiver’s glossary for Greek Tragedy
4
Developed Oct. 2012