quizzes

Heinrich Schliemann

Discovered Troy in Turkey. He ravaged the site so that he could prove it was Troy. He also found Mycenae and discovered nine superimposed city sites of Troy made discovery of Mycenaean sites; self-taught archaeologist some would consider him "the father of modern archaeology"

8300 B.C. - 6500 B.C.

Mesolithic (part of Stone Age)

1050 - 900 B.C

Proto-Geometric

Frankhthi Cave

This cave in Argolid that shows signs of human activity throughout the earliest periods of Greek history; a site that provides more substantial evidence of occupation in Stone Age Greece

aulos

a reeded instrument with two pipes (one played with each hand) was the other major choice of musical accompaniment for the songs.

Stratigraphy

a relative dating technique that assumes that objects found deeper in the ground are older than objects found closer to the surface

Olympia

an ancient Greek sanctuary site dedicated to the worship of Zeus, in whose honor the Pan-Hellenic Olympic Games were held every four years

Marine Style

an innovation in the embellishment of Cretan pottery, developed around the end of the Middle Bronze Age and it lasts until the end of the Late Bronze Age; characterized by the depiction of octopuses and other sea creatures

Parian Chronicle c. 264 B.C.

an inscription on a marble stele in the island of Paros, one of a group of islands in the Aegean Sea called the Cyclades that is an important ancient source of dates

Hermes

another child of Zeus. Like Athena, whose mother is Metis, Hermes is born as a result of one of Zeus's many extra-marital affairs. Hermes is the god of messengers and those who travel

The stiff poses of the Kore / Korous statues are influenced by Egyptian works, and the faces of the statues have what is referred to as the "__________."

archaic smile

New History

comparative approach to studying the ancient world by comparing with other periods and cultures

name of the Greek priest who speaks at the Greek assembly

Calchas

Which being was first, according to Hesiod?

Chaos

508- 322 BC

Classical Age

508-322 BC

Classical Age

height of cycladic islands

Early Bronze Age

Cyclopean masonry

The enormous blocks used by the Mycenaeans in their walls and tombs came to be known in later ages as Cyclopean masonry, as if only the gigantic and monstrous Cyclopes from Greek myth could have moved them into place. There are even some stones with deep cuts across them as if the huge claws of a Cyclops had scratched across the surface.

1871 AD

Heinrich Schliemann started his excavations at Troy in 1871, having set out to find proof of the reality of the places mentioned in the Homeric epics.

What set of names does Homer use for the Greeks in the Trojan War?

Hellenes, Argives, Achaeans, & Danaans

elegy

originally for songs of mourning (and later becomes a meter for love poetry, especially unrequited love)

Epic

really long songs performed by "bards."

Menin

It is generally translated as "rage" or "anger" but the root is "mn" the same root as in "mind" "mental," "monument," "mnemonic," and the goddess of memory in Greek myth, Mnemosyne. Therefore, this word really means a specific kind of anger, an anger that is not forgotten; it describes a rage that someone does not let go of easily, if ever.

name of the largest Minoan settlement and palace

Knossos

The Homeric epics are written in an artificial literary language or '_________' only used in epic hexameter poetry. Homeric Greek shows features of multiple regional Greek dialects and periods, but is fundamentally based on Ionic Greek, in keeping with the tradition that Homer was from Ionia.

Kunstsprache

1625-1188 B.C.

Late Bronze Age

Height of Mycenaean Civilization

Late Bronze Age

Choose the writing system that was used by the Mycenaeans.

Linear B

relative dating

Method of determining the age of a fossil by comparing its placement with that of fossils in other layers of rock

2100-1625 B.C.

Middle Bronze Age

Height of Minoan Civilization

Middle Bronze Age

The earliest Greek speakers probably arrive in mainland Greece in which period?

Middle Bronze Age

The Minoan Civilization reached its peak starting in the ______________, but at the end of this same period, it suffered destruction and a long decline that continued throughout the ________________.

Middle Bronze Age (2100 -- 1625 B.C.); Late Bronze Age (1625 B.C. -- 1184 B.C.)

600,000 B.C. - 8300 B.C.

Paleolithic (part of Stone Age)

Female artists were extremely rare, but ________ was among the list of nine of the greatest lyric poets alluded to above.

Sappho

With what Roman leader is Polybios most associated?

Scipio

material record

The material record is the physical remains/ artifacts studied by archaeologists and other scholars; record of their activities

Akrotiri

The most important site on Thera is Akrotiri where many fresco wall paintings, buildings, pottery, furniture, tools, and cooking equipment have been found in well-preserved buildings.

Perseus

first greek hero, son of Zeus, decapitated Medusa,

an expression that is regularly used, under the same metrical conditions, to express a particular essential idea

formula

When the writings that survive are not complete , they are called ____________.

fragments

bards

illiterate singers/ storytellers

Arthur Evans

made the discovery of the Minoan civilization

House of Tiles

most famous of the buildings from Lerna; this monumental structure may have been a palace, communal dwelling, or administrative center (monumental Early Bronze Age building (two stories, approximately 12 x 25 m) located at the archaeological site of Lerna in southern Greece.[1] It is notable for several architectural features that were advanced for its time, notably its roof covered by baked tiles, which gave the building its name)

Knossos

most important of these palaces on Crete was the one built at Knossos around 2000 B.C., around the start of the Middle Bronze Age. This building covered over three acres and had several stories with hundreds of rooms

Linear A

mostly found on clay tablets, also not yet deciphered; uses signs that stand for syllables meaning there must be one written symbol for every syllable in the language

Achilles

next major hero, described by Homer as "the best of the Achaeans." His story is the subject of the Iliad.

Evans gave the civilization he found on the island of Crete the name "Minoan" because...

of the most famous (mythical) King of Crete, Minos

The weakness of the phalanx was...

on its right side since the soldiers carried their shield on the left side -- the last man in the right side of the line, therefore, was more exposed than the other soldiers and Thucydides reports that phalanxes tended to drift right during battle because of this.

Dendrochronology

process of using tree rings to date events or wood artifacts themselves

Greaves

protective armor Mycenaeans wore to protect their shins

Johann Winkelmann

published his History of Ancient Art in 1764. Though his work predates the formal development of positivism by a few decades, his method of studying ancient art and history laid the foundation for later systematic and scientific approaches.

F.A. Wolfe

published his Prolegomena ad Homerum (translated as Introduction to Homer) in 1795 and took a very similar approach to Winkelmann in his study of the epic poet Homer, his main contribution was to start an important investigation into the Homeric texts that completely changed the way they were understood.

James Stuart and Nicholas Revett

published in three volumes "The Antiquities of Athens" between 1762 & 1794. Their drawings made the architecture and art of Athens widely known, helping to popularize a passion for Greek inspired architecture in Europe and the United States. They also undertook archaeological excavations and referred to Greek and Roman texts to help them reconstruct and interpret what they found - an approach still crucial in modern archaeology.

Red Figure technique

replaced the black figure technique starting around 520 B.C., the subjects of the art being red-orange rather than black; This change was an Athenian invention that allowed for greater detail in the paintings. In Black Figure, the artisan paints the figures themselves, while in Red Figure, the artisan paints the background.

Oracle of Delphi

s the site of a temple to Apollo. Here, a female prophet with the help of male priests would answer questions regarding the future for a fee. The site, because of its reliability and accuracy, grew greatly in prominence throughout the Archaic Age, and became a famous oracle not only among the Greeks, but throughout the Mediterranean world.

Free standing sculptures like kouros are examples of _________, meaning they are fully carved in the front, sides, and back, and can be viewed from any angle.

sculpture in the round

Dionysos

sometimes counted among the Olympians and is another child, like Athena, born directly from Zeus. When his mortal mother dies, Zeus brings the fetus to term in his thigh. Dionysos is linked to wine and intoxication, ivy plants, and ecstatic celebration.

Theseus

son of Aegeus, one of the prehistoric kings of Athens; killed minotaur, regional hero of Attica; husband to Amazonian warrior Antigone

lithos

stone

agon / agonistic

struggle / competition

Epigraphy

study of inscriptions

Linear B

syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek; comes from the Mycenaeans on Crete around the final phase of Minoan civilization in 1400 B.C

The process by which scattered villages, a major city, and isolated farmers and herdsmen become an integrated and united polis is called ________.

synoikism; The prefix syn in Greek (and English) means "together" and an oikos is a "household," so "synoikism" literally means the joining together of households.

Provenance

term that refers to the record of ownership of an artifact that helps establish its authenticity

Dorians

the Dorians primarily are located in southern Greece, in the peninsula called the Peloponnesus; considered themselves to be Herakleidai

Ionians

the Greeks who eventually inhabit Athens and the west coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey)

refers to an area in the Middle East which includes the historic areas of Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria

the Levant

Positivism

the application of the scientific approach to the social world

haptics

touch

fall of Troy

1188 BC

year Arthur Evans began his work on Crete

1900

Eratosthenes lived in the city of Alexandria, Egypt around

200 B.C.

Which dates in Roman History does Polybios focus on in his work:

264-164 B.C.

Death of Aristotle

322 BC (end of Classical Age)

death of Alexander the Great

323 BC

Hippias of Elis attempted to establish a history of and chronology for the Olympic Games in:

400 BC

Another important opinion about the depiction of the gods in Homer and Hesiod, and the nature of the gods, is found in the fragments of Xenophanes. He was born in the Archaic Age (776 - 508 B.C.) but, according to his own poetry, he lived to his nineties and died in the Classical Age, sometime around ______ B.C. His poems are philosophical and treat a broad range of topics. His most famous fragments are the ones discussing the Greeks gods.

478 B.C.

Democracy is introduced in Athens by Cleisthenes in:

508 BC

The use of coins starts to spread among some Greek cities, starting in Ionia around

625 BC

Archilochos of Paros makes a reference to a solar eclipse which makes him the earliest Greek author to whom we can attach a specific date: __________ His works are not older than the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, but we do not have an exact date for these authors. This also makes him the earliest known author to use the new alphabet.

648 B.C.

The lyric poet Archilochos was composing his songs using the Greek alphabet when

648 BC

Hoplite tactics rose, a new type of warfare

650 B.C.

A new type of warfare called Hoplite tactics arise around when

650 BC

Thera (Santorini)

68 miles to the north of Crete, a volcanic island (part of the cyclades) that had an eruption that was one of the most powerful in history and was accompanied by one or two serious earthquakes that occurred around the same period of time and which also caused a great deal of damage; this was commonly cited as a major factor to explain the decline of the Minoan civilization

Hesiod's Theogony was composed around {during the Archaic Age (776 - 508 B.C.)}

700 B.C. {during the Archaic Age (776 - 508 B.C.)}

Rome was founded

753 B.C.

the earliest colony founded/ set up for trade

770 B.C.

The traditional date for the first Olympic Games

776 BC

900 - 700 B.C.

Geometric

hades

God of the underworld

Demeter

Goddess of agriculture

Altertumswissenschaft

"the science of antiquity"

Hekatomb

(n) a sacrifice to the ancient Greek and Roman gods consisting of 100 oxen or cattle

emporion

The term emporion, related to the English word "emporium," refers to a Greek city set up primarily for trade.

3500-2100 B.C.

Early Bronze Age

Hesiod

(c. 700 bc), Greek poet. One of the earliest known Greek poets, he wrote the Theogony (the birth of the Gods), a hexametric poem on the genealogies of the gods, and Works and Days, which gave moral and practical advice and was the chief model for later ancient didactic poetry.

What is the name of the sea in which the Cyclades are located.

Aegean Sea

When the Greek forces first assemble to discuss the problem of the plague, who suggests the Greeks sail home and consult a priest to learn why Apollo is angry?

Achilles

Kore / Korous

A kouros is a standing nude young man and the koure is a standing young woman whose body is draped in a thin cloak

absolute dating

A technique used to determine the actual age (or actually range of dates) when a fossil lived

name of the leader of the Greek expedition to Troy

Agamemnon

__________ was one of nine poets considered to be the best writers of lyrics in a list created during a later period, the Hellenistic Age (322 - 31 B.C.).

Anakreon

a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets; wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect (the same dialect used in Athens)

Anakreon

Xenophanes

Another important opinion about the depiction of the gods in Homer and Hesiod, and the nature of the gods, is found in the fragments of Xenophanes. He was born in the Archaic Age (776 - 508 B.C.) but, according to his own poetry, he lived to his nineties and died in the Classical Age, sometime around 478 B.C. His poems are philosophical and treat a broad range of topics. His most famous fragments are the ones below, discussing the Greeks gods.

Orientalizing

Another term applied to the changes in the art of this time is "Orientalizing." The term "orient" refers to the direction the sun rises, that is, the east or, in this case, a reference to the influence of the geographical region we call the Near East.

Hephaistos

Aphrodites husband; a son of Zeus and Hera. He appears at the end of Book One of the Iliad, pouring wine for a feast of the gods and trying to protect his mother from being beaten by his father. Hephaistos is the god of metal working, and he is able to create incredible works in metal, including robot-like creatures or Achilles's shield, both described in the Iliad.

ame of the god for whom Chryses is a priest

Apollo

Artemis

Apollo's sister; another virgin goddess. She is associated with hunting and, at the same time, protecting wild animals; for example, when Agamemnon kills a pregnant hare by accident before the Greek force sets sail for Troy, she punishes the whole Greek camp for his mistake.

Sub-Mycenaean

Archaeologists describe the pottery in this earliest part of the Dark Age (about 1125 B.C. to 1050 B.C.) as Sub-Mycenaean because there are elements of style and content that are recognizable as Mycenaean, but there is an obvious decline in the final product. For example, the paintings found on Sub-Mycenaean pottery are generally limited to simple patterns or shapes, and the vases are produced for general purposes, rather than in many specialized forms.

776 - 508 B.C.

Archaic Age

776- 508 BC

Archaic Age

During what time did the Greeks send out colonies across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, spreading their people, culture, and language along the entire coast of Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and the Black Sea.

Archaic Age

Formal athletic contests were developed for the first time in human history during the ________________, competitions that improved one's health and fostered a desire to be the best one can be. An important new method of warfare was invented, which is referred to today as "hoplite warfare."

Archaic Age

___________ is famous as a writer of iambic lyrics, full of sexual references, offensive humor, insulting language, and a disrespectful attitude toward everything that would normally be taken seriously in polite company.

Archilochos of Paros

What is the name of the region in which Lerna is located.

Argolid

Apollo

Artemis's brother; has a very broad range of influence in the world of mortals, being associated with music, youth, the sun's path through the sky, and plagues. Apollo is crucial to the action in the Iliad. The first reference to him in the Iliad depicts him answering the prayers of his priest to send mice into the Greek camp to spread disease among them.

Geometric Art

Between 900 and 700 B.C. the pottery of the Dark Age reaches its maturity and is called Geometric. As the Geometric style continues to develop, animals and people are depicted in addition to the geometric shapes and patterns. Human figures slowly started to be more common and eventually became the focus of the designs. A design on Geometric vases that was characteristic of the period is the meander, a continuous line in a repeated pattern.

The technique is called ___________ because the animals, objects and humans depicted are black against a red-orange background.

Black Figure technique

Pandora

As punishment for these rebellious acts, Zeus ordered the creation of Pandora (the first woman) as a means to deliver misfortune into the house of man, or as a way to cheat mankind of the company of the good spirits.

Proto-Geometric

As the Dark Age progressed, there was some degree of improvement in quality and design. Aarchaeologists call the vases produced between 1050 - 900 B.C. Proto-Geometric. The pottery was still decorated with simple geometric patterns as it was in the Sub-Mycenaean period, but there were three obvious advancements: a faster potter's wheel, the use of compasses to draw circles, and a finer glaze produced by a higher firing temperature.

To which mainland Greek city was Lefkandi closest?

Athens

Which writing system is used on the Phaistos Disk?

Cretan Hieroglypics

the "meter" of the Homeric songs, that is, the "measurement" of the rhythm; Every verse of these songs had to have somewhere between twelve and seventeen syllables, and had to conform to a rhythmic pattern

Dactylic hexameter

1188 - 776 B.C.

Dark Age

potential causes for the decline and fall of the Mycenaeans.

Dorian invasions; the fall of Troy; the Sea Peoples; a volcanic eruption in Iceland; famine in the Hittite Empire

What tribe considers themselves Herakleidai?

Dorians

Kronos

Earth (Gaea) bore Heaven (Uranus) twelve Titans and Kronos was the most clever, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lustful father

who compiled the best works of chronology in antiquity, including a list of Olympian victors

Eratosthenes

Fresco Painting

Fresco painting requires the artist to paint on a wall covered in wet lime plaster. Using this technique means that the colored pigments seep into the wet plaster and become protected from the fading and flaking that would occur if the paint were applied to a dry surface.

Herakles

Greatest Greek Hero; great great grandson of Perseus, served king Eurystheus for twelve years, completing twelve nearly impossible deeds or "labors"; slayed Hydra in Lerna

Apoikia

Greek colony

Which poet was an influence on Lucretius as a writer of didactic poetry?

Hesiod

Who attempted to establish a history of and chronology for the Olympic Games

Hippias

Pausanias Description of Greece c.A.D. 150 - A.D. 180

His work is valuable for its descriptions of ancient sites, buildings, and art works, their state of preservation in his own day, and an abundance of historical and mythological details associated with the places he visits. It is hard to characterize his work as any one genre, but it is often referred to as "travel literature."

Danae

Mother of Perseus

Where does Hesiod meet the Muses?

Mount Helicon

who were the first speakers of the Greek language

Mycenaeans

6500 B.C. - 3500 B.C.

Neolithic (part of Stone Age)

primary sources

Primary sources are those that come from the people and the time period being studied

In which century period was the Heroon at Lefkandi most likely constructed.

Protogeometric

________________ is carved out of the surrounding material, but is only partially raised above its background. This kind of sculpture became important in the triangular pediments supporting the roofs of temples during the Archaic Age.

Relief sculpture

1125 - 1050 B.C

Sub-Mycenaean

508 - 322 B.C.

The Classical Age

Dorian Invasion

The Dorian Greeks asserted that Herakles was their ancestor and that his sons had been forced to leave the Peloponnesos and had to go north. If we accept this myth as true, it would mean that the Dorian Greeks had settled in northwestern Greece (which is, in fact, one location where the Dorian dialect was spoken), but then returned at a certain point to reclaim their original homeland in the Peloponnesos, destroying the Mycenaean settlements. Since the Dorian dialect was also spoken in the Peloponnesos, this lends credence to this theory.

apoikia

The Greek word for colony is apoikia, which again uses the root oikos (household) together with apo which means "away" -- a colony, therefore is a "home away" from home.

here were twelve major changes, innovations, and improvements that transformed Greek culture and society permanently in the Archaic Age, starting in the eighth century:

The Invention of Athletics and the First Olympic Festival Renewed Contact with the Near East Orientalizing Art The Invention of the Greek Alphabet The Development of Lyric Poetry Increased Population The Development of the Polis (the city-state) Colonization of Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and the Black Sea The Development of Hoplite Warfare Stasis (Political strife within cities) The Rise of Tyrants Coinage of Precious Metals

what reason best explains why the Minoan cities did not have walls

The Minoans had a powerful naval empire.

Muses

The Muses provide inspiration for mankind and are the daughters of the king of the gods, Zeus, and Mnemosyne, who is the goddess of memory. Various sources discuss different numbers and names of the Muses, but often there are a total of nine: Calliope for epic poetry, Clio for history, Euterpe for flute-playing, Terpsichore for lyric poetry and dancing, Erato for lyric poetry, Melpomene for tragedy, Thalia for comedy, Polyhymnia for hymns, and Urania for astronomy.

1188 B.C.

The Mycenaean Greeks end coincides with the end of the Late Bronze Age around 1188 B.C.

1188 BC

The Mycenaean Greeks end coincides with the end of the Late Bronze Age around 1188 B.C. (around end of Trojan War)

Pylos

The Mycenaean palace at Pylos is especially useful for showing the influence of the Minoan architecture and the palace economy on the Mycenaeans. In the Iliad, this city is the home of Nestor, the old warrior and gifted speaker whose sons accompany him to Troy. Pylos is located on the southwestern coast the Argolid in the Peloponnesos.

Lefkandi

The most notable Dark Age site is Lefkandi, on the island of Euboea, off the east coast of mainland Greece, very close to the region of Attica, in which the city of Athens is located. Lefkandi is actually a group of scattered settlements and cemeteries including Xeropolis and Toumba. It is occupied starting in the Middle Bronze Age (around 2000 B.C.) and remained populated through the Late Bronze Age, with burials stopping in the various cemeteries around 825 B.C. Xeropolis was destroyed around750 B.C. The population was limited to a few hundred people, typical of the Dark Age, and located near an old Mycenaean settlement.

polis

The polis is an independent "city-state," but it is not a term that refers only to a major city or large town. Generally, a polis included one major town or city (like Athens or Sparta) and the surrounding countryside for tens of miles, including many small or medium sized villages.

papyrology

The study of papyrus

organization called a phalanx

The warriors were carefully arranged side by side in tight formation so that one warrior's shield was intended to partly protect himself and the warrior to his left. Every soldier, therefore, was dependent upon every other soldier to stay in formation.

radiocarbon dating

This method measures the amount of carbon 14 in living things and certain other materials -- but not, for example, stone, pottery, or metals.

Prometheus

Titan god of forethought and crafty counsel who was given the task of moulding mankind out of clay. His attempts to better the lives of his creation brought him into conflict with Zeus. Firstly he tricked the gods out of the best portion of the sacrificial feast, acquiring the meat for the feasting of man. Then, when Zeus withheld fire, he stole it from heaven and delivered it to mortal kind hidden inside a fennel-stalk.

Why does Chryses come to the Greek camp?

To request the return of his daughter Chryseis and offer a ransom to compensate the Greeks

Ilium

Troy is called "Ilium" as well as Troy

extant

When a source survives it is described as extant; "living"

Hera

Zeus's sister and wife; the goddess of childbirth and vengeance, and she is often striving to outwit her adulterous husband-brother

stasis

a Greek word that was used to describe the competition for dominance in a city, often violent, between aristocratic families, political parties, factions, classes of society, or individuals

Aeneas

a Trojan who is among the few survivors of his town after it is destroyed; he flees to Italy where his descendants go on to become the founders of Rome.

meander

a continuous line in a repeated pattern on geometric vases; decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif.

Phaistos Disk

a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the island of Crete; With its 242 mysterious symbols on both sides, archeologists believe that the Phaistos Disc depicts a Bronze Age writing system, one of the oldest in Europe. Furthermore, evidence that these symbols were stamped into the clay implies a highly developed writing system that was frequently used.

A hoplite warrior was....

a heavily armored soldier who carried a round hoplos, or shield, on his left arm and a long spear, about seven feet long, in his right arm. They also wore a heavy bronze breastplate, bronze greaves that protected their legs below the knee, and a helmet. The hoplites also usually had a short sword that could be used, if they broke or lost their spear, for stabbing or slashing their enemies.

Treasury of Atreus

a large tholos or beehive tomb, was the largest interior domed space in the world up to the 1st century B.C.; The stone lintel above the doorway weighs 120 tons; The Treasury of Atreus is named for the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus in the Iliad.

A peristyle, like the one at the Heroon at Lefkandi, is

a line of columns framing the outside of a building

faience

a material made out of crushed quartz that has been heated; it is somewhat similar to glass, but it can formed the way clay ceramics can and it is usually discussed as a type of pottery. It is not only found or produced in Egypt, but is called "Egyptian" faience to distinguish it from a much later kind of pottery that has none of the same material properties.

patronymic

a name derived from the name of a father or ancestor, typically by the addition of a prefix or suffix; (pater means "father" in Greek and Latin)

The Catalogue of Women c. 550 B.C.

a peculiar type of poem that is organized as a list; presents a group of women who had children with gods. Bits of the stories of these women, gods, and children are related, but just briefly; attributed to Hesiod

Ariadne

a princess from Crete and the daughter of Minos, who helps Theseus kill her half-brother, the Minotuar. Ariadne is soon abandoned by Theseus in spite of her aid.

Thetis

a sea nymph who plays a large part in the Iliad as the mother of the main character, Achilles. Thetis is a Nereid, one of the many nymphs who are daughters of the Old Man of the Sea, Nereus. She is never included among the Olympians, but she is so important in the Iliad, and mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony, so it is worth noting her in an introduction among the major divine figures of Greek myth.

Heroon

a shrine to a hero and the heroon of Lefkandi is the most important structure that has been excavated at the site

krater

a specific specific kind of vase used for mixing wine and water (which is how the Greeks generally drank their wine)

lyre

a stringed instrument somewhat like a harp but with a hollow body like an acoustic guitar

Proem

a term that refers to the opening lines of an epic

Sea peoples

accounts of a sea raiding, migratory people in Egyptian sources from the time of the Pharaohs Merenptah (c.1237 - 1226 B.C.) and Ramesses III (c.1198 - 1166 B.C.), as well as in Hittite texts and Ugarit writings in Syria. The Sea Peoples were associated with destruction and warfare taking place over the course of about fifty years, right at the end of the Late Bronze Age around 1188 B.C.

thermoluminescence dating

an absolute dating method that can be used on artifacts like pottery that have no living or organic materials

An "__________" is a battle scene in which the excellence of a particular warrior is emphasized.

aristeia

epos

authoritative; authority / author - epic

Athena

born directly from the head of Zeus; another lifelong virgin; Athena is concerned with war, technical ability (skills like weaving, in particular), and wisdom. She is perhaps the most important divinity because she is the constant protector and even advisor of the two major heroes in Homer's epics, Achilles and Odysseus. The city of Athens considers her their special, patron goddess.

fragment

can be a quotation of a work in another text, or even a summary of someone's words; or writings that have survived but are not complete

Palace Economy

centralized system of administration; What the palace collected was used by those who controlled it, traded, or redistributed back to the people if they were in need.

Tholos tomb

consists of a long entrance path into a high roofed and domed burial chamber, entirely constructed out of massive Cyclopean blocks. The term "tholos," meaning "beehive" in Greek, refers to the beehive shape of the tomb, created by corbel vaulting. The tholos tombs were buried in order to provide counter-pressure to hold the massive stones in place since the Mycenaeans did not use any kind of cement or other means of binding the stones together.

The __________ Black Figure pottery was often decorated merely with simple depictions of animals, whereas the ________ developed narrative scenes that showed daily life or episodes from myth.

corinthian, Athenians

moira

destiny, fate

Kamares Ware

distinctive type of Minoan pottery produced in Crete; features intricate geometric patterns and was produced at the very start of the Middle Bronze Age

mythos

dream; mythical words

Olympiad

each four year period between Olympic festivals

The individual descriptive phrases or adjectives applied to figures, like "swift-footed" Achilles, are called "____________."

epithets

arête

excellence

Poseidon

god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. Poseidon's anger towards Odysseus after he blinds his son, the Cyclops Polephemos, drives much of the plot of the Odyssey.

Mnemosyne

goddess of memory, one of the 12 Titans

Aphrodite

goddess of sexual love and was actually born before the rest of the Olympians. She is married to Hephaistos (see below), but also has an adulterous affair with Ares, the god of war and son of Zeus and Hera; this affair is recounted in the Odyssey. In one of the most memorable scenes in the Iliad, Aphrodite is physically wounded by the Greek warrior, Diomedes; most people would not expect the gods to be physically vulnerable, but for some reason, Aphrodite and her lover Ares are.

Cyclades

group of Greek islands, southeast of the mainland in the Aegean Sea

hoplite warfare

heavily armed ancient Greek foot soldier whose function was to fight in close formation

Cretan Hieroglyphics

hieroglyphic writing system used during the Minoan era; not yet decoded; found primarily on seal stones (small stones engraved with a design that is used to make a mark in a substance like beeswax), but also appears on clay tablets and other objects like axes.

Herakles

killed the eagle eating at Prometheus's liver; and freed the son of Iapetus from his cruel suffering, but not without the will of Olympian Zeus who reigns on high. Zeus let him free Prometheus so that the glory of Herakles the Theban-born might be even greater than it was before.

Pithos / Pithoi (plural)

large vases used to store food in the palaces on Crete

Lerna

located in Argolid, impressive fortification walls with towers and gates in a double ring around the buildings inside

logos

logical

Jason

the first man to sail a ship, the Argo. His quest is for the golden fleece which is located in Colchis, a city on the Black Sea. His tragic marriage to Medea, a princess from Colchis, will be mentioned again in Chapter Eight; like Ariadne, Medea helps Jason only to be later abandoned by him.

Zeus

the king of the gods and he is married to his sister, Hera. They are the children of Kronos

Odysseus

the last major figure from the Trojan War. He is the one responsible for the trick of the Trojan horse. His ten year attempt to return home, after the ten year war at Troy, is the subject of the Odyssey.

Olympian Gods

the most powerful gods who live on Mount Olympus in northern Greece

Attica

the region that includes the city of Athens) was among the largest poleis in land area, with around 1,000 square miles

paleography

the study of ancient handwriting

telos

truth; perfect manisfestation of something

kleos aphthiton

undying glory

iambic meter

used for sexually explicit, vulgar, irreverent, and insulting poetry

secondary sources

which are from a much later time period, and written by people who are not natives of the ancient culture being discussed; include modern textbooks or research articles

Is the Greek and English languages examples of Indo-European languages.

yes