Humanities I: Chapter 4 Greece

Pericles

was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, he started an ambitious project that built most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon)

Tyre

was a strategic city coastal base on the Mediterranean Sea, The Macedonian army was unable to capture the city through conventional means because it was on an island and had walls right up to the sea. Alexander the Great ordered his engineers to build a causeway and once within reach of the city walls, he used the first siege towers from both the causeway and his ships to batter and finally breach the fortifications

Cycladic Civilization

a group of more than 100 islands in the Aegean Sea between mainland Greece and the island of Crete. They form a circular shape

Bard

a singer of songs about the deeds of heroes and the ways of the gods. Homer was most likely a bard.

Repousse

a technique in which the artist hammers out the design form the inside

Trireme

was a type of Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks, it derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar, in battle it was used as a guided missile

Pergamon

was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey which replaced Athens as the center of the Greek world, it was the pinical of Greek city planning, built into a mountain side with unparalleled Greek architecture, the sculpture from this city would become the standard that all Greek sculpture was to achieve

Hero of Alexandria

was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineer who was a resident of a Ptolemaic Egypt. He published a well recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile is considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition

The Theater

was probably the most important legacy the Greeks left to western culture, it affected literature dance story telling and any form of entertainment you can think of today

Archaiologia

Greek meaning "ancient" is the study of human activity in the past.

Akrotiri

Greeks called this citadel an acropolis meaning top of the city.

Minotaur

Half-man, half-bull. Who made his home at the heart of a maze near the king's palace.

Tholos

used as a tomb for Mycean Kings, also know as a Corbel Dome is a burial structure characterized by its false dome created by the superposition of successively smaller rings of mud bricks or, more often, stones

Ptolemy I

was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and then took the title of pharaoh, he made Alexandria the center of knowledge of the ancient world by building the Great Library of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria

was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt. Its purpose was to guide sailors into the harbour both night and day, with a height variously estimated at between 393 and 450 ft it was as tall or taller than the statue of Liberty, it was for many centuries among the tallest manmade structures on Earth and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Amphora

Greek jar with an egg-shaped body and two curved handles used for storing oil or wine embodies the concept of arete

Olympia

A plain in Greece, in the western Peloponnese. The place where the original Olympic Games were held.

The Iliad

Along with the "Odyssey", this epic poem is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, attributed to Homer, Set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states lead by King Agamemnon

Korai

An ancient Greek statue of a young woman, standing and clothed in long loose robes. Means Maiden

Mycenaean civilization

An early civilization of Greek speaking peoples who flourished during the period roughly between 1600 BC and 1100 BC, this ancient city-state was the basis for Homer's Iliad documenting the Trojan War and other texts steeped in Greek mythology

Cyclopean masonry

Building built from huge blocks of rough-hewn stone. It was believed by later Greeks that only a race of monsters known as the Cyclopes could have managed them.

Aegean Sea

In the Mediterranean, is filled with islands.

Feudal

Mycenaean culture was the forerunner of ancient Greek culture. A system of political organization held together by ties of allegiance between a lord and those who relied on him for protection.

Greece

The Age of Alexander

Lyric Poems

Sappho wrote lyric poems on themes of love and personal relationships, often with other women.

Sarisa

The spear the Macedonian phalanx used a which was a much longer and heavier spear which required the use of two hands

Philip II

This king modernized the Macedonian economy, improved the army, and concluded several marital alliances. He reorganized his kingdom subdued the Greek city-states, which never regained their independence again, he did this with one goal in mind, to defeat The Persian Empire

Polycrates

With a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant on his city state of Samos he built an aqueduct from a spring through a mountain by tunneling from both sides meeting in the middle under the mountain

Archaic style

art produced from 600 to 480 BCE. Sculptures realizing the human form more naturalistically.

Acropolis

at the center of Athens with the Partheonon, Erechtheion, and Propylaia.

Homer

author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey and other works. (His)epics stand at the beginning of the western canon of literature, exerting enormous influence on the history of fiction and literature in general

The Lion Gate

built within the citadel, the best known feature of Mycenae it was constructed in the form of a 'Relieving Triangle' in order to support the weight of the stones

Polis

city-state arose during the eighth century BCE, around the time of Homer. There were eventually as many as 1,500 Greek poleis scattered around the Mediterranean and Black Sea

Doric

classical order forms the basic temple form. Developed before 500 BCE characterized by its spiral scrolled capital, called a volute

Corinthian

classical orders from the basic temple. Distinguished by its capital's flowery burst of acanthus leaves, emerged in the last half of the fifth century. Corinthian flutes were deeper and separated by flat surfaces called fillets

Demes

common people

Formulaic epithets

descriptive phrases applied to a person or thing

The Delian League

founded in 477 BC,was an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to protect the Greek city states from Persia and other hostile invaders, a kind of ancient NATO, but was realy taken advantage of by the Athenians to create a defacto empire

Democracy

from the Greek demokratia, the rule of the people

Phalanx

is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, or similar weapons. The term is particularly (and originally) used to describe the use of this formation in Ancient Greek warfare

siege tower

is a specialized weapon, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification, it was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on top of it and shoot into the fortification

The Parthenon

is a temple in the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their protector. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. It is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments

Hellenism

is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and language following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon. The result was that elements of Greek origin combined in various forms and degrees with local elements

Corbel Arch

is constructed by offsetting successive courses of stone at the springline of the walls so that they project towards the archway's center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway

Buon fresco

pigment is mixed with water and then applied to a wall that has been coated with wet lime plaster. When it dries, the painting becomes a part of it. It is more durable than fresco secco

Library of Alexandria

seems to have been the largest and most significant collection of scrolls and information of the ancient world, It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship and ancient think tank

Epic conventions

standard ways of composing an epic that were followed for centuries to come

Odyssey

the fall of troy to the Greek army after the famous ruse of the trojan horse. The Iliad's sequel.

Hubris

the gods would protect the Greeks if they did not overstep their bounds and try to compete with the gods - the sin of hubris, or pride

Adyton

the innermost sanctuary housing the place where, in a temple with an oracle, the oracles' message was delivered

Delphi

the most famous oracle at the temple of Apollo

Pediment

triangular area over the porch created by the pitch of the roof

Alexander the Great

tutored by the famed philosopher Aristotle, was a king of Macedonia who by the age of thirty was the creator of one of the largest empires in ancient history, stretching from the Ionian sea to the Himalaya. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time

Epic

a long narrative poem about heroes and their deeds

Ionic

Classical order form the basic temple form. Developed before 500 BCE is more elongated than the Doric

Themistocles

He was an Athenian politician and a general who persuaded the people of Athens to invest in building a fleet of 200 triremes, in which (he) led the Greek allied navy to defeat the invading Persian Empire at the battle of Salamis

Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, King of the Mycenaean civilization who led the Greek armies aginst the Trojans in Homer's Iliad documenting the Trojan War

Kouros

male body celebrated in a widespread genre of sculpture. Means young man

Minoan Civilization

The first civilization in Europe; on the island of Crete and other islands in the Aegean Sea

Relieving triangle

a triangular opening above the lintel designed to relieve some of the weight the lintel has to bear.

Phoenicians

known for their mighty ships adorned with horses' heads in honor of their god of the sea Yamm. Island of Tyre and city of Sidon were the most powerful states in Phoenicia