1. Greece Vocabulary #1
Minoans- 1st Greeks, lived on Crete, trade
economy & wrote in Linear B
King Minos-King of Minoans
Had a palace at Knossos

2. • Colonies-Greece creates colonies because of a
lack of fertile land
• Frescoes-paintings on wet plaster
• Knossos Palace-built on a hill, had
running water, on island of Crete
• Bull Jumping-Athletic/Religious ritual of
Minoan Men

3. • Mycenaeans-main land Greece, warlike
people, tribe-chief : clan-warrior
• Balkan Peninsula-Greece resides on Balkan
Peninsula – includes Peloponnesus
• Peloponnesus Peninsula-hand like, lower part
of Greece – a Spartan Polis
• Polis-city-state, fort+city+lands+small farms
surrounding it
• Agora – market &meeting place
• Acropolis-hill on Greek polis. Fort+Temples at
top

4. • Terracing-cutting layers into hills to create
farmland
• Monarchy-ruled by one
leader like a king or queen
• Aristocracy-ruled by “the best” or nobles
• Oligarchy-ruled by the few
• Tyranny-ruled by a leader who illegally takes
power
• Democracy-ruled by the people
Athens stages = MAOTD

5. • Draco-harsh laws
“Draconian Laws”
Solon-no slavery for debt,
-jury of peers
• Cleisthenes-reforms Athens to gain more power
-made Athens more democratic
• Helots-peasants/slaves in Sparta-forced to
Stay on land and work
• Hoplites-standing armies that could afford
their own weapons, foot soldier

6. • Myths-stories w/gods to help explain nature,
human condition, unexplained
• Oracles-ways in which gods converse with
humans
• Zeus- King of the gods-father
• Hera-Queen of the gods-mother

7. • Athena-goddess of war – Athens
• Artemis-goddess of hunting, moon
• Apollo-god of music, poetry and light
• Aphrodite-goddess of love

8. Homer-blind poet, 700s bce, 2 epics Iliad & Odyssey
Iliad-Trojan war horse – Myceneans vs. Trojans
Odyssey-Adventure of Odysseus to get home to wife
Persian Wars – Persians vs. (Athens & Sparta)-Greeks
win
• Phalanx-Soldiers standing side by side w/ spear & shield
– most powerful fighting formation in Ancient wars
• Battle of Marathon-Greeks vs. Persians, Greeks win
battle, Pheidippides runs 26 mi. from Marathon to
Athens to tell news, Greece victorious – defend Athens:
this battle gives Greeks hope of beating Persians
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9. • Battle of Thermopylae-300 Spartans vs. Persians
• Battle of Salamis-Persian ships had difficulty in the
straits – Greeks defend the strait w/ships with
battering rams-Greeks attacked and sank 1/3 Persian
ships
• Peloponnesian War-Sparta vs. Athens – Sparta wins
• Delian League-Created by Athens - small city-states
• Peloponnesian League-Sparta leads w/ small city
states
• Pericles-great leader of Athens during Golden Agedied of the plague in Athens during the
Peloponnesian War
• Golden Age – Great time of achievement & prosperity-Arts
& Science

10. Greece Vocab #2
Columns
• Doric
Ionic
Corinthian

11. • Parthenon-temple built on acropolis to honor
Athena-built by Pericles w/Delian league $
• Phidias-sculptor - built statue of
Athena, Zeus @temple of Olympia

12. Philosophy
• Socrates-Socratic methodquestion everything-do what is right and consequences
shouldn’t matter, put to death for corrupting youth
& going against gods, drinking Hemlock
• Plato-(student of Socrates) wrote down his teachings
The Republic-describes a perfect society, founds the
Acadamy
• Aristotle-taught Alexander the Great, wrote Ethics &
Poetics, starts his own school in Athens, categorizes
things in science

13. Math
• Pathagoras - Pathagorean Theroum A2+B2=C2
• Euclid-Father of Geometry, Elements-earliest
known discussion of geometry
Science
• Archimedes-Calculate Pi, Water Screw (pump)
used in irrigation, compound pulley
• Hippocrates-Father of Medical Science –
Hippocratic Oath-rules and practices doctors
should follow

14. History
• Herodotus – Father of History, traveled and
wrote first hand accounts Primary vs.
Secondary
• Thucydides – writes “History of
Peloponnesian War”-believes in circular
history

15. Drama
• Aeschyclus-Tragedies (80+ plays) Oresteiaabout Agamemnon’s family during Trojan war
• Sophocles – Oedipus Rex (the King) – tragedy
Considered the most influential writers in
Greece.
• Euripides tragedy – writes Trojan Women
about heroes in a realistic way; shows ugly
side of war.
Medea about revenge

16. • Phillip II of Macedon-held captive in Thebes, goes
back home. Takes over Greece except Sparta.
• Alexander the Great – Phillip’s son – takes over &
increases empire to Indus River – spreads Hellenism
• Hellenism- Greek + Asian culture – spread
throughout Alexander’s Empire