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| "The people" or the assembly of citizens in a polis, also collective population of a city, which governs itself (hence "demo-kratia" or government by the people). Appears in Homer and Bronze Age tablets, but becomes active political term in Archaic Greece. |
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| Greek word for 'justice', it can also indicate a trial, or the delivery of justice by other means (e.g. divine action). The word sometimes means a sense of justice as it governs human behavior, and can be represented by a personification (the divine figure of Justice) in art and poetry. This concept of justice is crucial to the dispute in the Iliad, as well as in the Oresteia (Eumenides); its opposite is adikia, or injustice. |
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| Term for king in Homer, and local chief in the Bronze Age, which survives in certain public offices (ie the archon basileus in Athens). Not a true monarch, but a term which describes kingly behavior and privileges in Homer. |
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| A "mistake" in Greek, used by Aristotle in his discussion of tragedy in the Poetics, to mean the kind of error made by a tragic figure that can lead to their reversal of fortune (peripeteia). Later understandings of this word turn it into "sin" or "tragic flaw," but the word originally did not carry these connotations. |
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| A foot soldier (infantryman) armed with full "panoply" (bronze shield, spears, sword and body armor of cuirasse, shin guards and helmet) in a Greek phalanx, or dense formation of soldiers shielding each other on the left while being shielded on the right. Illustrated on CHIGI VASE (p. 114-15), and proved victorious in several battles against the Persians. |
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| "Equality before the law," one of the central principles in Greek democracy as defined in the Persian debate (Herodotus 3.80). It expresses both "equal protection" by law for all citizens in a state ruled by the many (majority), as in Thucydides 2.37 and equal opportunity to speak in public (address assembly, or in court of law). |
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Homeric term for fame or glory, specifically the kind which accrues in public reputation and is celebrated in epic poetry. The goal of a hero, it can be denied one through an unheroic death, humiliation, failure in action, or lack of public acclaim for one's deeds (klea).
Can be associated with Achilles in the Iliad |
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| A "metoikos" was a foreigner and resident alien in Athens, usually someone who had settled there to conduct trade or a business. They paid an annual residence fee, often became quite wealthy, and contributed greatly to the manufacturing industries as craftsmen, shopkeepers, etc. Camp and Fisher pp. 124-125. |
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| Greek word translated as "fate" (from Latin fatum) but more properly a portion or distribution of one's life experiences, which involve the potential for choice and acceptance or avoidance. Related to words for sharing and portion. |
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| Government by "the few" (oligoi, the opposite of "oi polloi," the many), an elite form of rule usually in hands of aristocracy (literally "rule by the best"). Most Greek poleis, even when democratic, saw the few and the elite in power, and at times restricted power to them. Debated in Herodotus 3.80-89. |
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| This word means "dancing place" in Greek and refers to the flat performance area where the chorus "dances" in a Greek play. Eventually this becomes a round space paved in stone, as at Epidauros, but early Greek theaters had square, rectangular, or polygonal space as orchestra. |
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| The regular review and, if necessary, expulsion of citizens in Athens held once a year, to determine if anyone was in danger of becoming a tyrant. Held as a popular vote by the assembly, who scratched the name of their unfavorite citizen on a pot-sherd (ostrakon), it could lead to exile for 10 years. Camp and Fisher pp. 122-123 |
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| "Friend" or "dear one," this adjective describes close relations of family, friendship, and affection, but not romantic or erotic love. Used for relatives, close comrades, and eventually as prefix for philo-sophia (love of wisdom), etc. Homeric heroes describe their close friends and comrades this way, but also family, person. |
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| The unique institution of a Greek city state: originally describes an (acro)polis or fortified center, but comes to mean the community or even the constitution which governs it. An independent state, centered on a city, small in size but fully empowerd for its own governance and foreign relations. |
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| Name for teachers of rhetoric, often itinerant (traveling) from city to city offering their services in training speakers for public life and political careers (Woodruff, xv-xvi). Influenced the techniques of public speakers like Pericles, and the speeches in Thucydides, but acquired a negative reputation in Plato and on stage (parodied in Aristophanes' Clouds). |
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| Greek word for faction or political party within a polis, but more general for civil conflict or civil war that results from factionalism. Used by Thucydides to mean violent conflict within a polis (as in Corcyra: Book III. 81). |
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| Greek oared war-ship manned by 3 banks of rowers or ca. 200 men, capable of ramming other ships at considerable speed and carrying hoplites on board for close combat with enemy ships and their crews. Thucydides discusses early naval power in his Archaiologia (I.4-18), and Athens became Greece's foremost naval power after the battle of Salamis. |
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| Originally a non-Greek word for king, it is used at times to denote an individual who has seized power unconstitutionally, governs by force, and establishes a family dynasty in archaic Greek states. |
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| Greek custom of hospitality which prevailed in Homeric epic and prescribes treatment of guests and strangers, as well as reciprocal behavior and relations both past and future. Glaukos and Diomedes confirm their xenia relations in Iliad VI, and it continues to govern aristocratic and even interstate diplomatic relations in classical Greece. |
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| This term developed in early Greece to describe those who did not speak Greek and sounded like "barbar"- speakers (i.e. unintelligible to Greeks). It came to be associated with other qualities--different customs, costumes, ways of waging war and conducting affairs-- also un-Greek, and deemed as uncivilized as well. |
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