World History: Ancient Greece

Ancient civilization that flourished 2,500 years ago on the shores of the Ionian and Aegean Seas (modern Greece and the west coast of Turkey).

Confederation of Greek city-states under the leadership of Athens.

Ceremonies in honour of the Greek deities Demeter, goddess of corn, and her daughter Persephone, queen of the underworld, celebrated in the precincts of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, in the territory of Athens.

The art of building that arose on the shores of the Aegean Sea and flourished in the ancient world.

Works of art produced in the Aegean basin, a center of artistic activity from very early times.

Held in honor of Zeus in the city of Olympia for four days every fourth summer, the Olympic games were the oldest and most prestigious of four great ancient Greek athletic festivals.

The earliest tragedies were part of the Attic religious festivals held in honor of the god Dionysus (5th cent. B.C.).

The Acropolis of Athens was a ceremonial site beginning in the Neolithic Period. The area was adorned during the time of Cimon and Pericles with some of the world's greatest architectural and sculptural monuments.

The site was first inhabited about 3000 BC with Athens (named after its patron goddess Athena) as the capital of a united Attica before 700 BC. MORE

It was the seat of the Delphic oracle, the most famous and most powerful of ancient Greece.

Ancient country, roughly equivalent to the modern region of Macedonia. In the history of Greek culture Macedon had its single significance in producing the conquerors and armies who created the Hellenistic empires and civilizations.

City of ancient Greece, capital of Laconia, on the Eurotas (Evrótas) River in the Peloponnesus.

Temple sacred to Athena, on the acropolis at Athens. Built under Pericles between 447 B.C. and 432 B.C., it is the culminating masterpiece of Greek architecture.

Term originating in ancient Greece to designate a government where the people share in directing the activities of the state, as distinct from governments controlled by a single class, select group, or autocrat.

[Gr.,=to reflect], philosophic position holding that the possibility of knowledge is limited either because of the limitations of the mind or because of the inaccessibility of its object.

School of philosophy which taught that only by putting aside passion, unjust thoughts, and indulgence and by performing duty with the right disposition can people attain true freedom and rule as lords over their own lives.

War fought 431-404 BC between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies, involving most of the Greek world from Asia Minor to Sicily and from Byzantium (present-day Istanbul, Turkey) to Crete.

The mythical Trojan War probably reflected a real war (c.1200 B.C.) between the invading Greeks and the people of Troas, possibly over control of trade through the Dardanelles.

Athenian statesman and general. Of the family of Alcmaeonidae, he was a ward of Pericles and was for many years a devoted attendant of Socrates.

King of Macedon, who conquered Greece (336), Egypt (331), and the Persian Empire (328), and founded Alexandria.

Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor. He is famous for his work in geometry (on the circle, sphere, cylinder, and parabola), physics, mechanics, and hydrostatics.

Greek playwright, Athenian comic poet, greatest of the ancient writers of comedy.

Greek philosopher, b. Stagira.He tutored Alexander the Great and founded the Peripatetic School.

Philosopher; particularly made his mark in the application of his theories of the universe to everyday morality and the simple goal of living a good life.

The Macedonian generals and administrators who succeeded Alexander the Great.

Greek philosopher; defined philosophy as the art of making life happy and strictly subordinated metaphysics to ethics, naming pleasure as the highest and only good.

Greek mathematician (fl. 300 B.C.) whose works, and the style in which they were presented, formed the basis for all mathematical thought and expression for the following 2,000 years (although they were not entirely without fault).

Greek tragic dramatist, ranking with Aeschylus and Sophocles. Born in Attica, he lived in Athens most of his life, though he spent much time on Salamis.

Called the Father of History. ?485-?425 BC, Greek historian, famous for his History dealing with the causes and events of the wars between the Greeks and the Persians (490-479).

Principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet. Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. MORE

Athenian statesman and leader of the popular party, who contributed greatly to Athens' political and cultural supremacy in Greece.

Greek philosopher. Plato's teachings have been among the most influential in the history of Western civilization.

A Greek late Classical sculptor from Athens, Praxiteles was the foremost representative of the Attic School in the middle years of the 4th century BC.

Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, founder of the Pythagorean school, best known for two teachings: the transmigration of souls and the theory that numbers constitute the true nature of things.

From The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English
Female poet who lived and wrote on the Aeolian island of Lesbos in the 7th century BC.

Greek philosopher of Athens. Famous for his view of philosophy as a pursuit proper and necessary to all intelligent men, he is one of the great examples of a man who lived by his principles even though they ultimately cost him his life.

Greek tragic dramatist, younger contemporary of Aeschylus and older contemporary of Euripides, b. Colonus, near Athens.

Greek historian, b. Athens. He was one of the well-to-do young disciples of Socrates before leaving Athens to join the Greek force (the Ten Thousand) that was in the service of Cyrus the Younger of Persia.