HIST 2850 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Proskynesis, Medimnos, Seleucid Empire
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Important Terms and Names from the Textbook
Chapter 1 – Early Greece and the Bronze Age:
• Megaron – a large rectangular building that served as the focal point of Mycenaean palaces.
Its function as the “great hall” of the ruler continued into the reign of the Dark Age chiefs. In
the city-states the ancient megaron achieved immortality as the basic plan of the Greek
temple
• Tholos – a type of monumental above-ground stone tomb (shaped like a beehive) favored by
te elites of the Late Bronze Age. In the Classical period, circular structures, also called tholoi,
served as temples and public buildings
• Wanax – “lord,” or “master”; the title of the monarchial ruler of a Mycneaean kingdom/ in the
form anax it appears as the title of g-ds and high-ranking chiefs in Homer
Chapter 2 – The “Dark Age” of Greece and the Eighth-Century “Renaissance” (c.
1200-750/700 BC):
• Basileus – the term for the legitimate monarch, the “king”. In Mycenaean society, the title
pasireu denoted a village or district administrator; in the Dark Age basileis were the warrior
chiefs who ruled the villages and districts. The hierarchy of basileis was replaced in the
Archaic Age by oligarchies of landed aristocrats
• Demos – a territory and the people who live in it; thus, “the land” and “the people”. it occurs
in the Linear B tablets in the form damo, meaning, possibility, a village community and its free
inhabitants. Although always retaining its official meaning of “the (whole) people,” aristocrats
increasingly used it as an exclusive term for the “commoners,” or the “masses”
• Kleros – an allotment of farmland sufficient to support a citizen-family; it was passed on in
perpetuity in the male line. In oligarchic states, full citizenship was frequently tied to the
possession of a certain amount of land
• Oikos – “household”. The fundamental social and economic unit in Greek society,
comprehending the family group, its house, land, animals, and property, including slaves
• Xenia – a form of ritual friendship, whereby a “stranger” (xenos) entered into a hereditary
relationship of mutual friendship with a man from another demos, each obliged to offer
hospitality and aid when they visited each other’s community. A prominent feature of Homeric
society, xenia continued throughout antiquity, eventually becoming the more formal
diplomatic relationship to proxeny
Chapter 3 – Archaic Greece (c.750-700-480 BC):
• Agora – in Homer, the term for the “place of gathering,” the assembly of the people. in the
city-state period it denoted the public space of a city or town, being both the marketplace and
civic center. Lingering in the agora was the best way to inform oneself about public affairs,
make business contacts, and collect gossip
• Aristocracy – the term aristokratia (“power in he hands of the best men”) was coined,
probably in the fifth century, possibly to describe the rule of the elite in preference to the less
noble-sounding oligarchia. Aristocratic power and exclusiveness were strongest in the early
Archaic period and gruadually weakened as strong democratic sentiments emerged in the
city-states
• Ethnos – term for a group of people who shared a common identity and territory, but were
not politically united, preferring local self-government. From the fifth century BC on Greek
then acted as unified states by forming federations of local and regional segments of the
ethnos. By the fourth century, ethnic confederacies and leagues played a prominent role in
the geopolitics of Greece
• Hoplite – the heavily armored infantryman, named from his distinctive shield (hoplon).
Hoplites were the dominant military arm in Greece from the seventh century on, gradually
undergoing changes in weaponry and tactics. Beause Greek governments did not issue arms
to their soldiers, hoplites tended to come from the middle class, men able to afford armor and
swords
• Kore / kouros– “maiden”/ term for the life-size or larger marble Archaic statues of clothed
females, made as cult offerings of grave markers. The term kouros (“youth”) is used of the
corresponding nude male statues