Ancient Greek History

• In 490 BCE, the Persians invaded Athens but were defeated at Marathon by an army led by Miltiades.
• Hellenic history officially begins in 776, with the first Olympics (Olympiad). In the later 700s (eighth century), the Greek city-states began to found colonies.
• The Greek Alphabet includes Capitals such as Α Β Γ Δ Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω and Lower Case letters like α β γ δ ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ/ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω.
• Digamma: igamma or Wau (uppercase/lowercase Ϝ ϝ ς) was an old letter of the Greek alphabet used before the alphabet converted its classical standard form.
• Trapetrum is the term for a mill used to crush olives.
• Stadion is a term for 600 feet.
• Seisachtheia is a term instituted by Solon, meaning "shaking off of debts".
• Hybris is a term for brash pride in epics.
• Hetaera are foreign women, courtesans, enslaved women, and prostitutes.
• Hippocrates is a premier physician during the time of Pericles, to whom doctors today attribute the Hippocratic oath.
• Boustrophedon is a style of writing.
• Synoecism is the amalgamation of several city states.
• Metoikos/Metic is a term for a resident alien who does not have citizen rights.
• Klepsydra is the term for a water clock.
• Koine Greek is a Greek dialect spoken by the commoners.
• Koppa: Koppa or Qoppa (uppercase/lowercase Ϙ ϙ) was a letter of the Greek alphabet that was used in some Greek cities before the alphabet got its classic standard form.
• Minoans & Mycenaeans (Pre-Hellenic) were known for their double ax (labyrinth), paintings, bulls, and their main cities were Knossos, Phaestos, Kata Zakro, and Mallia.
• Mycenae was known for its Cyclopean masonry, a relieving triangle, and The Lion’s Gate.
• Sappho was referred to as the 'tenth muse'.
• Aeschylus lived from 525-456, was the earliest tragedian whose work survives, and wrote eighty to ninety plays, out of which seven survive: the Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Oresteia trilogy, The Suppliants, Prometheus Bound.
• Stesichorus was a lyric poet from Matauros in Italy and Himera in Sicily, living in the early sixth century, and is most famous for being struck blind for slandering Helen in one of his poems.
• The poem concerns Sappho's love of a girl at mere sight, while a young man beside her is unmoved by the same thing.
• Her poems are about love, and one of these poems was translated by Catullus in his poem 51.
• Simonides was a lyric and elegiac poet from Ceos, living from 556-468, and is most famous for his epigrams.
• Thespis is credited with inventing the play in the 530s at the Dionysia festival, adding an actor to the chorus, and is also said to have invented the mask.
• Sappho was a lyric poetess from Lesbos, living in the late-seventh century, a contemporary of Alcaeus, and went into exile in Sicily due to political troubles on Lesbos.
• Sophocles lived c 496-406/405, wrote over one hundred plays, placing first about 80% of the time, and second all the rest of the times, with seven of his tragedies and most of one satyr play extant.
• Semonides was an iambic and elegiac poet from Samos and Amorgos, living in the mid-seventh century, and only a few fragments of his poems survive.
• The Seven Sages were a group of seven men: statesmen, lawgivers, and philosophers, including Solon, Thales, and Pittacus.
• In Minoan & Mycenaean society, the wanax was the king, lawagetas was the general, koreter was the governor, prokoreter was the vice governor, and damokoros was the record keeper.
• The first Hellenic Olympic Games were held in 776, and in the later 700s (eight century), the Greek city-states began to found colonies.
• When a colony was founded, the oecist, the leader of the colonists, usually an outcast noble, took fire from the hearth of the mother-city (metropolis) and used it to start a fire in the new city’s hearth.
• Cypselus promoted colonization and trade in Corinth and was succeeded as Corinthian ruler by his son Periander circa 620.
• Sparta formed the Peloponnesian League, which it headed.
• Solon changed Athenian currency and the selection of public officers to lot and election, instead of just election.
• Around 650, Cypselus, whose name means “chest” (according to legend he was hidden in a chest or a jar as a child to escape the Bacchiads who had heard a prophecy that Cypselus would overthrow them), overthrew them and became tyrant.
• After Solon’s reforms, two political parties formed: the Plains, which opposed the democratic institutions of Solon, and the Coast, which liked them.
• The Spartan government was led by 5 ephors, who could exercise some control over the king, and 2 ephors had to accompany kings on campaign.
• In 632, Cylon attempted to establish tyranny in Athens, was besieged on the Acropolis, and killed by Megacles.
• Athens, later the second largest-city in the Greek world, was in a region called Attica.