Achaean Confederacy
Federal organization developed by the twelve Achaean cities united in cult of Zeus. First mentioned in 453 bc as Athenian allies, Achaea's independence was guaranteed in 446 (Thirty Years Peace). In ...
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. On his return home from Troy he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her ...
Ahhiyawa
Country attested in the Hattuša archives (alternative and older spelling, Ahhiya) as a foreign land, often associated with Arzawa, i.e. western Anatolia. References mention kings, persons, ships, and ...
Alexander I
‘the Philhellene’, king of Macedon c. 498–454 bc. Subject to Persia from 492 and related by marriage to the Persian noble Bubares, he used his influence to extend his territory ...
amber
A fossil resin found most extensively in East Prussia on the shores of the Baltic Sea, it was often fashioned into beads and ornaments and used for the decoration of furniture. Medieval writers ...
Amphitryon
Son of Alcaeus king of Tiryns. He and his fiancée Alcmene (daughter of Electryon king of Mycenae) were forced to flee to Thebes (1) after he had accidentally killed Electryon. ...
archaeology, classical
The study of the material culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Epigraphy, the study of inscriptions on permanent materials, is today seen as a branch of historical rather than of archaeological ...
architecture
The term given to an organization's information technology platform, structure and process but increasingly used as a way of explaining complex marketing concepts and functions, for example ‘brand ...
Argos
A city in the NE Peloponnese of Greece. One of the oldest cities of ancient Greece, it dominated the Peloponnese and the western Aegean in the 7th century bc. Argive, a citizen of Argos, is used ...
Argos, Cults
The main cult of the polis of Argos (2) was that of Hera (already ‘Argive’ in Homer, Iliad 4. 8=5.908), based c. 10 km. (6 mi.) north-east of the city ...
arms and armour
Personal weapons and protective clothing used in combat or for ceremonial purposes, regarded as objects of beauty as well as of practical use. In Europe armourers have invariably been workers in ...
art, funerary, Greek
Archaic period(c.700–c.480). The period's chief innovations were the funerary statue and carved gravestone. Kouroi (standing, usually nude, youths) marked graves on Thera by c.630. Funerary korai ...
Artemis
In Greek mythology, a goddess, daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo. She was a huntress and is typically depicted with a bow and arrows, and was also identified with Selene, goddess of the moon; her ...
Athena
In Iliad 5 Homer describes how Athena took off the finely wrought robe ‘which she herself had made and worked at with her own hands’ and ‘armed herself for grievous war’. This incident encapsulates ...
Athens
The capital of Greece, originally a flourishing city state of ancient Greece, which was an important cultural centre in the 5th century bc.Athens of America Boston.Athens of the North Edinburgh.
battle of Thermopylae
In the pass between the mountains and the sea (see preceding entry) 6,000–7,000 Greeks, led by Leonidas king of Sparta, attempted to hold the invading Persians, probably in August 480 bc. See persian ...
botany
The scientific study of plants, including their anatomy, morphology, physiology, biochemistry, taxonomy, cytology, genetics, ecology, evolution, and geographical distribution.
Canaanite mythology
The middle of the second millennium had seen the flourishing of major Canaanite centers along the Mediterranean coast, centers roughly contemporaneous with those of the Mycenaeans in Greece. Some of ...
chariot
[Ar]A light two‐wheeled war vehicle usually carrying a warrior and a driver pulled by horses. Clumsy four‐wheel prototypes drawn by four asses can be seen in the Uruk Period of Mesopotamia and are ...
