| A | B |
|---|
| Myths | Traditional stories about gods and heroes |
| Mt. Olympus | Highest mountain in Greece where the 12 most important gods and goddesses lived |
| Oracle | Sacred shrine where a priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess |
| Delphi | Most famous oracle at the Temple of Apollo |
| Epics | Long poems that told of heroic deeds |
| Homer | Poet; wrote the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" (epics based on war between Greece and city of Troy) |
| Aesop | Greek slave; author of famous fables where animals talk and act like people |
| Fable | Short tale that teaches a lesson; often funny and point out human flaws; ends with a moral (message) |
| Drama | Story told by actors who pretend to be characters in the story |
| Tragedy | Story where a person struggles to overcome difficulties but fails; has unhappy ending |
| Sophocles | A famous Greek general and writer of tragedies; placed painted scenery as a backdrop to the action; wrote "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone" |
| Euripides | Playwright who used down-to-earth characters and focused on real-life situations |
| Philosophy | Comes from Greek word for "love of wisdom" |
| Philosophers | People who believed that the human mind could understand everything; many were teachers |
| Pythagoras | Philosopher and mathematician; taught students that universe followed same laws that governed music and numbers; believed relationships could be expressed in numbers |
| Sophists | Professional traveling teachers; taught that students should work to improve themselves; rejected idea that gods influenced people; rejected absolute right and wrong |
| Socrates | A philosopher; criticized Sophists; believed in absolute truth; thought "real" knowledge was within each person |
| Socratic method | Pointed questions that force students to use reason and to see things for themselves |
| Plato | Student of Socrates; philosopher and teacher; wrote "The Republic" which outlined ideas about government/class division; believed in equality between men and women; established school called "The Academy" |
| Aristotle | Plato's most famous student; open school called "Lyceum";thought no one should do anything in excess; helped to advance science |
| Herodotus | Wrote "History of the Persian Wars"; often referred to as the "father of history"; tried to separate fact from legend; checked truthfulness of sources |
| Thucydides | Often considered the greatest historian of Ancient world; recorded Peloponnesian Wars; emphasized accurate facts in recounting events |
| Comedy | Story with a happy ending |
