| A | B |
|---|
| Crete | island SE of Greek mainland home to the Minoans |
| Mycenae | home to the Greek mainland people called Mycenaeans |
| Peloponnesus | land that was settled by the Dorians during the Dark Age |
| Agamemnon | Mycenaeans king during the Trojan War |
| Peninsula | a body of land with water on 3 sides |
| Colony | a settlement in a new territory that keeps close ties to its homeland |
| Polis | like a city-state a tiny independent country |
| Agroa | below acropolis is an open area for gatherings |
| Sparta | oligarchy government with focus on military |
| Athens | democratic government that had colonies |
| Solon | 594 B.C. canceled all the farmers debts and freed those who became slaves |
| Peisistratus | 560 B.C. divided large estates among poor farmers, also gave jobs to the poor |
| Cleisthenes | credited for making Athens a democracy |
| tyrant | someone who takes power by force and rules with total authority. |
| Oligarchy | a few people hold power |
| Democracy | all citizens share in running the government |
| Helot | Spartan captive workers |
| Persia | large empire from SW Iran who fought the Greeks |
| Marathon | 490 B.C. a Persian fleet of 20,000 were defeated by Athenians |
| Thermopylae | had a narrow pass that was easy for the Greeks to defend against the Persians |
| Salamis | Greek fleet attacked the Persians almost destoying the Persians entire fleet |
| Plataea | turning point of the war where Greek crushed the Persians |
| Cyrus the Great | 539 B.C. Persian king who united Persia |
| Darius | 521 B.C. Persian king who reorganized Persian government |
| Xerxes | 486 B.C. Persian king who was the son of Darius who vowed revenge against the Greeks |
| Themistocles | Athenian general, who came up with a plan to cut off Persian supplies |
| satrapies | Persian empire provinces |
| satrap | ruler of Persian provinces |
| Zoroastrianism | Persian religion believed in one god |
| Delos | island where the Delian League started |
| Pericles | great Athenian general who helped Athens dominate the Delian League |
| Aspasia | she was not native Athenian, well educated public speaker influential in politics |
| direct democracy | people gather at mass meetings to decide on government matters |
| representative democracy | citizens choose a smaller group to make laws and governmental decisions on their behalf |
| philosopher | thinkiers who ponder questions about life |
