| A | B |
|---|
| peninsula | an area of land nearly surrounded by water |
| harbor | a sheltered place along a coast with deep water close to shore |
| isthmus | a small strip of land connecting larger land areas |
| Peloponnesus | a peninsula making up the southern part of Greece |
| Phoenicia | trading partners with the Greeks |
| peasant | poor farmers ruled by warrior kings |
| cultural borrowing | the process by which a culture takes ideas from other cultures |
| bard | professional storytellers that traveled place to place |
| legend | stories handed down from an earlier time that explain the past |
| epic | long poems that would later be written down |
| myth | a story about how the actions of gods and goddesses affected the lives of people |
| mythology | a collection of myths passed down from generation to generation |
| The Greek Dark Age | an uncertain time in Greek history when Greeks abandoned their palaces and cities, trade stopped, and poverty set in |
| Homer | A greek bard who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey |
| Minoans | One of the earliest civilizations in Greece located on Crete |
| Mycenaeans | warlike people named after the city of Mycenae located on Peloponnesus who conquered the Minoans and borrowed many of their cultural ideas |
| Iliad | epic written by Homer that described the attack on Troy |
| Odyssey | epic written by Homer that tells of the famous deeds of the Greek Hero Odysseus |
| Polis | a Greek city state; connected a city and the farms, towns, and villages around it |
| Acropolis | a fort at the base of a large hill where most city-states were started |
| nationalism | a devotion or feeling of loyalty and pride towards one's nation; patriotism |
| agora | an open air market where people gathered to trade and discuss the news of the day in Greek city-states |
| oligarchy | a form of government which is rule by a few ( small group of the wealthy ruling class) |
| tyrant | a person who takes control of a government by force |
| democracy | rule by the people |
| commerce | large scale trade |
| colony | a new settlement separated from but ruled by a homeland; a Greek independent city-state tied to the homeland through religion and trade |
| Hesiod | writer of the myths and legends that had long been told in Greek mythology |
