This glossary is not exhaustive, but mostly covers common terms not explained in the text.
Acropolis Literally “city heights,” originally “high fortress.” The most famous being the Athenian Acropolis.
Adyton Inner sanctuary of a temple, access restricted
Aegis: goatskin cape with fringes, most often associated with Athena, of Libyan origin
Anasyrma: “skirt-lifter,” a name applied to Baubo, Aphrodite, and women who ward off attackers
Anodos: “rising up” from below the Earth, often used of Persephone or Semele
Antefix: stone or terracotta sculptures, usually of heads, attached to the edge of roof, especially on temples
Archaic: of an earlier time, from the root arkhē, “origin, beginning”
Apoiki Settlers of Hellenic colonies, literally “away from home”
Arrhephoroi: “dew-carriers,” short-term girl priestesses of Athena on the Acropolis
Arkhaios Neos: “old shrine,” name for the Late Archaic temple of Athena on the Acropolis, following the Hekatompedon, her first temple, and preceding the Parthenon
Asia Minor: Anatolia, modern Turkey and Armenia
Autochthonous “Of the same soil,” a Greek word for indigenous people
Bacchantes Another word for maenads, women who dance and drum to ecstasy, roaming the mountains under the influence of Dionysos / Bakkhos. (Much more on this in Vol. 2, Book 2)
Black-figure pots: an Archaic style of pottery, followed by Red-figure pots with some overlap.
“In black-figure vase painting, figural and ornamental motifs were applied with a slip that turned black during firing, while the background was left the color of the clay. Vase painters articulated individual forms by incising the slip or by adding white and purple enhancements (mixtures of pigment and clay). In contrast, the decorative motifs on red-figure vases remained the color of the clay; the background, filled in with a slip, turned black. Figures could be articulated with glaze lines or dilute washes of glaze applied with a brush. The red-figure technique was invented around 530 B.C.” More info here: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vase/hd_vase.htm
Booty: valuables looted from conquered city, including captives, especially women
Concubine A woman who is sexual chattel of a man, who may dispose of her as he wishes. Many concubines were enslaved captives, others women too poor for an arranged marriage, including divorced women.
Cosmogony: birth of the universe. Cosmology: stories about the nature of the universe
Cyclopean: Archaic type of masonry using massive irregular blocks, often polygonal.
Cyprus West Asian island with Cretan, Phoenician, Egyptian (and later, Hellenic) influences
Daedalic: refers to a sculptural style of the Archaic period, originating in Crete and strongly influenced by Egyptian and Phoenician art
Daimon Spirit, either a helping spirit or a force of Nature (not “demon”)
Danaides: name for Libyan women said to have come to Argos fleeing forced marriages.
Deme(s): political-territorial units in ancient Athens
Doera/doeros: “slave” in Mycenaean Greek
Doula/ doulos: “slave” in classical Greek
Drakaina She-dragon, especially at Delphi and the Kilikian Cave in Anatolia
Dryades (or Hamadryades) Tree nymphai with very long lives
Ehoiai Another name for the Gunaikôn Katálogos, “Catalog of Women, a poem about legendary heroines, attributed to Hesiod by some ancient authors
Electrum: alloy of gold and silver, or with platinum
Epic Cycle Ancient longpoems including the Iliad, Odyssey, Kypria, Aethiopis, Illupersis, and others, with spinoffs in later Greek literature and drama
Ethylene A sweet-smelling gas with psychoactive properties
Genome: DNA patterns, from genos, “clan,” which also yielded genealogy, progenitor, etc.
Gnostics Literally, “knowers.” A syncretic religious movement that had Christian, Jewish and Pagan manifestations, with heavy influence from Manichaean dualism
Hellenes: “sons of Hellen,” a word for Greeks (not a term they used) including Akhaians, Danaoi, Argeoi (Argives); Aeolians, Ionians, and Dorians. Greek colonists spread this culture to Anatolia, the Black Sea region, Libya, Cyprus, Italy and Sicily, even to the Mediterranean shores of Spain and France.
Herakles Also transliterated as Heracles, or Hercules in Latin
Heroōn (plural heroa) Shrine to a mythic or legendary hero, or heroine
Hittites An Indo-European people, very distantly related to the Greeks and more closely to the Luwians and Lykians. They built an empire in central Anatolia in the late bronze age, and influenced Greek culture through its western provinces.
Hydra Female water spirit with multiple serpentine heads, associated with the wells of Lerna and with Hera
Incubation Intentional act of of sleeping in a sanctuary seeking a divine inspiration or healing through dreaming.
Kalathos: a ceremonial basket, often carried in procession
Kernos (plural kernoi): a ceremonial vessel with multiple cuplets, going back to neolithic precedents
Kharitēs (often transliterated as Charites, from which our word “charity,” but pronounced with hard H.) The Graces, a group of goddesses associated with dance, music, and festival celebrations.
Kheiron (often transliterated as Chiron) A centaur who tutored many heroes
Khiton (chiton): tunic, usually a garment that reaches to the knees
Kosmos: Literally “order, arrangment.” Order of the universe.
Kosmetikē: arrangement, adornment, as by priestesses of goddess statues or xoana.
Kourotrophos: “child-nurturer,” title of goddesses, often sculptured with child in lap,
Krater A krater was a large two-handled vase used for mixing of wine with water. In the Geometric period, kraters were used for male burials, amphorai for female.
Kykeon: the ritual drink of the Eleusinian Mysteries, made of barley water with pennyroyal, a kind of mint
Kynopis: “dog-faced” or “dog-eyed,” “shame-faced,” an insult used in the Iliad and later literature
Kyrios Literally “lord,” a term also used for men who have power over their wives and children
Labrys (plural labrydes): Double axe, a motif most famously of Cretan temples, but also found in Anatolia
Lapith A Thessalian ethnicity, in northeastern Greece
Larnax (plural larnakes): ossuary, smaller than a coffin, often of painted terracotta
Lekythos: slim-necked offering vessel with handle, for pouring libation
Linear A: Cretan script; Linear B is a Greek adaptation to these characters
Locs: African-American term for hair twisted into locks
Lygos: vitex, an important herb in women’s medicine, for womb health; some goddesses were ritually wrapped in its twigs
Maenad Woman carried away by madness / mania, an ecstatic dancer who seeks out wilderness in company with other women.
Megaron: a large house (or sometimes an underground chamber)
Meliades Nymphai of the ash tree, daughters of Gaia
Metope: a square sculptured space in a Doric frieze
mtDNA: genome inherited only from mothers, by both daughters and sons; useful in determining ethnic patterns
Mural crown Goddess crowned with city walls, a trait of Tykhe as protector of cities, later assimilated to Kybele and other goddesses during the Hellenistic era.
Naiades Nymphai of freshwater springs and streams
Naos Shrine or sanctuary; also refers to framing of a portal to same.
Nereides Sea spirits, the company headed by the titanis Thetis. daughter of the titanes Nereus and Doris
Neolithic: term for societies with farming and ceramics, before metallurgy (bronze) was in use
Neteru (netyeru): Kemetic word for “deities,” “gods and goddesses”
Nymphē (singular); nymphai (plural): a word for indwelling divinities of Nature: springs, rivers, groves, mountains; also “nubile maiden.”
Olympians Classical Greek gods and goddesses, especially the descendants of Rhea and Kronos
Oracle: prophetic speaker, channel of divine inspiration, often located in a place of spiritual power, especially a sacred spring or cave. From Latin oraculum: “divine announcement, place where oracles are given,” from ōrare “to pray to, plead to, beseech”
Ordeal A ceremonial trial, usually by fire or water, including female ordeals to prove chastity, or fidelity to a husband. Also a rite of passage in some cases.
Oreades Nymphai of the mountains
“Orientalizing“: an outdated term for a period of Asiatic influences on Greek art: sculpture, ceramics, and metalwork
Orphic: a concept named for the legendary Thracian musician Orpheus; it came to denote a mystery religion that by late antiquity encompassed Neoplatonism and many other strands. Prestige attached to any text claiming to be “Orphic,” which made it seem old and authoritative.
Palladion: statue of Pallas made by Athena, which Zeus threw to Troy
Parthenos an unmarried woman, not necessarily “virgin” as in modern parlance.
Parthenogenesis: child conceived without a father
Pausanias: Roman-era traveller who documented temples, ceremonies, and associated mythic traditions, many of them with important local information not available in other surviving sources.
Peloponnese, “island of Pelops,” in fact a peninsula, the southern part of the Greek mainland, attached to Attika by a narrow land bridge.
Pediment: triangular space at the front of a Greek temple, above the entryway columns
Pharmakon: “medicine, potion, drug, enchantment, spell, gift, power.” Related to pharmakis, “witch.”
Phiale: shallow offering bowl for pouring libation
Phoenicians: ancient Lebanese
Phrygia a country in western Anatolian interior, whose people were closely related to Thracians (in Bulgaria)
Polos: a high cylindrical headdress, originating in western Asia, adopted into Archaic Greek art, especially depictions of goddesses.
Potnia: Very old Greek title meaning “Powerful (f.),” usually translated as “lady” or “mistress”
Presocratic: name for late Archaic philosophers whose approach was largely Nature-centered, including Thales, Parmenides, and Herakleitos
Protogenoi: progenitors, “first-born”; also Protogeneia, daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha, survivors of the flood sent by Zeus.
Proto-Indo-European (PIE): Language ancestral to Irish, Germanic, Slavic, Italic, Greek, Armenian, Hittite, Lykian, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi, and others in the Indo-European language family
Rhapsody “sewn together songs,” a mode of performance of multiple works in sequence
Satyr Mythical men with goat attributes, vry sexual, sometimes aggressively so
Silenus (plural Silenoi) A god of wine and inebriation; later men with animal attributes, including tails
Temenos “sanctuary, sacred precinct,” often unroofed; an open enclosure around an altar stone.
Temples are often named after their goddesses: Artemision, Heraion, Nymphaion
Theogony “birth of gods”
Titan / Titanis (plural Titanes, Titanides): the “old gods,” pre-Olympian deities of Nature
Tō Déo: “Goddess Pair,” a title for Demeter and Persephone using a special Greek dual plural. It is often translated as “The Two Ladies,” but this lacks the majesty of the divine Déo.
Troad The region around Troy / Wilusa in northwestern Anatolia (modern Turkey)
Typhon / Typhoeus A parthenogenetic child of Hera, often demonized, and eventually syncretized with the Egyptian god Seth
Tyrrhenoi / Tyrsenoi / Tyrrhenians: names for peoples in northwest Asia Minor, and for the Etruscans
Votive: an offering asking for help, sometimes associated with a vow promising such an offering
Xoanon (plural, xoana): plank goddess, wooden statue at least partly aniconic
Y-haplogroup: male-only genetic pattern useful in determining ethnic patterns
Index is coming, in future…
