| city-state | a city that is an independent political state with it's own ruling government |
| Asia Minor | a peninsula in southwestern Asia; today most of this area is the country of Turkey |
| Tyranny | a type of government in which one person illegally seizes all power, usually ruling in a harsh and brutal way: a dictatorship |
| Aristocracy | the upper or noble class whose members' status is usually inherited |
| oligarchy | a government controlled by a small group of people made up of aristocratic and wealthy non-aristocratic families |
| democracy | in ancient Greece, a form of government in which the male citizens held ruling power and made decisions; in modern times, a form of government in which citizens choose the leaders by vote |
| monarchy | a government led by a king or a queen |
| assembly | a group of people; in ancient Greece, the assembly made laws |
| Citizen | a person who is legally recognized as a member or subject of a country or state |
| ostracize | in ancient Athens, to send a person away from the city; today, ostracize means to shun or ignore a person |
| Jury | a group of people who listen to information presented during a trial in a court and make decisions about whether someone is guilty or innocent |
| corruption | illegal or dishonest behavior, often by people in a position of power |
| rhetoric | the skill of using words effectively in speaking or writing |
| logic | the study of ways of thinking and making well-reasoned arguments |
| epic poem | a long poem that tells the story of a hero's adventures |
| barracks | building where soldiers live |
| aristocratic council | a group of people from the upper class or nobility who helped govern Sparta |
| landlocked | cut off from the seacoast; surrounded by land |
| phalanx | a group of soldiers who attack in close formation with their shields overlapping and spears pointed forward |
| emblem | a symbol |
| truce | an agreement to stop fighting |
| immortalize | to honor a person or event by creating an artistic or literary work, causing the person or event to be remembered forever |
| Priestess | a woman who has the training or authority to carry out certain religious ceremonies or rituals |
| rite | a ritual or ceremony |
| pass | a place in the mountain that is lower than the surrounding peaks and that people use a path through the mountains |
| evacuate | to leave a place in an organized way, in order to get away from danger |
