HSC Classical Greek Continuers flashcards
HSC Classical Greek Continuers · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Genitive absolute
- A noun or pronoun plus participle both in the genitive, grammatically detached from the main clause. It expresses time, cause, condition, or concession and is translated as a subordinate clause.
- Articular infinitive
- An infinitive preceded by the neuter article (τό, τοῦ, τῷ), functioning as a noun. With a preposition it forms a clause, e.g. ἐν τῷ λέγειν means 'while speaking'.
- Indirect statement accusative
- Verbs of saying, thinking, or perceiving take an accusative subject with an infinitive. The negative is οὐ, and the infinitive's tense shows relative time.
- Historic present
- A present-tense verb used in past narrative for vividness. In English translation it is usually rendered as past tense unless the vivid effect is deliberately preserved.
- Tragic irony
- A situation where a character's words carry a meaning the audience understands but the speaker does not, often because the audience knows the myth.
- Stichomythia
- A rapid exchange of single lines between two characters, often in conflict. Antithesis between successive lines sharpens the dispute and reveals character.
- Ring composition
- A structure in which a unit opens and closes with the same element (A...B...A'). Identifying the outer repetition delimits the passage and highlights its centre.
- Messenger speech
- A report of offstage action, typically violence or battle. Its narrative technique, detail, and perspective shape how the audience evaluates the event.
- Gnome
- A short general maxim or sententia, often placed at the end of a speech or ode. It summarises the speaker's stance and invites the audience's assent.
- Dactylic hexameter
- The epic metre of six feet, each a dactyl (long-short-short) or spondee (long-long). The fifth foot is usually dactylic, and caesurae mark phrase boundaries.
- Iambic trimeter
- The dialogue metre of tragedy and comedy: three metra of iambic feet. Resolution (two shorts for one long) is common, especially in comedy.
- Tmesis
- The separation of a verb's prefix from its stem by other words, common in Homer (e.g. ἐκ... ἔδυ). Reunite prefix and verb before translating.
- Homeric simile
- An extended comparison introduced by ὡς ὅτε or οἷος, developed over several lines. It typically comments on the surrounding action and must be read as a unit.
- Elision
- Omission of a short final vowel before a word beginning with a vowel, marked by an apostrophe. Restore the vowel before parsing or translating verse.
- Crasis
- Contraction of a vowel or diphthong at the end of one word with the vowel at the start of the next, e.g. κἀγώ from καὶ ἐγώ. Resolve before parsing.
- Conditional εἰ + indicative
- Simple or factual condition: εἰ with indicative in the protasis, indicative in the apodosis. Translate 'if' with the appropriate English tense.
- Future less vivid
- Conditional with εἰ + optative in the protasis and ἄν + optative in the apodosis, expressing a remote future possibility ('if he were to...').
- Contrary to fact
- Conditional with εἰ + past indicative (imperfect or aorist) and ἄν + past indicative, expressing an unreal condition: 'if he had done..., he would have...'.
- Verbal adjective -τέος
- A verbal adjective ending in -τέος expressing passive obligation: λυτέος means 'must be loosed'. It is distinct from the -τός form meaning 'done' or 'able to be done'.
- Dative of agent
- With a perfect passive verb, the dative (or ὑπό + genitive) names the person by whom the action was done. Translate as 'by'.
- Accusative of respect
- An accusative naming the respect in which an adjective or verb applies, e.g. καλὸς τὸ σῶμα, 'beautiful in body'. Translate 'in respect of'.
- Verbs of fearing
- Φοβοῦμαι μή introduces 'I fear that...'; φοβοῦμαι μὴ οὐ introduces 'I fear that... not'. The construction uses subjunctive or optative.
- City Dionysia
- The major Athenian festival in spring at which tragedies and comedies were performed. A choregos financed each production, and the audience judged a competition.
- Choregos
- A wealthy Athenian citizen who financed the training and production of a chorus at a dramatic festival, a liturgy that brought prestige and civic obligation.
- Xenia
- The Greek institution of guest-host friendship, involving reciprocal obligations of hospitality and gift-exchange. Its violation drives plots in Homer and tragedy.
- Hubris and nemesis
- Ὕβρις is outrageous arrogance or transgression; νέμεσις is the divine retribution that follows. The pairing underpins the causation of many tragic plots.
- Herodotus
- Fifth-century BCE historian from Halicarnassus, author of the Histories on the Persian Wars. He combines ethnography, inquiry (ἱστορία), and explanation of cause (αἰτία).
- Thucydides
- Fifth-century BCE Athenian historian of the Peloponnesian War. He writes contemporary history, composes speeches, and analyses power and necessity.
- Hoplite phalanx
- The formation of heavily armed citizen infantry fighting in close order with spear and shield. It dominated Greek land warfare and shaped civic identity.
- Doric alpha
- The use of long ᾱ where Attic has η, characteristic of choral lyric and Doric dialect. Normalising it helps parsing of tragic odes.
- Oblique optative
- An optative replacing indicative or subjunctive in indirect discourse after a past main verb. It is translated as the original mood, not as a wish.
- Retained subjunctive
- A subjunctive kept unchanged in indirect discourse after a primary main verb, rather than shifted to optative. Translate according to the original clause type.