HSC Classical Greek Extension flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Genitive absolute

A genitive noun or pronoun plus a genitive participle that stands outside the main clause's grammar and gives attendant circumstance, usually translated 'when', 'while', or 'since'.

Accusative and infinitive

Construction after verbs of saying, thinking, or perceiving, where the subject of the infinitive stands in the accusative and the infinitive's tense marks relative time.

Indirect question mood

After a primary main verb the indirect question keeps the indicative; after a past main verb it usually shifts to the optative, though the indicative can be retained for vividness.

Men...de contrast

A paired particle construction: men introduces the first item and de the contrasting second, translated 'on the one hand... on the other', never as a temporal 'when'.

Middle voice meaning

The middle typically marks the subject as acting on or for itself, or as personally interested in the action; deponent verbs use middle/passive forms with active meaning.

Article as substantiviser

The article with an adjective or participle turns it into a noun phrase, for example ho sophos 'the wise man' or hoi parontes 'those present'.

Dactylic hexameter

Epic metre of six feet, each a dactyl (long-short-short) or spondee (long-long); the fifth foot is normally a dactyl and the sixth a spondee.

Iambic trimeter

Tragic spoken metre of three metra of x - u -; the final foot is usually a spondee, and resolution can replace one long with two shorts.

Elision in verse

A short final vowel is dropped before a following vowel, marked by an apostrophe; deliberate absence of elision (hiatus) can signal emphasis or a pause.

Hyperbaton

The separation of words that syntactically belong together, such as an adjective from its noun; it is a deliberate stylistic signal and should be preserved in translation.

Enclitic accent shift

Enclitics such as tis, ge, pote, and pou throw their accent back onto the preceding word, which affects word division and distinguishes indefinite tis from interrogative tis.

Homeric simile

An extended comparison introduced by hōs or hōsper, developed over several lines, and closed by a houtōs clause returning to the narrative situation.

Athematic aorists

Verbs like tithēmi, histēmi, and didōmi form aorists without the thematic vowel: ethēka, estēn, edōka; these must be recognised by stem, not by regular endings.

Lyric dialect forms

Choral odes mix Doric and Aeolic features, such as -oisi for -ois and alpha where Attic has eta; recognising them prevents mistaking dialect for textual corruption.

Ring composition

A structure in which a topic is opened, developed, and closed by returning to the opening phrase or idea; it marks units of narrative rather than mere repetition.

Stichomythia

A line-for-line exchange in tragedy that sharpens conflict; analysis should note who speaks first, how the exchange escalates, and who gains the advantage.

Messenger speech

A tragic convention reporting offstage violence; its rhetorical structure, vivid narrative, embedded direct speech, and reaction of the chorus are the objects of analysis.

Programmatic preface

A historiographical opening that states the subject, method, and purpose of the work; it reveals authorial stance and should be quoted when discussing technique.

Enjambment and caesura

Enjambment runs a sentence past the line end; caesura is a word break within a foot. Words placed at these points are often emphatic and control pace.

Formulaic epithet

A fixed noun-adjective phrase recurring in epic to fill a metrical slot; its repetition is a compositional technique, not a failure of originality.

Timē and kleos

Timē is honour or the value one is owed; kleos is the fame that survives death. Heroes typically trade a long life for kleos, and insults to timē drive plots.

Hubris and atē

Hubris is outrageous arrogance against gods or others; it is followed by atē, a blindness or ruin sent as consequence, and often by nemesis, retribution.

Oikos versus polis

The tension between the household (oikos) and the city (polis) structures much tragedy; analysis asks which loyalty a character chooses and what it costs.

Moira and responsibility

Moira is fate or allotted portion. Characters act with apparent freedom yet fulfil prophecy, so discussion should hold fate and human agency together rather than choosing one.

Supplication obligation

Hikesia, the ritual plea for protection, creates binding obligations on the recipient; reception or rejection of a suppliant is a value-laden turning point in the plot.

Charis and reciprocity

Charis is a favour or gift that creates a debt of gratitude; the obligation to repay governs guest-friendship and alliances, and refusal is treated as a moral failure.

Athenian democratic organs

The ekklēsia (Assembly) decided policy, the boule of 500 prepared business, and dikastēria (jury courts) tried cases; jury pay was introduced in the 450s.

Persian Wars dates

Marathon was fought in 490, Salamis in 480, and Plataea in 479 BCE; these dates anchor references in tragedy and in Herodotean narrative.

Peloponnesian War events

The war ran 431 to 404 BCE; key reference points include the plague at Athens in 430, the Sicilian Expedition of 415 to 413, and Athens' defeat in 404.

City Dionysia festival

Athenian tragedy was performed at the City Dionysia in a tetralogy of three tragedies and a satyr play, funded by a choregos through the liturgy system.

Metics and slavery

Metics were resident foreigners who paid a tax and lacked citizenship; enslaved people formed the labour base of the economy, and women's legal acts passed through a kyrios.

Hoplite warfare

Infantry fought in the phalanx with shield and spear; naval power, based on the trireme and tribute from allied states, underpinned the Athenian empire.