WACE Ancient History flashcards

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

Primary source

Material, written or environmental evidence produced within the period under study, such as inscriptions, coins, papyri or excavated buildings, offering direct but partial access to the past.

Stratigraphy

The principle that in undisturbed deposits lower layers are older than upper ones, allowing archaeologists to establish relative sequences and date associated finds.

Corroboration

Confirming a historical claim by showing that independent sources of different types agree, which raises confidence; a single unsupported source remains provisional.

Thucydidean speeches

Composed speeches in Thucydides' history that he states approximate what was needed, revealing authorial interpretation rather than recording verbatim words.

Seriation

A relative dating method ordering artefacts, especially pottery styles, into a sequence of change so that contexts can be placed in time without absolute dates.

Athenian Boule

Council of 500 citizens, fifty from each tribe, chosen by lot annually to prepare the assembly's agenda and oversee administration and foreign affairs.

Ostracism

Athenian procedure in which a quorum of 6,000 voters could exile a named citizen for ten years without confiscating property or removing civic rights.

Spartan ephors

Five annually elected Spartan magistrates who supervised the kings, controlled foreign policy and could prosecute, providing a check on royal authority.

Roman tribune of the plebs

Plebeian magistrate whose person was sacrosanct and who could veto acts of other magistrates, protecting plebeian interests within the Republican constitution.

Imperium

Roman grant of military and judicial authority held by consuls and praetors, later by emperors, distinguishing holders from lesser magistrates.

Hellenistic ruler cult

Divine honours offered to kings such as Alexander's successors, fusing religious worship with political loyalty and legitimating dynastic power in Greek cities.

Euthynai

Athenian audit of outgoing magistrates, in which accounts were examined and charges could be brought, enforcing accountability in democratic office-holding.

Liturgy

Compulsory public expenditure by wealthy Athenians, such as financing a trireme or dramatic chorus, converting elite wealth into civic obligation and prestige.

Metic

Resident foreigner in Athens, legally free but without citizenship, paying a poll tax and requiring a citizen sponsor to represent them in law.

Helotage

Spartan system binding conquered Messenians as dependent agricultural labourers, distinct from chattel slaves because helots retained family and community structures.

Kyrios

Male guardian who represented an Athenian woman in legal and property transactions, limiting her independent economic and civic capacity.

Redistributive economy

Economic system in which surplus flows to a palace or temple centre and is reallocated, as in Mycenaean and Near Eastern administrations, rather than exchanged through markets.

Cleruchy

Athenian settlement of citizens on confiscated allied land, retaining Athenian citizenship and serving as a garrison and instrument of imperial control.

Delian League

Alliance founded in 478 BC against Persia, financed by tribute and ships; Athens converted it into an empire, preventing secession by force.

Battle of Salamis

Naval victory in 480 BC in which the allied Greek fleet destroyed the Persian navy in narrow waters, halting Xerxes' invasion of Greece.

Aegospotami

Spartan naval victory of 405 BC that destroyed the Athenian fleet and forced Athens' surrender in 404, ending the Peloponnesian War.

Battle of Gaugamela

331 BC victory of Alexander over Darius III in Mesopotamia, decisive for the fall of the Achaemenid empire and the opening of the east.

Social War

Conflict of 91-88 BC in which Rome's Italian allies rebelled over citizenship; Rome's grants of citizenship ended the revolt and reshaped Italian status.

Trireme

Ancient warship rowed by roughly 200 men, dependent on citizen or allied crews and on state finance, making naval power both costly and socially broad.

Pax deorum

Roman doctrine of peace with the gods, maintained by correct ritual and augury; failure in ritual was thought to threaten the state's prosperity.

Eleusinian Mysteries

Secret initiation cult of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis offering initiates a changed status in life and hoped-for better afterlife.

Delphic oracle

Oracular sanctuary of Apollo where a priestess delivered responses, typically ambiguous and used to authorise decisions rather than predict outcomes.

Animal sacrifice

Central Greek ritual in which an animal was killed and divided, portions burnt for the god and meat shared, expressing hierarchy and community.

Autochthony

Claim to indigenous origin from the soil, used at Athens to assert collective identity, equality among citizens and superiority over immigrant populations.

Source reliability

Assessment of evidence by composition date, author's access and purpose, genre conventions and corroboration, producing a calibrated judgement about what it can establish.

Genre convention

Expected features of a text type, such as invective in biography or flattery in panegyric, which shape content and must be allowed for in evaluation.

Argument from silence

Inference drawn from a source's failure to mention something; it is weak unless the source would have been expected to record it.