OCR GCSE Ancient History key terms

An enslaved population under Spartan control. Thucydides explains that most of the helots involved in the revolt at Ithome descended from conquered Messenians.

An official messenger sent by a ruler or state, often to deliver demands or conduct diplomatic business.

An ancient Greek historian who wrote the Histories in the fifth century BC, investigating the conflict between Greeks and Persians and the events leading to it.

A female companion or courtesan in ancient Greece; plural hetairai. Such women could offer intellectual conversation and artistic accomplishments as well as sexual companionship.

The agricultural territory surrounding and supporting a city, including the land that supplies its food.

An explanation of a past event developed by weighing evidence; different interpretations may give different weight to particular accounts or circumstances.

The wider importance of an event, including how it influenced later developments.

The writing of history, including how historians select, organise and interpret evidence.

A heavily armed Greek infantry soldier who fought on foot, usually in a close formation.

People handed over as a guarantee that a state will honour an agreement.

Elite Macedonian infantry, also called shield-bearers, who were more mobile than the sarissa-bearing phalanx.

The peninsula containing modern Spain and Portugal, where Carthage developed territories and military resources before the Second Punic War.

The images and symbols used on an object to communicate identities, beliefs or claims.

Presenting someone with enhanced or perfect qualities rather than necessarily showing their ordinary appearance or behaviour.

A portrayal that emphasises how people or institutions ought to behave rather than recording the full variety of actual experiences.

An elite Persian infantry force described as numbering 10,000 men.

A Latin title meaning ‘commander’, used as an acclamation recognising a victorious Roman commander.

The extension of a state's power over additional territories and peoples, through conquest or other forms of control.

The authority of a Roman magistrate to command, including command of an army.

A payment imposed on a defeated state as part of a peace settlement.

Soldiers who fight on foot.

A conclusion drawn by reasoning from evidence, rather than something directly stated or demonstrated by that evidence.

Words written or carved on an object, including names, titles, dedications and commemorative claims.

A modern collection of ancient Greek inscriptions. The prescribed passage from Volume I, number 46 concerns offerings required from the colony at Brea.

An additional month inserted into a calendar to bring its lunar months into alignment with the solar year.

Intervention by an office-holder to prevent another office-holder’s action.

A period between the reigns of two kings. After Romulus’ disappearance, senators temporarily exercised royal authority while Rome lacked a king.