Key terms & definitions

Parenting involving very close monitoring and intervention in children’s lives, which may limit their independence.

A model in which Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun.

A three-dimensional spiral or coiled shape.

Separation from God, understood by some Christians as a place of eternal punishment and by others as a spiritual state.

Relating to the Greek-influenced cultures and kingdoms that developed after Alexander the Great’s conquests.

An unfree member of Sparta’s subject population, obliged to work for the Spartans, especially by cultivating land.

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

An unfree agricultural population under Spartan control whose work on estates supported Spartan citizens; helots could also be required to undertake military duties.

In Propp’s theory, a character who directly assists the hero during the quest.

The 1975 declaration agreed by 35 countries, including the USA and Soviet Union, covering European security, cooperation and human rights.

A folded fabric edge secured in place, usually by stitching.

Half of a sphere, with one curved surface and one flat circular face.

One of the two halves of the cerebrum: the left hemisphere or the right hemisphere.

Having only one copy of a gene rather than a pair, as human males do for most genes on the X chromosome.

An ancient Greek hero, the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene, whose myths include twelve extraordinary tasks. The Romans called him Hercules.

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

A book describing plants and their medicinal uses.

A treatment made from plants, often taken as a drink or applied as an ointment.

A chemical used to kill unwanted plants, such as weeds.

A chemical used to kill unwanted plants, such as weeds.

An animal that eats plants.

The Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles, renowned for his extraordinary strength and battles against monsters.

Indirect protection against an infection when enough people are immune that it spreads less easily.

The reduction in pathogen spread that occurs when a large proportion of a population is immune, indirectly protecting some people who are not immune.

Indirect protection against an infectious disease when a large proportion of a population is immune, reducing the spread of the pathogen.

Life after death, including judgement by Allah and the eternal consequences of a person’s belief and conduct.

A condition that can be passed from parents to children through their genes.

Mendel’s name for a discrete unit of inheritance passed from a parent to its offspring, rather than permanently blending with another unit.

A characteristic passed from parents to offspring through genes.

Special Nazi courts that ordered forced sterilisation of people classified as having specified supposedly hereditary conditions.