Classics key terms

A festival honouring Demeter and Persephone, concerned with agricultural and human fertility; in Athens, participation was restricted to citizens' wives.

The poorest class of Athenian citizens, who served mainly as rowers and light troops.

A circular stone-built tomb with a corbelled, beehive-shaped roof, usually covered with earth.

A gladiator armed with a short, angled sword and small shield, with long greaves protecting the legs and thighs; also called a Thracian.

A staff associated with Dionysos and his followers.

A staff tipped with a pine cone, associated with Bacchus and his followers.

Honour or standing recognised by others during a person’s life. In Homeric warfare, valuable prizes and captured spoils can make this standing visible.

A circular panel, such as the central decorated scene inside an ancient Greek drinking cup.

A large, tall shield whose outline resembles a tower, providing extensive bodily coverage.

Drama exploring serious conflict and suffering, often through stories about mythological figures.

The process by which a text reaches later readers through copying, editing and translation.

A Roman official who could propose legislation and oppose measures through a veto.

A Roman magistrate representing the plebeians who could propose legislation and block political action through a veto.

A payment demanded by a more powerful ruler or community; in the Theseus myth, Athens had to send young people to Crete for the Minotaur.

Using a clever scheme to mislead someone or gain an advantage over them.

A Roman dining room named after its arrangement of three dining couches.

The wealthy citizen responsible for a trireme for a year, usually also its commander.

The liturgy in which a wealthy citizen equipped and maintained a trireme and its crew for a year.

An architectural block with three vertical divisions, alternating with metopes in a Doric frieze.

A three-night annual absence which interrupted usus and prevented a wife entering her husband's manus by that route.

An ancient Mediterranean warship propelled by rowers arranged at three levels on each side.

A formal Roman procession celebrating a major military victory and honouring the victorious commander.

A monument marking a military victory. A commemorative trophy was erected on Cynosura after the Battle of Salamis.

An agreement to stop fighting.

A garment covering the torso and extending below the waist, sometimes secured with a belt.

The realm below the earth where the dead dwell, ruled in this passage by a king and queen.

A woman who had been married only once.