Social

stu 1. Vocabulary terms
* Polis: The Greek Word for a city state.
* Classical: an age marked by great achievements.
* Acropolis: a high hill where a Greek fortress was built.
* Tyrant: an ancient Greek leader who held power through the use of force.
* Dictator: a ruler who has almost absolute power.
* Democracy: a type of government in which people rulethemselves.
* Oligarchy: a government in which only a few people have power.
* City-state: a political unit consisting of a city and its surrounding countryside.
* Fables: short stories that teach lessons about life or give advices on how to live.
* Aristocracy: people of the highest class.
* Iliad: a great epic poem from Homer that tells the story of the lastyears of the Trojan War.
* Odyssey: another great epic poem from Homer that describes the challenges that the Greek hero Odysseus faced on his way home from the war.
* Trojan War: the ten-year siege of Troy by the Greeks to recover Helen, the abducted wife of King Menelaus.
* Troy: A city from ancient Greece on the Aegean seacoast, in the present-day Turkey. In this city, theTrojan War took place.
* Achilles heel: It is a person’s weak spot.
* Sour grapes: Denial of the desirability of something after one has found out that it cannot be reached or acquired.
* Midas touch: the ability to make large amounts of money.
* Tantalizing: something you want, but can’t reach.
* Minotaur: a terrible monster that was half human and half bull.* Labyrinth: a place with a lot of complicated passages, tunnels or paths in which it would be easy to get lost.
* Mythology: stories about gods and heroes that try to explain how the world works.
* Epic: long poem that tell the story of heroes.
* Lyric: poetry that often has a musical quality and expresses personal emotions of thoughts.
* Direct democracy: a typeof government where people participate directly in the government.
* Representative democracy: a type of government where the citizens elect officials to represent them in the government.
* Executive: branch of government that is responsible for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy.
* Legislative: branch of government that has the power to pass, amend, and repeallaws.
* Judicial: branch of government that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state.
* Electoral College: a select body of people who elect somebody to an office on behalf of a larger group.
* Ballot: a piece of paper or card on which somebody can record a vote.
* Pnyx: a small hill where the Athenian assembly met.
* Plutocracy: the rule of asociety by its wealthiest people.
* Oracle: a prediction by a wise person – a person who makes predictions.
* Monarchy: a political system in which a state is ruled by a monarch.
* Triumvirate: a group of three people who jointly share some responsibility, authority, or power.
* Jurisdiction: the authority to enforce laws or pronounce legal judgments.
* Master: a manin a position of authority.
* Constitution: a written statement outlining the basic laws by which a country is governed.
* Persia: ancient empire in Southwest Asia that, at its height under Darius the Great in the 6th century BC. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.
* Cavalry: a unit of soldiers who ride horses.
* Zoroastrianism: a religion that aroseduring Darius’s rule.
* Persian wars: a series of wars between Persia and Greece in the 400s BC.
* Royal Road: a road built in Persia by Darius to facilitate rapid communication throughout his very large empire from Susa to Sardis.
* Persepolis: was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire ruled by Darius.
* Marathon: plain in southeastern Greece that was the site...