Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Glossary of Greek Terms 319
orchêstra — Circular dancing floor.
ostracism — Athenian procedure by which a leading politician was sent
into exile for 10 years by vote of the assembly. See also ostrakon .
ostrakon — Broken piece of pottery used for writing; the votes cast in an
ostracism were inscribed on ostraka (the plural form).
paidagôgos — Slave who accompanied a boy outside the home.
paidotribês — Athletic trainer (literally “boy-rubber,” so named because it
was his duty to anoint and rub youths with oil).
palaistra — Wrestling school.
pallakê — Common-law wife.
Panathenaia — The major Athenian festival in honor of Athene.
Panhellenic — “All-Greek,” a term that refers to events and institutions in
which all Greek speakers were entitled to participate.
pankration — Combination of all-out boxing and wrestling.
pediment — Triangular gable surmounting a temple.
peplos — Ankle-length woolen garment worn by women.
peristyle — Colonnade surrounding a building or inner court on all four
sides.
phalanx — Hoplite formation, which, in the Archaic and Classical Periods,
was usually 8 men deep. Philip II of Macedon introduced a formation that
was 16 men deep.
phratry — Subdivision of the citizen body (literally “brotherhood”). Athenian
citizenship depended on a child being registered in his father’s phratry
generally in the first year of his life.
phylê — Division of the citizen body roughly translating as “tribe.” Members
of the same phylê traced their descent from a common ancestor. The
Athenian politician Kleisthenes divided the Athenian citizenry artificially
into 10 tribes.
polis — Usually referred to as a city-state, the polis was an independent
entity consisting of an urban center and surrounding territory. It was the
most evolved political organization devised by the Greeks. Some fifteen
hundred poleis (the plural form) are known to us.
politês — A member of a polis who had full citizenship.
prothesis — The act of laying out the corpse in the house of the deceased
and the ceremonies connected therewith.
prytany — Executive committee of the Athenian state consisting of 50 members
of the council of 500. There were 10 such bodies appointed annually,
each holding office for one-tenth of the year.
Sophist — Itinerant teacher of the fifth century b.c.e. and later who offered
instruction for a fee, notably in public speaking. Sokrates’ (and Plato’s)