Classics Midterm
Raphsodes
a person who recites epic poems, especially one of a group in ancient Greece whose profession it was to recite the Homeric poems from memory.
Nostos
"Homecoming" or "Reunion" - generally refers to the return of an epic hero usually by sea after combat (Odyssey)
Homer
Guy? who is credited with writing the Iliad and the Odyssey - Historians theorize as to whether he actually existed or was in fact only on person. Homeric - relating to his style or content
Epic poems
The Iliad and the odyssey - there were possibly more, but only these were canonized and survived to be passed down to us
Homeridae
Pretty much the same thing as Raphsodes - Homeridae means " sons of homer" those who perform and add to his works
Dactylic hexameter
A rhyming meter used in all the Homeric poems - A long sylable followed by two short ones, with the last line being two long sylables or one long and one short. This meter is very fluid and allowed for the raphsodes to riff on their poems, to spontaneously create the stories.
Acroplois
a citadel or fortified part of an ancient Greek city, typically built on a hill.
-It can refer specifically to the citadel of Athens wherein the Pantheon resides
Barbaroi, barbarismus
Historically, the term described non-Greek speakers or those lacking Greek culture, later adopted by Romans to denote non-Romanized peoples.
Kunstsprache
Kunst = artificial, Sprache = language so artifical language or constructed language - refering to the construction of a unqiue the dialect of greek (for literary/aesthetic purpose) used by homer
Demotic
"of the people" the type of modern spoken greek descendant from Koine
Katharevousa
"Formal or pure" greek, modern written greek descendant from a type of simplified Attic
Lexicon
-the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.
-Also a greek to english dictionary
Diglossia
The split in the spoken language and the written language
-For example Koine and Attic or Demotic and Katharevousa
Latini
can refer to an ancient Italic tribe that inhabited the region of Latium - (Aeneas beefed with them in the Aeneid after rolling up from Carthage, there's an arranged marriage between king Latinus's daughter Lavinia and Aeneas, but she's already enagaged to King Turnus)
Epigraphy
Meaning to write on - the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions.
“Ephemerioi”
Creatures of(for) the day, a term used to refer to humans and animals, demonstating the Greeks focus on mortality and death
“Kleos”
Eternal glory - the greek answer to the problem of death, living eternally through knowledge of your actions, legacy.
Examples - Helen with her loom, Sappho "Someone will remember us - I say - even in another time", Artists and crafts people who inscribed their names in their works, great heros in battle, Kalos cups talking about how hot people were