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Ancient History and Religion with Peter Eyland
Ancient Greek Religion Glossary P -> Z
palaestra |
wrestling school, gymnasium [<Greek palaiô to wrestle] |
Neils p185 |
|
palladion |
Παλλάδιον, τό Παλλάς , άδος , ἡ , |
Statue of Pallas |
Buxton p24, 205; LSJ |
Panathenaia |
"rites of all Athenians" mid-summer games held every four years. Celebrated on 28 Hekatombaion i.e late July or early August or 1.5 months after Skira. |
Neils p56, 57, 96 |
|
Pandrosos |
A daughter of Kekrops, worshipped on the Acropolis at Athens. She decided in favour of Athena over Poseidon. Athena entrusted the care of Erichthonios to the three daughters of Kekrops with instructions not to open the basket/chest where the baby was. Her sisters, Aglauros and Herse opened the chest and saw Erichthonios was half snake and threw themselves off the Akropolis. |
Neils p81, p82 |
|
pankration |
combination of bare-knuckle boxing, kicking and wrestling, which continued until one of them surrendered (or died). |
Neils p97 |
|
pannychis |
All night celebration at the Panathenaia may have included musical competitions and dancing |
Neils p97 |
|
par excellence |
French: pre-eminently |
Guinagh |
|
parabates |
or apobates; a person in a race at festivals who leaped from his chariot in full armour and nimbly back again |
Buxton p63 |
|
pars pro toto |
Latin: metonymy; one part standing for all |
Buxton p28 |
|
patriai |
can be equivalent to phratry |
Buxton p35 |
|
pentekosiomedimnoi |
citizen order |
Buxton p70 |
|
peplos |
πέπλος |
The Peplos is an earlier version of the Chiton. It has an Apotygma or deep overfold. |
|
perikatharma |
scapegoat |
Buxton p276 |
|
perikatheirein |
a circumambulation to purify around |
Buxton p287 |
|
periodos |
The crown games circuit - Olympia (Olive wreath) Delphi (Laurel wreath) Isthmia (Pine wreath) Nemea (Celery wreath) Neils p96 |
Neils p115 |
|
peripsema |
scapegoat |
Buxton p276 |
|
peristyle |
περίστυλος , ον |
surrounded with a colonnade, "aulê" |
LSJ |
pharmakos |
scapegoat |
Buxton p272 |
|
phiale |
flat libation bowl |
Buxton p206 |
|
phratrioi |
phratery gods |
Buxton p35 |
|
phratry |
ϕράτρα , ἡ |
prop. brotherhood, but among the Greeks always in polit. sense |
LSJ |
Phye |
ϕυή , ἡ |
Phye (who is beautiful and ~1.8m tall) is dressed as Athena in a chariot procession to bring Pisitratus into Athens (as reported by Herodotus). |
Buxton p60, p63; LSJ |
phylê |
ϕυλή , ἡ |
a race, tribe; |
LSJ |
phylobasileis |
tribal kings |
Buxton p28;35 |
|
pinax (s) |
πίναξ, ακος , ὁ |
painted votive plaque |
Buxton p194, 195, 206; LSJ |
Pindar |
Poet |
Buxton p165 |
|
Pisitratus |
Pisitratus on return from his first exile, is brought into Athens in a chariot driven by Phye (who is beautiful and nearly 6 tall and dressed as Athena) - reported by Herodotus. |
Buxton p60 |
|
Plynteria |
Washing festival of Athena on 25 Thargelion. Part of the Cleansing festival of the wooden Athena image where the robe is removed and washed whle replaced with a veil. |
Neils p48 |
|
poliouchos |
city protecting |
||
polis |
πόλις, ἡ |
City, ie the civic body. Each polis was a religious system |
Buxton p13; LSJ |
politeia |
πολιτεία , ἡ |
Constitution |
Buxton p23; LSJ |
politeuma |
πολίτευμα , ατος , τό |
business of government, act of administration: more freq. in pl., measures of government or institutions, |
LSJ |
Pompeion |
A building constructed at the end of the 5th centure BCE. It was within the city-wall of Themistokles and stood between the Sacred Gate and the Dipylon. It was the place of gathering for the Panathenaic procession ( pompe procession) |
Neils p96 |
|
popana |
sacrficial cakes |
Buxton p223 |
|
Praxithea |
Praxithea was the first priestess of Athena Polias. She was the wife of Erechtheus who (to win the war against Eleusis as prophesied by the oracle at Delphi) gave up her daughter to be killed by Erechtheus. She gave 5 reasons. |
Neils p85, p87 |
|
prohedria |
Front row seats as prizes |
Neils p115 |
|
promanteia |
προμαντηΐα, ἡ |
right of consulting an oracle (freq. of the Delphic oracle) first |
Buxton p16 |
prothurou kosmon |
πρόθυρον , τό |
front-door, door-way, esp. of the entrance to the "aulê"; of the entrance to the "megaron". |
Buxton p212; LSJ |
protochorein |
Dance in the first rank |
Neils p98 |
|
Proxenos |
Consul; intermediary for xenoi |
Buxton p14 |
|
prytaneion |
magistrates or Town Hall |
Buxton p25; 285 |
|
prytaneis |
presidents |
Buxton p40 |
|
Psyche |
soul. The free soul active when unconscious. The body soul animates the body |
||
pyrrhichê |
"red dance" at Panathenaia where naked dancers leapt and whirled with shield and spear |
Neils p56 |
|
pyrrhichistai |
The pyrrhic dance is fast and warlike, sometimes called kheironomia (gesticulation). Danced by boys in armour |
Neils p98 100 |
|
repoussé relief |
chased or embossed |
Buxton p196; ACOD |
|
sacra |
ancestral sacra - "hiera ta patroa" |
Buxton p53 |
|
scholion |
σχολιον |
marginal note (< Greek skolion=disputation) also written scholium. |
Neils 59 |
seisachtheia |
shaking-off-of-burdens |
Buxton p72 |
|
sikue |
medical cupping instrument |
Buxton p203 |
|
sikyon |
Σικυών | a town 18 km NW of Corinth, famous for Art |
Neils p96 |
sine qua non |
Latin: "without which not" ie an indispensible condition |
Neils p118; Guinagh |
|
sitesis |
free meals as prizes |
Neils p115 |
|
skaphephoria |
carrying of trays |
Buxton p49 |
|
skêptron |
σκῆπτρον , τό |
badge of command |
LSJ |
skiadephoria |
carrying of sun shades |
Buxton p49 |
|
Skira |
The threshing festival of Athena and Demeter at Athens. skira = white (objects) i.e. threshed grain. |
Neils p52 53 |
|
Skirophorion |
a month name |
Buxton p30; Neils p51 |
|
Solon |
Solon legislated civic rewards for Panhellenic victors |
Buxton p59 68 116 |
|
Solonian law |
laws from the Solonian Constitution instituted by Solon in the early 6th century BCE |
Buxton p49 |
|
sophia |
wisdom, knowledge |
Buxton p74 |
|
Sparta |
Σπάρη | city-state on the River Eurotas in the South of the Peloponnese. Principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BCE) |
Buxton p27 |
squill |
Bulbous plant of genus Scilla i.e. stinging nettle |
Buxton p281; ACOD |
|
stadion |
A foot race |
A-S; NBD |
|
stemmata |
Woolen fillets, (fillets: as in binding hair with an encircling ornamental band [<Latin filum to thread]) |
Neils p179; ACOD |
|
stephanitic |
στεϕανος |
relating to crown games (Panhellenic) rather than chrematitic (local aristocratic money) games |
Neils p117 |
sumpolity |
συμπολὶτεία , ἡ |
federal union of several states, with interchange of civic rights, confederacy, |
Buxton p90; LSJ |
sunoikismos |
συνοικισμος |
union |
Neils p95 |
synoris |
race with 2 horses or mules pulled a cart |
Neils p97 |
|
tagoi |
commanders |
Buxton p36 |
|
tamata |
embossed gold or silver plates in Greek churches |
Buxton p196 |
|
tamiai |
sanctuary treasurer |
Buxton p39 |
|
technia |
Skill |
Buxton p74 |
|
temenos |
τέμενος , εος , τό |
A piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, esp. to kings and chiefs, |
LSJ |
tenon |
A plug to fix a statue to a pedestal |
Buxton p194 |
|
tethrippon |
4 horse chariot race |
Neils p97 |
|
thallophoroi |
handsome old men who carry branches in the Panathenaic procession |
Neils p98 |
|
Thargelia |
A festival for Apollo. The scapegoats were expelled on 6th Thargelion. |
Buxton p291 |
|
Theogamia |
The heiros gamos celebrated in Athens on 27 Gamelion |
Buxton p31 |
|
theoriai |
sacred embassies |
Buxton p16 |
|
theoroi |
ambassadors |
Buxton p16 |
|
theos |
The word for god is the pre-Mycenaean thes-os |
||
Theseus |
he was from the Peloponnese who came to represent the typical Athenian |
Neils p9 |
|
Thesmophoria |
θεσμοϕόρια , ων , τά |
The festival of Demeter - most widespread Greek festival |
Buxton p20,35; LSJ |
Tholos |
θόλος , ἡ |
round building with conical roof, rotunda. |
Buxton p181; LSJ |
Thorikos |
θορικός , ή , όν |
a city |
Buxton p31; LSJ |
thyechos |
variant of thoskoos sacrifice watcher (seer) |
Burkert |
|
torma offerings |
offering cakes used in Tibetan scapegoat rituals |
Buxton p290 |
|
trittoia |
Three sacrificial victims, a bull a sow and a sheep. In Roman art called souvetaurelia |
Neils p182 |
|
trittyes |
subdivisions of the tribes |
Buxton p28, 32 |
|
tumulus |
Ancient sepulchral mound, barrow, mound raised on the place of the pyre [< Latin tumêre swell] |
LSJ; ACOD |
|
tupoi egmaktoi |
embossed small gold or silver plates |
Buxton p196 |
|
Tyche |
fortune |
||
votive |
What is offerered or consecrated in fulfilment of a vow (<Latin votivus) |
ACOD |
|
xenia |
guest-friendship |
Neils p107 118 |
|
Xenophon of Ephesus |
Greek novelist. His surviving work is the Ephesian "Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes" |
Buxton p63 |
|
xenos |
ξένος , ὁ |
I. guest-friend, applied to persons and states bound by a treaty or tie of hospitality; later freq. coupled with "philos", |
Buxton p13; LSJ |
xoanon |
ξόανον , τό , ξέὠ |
Image carved of wood, E.Ion1403, X.An.5.3.12 : |
Neils p185; LSJ |
zeugitai |
citizen order - marching |
Buxton p70 |
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