Hellas, Hellenes: Greeks’ name for themselves. First attested in 8^th century BC.

Oikos: The household. Hence "economics."

Syn-oikism: Process by which several villages merge to form a polis.

Polis: City-state. Fundamental unit of Greek government. Hence "politics."

Hoplites: Heavily armored citizen-soldiers who fight in close formation or "phalanx."

Oligarchy: "Rule by a few." Government run by a handful of wealthiest families.

Aristocracy: "Rule by the best." How the oligarchs described themselves.

Tyrant: From tyrannos, a strongman who seizes power "extra-constitutionally."

Chronology:

c.800-700: Population boom in Greece. Population of Athens increases eightfold.

c.800-700: Writing comes to Greece, with alphabet adapted from Phoenicians.

c.750-500: Age of Colonization. Greeks establish trading posts and colonies from western Mediterranean to Black Sea.

733: Syracuse (in Sicily) founded by colonists from Corinth.

c.750-700: Probable dates for Homer and his Odyssey.

c.700: Poet Hesiod composes Works and Days, and Theogony (account of the origins of the gods.)

c.700: Hoplite warfare becomes widespread.

c.730-630: "Orientalizing" period: Greek art and architecture deeply influenced by Egyptian and Near Eastern models.

c.650: First written law codes in Greece.

620: Draco gives Athens its first code of laws, hence "Draconian."

594: Solon reforms the government of Athens.

c.600-500: Coinage, invented in Lydia, becomes widespread in Greece.

560-527: The "tyrant" Peisistratus holds power in Athens.

514: Peisistratus’ son Hipparchus assassinated by Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who are celebrated as "Tyrannicides."

510: Peisistratus’ other son, Hippias, flees Athens and takes refuge in Persia.

508: Democratic reforms of Cleisthenes in Athens.

490: Persian Wars begin.