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CTC Glossary of the Classics Category: Language and Literature > Classical History Date & country: 11/09/2007, USA Words: 1434

Parse
to give a grammatical break down of a word describing form and syntax.

Parthenon
the temple of Athena on the Acropolis in Athens; begun in 449 BCE, it was dedicated in 438 but did not finish construction until 432 BCE; a large cult statue by the famous sculptor Phidias was kept in the Parthenon and beautiful friezes decorated the temple.

Parthia
a land found near modern-day Iran; the Parthians became a powerful people, and the traditional date of the Parthian era began in 247 BCE; they had a contentious relationship with the Roman empire; they were an autonomous culture, although there were borrowings from Rome, Greece, and Persia; the Parthians are defeated by Longinus by 51 BCE; Parthians invade Syria and take Jerusalem in 40 BCE.

Pasco
(Latin) to graze.

Passum
(Latin) in Rome, a sweet wine sauce that becomes thick after boiling it for a long time.

Pastor
(Latin) a shepherd, one who tends sheep.

Pater Patriae
(Latin) father of the fatherland; the Senate gave the title pater patriae to Augustus in 2 BCE.

Paterfamilias
(Latin) the head of a household; the paterfamilias had power over the rest of his family and slaves; he was in charge of any family business, property and religious rites.

Pathos
the sense of pity or sorrow aroused by a particular element or scene in a literary work.

Patria
(Latin) fatherland, homeland.

Patriarchy
'father rule'; community in which the father is the supreme authority.

Patricii
(Latin) wealthy, powerful, hereditary class of Roman citizens; the word patrician is derived from pater (father); the patricians initially held most priesthoods and powerful governmental magistracies; the senate was not only for patricians, but belonging to a patrician clan was a boon for joining the senate; eventually, many priesthoods and magistracies opened up to wider participation, but some priesthoods remained solely patrician; the patrician class grew smaller as they were unable to reproduce themselves adequately, so Augustus and later emperors were able to give patrician status to certain people and their families.

Patroklos (Patroclus)
son of Menoetius, best friend of Achilles through adulthood and was related to Achilles through Aegina, Patroclus' paternal grandmother; as a boy Patroclus killed Clitonymus over a game of knucklebones and was exiled; Achilles' father, Peleus, accepted Patroclus as a gesture of hospitality into his court during Patroclus' exile; Patroclus is killed by Hektor and his death is avenged by Achilles who kills Hektor.

Patronymic
a name inherited from a paternal ancestor.

Pavimentum
(Latin) the second layer of a Roman road consisting of a foundation of lime mortar or sand; the pavimentum formed a level base and was laid after the earth, on which the road was to be laid, was tamped firm.

Pax
(Latin) peace

Pecus
(Latin) single head of a herd, commonly cattle or sheep.

Pedegogus
(Latin) school teacher.

Pediment
a triangular piece that is located over a doorway, fireplace or the lintel of a temple; the pediment could contain a decorative frieze, engraving or painting.

Pelekys
a double axe.

Peloponnese
large peninsula that forms the southernmost part of mainland Greece; named after Pelops, who conquered the area and dispersed his sons over the region to rule; the Peloponnese was the location for the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta; the First Peloponnesian War ended in ca. 446 BCE and the Second Peloponnesian War began in 431 BCE and lasted until 404 BCE.

Peloponnesian War
war fought between Athens and Sparta that occurred between 431-404 BCE; Athens sought to expand its influence and Sparta attempted to curb that growth; the Peloponnesian War is most thoroughly recounted by Thucydides.

Peltast
a foot soldier or infantryman; derived from the word meaning a small, unrimmed shield.

Penates
(Latin) patron gods of a family, also called lares; famously, in Virgil`s Aeneid, Aeneas leaves Troy with his father Anchises, his son Ascanius and his penates..

Penelope
faithful wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachus; holds suitors at bay for 20 years by weaving Laertes' shroud by day and unraveling it by night because she would not remarry until the shroud was complete.

Penicullus
(Latin) a pencil or stylus; also an artist's brush.

Pensio
(Latin) payment, day of payment.

Pentathlon
an Olympic event comprised of five events, discus, javelin, long jump, running, and wrestling; the exact order of the events is unknown, it is also unknown whether the victor had to win all the events or just the majority; in myth, it was Jason who invented the pentathlon.

Penthesilea
daughter of Ares and Otrere; Amazon queen killed by Achilles at Troy where she and her warriors had gone to help Priam; see the death of Penthesilea on Toledo .

Pentheus
Theban king, tragic hero of the Bacchae who is sent by Dionysus to spy on the Bacchantes and once discovered is torn to pieces.

Peplos
a long cloak or robe.

Perambulo
(Latin) to walk through.

Perbeatus
(Latin) very happy, this word is related to the verb beo, meaning to make happy.

Perdiccas
a Macedonian noble who commanded a position of military power under Alexander the Great; after Alexander's death in 323 BCE, he became the regent, ruling in place of Philip II's other son, Philip Arrhidaeus, and Alexander's unborn child; his power grew, but eventually his plays for power alarmed others; Antipater, Craterus and Ptolemy all declared war on Perdiccas in 321 BCE and, after long battles, Perdiccas was killed.

Perfidus
(Latin) disloyal ; the English word perfidy is etymologically linked to this word.

Pergamum
a large city in Asia Minor (today in Turkey); in 133 BCE, King Attalus III left the territory to Rome in his will; however, this bequest was not popular and Aristonicus led a rebellion of slaves and the poor against Rome; Aristonicus wanted to create a kingdom named The City of the Sun that would worship Helios, the sun god; Rome defeated Aristonicus and his rebels and Pergamum became known as the Roman province of Asia.

Periboea
(see entry (5) in Perseus Encyclopedia) wife of Polybus, adoptive mother of Oedipus, who takes him in after he is found on Mt. Cithaeron near Thebes.

Period
a designated length of time in history.

Peripateia
a plot reversal; a plot device in a play through which a character's situation changes dramatically from secure to vulnerable.

Peripatetic
founded by Aristotle, the Peripatetic school was where he taught philosophy to his students; this school is famously parodied in Aristophanes` The Clouds.

Persepolis
a large settlement in Persis where the Achmaeneid royalty kept a residence; in 331 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Persepolis and razed it; Alexander's men burned and looted the city; archaeological excavations of Persepolis have unearthed many administrative texts and reliefs.

Persian Wars
numerous battles between the Greeks and the Persians that took place between the 6th and 4th centuries; initially, the unified Greeks fought against Darius the Great and some Greek territories were conquered by the Persians; later, the Greeks sought to liberate some of those Persian-controlled territories; Xerxes I, leader of the Persian Empire in the late 480s BCE, amassed a colossal force against the Greeks; the Greeks defeated the Persians and successfully liberated its territories; the battles between the Persians and Greeks were chronicled by Herodotus in The Histories.

Persians
the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful military state in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world ca. 500 BCE; a diplomatic misunderstanding in 499 BCE caused the king of Persia, Darius I, to send a great army and navy again the Greeks whom he thought were being disloyal subjects; the Persians began their first expedition against the Greeks in 490 BCE; in 479 BCE, the Spartans defeated the Persians at battle of Plataea in Boeotia and the Athenian navy defeated the Persians at Mykale on the coast of Ionia thus ending the Persian Wars; the Athenians eventually form the Delian League against the Persians in 478 BCE. See below for map of the Persian Empire:

Personification
the attribution of human characteristics and/or form to inanimate objects and abstract ideas.

Pervalidus
(Latin) very strong.

Pervideo
(Latin) to look over, to inspect, to discern.

Petasos
a Thessalian broad-brimmed hat.

Peto
(Latin) to seek, to ask for.

Petronius
author of the Menippean satire The Satyricon; the Satyricon is an extended piece of work of which only fragments remain today; not much is known definitely about the author; it has been suggested that the Petronius who wrote the Satyricon is the man mentioned by Tacitus as the 'arbiter elegentiae' or 'judge of elegance' during the time of Nero, which would have placed him very highly in Nero's court.

Phaistos
an ancient city on the island of Crete that existed during the Geometric, archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods; the site is known for the Minoan palace and surrounding pre-palatial complex located on the site; well-preserved remains from the Geometric and Hellenistic periods were found at Phaistos; the city was destroyed by the neighboring city of Gortyn in the second century BCE.

Pheidippides
son of Strepsiades in the Clouds.

Phiale
a wide, flat bowl.

Philip Ii Of Macedonia
(382-336 BCE) Macedonian king; he usurped the throne from his nephew after King Perdiccas, Philip's brother, died; Phillip strengthened and unified Macedonia after he became king; he continually added more land to his kingdom, both by war and by treachery; in 338 BCE he conquered Greece after winning the decisive battle of Chaeronea against a united Thebes and Athens; he married Olympias, a princess from Epirus (modern Albania); he was the father of Alexander the Great; Phillip was assassinated in 336 BCE during a public parade in Macedonia.

Philip V Of Macedonia
(238-179 BCE) Philip V was a king of Macedonia; he fought in the Social War and the Second Macedonian War; he was beaten in the Battle of Cynoscephalae in Thessaly in 197 BCE; Philip V died in 179 BCE at Amphipolis.

Philippi
a city in Macedonia established by Philip of Macedon during the 4th century BCE; this city was the site of a famous battle in 42 BCE between Octavian and Antony on one side and Brutus and Cassius on the other; Octavian and Antony were triumphant and Brutus killed himself soon thereafter.

Philosophy
'love of wisdom'; rational investigation of theories and principles or knowledge, existence, and conduct.

Phoenix (Phoinix)
a colorful, mythical bird that did not die but burned itself and its nest and a new Phoenix rises from the ashes; (2) foster father of Achilles.

Phonascus
(Latin) a teacher of music.

Pictor
(Latin) painter; this word is linked to the Latin verb pingo, which means to paint or depict and whose fourth principle part is pictum.

Pictura
(Latin) painting; many of the extant examples of Roman painting are frescoes, that is painting on wall plaster; however, there is evidence that informs us that painting was also done on wood, ivory and other materials.

Pietas
(Latin) dutifulness; pietas meant religious piety but also piety towards family, government, and the state; in the Aeneid, Vergil repeatedly characterizes Aeneas as pius, meaning he respected the gods, his father and family, and his role in the fate of Rome.

Piger
(Latin) Sluggish.

Pigritia
(Latin) Laziness, idleness; Cicero asks his friend Atticus not to blame pigritia or laziness for his not writing the letter in his own handwriting in Book 16 Letter 15.

Pinax
(Latin) plaque, panel or picture hung on a wall.

Pindar
ancient Greek writer of victory odes, epinician, in honor of the winners of athletic competitions; Pindar was commissioned to composed the odes by the victor, the victor`s family, or the victor`s hometown; born in Thebes in 518 BCE, Pindar wrote his first ode, Pythian 10, at age 20 and his last, Pythian 8, in 446 at age 72; Pindar traveled the Greek world composing odes for winners at the major athletic festivals at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Corinth; his odes were sung by a dancing chorus and the surviving text include musical notations and choreographical directions; each ode includes a proclamation of the victor, the victory being celebrated, and the majority include a myth usually associated with the victor, his home, or the location of the games; when Alexander the Great destroyed Thebes, he did not burn Pindar's house out of respect for his work.

Pinguis
(Latin) fat.

Pirus
(Latin) pear tree.

Piscator
(Latin) fisherman; the Roman diet relied upon fish and other seafood; the man who provided the city with fish was the piscator; this word is tied to the Latin word for fish, piscis.

Piscina
(Latin) a place for swimming, a bath, a pond.

Piscis
(Latin) fish.

Pisistratus
(see entry (2) in Perseus Encyclopedia) (Peisistratos, Peisistratus, Pisistratos) tyrant of Athens; Pisistratus reigned as the tyrant of Athens three times, his first reign began in 560 BCE, his second in 558 BCE and his third in 546 BCE and lasted until his death in 528 BCE; Pisistratus came to power in usual ways, Herodotus describes these in his Histories, see sections 1.59.1-3, 1.59.4-6 and 1.60.3-5.

Pistor
(Latin) miller; a pistor ground grain in a hand-mill or mortar; a pistor could also perform some of the duties of a baker, or furnarius.

Pithos
a very large, terra cotta jar used for storage; many pithoi were found in Mycenaean and Minoan palaces.

Plantaria
(Latin) young trees that are just growing.

Plastic
refers to a material that is molded.

Plato
Athenian philosopher and author of the Apology and the Republic.

Plebeian Secession
the major tactic of the plebs to exercise their power during the Conflict of Orders; when they wanted to make a strong point, the plebs would leave the city as a group, taking themselves out of public and military service; the first plebeian secession happened in 494 BCE and the last one occurred in 287 BCE.

Plebs
(Latin) the large group of Roman citizens (as opposed to the patrician class); while the plebeians were restricted from participation in some offices (priesthoods, the senate, certain magistracies), they gradually acquired a larger say in the Roman government; in 287 BCE, the lex Hortensia gave the plebeian assembly the power to make their own binding legislation similar to laws and removed one of the major differences in power between the plebs and the patricians; the plebeian class grew so powerful that by 172 BCE, the first two plebeian consuls, Gaius Popilius Laenas and Publius Aelius Ligus, are elected.

Plectrum
(Latin) similar to a guitar pick, a plectrum plucked the strings of a musical instrument.

Plektron
a pick for strumming a lyre.

Plemochoe
covered bowl that often held perfume and oil.

Pliny The Elder
(23-79 CE) author and scientist; Pliny the Elder wrote the Naturalis Historia, an encyclopedic text, and published the first section in 77 CE; he died in Pompeii in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE.

Plutarch
(45-120 CE) Greek historian and biographer; Plutarch enjoyed a prominent social and political position and had influential friends; he was one of the two priests who interpreted the Pythia's words at the Oracle at Delphi; his most famous writing was entitled Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans and his Life of Alexander is one of the few remaining sources concerning Alexander the Great.

Pluto
Roman god of underworld and the dead; also known as as Orcus, Dis, or Dis Pater; identified with Hades.

Pluvius
(Latin) Rainy; this word is derived from the Latin verb pluo, to rain.

Podium
(Latin) a temple would be constructed on a high podium so that it could only by entered by steps; Roman temples generally had steps only at the front of the temple; Greek temples usually had steps around all sides of the temple.

Poena
(Latin) a penalty for something, punishment.

Point Of View
the perspective established by the narrator of a literary work. Point of view can either be of the first-person, in which case a character narrates the story, or it can be told from the narrative perspective of the third-person, where a personage who is not a character in the story, tells the story. [Contributor: Dr. Ismail S. Talib, National University of Singapore.]

Polemon
(314-269 BCE) an ancient philosopher; Polemon was one of the first men to lead the Academy, the ancient school of philosophy founded by Socrates` follower Plato; the head of the Academy was elected for

Polleo
(Latin) to be strong.

Polos
an ornamented cylindrical hat or crown.

Polybius
a Greek historian; Polybius was brought to Rome from Aetolia in Greece as a hostage in 167 BCE; he wrote primarily to explain how Rome became such a powerful state on the world stage; since he was part of the governing class and had been the tutor of Scipio Africanus the Younger, Polybius had a unique position to see and write about history.

Polynices
son of Oedipus and Jocasta; cursed by his father never to live in peace with his brother, Eteocles; the two brothers killed one another.

Polytheism
belief in many gods.

Pomeridianus
(Latin) in the afternoon; this word is tied to the two Latin words post, meaning 'after', and meridianus, which means 'noon'.

Pompey
Cn. Pompeius Magnus (106-47 BCE) a Roman politician, general and champion of the Senate from Picenum; Pompey was a great soldier and celebrated military triumphs for Africa (81 BCE), the Slave War (70) and against Mithradates (62); in 70, Pompey became consul along with Crassus; he was given command of the army against Mithradates by means of the lex Manilia in 66 BCE; in 63, he defeated Mithradates and took Syria and Jerusalem; upon returning to Rome in 62, he disbanded his army; member of the First Triumvirate with Caesar and Crassus in 60 BCE, but the union did not last long; marries Julia, daughter of Caesar in 59 BCE but Julia dies in 54 BCE; political relations between Caesar and Pompey worsened after Crassus` death, with both men wary of the other`s power; Pompey was given control of the food supply in 57 BCE after arranging for Cicero to return from his exile; Pompey was consul again with Crassus in 55, the same year in which he dedicated his theater in Rome; Pompey was Caesar's opposition in the Civil War that began in 49 BCE; when Caesar brought his army to Italy in 48, Pompey brought the opposing force to the battlefield where he was defeated at Pharsalus; after that battle, Pompey fled to Egypt where he was killed in 47 BCE.

Pomum
(Latin) apple.

Pontifex Maximus
(Latin) chief pontiff in Rome; duties included regulation of the Roman calendar and compilation of the annales, an annual record of magistrate names and memorable Roman events; the most famous pontifex maximus was Julius Caesar, elected pontifex maximus in 63 BCE; Caesar's best known reform as pontifex was to introduce the 'Julian Calendar,' a calendar of 365 days with a provision of a leap year every forth year.

Pontifices
(Latin) members of the Collegium Pontificum, the most important sacred college, who were led by the Pontifex Maximus; the number of pontifices grew to 15 by the 1st century BCE; members served for life; they were in charge of the Fasti, the records kept by the magistrates, and the Annales Maximi, further public records.

Portorium
(Latin) a Roman port-tax that had to be paid on imported and exported goods.