Glossary

I have been compiling words and phrases in the script over the past few nights. I hope you can all benefit from a glossary, and keep adding to it as we go. Post new terms in the comment box below, and I will incorporate it into the document. Thanks! 

Acropolis: Held the funds for the city, statues of gods, and the assembly. A symbol of politics and religion.

Ajax: A hero in Homer’s Illiad and many epic poems about the Trojan War.

Aphrodite: Goddess of love.

Artemis: The goddess of hunting, dew, and goats. The “bringer of light.”

Athena Polias: A statue in Athens that was the guardian of the city.

Autochthonous: One who is an indigenous Athenian.

Bacchus: see Dionysus.

Boeotians: Thebans.

Charon: A ferryman who drives the boat to the underworld.

Demeter: The earth-mother and goddess of harvest. The phrase “Demeter the Fruitful” is known to mean one with an erection.

Demostratos: A demagogue, or a leader who embraces the cause of the common people.

Dionysus: Accompanied by satyrs and maenads, Dionysus is the God of wine, pleasure, vegetation and festivity. Theatre festivals, among other religious ceremonies, were devoted to him.

Eels: A Greek delicacy, but also a sexual innuendo.

Epistles: Leather-bound rods for delivering secret messages. Only a receiver who knows how to unwind it correctly can decipher it.

Erechteion: The temple inside the acropolis.

Harmodios & Aristogeiton: A homosexual couple that represented democracy.

Hekate: Goddess of magic.

Hellas: Greece.

Hippias: A tyrant controlling Athens until Kleomenes of Sparta expelled him around 310 BCE.

Kleisthenes: A notorious homosexual, often used to reference to any gay man.

Korybants: Dancers who moved to frantic drum beats.

Koryphaios: The leader of the chorus, which would have consisted of fifteen men.

Kritio’s Statuary Row: Sculptures of Heroes.

Maenads: Frenzied female followers of Dionysus.

Miletos: A rebellious city under the control of Athens. Once held the Greek market for sex-toys.

Myronides: A famous Athenian general around 492 BCE, known for being a masculine force.

Pan: God of the woods, associated with sexuality. Pan’s Grotto, a cave containing a shrine to Pan, connected the inside of the acropolis to the outside.

Pandar: The equivalent of a pimp.

Phormion: A currently famous admiral, known for being a masculine force.

Poseidon: The earth-shaker, god of the sea.

Proboulos: The Commissioner of Public Safety who served as a legislative check. The position was created in 413 BCE after the Sicilian catastrophe. These men were qualified by old age (over forty years).

Propylaia: The gateway to the acropolis.

Pylos: A rebellious city under the control of Athens

Sicilian Expedition: In 413 BCE, Athenian fleets attempted an attack on Sicily, but were defeated and left with nothing.

Skolion: Songs sung by invited guests at a banquet.

Stoa: A great hall in Athens, featuring Mikon’s mural of amazons on horseback attacking Athens.

Synomosiai: The Friends of Oligarchy, political groups that held caucuses and swayed votes at the assembly. The prevent political equilibrium.

Zeus: Ruler of the world, armed with thunder and lightning.