Achaean Confederacy, Greek
R. M. Errington
Achaean Confederacy, federal organization developed by the twelve Achaean cities (see achaea) united in the cult of Zeus Hamarios. First mentioned in 453 bce as Athenian allies, Achaea's independence ...
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Aegospotami
Simon Hornblower
‘Goat’s rivers’ in the *Hellespont, probably an open beach somewhere opposite *Lampacus, scene of the final and decisive sea-battle of the *Peloponnesian war, a victory over the Athenians ...
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Aeneas Tacticus
David Whitehead
Aeneas (Aineias) Tacticus, probably the Stymphalian general of the Arcadian koinon (see arcadian league) in 367 bce (Xen. Hell. 7. 3. 1); anyway the earlies (-surviving) and most ...
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Aeschines (2) Socraticus
Michael Gagarin
(4th cent. bce), of the *deme of Sphettus in Attica, a devoted follower of *Socrates, was present at his trial and death. He wrote speeches for the lawcourts and taught oratory, but fell ...
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Aetolian Confederacy
Peter Sidney Derow
The looser tribal organization of the Aetolians of NW Greece gave way during the 4th cent. bce to a *federal state, or league, which soon acquired considerable power. This increased dramatically in ...
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Agatharchides, of Cnidus, Greek historian, geographer, and Peripatetic philosopher, c. 215–after 145 BCE
Kenneth S. Sacks
Who lived most of his adult life in *Alexandria (1), eventually leaving, perhaps in flight to Athens after 145. He was not, as previously believed, regent to *Ptolemy (1) IX but was in the ...
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Agathocles (1), tyrant
Klaus Meister
Agathocles (1) tyrant, later king of *Syracuse, born 361/0 bce in Thermae, Sicily. His father Carcinus, an exile from *Rhegium, received Syracusan citizenship under *Timoleon343/2 and owned a large ...
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age classes
Robert Sallares
A method of social and political organization in *Sparta and Crete in the Classical period. Traces of analogous institutions in other Greek states permit the hypothesis that age-class systems played ...
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Agesilaus II, Spartan king of the Eurypontid house, c. 445–359 BCE
Paul Cartledge
Agesilaus II (c. 445–359 bce), Spartan king of the junior, *Eurypontid line. Son of *Archidamus II by his second wife, he was not expected to succeed his older half-brother *Agis II and so went ...
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Agis II, Spartan king of the Eurypontid house, c. 427–400 BCE
Paul Cartledge
(the first to be given a name belonging naturally to the *Agiads) from c.427 to 400 bce; he was son of *Archidamus II by his first wife. He achieved widespread prominence in 418, as nominal victor of ...
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Agis III, Spartan king, 338–330? BCE
Albert Brian Bosworth
Agis III, king of Sparta (338–?330 bce), *Eurypontid. Ascending the throne at a time of humiliation, when Sparta had lost her borderlands to *Philip (1) II of Macedon, he devoted himself ...
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Agis IV, c. 262–241 BCE
Paul Cartledge
Agis IV (c. 262–241 bce), son of Eudamidas, ascended the *Eurypontid throne in c. 244, at a time of domestic crisis. Concentration of estates in a few hands, heavy indebtedness of the majority, ...
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Agyrrhius, Athenian politician, fl. c. 405–373 BCE
P. J. Rhodes
Agyrrhius (fl. c. 405–373 BCE). Athenian politician, introduced payment of one obol for attending the assembly (see ekklesia), and later increased it from two obols to three; sometimes, but probably ...
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Alcibiades, 451/450–404/403 BCE
Henry Dickinson Westlake and P. J. Rhodes
Alcibiades (451/0–404/3 BCE), son of Cleinias, Athenian general and politician. Brought up in the household of his guardian *Pericles (1), he became the pupil and intimate friend of *Socrates. A ...
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Alcmaeonidae
Rosalind Thomas
Alcmaeonidae, a noble Athenian family prominent in politics. Its first eminent member was Megacles, who as archon (see archontes), perhaps in 632/1 bce, involved it in a hereditary *curse (see ...
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alcoholism, Greek
John Maxwell O'Brien and Barney Rickenbacker
The ancient Greeks were unfamiliar with modern concepts of alcoholism, but they were well aware of self-destructive drinking and the effects of habitual drunkenness. In the Odyssey, *Homer makes a ...
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