The Last of the Wine: A Novel

GLOSSARY

Agora, place of assembly, especially the market-place

Archon, one of the nine chief magistrates of Athens

Chlamys, a cloak worn by men

Doric, gold or silver coin, named after Darius, King of Persia, equal to 20 drachmas

Deme, township or district in Attica

Dikastery, law-courts formed by 6,000 citizens elected annually for the trial of judicial cases

Drachma, Greek silver coin

Ephebe, name given to young men belonging to the first three property classes, when they were eighteen to twenty years of age; they then became liable to military training and duties

Ephor, title of the highest magistrates in Sparta; there were five, elected annually, and put in charge of guardianship over law, conduct of war, internal affairs, and the training of the young

Epitaphion, the annual funeral oration spoken for the Athenians who had fallen in battle

Gymnasiarch, Athenian official charged with the supervision of athletic training schools and games

Hipparch, commander of the cavalry

Hoplite, foot-soldier

Kerameikos, “potters’ field,” an area of ancient Athens divided by the walls of Themistokles into the Inner and Outer Kerameikos

Kordax, an obscene dance of Greek comedy

Kottabos, a game played at drinking parties, in which the wine left in the cup was thrown into a bronze vessel; if the sound was clear, it was a good omen

Metic, an alien allowed to reside at Athens on payment of a tax

Mina, denomination of money corresponding to 100 drachmas

Obol, coin representing the value of 1/6 of a drachma

Palaestra, training school for wrestling and athletics

Pankratiast, participant in a Pankration

Pankration, athletic contest, combining wrestling and boxing

Pnyx, public place of assembly in Athens, on a hill west of the Akropolis

Prytaneum, hall in which distinguished citizens and foreign ambassadors were entertained at public expense

Scolion, song sung in turn by guests at a banquet

Stater, gold coin, weight about 1/2 ounce

Stele, upright slab or stone

Strategos, commander-in-chief or chief magistrate at Athens

Strigil, instrument for scraping dust and sweat from the body

Trireme, galley with three ranks of oars, used chiefly in war

Triarch, ruler of one of the three divisions of a country