Delian League
A group of Greek city-states, led by Athens and composing one side of the Peloponnesian War. These were chiefly coastal territories and islands in the Aegean Sea. The name comes from the island of Delos which was where the League originally kept its treasury and its base of operations.
Peloponnesian League
A group of Greek city-states, led and dominated by Sparta. The other two main allies were Argos and Corinth. Geographically the Peloponnesian League consisted mostly of settlements on the large peninsula in the southwestern portion of Greece.
Lacedemonian
Spartan. From the territory "Lacedaemon", of which Sparta was technically the largest city which was on the banks of the Eurotus River.
helot
A slave, part of a hereditary group dominated by the Spartans. Helots sometimes fought alongside Spartans, however they were more likely to rebel.
Hellas
Greece, in both a geographical and cultural sense
hoplite
A foot soldier who fought with a spear and shield, both of which were typically made of bronze.
phalanx
A set of overlapping shields that protected a line or column of foot soldiers as they advanced or retreated in formation.
oligarchy
A system of government in which power is concentrated in the hands of a few people, known as oligarchs.
blockade
A technique in which a nation with a strong and mobile navy surrounds the ports of a rival nation, preventing trade from occurring because ships cannot get in or out. There is no direct attack, but a blockade applies economic pressure because the blockaded nation cannot buy or sell food or other necessities.
Spartiate
A full citizen of Sparta who could trace his ancestry to one or more of the founding families.
tribute
Money or goods collected by a more powerful nation from a less powerful nation as an acknowledgement of the more powerful nation's dominant role and as part of a peace treaty or agreement following conquest. Tribute was essentially a bribe to get the more powerful nation to allow the less powerful one to govern itself and to maintain its own traditions and power structures.
skirmish
A small-scale battle, generally informal and disorganized
hegemony
Economic, social, and political dominance
drachma
A unit of currency
