Key Terms
- dictator
- a Roman Republican office with absolute authority over the state for a limited time during emergencies
- Hellenistic
- a description of Greek history, language, and culture in the period 323–31 BCE
- Levant
- a historical geographical term referring to an area in the eastern Mediterranean consisting roughly of modern Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria
- Linear A
- a script developed by the Minoans but not yet deciphered by modern scholars
- Linear B
- a Mycenaean script developed from Linear A that was used to write an early form of the Greek language
- mystery religions
- religious cults that featured secret rituals (the so-called mysteries) and became popular in Hellenistic cities
- optimates
- politicians who supported the old order and the traditional leadership of elites
- polis
- a city-state in Ancient Greece
- populares
- politicians who sought the political support of discontented groups in Roman society
- principate
- the political system established by Augustus Caesar after 27 BCE, which relied on Rome’s traditional institutions and practices to legitimize a military dictatorship
- proletariat
- the landless working class
- Struggle of the Orders
- a political contest during the first centuries of the Republic in which Rome’s commoners sought equal rights with elites
- Twelve Tables
- the first set of written laws in Rome, from about 450 BCE