Just Myrto (23 page)

Oracle at Delphi
– Dating back to 1400 BCE, the Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in all Greece where people went have their questions about the future answered by the priestess of Apollo.

Panacea
– Greek goddess of universal remedy.

Panathenaic Way
– Stretching from one of the city gates through the market place towards the Acropolis, passing the Parthenon and stopping at the altar of Athena, the Panathenaic Way marked the path of the annual procession in celebration of Athena's birthday.

Pandora
– In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by the gods. According to the myth, Pandora's curiosity led her to open a jar releasing all of the evils of humanity into the world.

Parmenides
– (early 5th century BCE) One of the most significant pre-Socratic philosophers; author of
On Nature
and subject of a dialogue by Plato (
Parmenides
126a – 166c).

Parthenon
– Temple of the goddess Athena in the Acropolis in Athens.

Pegasus
– The divine winged horse in Greek mythology.

Penelope
– The faithful wife of Odysseus.

Pericles
– (c. 495 – 429 BCE) The most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the Golden Age between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.

Persephone
– In Greek mythology, Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; she was abducted by Hades and became queen of the underworld where she must remain during the winter months, but she returns to earth each spring.

Persia
– A great empire east of ancient Greece that invaded Greece three times during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BCE.

Phaenarete
– Socrates' mother; a midwife.

Piraeus
– The port city of ancient Athens. At one time the two were connected by long walls for security with a stone gate at the harbor.

Plato
– (c. 428 – 348 BCE) Socrates' most famous student and Aristotles' teacher. Through his Socratic dialogues, Plato is credited for laying the foundation of western philosophy and science.

Poseidon
– Greek god of the sea.

Protagoras
– (c. 490 BCE – 420 BCE) A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and sophist; subject of a dialogue by Plato (
Protagoras
309a – 362a).

Pythagoras
– (c. 570 – 495 BCE) Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician, best known for the Pythagorean Theorum.

Sappho
– (c. 620 – 570 BCE) Greek lyric poet; Plato calls her the ninth muse (
Epigrams
16).

Socrates
– (c. 469 – 399 BCE) Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato's teacher; best known for his manner of asking questions or the Socratic Method.

Solon
– (c. 638 – 558 BCE) Ancient Greek statesman, lawmaker and poet, often credited with laying the foundation for Athenian democracy.

Sophists
– In the second half of the 5th century BCE, the Sophists were intellectuals skilled in rhetoric, experts in debate, and able to persuade or convince others of things regardless of truth. Sophistry is also the subject of a dialogue by Plato (
Sophist
216a -268d).

Sophocles
– (c. 496 – 406 BCE) Ancient Greek playwright who wrote
Oedipus the King, Antigone,
and
Oedipus at Colonus
. Sophocles
wrote
Oedipus at Colonus
shortly before his death and his grandson (also called Sophocles) produced it at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BCE.

Sophroniscus
– Socrates' father, believed to be a sculptor or stonemason; also Socrates middle son, still a toddler at the time of Socrates' death; multiple sources (Diogenes Laertius, Athenaeus, Plutarch, Aristotle) suggest that Myrto rather than Xanthippe was Sophroniscus' mother.

Sparta
– A dominant military power in ancient Greece; between 431 and 404 BCE, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

Sphinx
– A mythical creature with the body of a lion, wings of an eagle, head of a woman and tail of a serpent that guarded the entrance of Thebes and required travelers to answer a riddle before allowing them to pass.

Styx
– A river in Greek mythology that formed the boundary between earth and the underworld.

Thales
– (c. 624 BC – 546 BCE) The first Greek philosopher who attempted to explain natural phenomena without reference to mythology; also considered to be the first true mathematician in ancient Greece.

Theano
– (6th century BCE) Wife of Pythagoras and author of
Pythagorean Apophthegms, Female Advice, On Virtue, On Piety, On Pythagoras, Philosophical Commentaries,
and
Letters,
but none of her actual writings have survived.

Thebes
– Ancient city in central Greece; home to many kings and site of many legends in Greek mythology.

Theogony
– A poem by Hesiod composed circa 700 BCE describing the genealogy or birth of the Greek gods.

Theseus
– The mythical founder and king of Athens in ancient Greece who slayed the Minotaur; the Athenians sent a religious mission to the island of Delos every year on Theseus's ship in honor of Apollo. No executions were permitted from the time the ship sailed until its return several weeks later.

Thirty Tyrants
– The pro-Spartan rulers in Athens after Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE. They were overthrown in 403 BCE.

Trojan Horse
– The mythological, huge wooden horse the Greeks used to sneak soldiers into the city of Troy and win the Trojan War.

Trojan War
– One of the most important events in Greek mythology made famous through Homer's
The Illiad
and
The Odyssey
. Whether or not the myth is based on any historical reality remains an open question.

Xanthippe
– Socrates' wife and the mother of at least one of his three sons; Xanthippe's family may have been more socially prominent than Socrates' family because the ancient Greek custom was to name one's first son after the more illustrious of the two grandfathers, and Socrates' eldest son was named Lamprocles, presumably after Xanthippe's father.

Zeus
– Greek god of sky and thunder who rules all the gods and men from Mount Olympus.

Note:
References to Plato's work include the “Stephanus numbers” commonly used in scholarly references to the works of Plato to indicate the corresponding page and section of the Greek text as edited by the French scholar Henri Estienne, aka Stephanus in Latin (Paris, 1578).

As a teacher and attorney, Laurie Gray has always been a fan of the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates and the Socratic Method. In addition to writing, speaking and consulting through her company Socratic Parenting LLC, Laurie currently works as a bilingual child forensic interviewer at her local Child Advocacy Center and as an adjunct professor of criminal sciences at Indiana Tech University. She has served on the Faculty at the National Symposium on Child Abuse annually since 2009. Her debut novel
Summer Sanctuary
received a Moonbeam Gold Medal for excellence in young adult fiction and was named an Indiana Best Book Finalist. Laurie is also the author of
Maybe I Will
and
A Simple Guide to Socratic Parenting.
You can visit her online at
www.SocraticParenting.com
.