As noted in the text, every syllable in Greek and Latin words should be sounded out (so a ‘citizen’ is ho po-li-tēs, as opposed to the plural of the English pronunciation of the word ‘polite’).
The transliterations of Greek in the main text of the book do not distinguish between two sets of Greek vowels that are sometimes marked by the absence or presence of a macron:
– the short epsilon (ε), pronounced alone roughly eh, as in ‘evident’, versus
– the long eta (η), pronounced alone roughly ey, as in ‘hey’
– the short omicron (ο), pronounced alone roughly as in ‘obvious’, versus
– the long omega (ω), pronounced alone roughly as in ‘oh’
This is because readers who don’t know Greek are more likely to find such macron marks distracting than illuminating, while those who do know it are likely to know which vowels are which without needing them. However, in this glossary, the long vowels are marked as such.
Greek nouns and certain other grammatical formations are preceded by short definite articles that decline according to gender, number and case. The list below omits definite articles except where the formulation is hard to construe without them, in which case they are printed after the main word (so, ta politika in the text is found below as politika, ta).
Proper names are given in common anglicized forms, usually derived from Latin, with articles omitted (so, Epicurus, not ho Epikouros).
The information in the definitions and biographies below is drawn from The Online Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon, Charlton Lewis’s and Charles Short’s A Latin Dictionary, the Oxford Classical Dictionary and Brill’s New Pauly. These sources may be consulted for more in-depth descriptions of any terms or figures, as those presented here are deliberately brief and therefore sometimes partial or truncated.
archē; plural, archas [G.] : office (in political context); can also mean ‘origin’
archein [G.] : to rule or govern
aretē [G.] : excellence or virtue
boulē [G.] : will, deliberation or council (in Athens, can refer to the Council of 500, the Senate or agenda-setting body created by Cleisthenes (see below); see ekklēsia below)
civitas [L.] : political unit, roughly translatable as ‘state’ (in Roman political context, the most important unit of political activity)
Constitutio Antoniniana [L.] : edict of the emperor Caracalla, which granted almost all free people in the Roman empire citizenship in 212 CE
dēmokratia [G.] : literally ‘power of the people’; origin of the English word ‘democracy’ (in political context, refers to a system of government where the dēmos, or ‘people’, hold significant power, with classical Athens being the most noted example of such a system)
dēmos [G.] : the people (in political contexts, often refers to the ‘people’ or common people in contrast with the elite; can also mean the whole body of citizens)
dikastēria [G., plural] : the law-courts
dikē, dikaiosunē [G.] : justice; dikē can also mean specifically trial, verdict or judgement
ekklēsia [G.] : assembly (in Athens, refers to the more general governmental body, in contrast with the more limited Council of 500, see boulē above; in later thought, refers to both political and religious bodies: thus one can speak of the ekklēsia as the community of members of a church or of the whole body of Christians)
ergon [G.] : deed or action; frequently contrasted in Greek thought and rhetoric with the words of a speaker (in singular, logos)
gerousia [G.] : Council of Elders (in Sparta, refers to the Senate or council)
honestas [L.] : honour, character or reputation, often contrasted with expediency, see utilitas below
hubris [G.] : insolence or wanton violence
imperium [L.] : command (in later political context, refers to the supreme power of the Roman emperor)
isos [G.] : the equal, sometimes translated as the just; related to isotēs, meaning ‘equality’
Kallipolis [G.] : literally the ‘Beautiful City’ (in Plato’s Republic, refers to the ideal city ruled by philosophers)
koinōnia [G.] : communion, association or partnership
kosmopolitēs [G.] : citizen of the world (in Stoic thought, refers to the idea that one should properly consider oneself a fellow citizen of every other rational being; gives rise to the idea that the truly significant political community is the world community)
kosmos [G.] : literally ‘order’; often used to refer to the world-order or universe
kurios [G., adj.] : powerful or authoritative, sometimes translated as ‘sovereign’
lex de imperio Vespasiani [L.] : literally the ‘law concerning the command of Vespasian’, which has been partially preserved in an inscription, and describes how the Roman emperor’s authority derives from a legal grant by the people
libertas [L.] : freedom or liberty
monarchia [G.] : rule of one man; origin of the English word ‘monarchy’ (in political contexts, refers to a system in which a king rules)
nomos [G.] : law or custom (in political contexts, is frequently contrasted with nature, see phusis below)
officium [L.] : moral duty
oligarchia [G.] : rule of the few; origin of the English word ‘oligarchy’ (in political contexts, refers to a system in which the few wealthy citizens rule)
optimates [L., plural] : literally the ‘best men’ (refers to the Roman political faction in the late republic that supported the power of the elite (patricians and nobles, especially as represented in the authority of the Senate) against the plebeians, in contrast with the populares, below)
phusis [G.] : nature (in political contexts, is frequently contrasted with law and custom, see nomos above)
polis; plural, poleis [G.] : city-state (in Greek political context, the most significant unit of political activity)
politeia; plural, politeiai [G.] : citizenship, constitution or commonwealth (in general political contexts, refers both to a political community and to its form of government; in Aristotelian thought, can also refer to the well-governed form of rule by the many)
politēs; plural, politai [G.] : citizen
politika, ta [G.] : political affairs or affairs relating to citizens
politikos [G., adj.] : relating to citizens, civic or civil
populares [L., plural] : literally the ‘men of the people’ (refers to the Roman political faction in the late republic that supported the concerns of the plebeians against the optimates, above)
princeps, princeps senatus, princeps civitatis [L.] : first man, first man of the Senate, first man of the state (title received by the first Roman emperor Octavian (see below), after his victory in the civil wars at the end of the Roman republic)
psychē [G., using y for the upsilon otherwise transliterated as u, as this produces a more recognizable English root in this case] : spirit or soul
res publica or re publica [L.] : public affair or concern; used to signify the commonwealth
rhētor [G.] : public speaker in political institutions
senatus [L.] : origin of the English word ‘Senate’; the advisory and deliberative body of the Roman republic, which survived with increasingly symbolic role in the Roman empire
senatus consultum ultimum [L.] : literally ‘ultimate decree of the Senate’; a declaration of a state of emergency by the Senate, giving the magistrates extraordinary powers, including the use of force, against enemies of the state
stratēgos; plural, stratēgoi [G.] : commander, governor or general
suffragio [L.] : ballot, vote or suffrage
telos [G.] : end or goal (in Aristotelian thought, can refer to the end to which an action, thing or person is directed; the source of the word ‘teleological’, which plays an important role in Greek ideas of ethics and politics)
turannos [G.] : an absolute ruler (in political context, refers to one who not only rules absolutely, but also rules without concern for the law or the common good)
utilitas [L.] : expediency, often contrasted with honour, see honestas, above
Zeus [G.] : ruler of the gods, frequently equated with the Roman god Jupiter