Hippeis. Knights. Not quite the same as medieval knights in shining armor, but it’s the same basic idea. Every city had its knights, which meant citizens wealthy enough to provide a horse when they fought in the army. The term is very ancient because by classical times everyone was fighting on foot, even the now misnamed hippeis. Some cities formalized the hippeis system, Sparta being one of those.
The Spartan hippeis were elite troops. It’s hard to imagine just how good you’d have to be, to be considered elite at Sparta. The modern SAS or Green Berets might be a reasonable equivalent. In battle, the hippeis fought in the place of honor, on the right flank, and appear to have provided a bodyguard to the kings.
The hippeis were more than that, though, because they also had powers of arrest. Herodotus and Xenophon both describe cases in which members of the hippeis were sent to bring in men accused of crimes against the state. In both cases the crime was treason. From this it’s reasonable to assume the hippeis had a role in state security.
Hippodrome. It means simply horse arena. The hippodrome is where the chariot races were held. The hippodrome at Olympia was entirely lost during major floods in medieval times, but when you look at a map of the ruins there’s an empty space in the bottom right corner where it is fairly obviously the hippodrome must have been.
Iatrion. In modern Greek it means hospital. In ancient Greek, it was more like an aid station or a doctor’s surgery. Given the state of medicine in ancient Greece, it was a good place to avoid. There was an iatrion set up at Olympia during each Games-very wise, considering the casualty rate-but it’s not known where it was. I’ve assumed it was in the most sensible spot: halfway between the stadion and the hippodrome.
Kalimera. Good morning. A polite usage between anyone. The more intimate chaire would be used between friends.
Krater. A large bowl which sits on the ground and is used to mix wine and water.
Krypteia. Krypteia means secrets, and is the origin of the English words crypt, cryptology, cryptic, etc. The bizarre Spartan coming-of-age rite called the krypteia sounds like something from epic fantasy, but it was quite real and is described by the ancient biographer Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus.
Krypteia was also the name of a kind of secret police, or a black operations group. The first mention of the krypteia as an organization comes in Plutarch’s Life of Cleomenes III. At the battle of Sellasia in 221 BC, 239 years after the time of this story, a man named Damoteles is described as the head of the krypteia. Damoteles is ordered to do some reconnaissance on the flanks, but instead he promptly betrays his own king. The Cleomenes III of this tale is a descendant of the Cleomenes who was father of Gorgo.
The Spartans weren’t the most literary of people, even at the best of times, let alone in reference to a dark organization of secret state assassins, so virtually nothing was ever written about the krypteia. Once you’ve read this glossary entry, you’ll be as knowledgeable as anyone alive today. Speculation about the krypteia is wild and highly variable. It’s my own idea, but I think very reasonable, to assume the best performers from the rite of passage were selected for assassin duty.
From this it seems both the hippeis and the krypteia were involved in state security, which might sound odd at first, but no one who lives in the modern world should be surprised at the idea of two competing intelligence organizations within a single state.
Kynodesme. We had such fun trying to think of a modern name for this thing. It means literally “dog leash.” Kyno-dog. Desme-leash. The kynodesme was a leather cord that tied around the tip of the penis and then wrapped around the scrotum, to stop bits from jiggling while the athletes competed. It was the only thing athletes were allowed to wear. There are surviving pottery pieces on display in museums, decorated with images of athletes, that show them wearing a kynodesme.
Megaron. Back in the bronze age, before classical architecture had been invented, palaces and great houses consisted of a large hall-like a small version of the Great Hall of an English castle-with a front porch and a central fireplace, and a hole in the roof to let out the smoke. Such buildings were called a megaron, which means, in fact, great hall. Mega-great. Ron-hall. There were several very ancient bronze age ruins at Olympia. The classical Greeks had no idea what they really were, but took the largest of them to be the megaron of the ancient king Oinomaos. For all we know, they might even be right.
Metic. A resident alien in Athens. Metics run businesses and they pay taxes, but have no say in public affairs. A modern equivalent would be residents of the USA with green cards. Diotima is a metic. There was something of a prejudice against marriage between citizens and metics.
Naos. The large, central room of a Greek temple. Whenever you see a picture of the inside of a Greek temple, you’re looking at the naos. This was the room that held the cult statue. After you walk up the temple steps you come to a small vestibule called the pronaos, and the pronaos leads on to the naos.
Nemean Games. There were four major sports meetings in ancient Greece: the Olympic Games, the Nemean Games, the Isthmian Games, and the Pythian Games.
The games alternated in a complex pattern. The Olympics were held every four years in summer. Everyone knows that one! The Pythian Games were also held every four years, at Delphi, at the midpoint in the calendar between each Olympics. In effect the Olympic and Pythian Games took turns being held every second year. The Isthmian Games were held every two years, the same years as the Olympic and the Pythian Games, at the isthmus that connects the Peloponnesian Peninsula with the rest of mainland Greece. The Nemean Games were held at Nemea, every two years, alternating with the Isthmian Games. So the whole thing went: Olympic and Isthmian Games-Nemean Games-Pythian and Isthmian Games-Nemean Games, and then the cycle repeats.
Olympic victors won a crown of olive branches, winners at the Pythian Games received a crown of laurel, a crown of pine branches for the winners at the Isthmus, and Nemean victors won a crown of wild celery. Anyone who could pick up four victories in a row was declared to be a paradoxos.
Obol. A small coin. Six obols make a drachma. Most items in the agora cost an obol or two. When you die, it’s an obol that they place under your tongue, to pay the ferryman to take you to Hades.
Opithodomos. A covered porch at the opposite end of a temple to its entrance. A good place to meet friends and hang out.
Ostrakon. An ostrakon is a pottery shard. Ostraka-that’s the plural-were the Post-It notes of the ancient world. There was always a plentiful supply because people were constantly dropping amphorae. To send a friend a message, simply pick up the nearest ostrakon, scratch your message, and have your slave carry it. Thousands of ostraka have been recovered, because they were also used as voting slips in elections, and the used ostraka were then dumped as landfill.
Paradoxos. It means a marvel, and is the origin of our word paradox. A man might be referred to as paradoxos if he’d done something truly remarkable. In particular, anyone who won the pankration at all four major Games was named paradoxos. A modern equivalent might be winning, in a single year, all four Grand Slam events on the international tennis circuit: an almost impossible achievement.