adyton |
the innermost part of a sanctuary, literally “not to be entered”. |
apometra |
priestly emoluments, literally “measured out”. |
architheoros |
head of a state embassy; see also theoria, theoros. |
archontes |
the presiding magistrates of a city. |
basileus |
a chief religious magistrate; in Athens, one of the nine archontes, magistrate in command of religious matters. |
choinix |
a dry measure of capacity, ca. 1.1 l. |
chous |
a liquid measure of capacity, ca. 3.3 l. |
demarchos |
the chief official of a people (demos) or deme. |
demiourgoi |
major officials of a city, most often found in Dorian states. |
epimenioi |
officials temporarily appointed for a year or a specific occasion (literally “monthly officials”). |
epistates |
the president of a board or assembly; in Athens chosen daily by lot from the prytaneis. |
euthyna |
a public examination of the conduct of officials |
euthynos |
a public examiner overseeing the examination of accounts which every public official rendered when going out of office; see also logistai. |
genos |
a set of families or individuals who identified themselves as a group; such a group additionally had a specific plural name denoting kinship, whether of a geographical character or implying descent from a common ancestor. |
gynaikonomos |
the supervisor of women. |
gymnasiarchos |
the official in charge of a gymnasium. |
hekteus |
a dry measure of capacity, a sixth part of the medimnos, ca. 8.7 l. |
hemiekteus (hemisykteus) |
a dry measure of capacity, half of a hekteus, ca. 4.4 l. |
hieromnemones |
religious officials whose functions varied widely, whether as record-keepers or managers of sacred matters. |
hieronomos |
a temple-warden; see also neokoros. |
hieropoios |
an overseer of temples and performer of sacred rites. |
hierothytai |
literally ‘sacred sacrificers’, probably analogous in function to the hieropoios. |
horistai |
officials appointed to supervise boundaries and to settle related disputes. |
kolakretai |
Athenian officials in charge of the state treasury. |
kotyle |
a liquid or dry measure of capacity, ca. 272.8 ml. |
logistai |
auditors, responsible for the accounts of magistrates going out of office; see also euthyna, euthynos. |
mastros |
a financial official, important in some cities. |
medimnos |
a dry measure of capacity, ca. 52.4 l. |
megaron (megara) |
pits sacred to Demeter and Persephone for making offerings (such as of piglets during the Thesmophoria). |
metoikos |
a “metic” or foreign resident in Greek cities, who did not have the full status of a citizen. |
neokoros |
an official custodian or caretaker, in charge of a sanctuary’s infrastructure. |
neopoios |
an official, literally “in charge of constructing a temple”, but often having very varied administrative and sacred functions; see also hieropoios. |
oikos |
a household or a (occasionally cultic) building. |
oxybathon |
a liquid or dry measure of capacity, ca. 68.2 ml. |
patra |
a familial group; see also genos. |
pentekostys |
literally a military body of fifty people or a ‘fiftieth’ division, also employed as a term for a subvision of a city or deme. |
perioikoi |
people neighbouring a city, but typically non-citizens. |
phyle |
a tribe, one of the main subdivisions of a city or other group. |
poletai |
officials who farmed out taxes and other revenues, sold confiscated property, and entered into contracts for public works. |
proedria |
the privilege of receiving a front seat at public games, in theatres, and in public assemblies. |
prospermia |
a form of ritual sprinkling with grain. |
prostates |
the president or presiding officer of a body. |
prytanis |
a president of the Boule, the civic council, usually serving alongside fellow prytaneis; in Athens, these were a group of fifty men chosen by lot from each of the ten phylai, and each group served as prytanis for one-tenth of the year. |
stephanephoroi |
the title of certain magistrates who had the right to wear crowns when in office, often priests who served as eponymous officials of the city. |
strategos |
the leader or commander of an army, a general. |
theokolos |
i.e. a kind of priest, literally “the servant of a god”. |
theoria |
the sending of a state and sacred embassy to an oracle or to games. |
theorodokos |
an individual who receives and hosts theoroi. |
theoroi |
sacred ambassadors sent by a city as its representatives, for instance to consult a distant oracle, to attend major festivals or to offer sacrifices at a distant shrine. |
theoxenia |
the ritual of entertaining a god or gods by setting out a meal; for this purpose, a table was spread and a banqueting couch laid out for the divine guests; the meal would eventually be shared by the priest and/or worshippers. |
thiasos |
a group of worshippers in a cult. |
timouchos |
the name of a magistrate in certain Greek cities. |
triakas |
an association of thirty persons (or families) as a part of a deme. |
trittoia / trittua |
the sacrifice of three animals, often an ox followed by pig and a sheep. |
trittys |
in Athens, a body comprising a third of the phyle. |
zakoros |
an attendant in a temple; see neokoros. |
monarchos |
title of the principal official on the island of Kos, literally "monarch" or "sole ruler". |