aegis: the breastplate of Zeus and a garment representing it, worn by Athena only.  It had the figure of the Gorgo in the middle and a fringe of tassels in the form of snakes.

anodos:  "Way up."  Ascent, particularly said of Kore from the underworld or of the women who, in the rituals of Demeter, descended to the bottom of pits and then came back up with the remains of piglets.

aphrodisiac: something that stimulates erotic desire; anaphrodisiac: something that suppresses it.

apotheosis: Very few privileged heroes ascended to Olympos, the dwelling of the gods, or to "the heavens," when they died. In other words, they were made immortal.

archon:  "ruler," one of ten chief magistrates in Athens

aristocracy:  "rule of the best," defined as those who have wealth, authority, or other inherited privileges.  Partisans of this form of government conspired against the Athenian democracy.

caduceus: the staff of Hermes that identifies him as a traveler.

chthonic: of the underworld ("chthon" = earth)

cosmogony: in mythology, a story on the origin and early development of the universe; it goes hand in hand with a theogony (q.v.)

epic: an oral tradition of performative poetry that narrated mythical stories. Two monumental epic poems from ancient Greece, the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer, have been preserved. They were set in writing not earlier than in the eighth century B.C.E.

epiphany: the manifestation of a god or goddess

epithet: a quality assigned repeatedly to a name, especially in the Homeric poems.

herm: a Herm was a rectangular or square pillar equipped with male genitals and with the head or bust of Hermes on top.

hierophant: priest who reveals the sacred objects (in the mysteries at Eleusis)

hybris: a transgression motivated by excessive pride; refusal to recognize the limitations of mortality; wanton violence.

initiand: one who is undergoing a rite of passage but has not yet accomplished it.

initiate: one who has achieved a rite of passage (e.g., to adulthood) or has been accepted into the community of those who share a religious mystery.

kathodos:  "way down."  Descent, e.g. of the women who, in the rituals of Demeter, descended to the bottom of pits in a reenactment of the descent of Kore.

libation: a ritual pouring of liquids on the ground, in honor of a god or gods.

oracle:  a message said to come from a god in answer to a query. The most famous in ancient Greece was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

maenads: mythic female followers of Dionysus; also called Bacchants or Bacchae.

miasma: religious and moral stain, pollution brought by a crime not expiated.

mystery religion: cults involving a revelation of secrets that only the initiates ought to know, and which concerned life and death, the afterlife, the soul, etc.

oligarchy:  "rule of the few."  Partisans of this form of government conspired against the Athenian democracy.

pantheon means "all the gods." Usually it refers to the twelve Olympians.

parthenogenesis: procreation by a female without being impregnated by a male.

psychopomp: title given to Hermes because he guides the ghosts of the dead from life to death.

satyrs: mythic male followers of Dionysus, represented as men with  horses' or a goats' tail, ears, legs, and hooves.  Older satyrs were called silenus (plural: sileni)

syncretism: the mingling of different myths, cults, and/or doctrines into a common tradition.

theogony: a story on the origin and generations of the gods; a poem by Hesiod with that title.

thyrsus: a long staff topped with a pinecone and entwined with ivy, carried by the maenads in their processions.