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Greek History Quiz 3
Study Questions for A Brief History of Ancient Greece Ch. 7-9
58
Classics
Undergraduate 1
09/30/2012

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Term
Describe the Acropolis of Athens.
Definition
A naturally fortified steep hill on which early rulers lived and other buildings were built.
Term
What were the two main architectural orders used in the Classical period?
Definition
Doric & Ionic
Term
What makes the Parthenon unique?
Definition
Blend of Doric & Ionic styles and designed to be especially aesthetically pleasing. It was built without a single straight line to compensate for distortion caused by the curvature of the Earth.
Term
What is displayed in the pediments of the Parthenon? the frieze?
Definition
The pediment showed the birth of Athena, contest between Athena & Poseidon. The frieze showed humans, animals, and the twelve Olympian gods, believed to be a religious procession.
Term
What makes the Erechtheion unique?
Definition
Instead of columns, statues of maidens known as Caryatids held up the roof.
Term
Describe the Athenian agora.
Definition
A center for secular activity, a market, a meeting place for the exchange of goods, the focus of social, political, & judicial activities. On the western side was a temple to Hephaestus or Theseus.
Term
Describe the theories of Empedocles.
Definition
Empedocles – developed a theory of existence based on the elements earth, air, fire, & water. Physical substances were created when “love” & “strife” acted on them.
Term
Describe the theories of Democritus.
Definition
Democritus – matter is created from tiny indivisible particles known as atoma. Whatever shapes the form of matter is natural, not divine.
Term
Describe the theories of Hippocrates.
Definition
Hippocrates – sought rational explanations for natural phenomena. Explained the impact of climate on health. Formed the Hippocratic oath. Studied gynecology because nobody else would.
Term
Who was Herodotus? Describe his Histories.
Definition
A dude that studied history by interrogating people. He wrote about the Persian wars even though he wasn’t alive to remember them.
Term
What is the moral of the story of Solon and Croesus?
Definition
True happiness is found only in death.
Term
Who was Thucydides? Describe his Histories.
Definition
Saw the actions of people as exclusively responsible for the way things turn out. He was an eyewitness to many historical events so he was much more critical and impartial than Herodotus.
Term
Who were the three greatest Athenian tragedians? What were their most famous plays and what were the plots of these plays?
Definition
Aeschylus – the Oresteia, a trilogy including Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, & The Eumenides. It’s about a dude named Agamemnon, whose wife Clytemnestra killed him, so his son kills her & is cleared by Athena.
Sophocles – The Theban Plays, consisting of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, & Antigone. Oedipus kills his dad and has kids with his mom.
Euripides – Medea. Medea is scorned by her husband Jason so she kills their kids.
Term
Describe Old Comedy as seen in the works of Aristophanes.
Definition
Made fun of political stuff.
Term
Who were the Sophists?
Definition
Intellectuals of Athens, practiced debate.
Term
How did the situation at Epidamnus cause renewed conflict between the allies of Athens and the Peloponnesians? Potidaea? Megara?
Definition
Corinth & Corcyra were fighting, and Corcyra sided with Athens so they beat Corinth. Pontidaea was a Corinthian colony but a member of the Athenian alliance so both Athens and Corinth fought over it. Athens closed ports as Megara which pissed off the Peloponnesian league.
Term
What was the first openly hostile maneuver in the Peloponnesian War?
Definition
The Thebans attacked Plataea.
Term
What does the Oracle tell the Thebans to do to get rid of the plague?
Definition
Find the murderer of Laius.
Term
How does Teiresias anger Oedipus?
Definition
He won’t tell him what he knows.
Term
Of what does Oedipus accuse Creon?
Definition
Bribing Tiresias.
Term
Why did Oedipus run away from Corinth?
Definition
Because he received a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother.
Term
What does Jocasta do when she realizes the truth about Oedipus’ parentage? What does Oedipus do?
Definition
She hangs herself. Oedipus gouges his own eyes out.
Term
What does Creon do when Oedipus asks Creon to destroy him?
Definition
He insists they consult an oracle before Oedipus exiles himself.
Term
What was Pericles’ war strategy?
Definition
Everyone get inside the long walls.
Term
Describe the plague and its effects on Athenian society.
Definition
An early form of Typhoid fever. A third of the population died. Athens descended to a state of lawlessness and despair. Pericles was killed in the plague.
Term
Define the term “demagogue”.
Definition
Lit. “a leader of the people”, a calculating politician who manipulated his voters.
Term
Who were the two main speakers in the debate regarding Mytilene? What were their arguments? What was the result?
Definition
Cleon, who wanted to kill all the men & sell the women & kids into slavery, & Diodotus, who wanted to spare them. Diodotus won, so only about leaders of the Mytilenean revolt were killed.
Term
Describe the stasis at Corcyra.
Definition
The aristocratic party attempted a coup against the democrats, but failed. Athens sent 60 ships to help the democrats. The oligarchic partisans were mercilessly slaughtered.
Term
What happened on the island of Sphacteria?
Definition
Athenians marooned 420 Spartan soldiers there and held them hostage.
Term
How stable was the Peace of Nicias? Why?
Definition
Not really stable at all. It was essentially an Athenian victory, so Corinth, Megara, and Boeotia were all pissed off and wouldn’t agree to it.
Term
What happened at Melos?
Definition
Athens sent ships to neutral Melos to ask them to join, but they refused, so Athens killed all their men and made all their women and children slaves.
Term
Who were the main speakers for and against the Sicilian Expedition?
Definition
Alcibiades was for, Nicias was against.
Term
What happened on the eve of the Sicilian Expedition?
Definition
A bunch of statues of Hermes got their dicks cut off.
Term
Describe the Athenian withdrawal from Sicily.
Definition
Everything went wrong. Alcibiades defected to Sparta. They got attacked by Syracuse. Pretty much everyone died and nothing was accomplished. The Athenian soldiers became slaves to the Sicilians.
Term
Describe Persia’s role in the war.
Definition
Spartans were negotiating with Persian cities. Spartans & Persians formed a shaky alliance which was eventually dissolved because the Persian demands were too harsh. Sparta wanted Alcibiades executed, so he fled to Tissaphernes. He promised Athens Persian support if they would
Term
What was the structure of the Athenian government in 411 BC?
Definition
The assembly had become the Council of 400 (later 5000). They wanted a democracy limited to landowners. They were super oligarchic.
Term
How did Alcibiades’ career in Athenian politics come to an end?
Definition
The Athenians lost 22 ships to Lysander under the orders of one of Alcibiades’ stupid friends. He didn’t get reelected and instead ran away.
Term
What happened to the victorious generals at Arginusae?
Definition
They were executed because they didn’t collect the bodies of the dead for a proper burial.
Term
Describe the battle at Aegospotami.
Definition
Alcibiades told the Athenians to move from their vulnerable position, but they didn’t listen so they were all captured.
Term
What were the terms for Athenian surrender?
Definition
Athens would be Sparta’s ally, the Long Walls would be destroyed, all but 12 of their ships would be surrendered.
Term
Why does Pericles urge the Athenians to reject the Spartans’ demands?
Definition
“If we say yes to this, they’ll try to get us to say yes to other stuff and that’s not cool. They’re trying to seem better than us but they’re not!”
Term
Give 3 reasons why Pericles thinks the Athenians can win the war.
Definition
Our navy is awesome, move everyone into the Long Walls, and as long as we don’t try to get any more territory then we’ll be good.
Term
What does Pericles mean when he calls Athens the “school of Hellas”?
Definition
He means that Athens is a model to the rest of Greece.
Term
Describe the plague.
Definition
Not sure where it started exactly. Symptoms were fever, red eyes, nasty breath, sneezing & coughing, upset stomach, vomiting, pustules on the skin, and people who recovered from the illness often lost their fingers, toes, eyes, and/or genitals. People died because they caught it when they went to take care of people who had it.
Term
What are Pericles’ main arguments to defend his war strategy after the plague?
Definition
“The navy is still awesome. Athens is awesome too. I’m still the same awesome Pericles so y’all should quit moaning and groaning.”
Term
According to Thucydides, what happened to Athenian politics after Pericles’ death?
Definition
Demagogues started fighting for their own best interests, and a lot of military blunders resulted such as the Sicilian expedition.
Term
What are the arguments of Cleon and Diodotus in the Mytilenean Debate?
Definition
Cleon: “They aren’t revolting because they’re mad at us, they’re revolting to ruin us. They rebelled by free choice and not by being forced to. We have to make an example of them.”

Diodotus: “Don’t kill them, they can be useful. People will always make mistakes. We can get revenue from them.”
Term
What is the central argument in the Melian Dialogue?
Definition
Might versus right – we’re stronger than you so we should destroy you.
Term
How does Alcibiades convince the Athenians to sail against Sicily?
Definition
“Sicily will be easy to beat! We should expand our empire.”
Term
Describe the Oligarchy of the 30. What happened after they fell from power?
Definition
The Thirty sentenced tons of people to death for no real reason. After they fell from power, Athens & Sparta decided to declare an amnesty for all but the Thirty & their chief officers.
Term
Why was Socrates put on trial? What were the formal charges? Who are our sources for Socrates’ teachings? What were those teachings?
Definition
He was put on trial for speaking against democracy and teaching the oligarchs Alcibiades and Critias. The official charges were not believing in the gods of the state, teaching new gods, and corrupting the youth. We know about Socrates’ teachings from Plato & Aristophanes. Socrates taught about inductive reasoning & universal definitions.
Term
Describe the treaty that ended the Corinthian War.
Definition
Cities in Asia that had been lost in the Persian War now belonged to Artaxerxes. Greek cities should be left to govern themselves except for Lemnos, Imbros, & Scyros, who belonged to Athens.
Term
Describe the Second Athenian League.
Definition
A naval confederacy of Athens, Thebes, & their allies.
Term
What was the significance of the Battle at Leuctra?
Definition
The Theban leaders used unique and powerful military formations and utilized the Sacred Band, an elite group of hoplites, to defeat the Spartans.
Term
In general, how did ancient Greek philosophers feel about democracy?
Definition
They were very critical of it.
Term
What format did Plato use for his writings? What ideas did he express? What was his ideal state?
Definition
He wrote dialogues about philosophical stuff like what is love? What is beauty? What is justice? etc., and about the difference between the abstract and the tangible. He also talked about the Forms and the idea that an essential ideal exists on a higher plane, and what we see is a reflection of that ideal. Plato’s ideal state was an idealized oligarchy that should be ruled by philosopher-kings.
Term
What was the Academy? the Lyceum?
Definition
Academy – a school in Athens where Plato taught philosophy.
Lyceum – institution of scientific learning founded by Aristotle
Term
What were Aristotle’s interests? What was his view of the polis? What were his views on women?
Definition
Aristotle liked nature. He thought that the polis and human existence were one in the same – humans would always be drawn to forming a community. He was a misogynist – he thought women were simply “deformed men.”
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