Ancient Greece – Final Exam Review

Identifications:

You should be prepared to give a 3-4 sentence identification of any of the following.

PEOPLE		THINGS
Aeschylus	Agesilaos	Archon	Areopagus
Agiads	Alcibiades	aretÍ	Battle of Chaeronea
Alcmaeonids	Alcman	Battle of Hysiai	Battle of Leuctra
Alexander the Great	Antiphon	Battle of Marathon	Battle of Thermopylae
Archilochus	Aristagoras of Miletus	Boule	cleruchy
Aristides	Aristophanes	decarchy	Delian League
Bacchiads	Cimon	deme	Ecclesia
Cleisthenes of Athens	Cleisthenes of Sicyon	Eleusinian Mysteries	emporia
Cleomenes	Cleon	Four Hundred	Gerousia
Critias	Croesus	Great Rhetra	harmost
Cylon	Cypselus	hectemoroi	herm
Cyrus	Cyrus	hetaireiai	Hippeis
Demaratus	Demosthenes	hoplite warfare	King's Peace
Dion	Dionysius the Elder	League of Corinth	Long Walls of Athens
Dionysius the Younger	Draco	Marathon	Olympic games
Empedokles	Epaminondas	Oracle of Delphi	ostracism
Ephialtes	Epimenides	Peloponnesian League	Pentacosiomedimnoi
Euripides	Eurypontids	phoros	Sacred Band
Gorgias	Gyges	Sacred Wars	Second Athenian League
Harmodius & Aristogeiton	Heinrich Schliemann	sophists	stasis
Heraclids	Hesiod	Thermopylae	Thetes
Hippias and Hipparchus	Homer	Thirty Tyrants	timÍ
Isagoras	Isocrates	tribe	trittyes
Lycurgus	Lysander	xenia	Zeugitai
Nicias	Pericles
Pheidon	Phillip II
Pisistratus	Plato
Polykrates	Protagoras
Solon	Sophocles
Themistokles	Theognis
Theramenes	Theseus
Tissaphernes	Tyrtaeus

You should also be prepared to locate any of the following places on a map of the Mediterranean.

Aegina	Amphipolis	Arcadia	Argos
Athens	Boeotia	Byzantium	Carthage
Chalkidike	Chios	Corcyra	Corinth
Crete	Cyprus	Cyrene	Euboea
Ionia	Lesbos	Macedonia	Mantinea
Megara	Melos	Messenia	Miletus
Mycenae	Mytilene	Naukratis	Olynthus
Orchomenos	Pherae	Phocis	Potidea
Pylos	Salamis	Samos	Sicily
Sicyon	Sparta	Syracuse	Tarentum
Thebes	Thespiae	Thessaly	Thurii

Essay Questions:

1. For to the people I gave so much honor as is sufficient, neither diminishing their timÍ nor adding to it in profusion. As for those who held power and were admired for their wealth, I saw to it that they, also, had nothing shameful. I took my stand, covering both in the protection of my mighty shield, nor did I allow either side to win unjustly. (Solon, fr. 5)

Explain how Solonπs reforms provided a compromise between the factions in Athens. What advantage did each group obtain? What did each have to give up? In what ways did Solonπs reforms fail to resolve the problems of Athens?

2. How do the "wooden walls" of the Delphic Oracle (Hdt. VII.140-143) define the polis of the Athenians? Discuss at least three examples in which the "wooden walls" are more significant than the walls of the city itself.

3. What are the common elements of Greek narratives of colonization? Why do these elements appear in so many colonization stories? What is the significance and function of these elements? Use at least three stories of colonization as examples to make your points.

4. In Pericles' funeral oration (Th. 2.45.2), Pericles claims that the greatest glory is for the woman "who is least talked about among the men whether for good or for bad." What does this statement show about the changing status of women in Athenian society? What factors influenced this change of status?

5. What can the tales of the birth of a leader tell the modern reader about how that leader was perceived by his contemporaries? What common elements in the stories provide clues? Explain with regard to at least two such stories found in Herodotus or other sources.

6. Discuss how innovations in military technology or tactics changed the socio-political and economic situations of Greece in at least three cases.

7. What roles did women play in Spartan society? What do the conflicting sources have to say about Spartan women?

8. But in Ionia and many other regions where they live under foreign sway, it [love of youths] is counted a disgrace. Foreigners hold this thing, and all training in philosophy and sports, to be disgraceful, because of their despotic government; since, I presume, it is not to the interest of their despots to have lofty notions engendered in their subjects, or any strong friendships and communions; all of which Love is pre-eminently apt to create. It is a lesson that our tyrants learnt by experience; for Aristogeiton's love and Harmodius's friendship grew to be so steadfast that it wrecked their power. Thus where it was held a disgrace to gratify one's lover, the tradition is due to the evil ways of those who made such a law-- that is, to the encroachments of the rulers and to the cowardice of the ruled.

In Plato's Symposium (182bd), one character uses the example of Harmodius and Aristogeiton to explain why the love of youths is discouraged in cities under tyrants' control. Why might this be an effective argument for his Athenian audience? How does this passage reflect the different versions of the story found in Thucydides, Herodotus, and the Harmodius skolion (Dear Harmodios, surely you have not perished. No, they say, you live in the blessed islands where Achilles the swift of foot, and Tydeus' son, Diomedes, are said to have gone)?

9. Thucydides describes the symptoms of the plague in Athens in vivid and horrifying detail (Th. 2.49 ff.), but he also uses the idea of disease to describe the moral conditions of Greek cities during the war. Describe the symptoms of this moral disease and discuss some of its worst outbreaks.

10. Why did the Greeks colonize? What conditions, economic, social, and political, led to the process of colonization in the Archaic period?

11. Using at least three examples from comedies or tragedies, explain the advantages and disadvantages of using dramatic sources as historical evidence. How does such evidence differ from that of a historical chronicle such as Thucydides or Diodorus Siculus in scope, detail, or credibility?

12. How did the Spartans develop hoplite warfare to the peak that they did? How did the reforms of åLycurgusπ and the social customs of Sparta contribute to its military prowess? What were the limitations of the Spartan system?

13. Although tales of the Dorian invasion or the Ionian migration are difficult to support archaeologically, they were nonetheless important to the ancient Greeks. Discuss at least three examples in which notions of ethnic identity shaped the events of history we have discussed in class.

14. In Herodotus III.80ff., the Persians debating the best form of government give speeches that put forth the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy. Briefly cite examples from Greek history both before and after the Persian Wars that illustrate these advantages and disadvantages.

15. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Herodotus or Thucydides or Plutarch or Xenophon or the Aristotelian Athenian Constituition as a source for historical information.

16. What impact did the expansion of trade with the Near East and the Italian peninsula have on the development of the Greek polis?

17. How does the difference between the poetry of Alcman and the poetry of Tyrtaeus reflect the changes in Spartan society between the times of those poets?

18. Personal relationships (friendship, hatred, romance, marriage, etc.) between prominent individuals played an important part in politics within the polis and between states. Describe the effects of at least three such personal relationships from different periods in Greek history.

19. What narrative pattern do the tales of tyrants, in Herodotus and elsewhere, display? What does this pattern reveal about the way in which the Greeks regarded absolute rulers? Use examples from stories of at least two tyrants. How does Herodotusπ story of Deioces provide a contrast?

20. How did the reforms of Cleisthenes the Athenian differ from the reforms of his grandfather from Sicyon? What effects did these reforms have within the society of the polis and in the polis' relations with other states?

21. What does the appearance and positioning of monumental temples in the Archaic period reveal about the development of the Greek polis?

22. What role did PanHellenic sanctuaries such as Delphi and Olympia play in the political and social history of Greece? Discuss their significance using examples from at least three situations.

23. According to Hesiod (Works and Days, ll. 11-24), competition is a fundamental element of Greek culture. Discuss at least three examples in which competition shaped historical events that we have discussed in class.

24. The Peloponnesian War pitted Athens' naval power against the Spartan land empire. What strengths and weaknesses of naval and land empires were revealed during and after the Peloponnesian War?

25. Alcibiades' speech (in Th. 6.15-18) attempts to justify his personal extravagances to the people of Athens. What does this speech reveal about the conflicts of individual and public interest in the Greek city-state?