Ancient Greece History Exam
Greeks in different city-states adopted various forms of government over the centuries of the Archaic Age. Match the name of each form of government to its correct definition.
Oligarchy-Rule by a few Tyranny- rule by a sole ruler who seized power Democracy- rule by the people
Which of these WAS NOT one of Alexander's goals after he became king?
The spread of democracy
Which of the following environmental or topographical features shaped life in ancient Greece? Check ALL that apply.
Earthquakes Rocky Mediterranean coastline Chains of rugged mountains Plus one more
Socrates taught that he knew the best definition of excellence, and others should follow his teaching.
False
The Battle of Salamis, a great Athenian victory over the Persians, was fought on land to the southeast of Athens.
False
The Greek word "areté," often translated "excellence" or, alternatively, "virtue" was a concept that applied only to the heroic warriors of ancient Greece, not to women.
False
_________ is the Greek word that Martin translates as "guest-host friendship," a duty to demonstrate hospitality to strangers. Martin gives the example of Glaucus and Diomedes in the Iliad.
xenia
Which time period corresponds to what Martin identifies as the Greek "Dark Age"?
1000 - 750 BC
How many Spartan warriors, led by Leonidas, famously (and courageously) fought against Persia's massively superior numbers at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC?
300
How many Greek city-states banded together to fight off the massive Persian invasion by the army of Xerxes I in 480 BC? [Type your answer using numerals.]
31
Alexander died prematurely in the year ____ BC.
323
The Hellenistic period spanned the years from______ BC, when Alexander the Great died, to _____ BC, when Cleopatra VII died.
323, 30
In the early phase of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta sent troops annually to attack the countryside surrounding Athens, though their sieges never lasted more than ___ days.
40
The Peloponnesian War came to an end when Athenian citizens surrendered to Spartan forces in ____ BC.
404
The Peloponnesian War began when Spartan forces invaded Attica for the first time in ______ BC and destroyed farmland and homes in the countryside surrounding Athens.
431
Which time period corresponds to what Martin identifies as the Archaic Age?
750 - 500 BC
The Minoan society developed on the Mediterranean island of ______.
Crete
Which of the following, according to Martin, were significant features of Minoan society? Check ALL that apply.
A writing system for keeping records Seafaring trade A redistributive economy Large palaces
The city of ___________ in Egypt, which had been created by Alexander to be a center of learning, became an influential location for the exchange of mathematical and scientific ideas in the Hellenistic Age.
Alexandria
Which of the following, according to Martin, were significant features of Mycenaean society? Check ALL that apply.
All of them
The earliest philosophical writing in ancient Greece was produced by thinkers from the region of Athens , which drew knowledge from Egypt and the Near East due to their proximity to the non-Greek civilizations of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). For example, Thales of Miletus learned from Babylonian astronomers that stars and planets move in a regular pattern. He and Anaximander (also from Miletus) concluded that this must mean natural phenomena are governed by laws of nature, rather than occurring randomly or at the arbitrary whims of gods or spirits. Similarly, the mathematician Tegmark discovered principles that suggested a mathematical basis for physical reality. These early philosophers, forerunners of scientific thought, saw the universe as orderly and therefore as both beautiful and accessible to human understanding.
Answer 1: Athens Answer 2: Thales Answer 3: Tegmark
The government of Athens evolved in several ways through the 7th & 6th centuries BC. The nobleman Solon tried by force to seize power as a tyrant in 632 BC but was repelled by peasant citizens. In 621 BC was appointed to establish laws that would promote stability and equality, but his laws came to be seen as excessively harsh. Twenty-five years later, starting in 594 BC, more successful reforms were implemented by Solon , who made economic, political, and judicial changes that balanced the interests of wealthy, noble families and those of poorer citizens. Despite these reforms, disagreements and rivalries persisted, and in 546 BC became tyrant over Athens. When he died, ruled passed from that tyrant to his son Hippias until the noble Alcmaeonid family allied with the army of Sparta to expel him in 510 BC. After the end of this period of tyranny, led Athens to overcome Spartan military interference and bring democratic reforms that promoted greater sharing of power. Thus, the emergence of democracy at Athens was the result of a long and contentious process.
Answer 1: Solon Answer 2: Draco Answer 3: Solon Answer 4: Pisistratus Answer 5: Cleisthenes
Three of Alexander's former military commanders seized power in the years following Alexander's death and established dominance over a particular region. Match the commander from the left column with the region that became his kingdom.
Antigonus-Macedonia & Greece Seleucus- Syria & Persia Ptolemy- Egypt
Write 2-3 sentences explaining how Aristotle thought humans could attain a life of just behavior (or living justly) and/or find happiness.
Aristotle thought that humans could attain a life of happiness by making rational choices, having practical judgment, habituation to excellence, and recognition of the value of choosing the mean instead of extremes. Aristotle also believes that you would attain true happiness whenever you had freedom.
Though it played out in a series of conflicts over more than 25 years, eventually the Peloponnesian War ended in the defeat for _______. (Name the city-state that lost the war.)
Athens
___________ was a Greek city-state that attributed its founding to the legendary hero Theseus and prided itself on having brought agriculture and religious devotion to the god Demeter to the rest of Greece. Early in the Archaic Age this city-state's population grew rapidly, which resulted in citizenship being granted even to poor men; though scholars debate the issue, Martin regards this city-state as having developed the earliest form of democracy.
Athens
Match the city-state to its superior military capability.
Athens navy Sparta army
In the third and second millennia BC, people developed techniques of producing metals that created stronger weapons and tools as well as decorative objects that could indicate wealth and status. Specifically, during this time period, copper and tin were alloyed to produce ___________.
Bronze
The emergence of the city-state as the basic organization of political life in Greece was based on the concept of __________ for all its indigenous free inhabitants, which granted basic legal equality and the right to speak freely about political matters.
Citizenship
Plato's idea that humans possess immortal souls distinct from their physical bodies is called _____________.
Dualism
The Hellenistic period gave rise to a number of new Greek philosophies, which mainly focused on questions of how humans can live well and be free of the troubles caused by Chance. Epicureans emphasized withdrawing from matters of public concern, which only lead to conflict and trouble; instead, people should seek pleasure in a quiet life spent in the company of close friends. Cynics taught that people ought to pursue excellence and to live in harmony with the divinely rational force of Nature (which appears in the guise of Fate), while avoiding strong emotions that trouble the mind. Sceptics believed that human knowledge about reality is unreliable because our senses yield contradictory information about the world; since certainty is unattainable, they thought it wisest to suspend judgment about matters of ultimate concern. Stoics sought to live lives of radical self-sufficiency, rejecting social and moral norms and spurning the pursuit of wealth or comfort.
Epicureans Cynics Sceptics Stoics WRONG
According to Martin, foreign invasions are the most likely cause for the destruction of Mycenaean palaces around 1200-1000 BC.
False
Citizen women in Greek city-states were given the right to speak and vote in political assemblies.
False
Greeks of the Classical Age looked forward to a future in which divine love would vanquish evil and human souls would live in an eternal paradise.
False
In the 6th century BC, the ideas of the Ionian philosophers quickly found widespread acceptance all over Greece, replacing beliefs in gods and spirits with a more scientific view. For example, rather than attributing earthquakes to the anger of Poseidon, most Greeks soon believed that the earth was on top of a great ocean whose waters sometimes became turbulent.
False
Ancient Greeks were influenced by Egyptian civilization in a number of ways. Which of the following examples shows evidence of Egyptian influence? (Check ALL that apply.)
Greek sculpture Greek religion
The practice of chattel slavery, in which slaves became the property of their masters, expanded in Greece throughout the Archaic Age. Which of the following types of people could become chattel slaves?
Greek soldiers of a rival city-state captured in war Non-Greeks purchased from a slave trader Children captured by Thracian raiders
In the 19th century the term "Hellenistic" was coined to refer to the period of Greek and Near Eastern history from the death of Alexander the Great to the death of Cleopatra VII. What does "Hellenistic" mean?
Greek-like
Plato's dialogue The Republic imagines the political structure of a utopian society as an analogy for how an individual should cultivate a just and moral soul. "Like a just soul," Martin writes, "the just society would have its parts in proper hierarchy, parts that Plato presents in The Republic as three classes of people, distinguished by their ability to grasp the truth of Forms" (231). Match the name of each of these classes to its description.
Guardians- Rulers who are educated in math, astronomy, and meta Auxiliaries- Those who defended the City/State Producers- Those who grow the food and make tools
Though they had lost their independence to King Croesus of Lydia about fifty years earlier, in 499 BC the Greek city-states of _________ rebelled against the tyrants installed by the Persian king. Sparta refused to aid their revolt, but Athens and Eretria sent military forces to help these fellow Greeks.
Ionia
The ancestral homeland of the Persians lay in what modern-day country?
Iran
In addition to the mystery cults of Demeter and Dionysus, in Hellenistic cities worship of the Egyptian goddess ______ became very popular.
Isis
Not all indigenous people welcomed the rule of the Hellenistic kings. The Maccabean Revolt was an uprising of the _________ people to regain independence and control of their temple.
Jewish
One prominent theory is that prehistoric Greece, like other parts of Europe and Asia, was transformed by the migration of Indo-Europeans from central Asia or Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) around 4500-2000 BC. This theory is based PRIMARILY on what type of evidence?
Language/linguistics
According to the quotation from Menalippe on p. 172, Greek women contributed to social, cultural, and domestic life in which of the following ways? Check ALL that apply.
Managing household tasks like cleaning Leading the observance of religious rituals Preserving family property Making honest agreements
In 490 BC, Athenian fighters and their allies from Plataea repelled the attack of Persian forces at the Battle of ___________. Afterward they hurried the 20-plus miles to Athens to defend their city from naval attack.
Marathon
______________ was a Greek city-state that developed laws and customs aimed at maintaining military dominance. For example, they conquered neighboring Greeks and forced them to become slaves (called "helots"); their male children left home at the age of seven to begin military training and did not live with a family until the age of thirty; and their women exercised to achieve the physical fitness necessary bear children who would replenish the army.
NOT: Athens pg 99-103
After Alexander the Great died with no heir to rule his empire, what form of government took root in the lands he had ruled?
NOT: Democracies pages 254-58
The Greek term _________ means, among other things, a "reasoned explanation."
NOT: nous pg119-120
This building, constructed as a temple of Athena on the citadel of Athens (the Acropolis), is known as the ____________. In addition to housing a massive statue of the goddess, it also served as a symbol of Athenian wealth and power. In its design and decoration it is thought to emphasize the "human ability to construct order out of the entropic order of the natural world" and "a claim of special intimacy between the [Athenian] city-state and the gods" (Martin 154).
Parthenon
In the aftermath of the Persian Wars of 480-479 BC, Greek city-states sorted themselves into two major alliances. Match each alliance to the city-state that was its most powerful member and, therefore, its de facto leader.
Peloponnesian League- Sparta Delian League- Athens
Match each alliance of Greek city-states to its de facto leader.
Peloponnesian League- Sparta Delian League- Athens
Write 2-3 sentences summarizing Pericles's reasons for refusing to compromise with Sparta in 431 BC.
Pericles replied that the Athens assembly had a passed law barring anyone from taking down the inscribed panel on which the text of the sanctions against Megara had been publicly displayed. "All right then," exploded the head of the Spartan delegation, "you don't have to take the panel down. Just turn its inscribed side to the wall. Surely you have no law prohibiting that!"
Which ruler was the father of Alexander the Great?
Philip II
Match the Greek thinker to the correct description of his accomplishments and influence.
Protagoras- most famous Anaxagoras- Thinker from Ionia Leucippus- Thinker from Miletus Herodotus- Historian who tried to explain many major events Hippocrates- Doctor who saw the body as a complex system
Which of the following, according to Martin, was a way of signaling (and maintaining) elite social status in Dark Age Greece? Check all that apply.
Providing for expensive religious sacrifices Doing favors for inferiors Paying for public celebrations Acquiring fine goods Exchanging gifts with equals
Why did Alexander lead the Macedonian and Greek armies into Anatolia in 334 BC?
Revenge for the Persian invasion of 480 BC
All of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the eastern Mediterranean region eventually fell to the ___________.
Romans
Which of the following changes was made in Athens under the influence of Pericles, starting in the 450s? [Check all that apply.]
Stipends paid to jurors and public servants The easing of financial pressure on Delian League allies The construction of the Parthenon Citizenship granted only to those whose father and mother both were Athenian citizens A peace treaty with Sparta intended to last 30 years I think all of them.
Over the course of the Archaic Age, lyric poetry--short poems that varied in rhythm, style, and subject and were performed with a harp-like musical instrument called a lyre--emerged as a new art form in Greece. A native of the island of Lesbos, _________ achieved fame for her lyric poems, particularly those that dealt with love.
Sappho
Which of the following, according to Martin, were significant features of Mycenaean society? Check ALL that apply.
Seafaring trade Greek language Frequent warfare
Martin points out that ancient Greek civilization is notable in part because they rejected royal rule as the default political structure; instead, "the new normal became widespread participation in decision making by male citizens who earned that privilege by helping to defend the community" (3). In some cases this meant the establishment of the world's first democracies. Nonetheless, not everyone was allowed to participate in the government of these early democracies. Which of the following groups were EXCLUDED from participation?
Slaves and Female citizens
In the second half of the 5th century, teachers or tutors who specialized in training young Greek men to speak with eloquence and persuasiveness began to offer their services to Greek families. These teachers were called ____________.
Sophists
_____________ was a Greek city-state that developed laws and customs aimed at maintaining military dominance. For example, they conquered neighboring Greeks and forced them to become slaves (called "helots"); their male children left home at the age of seven to begin military training and did not live with a family until the age of thirty; and their women exercised to achieve the physical fitness necessary bear children who would replenish the army.
Sparta
In writing his account of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides drew on which of the following techniques and sources of information? [Check ALL that apply.]
Spartan eyewitnesses Recreating versions of direct speeches Athenian eyewitnesses Putting events in chronological order
To construct his account of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides uses which of the following methods and sources of information? [Check ALL that apply.]
Spartan eyewitnesses Recreating versions of direct speeches Putting events in chronological order Athenian eyewitnesses
Write 2-3 sentences summarizing the trial of Socrates in 399 BC. What were the charges against him, and how did he respond to these charges?
The Trial of Socrates in 399 BC was to determine if he was guilty of the ungodliness against the pantheon of Athens and if he corrupted the youth of the city-state. He told the jury that he would rather be put to death than give up his soul-saving. He then dies from drinking the poison that was sentenced to him.
In the Hellenistic period, Greek thinkers gave birth to a variety of philosophies dealing with the basic question, "What is the best way for humans to live?" Write 3-4 sentences comparing and contrasting how Epicureans and Stoics conceived of the good life.
The differences is Stoics see that we can have a good life by living justly and virtuously. The Epicureans see that we can have a good life by maximizing our pleasure. They are same in acknowledging that meditation is good for a good life.
According to Martin, Alexander came to believe he was the son of Zeus and therefore deserved the status of a divinity. On p. 250, Martin writes, "We have to take seriously the ancient evidence that Alexander believed he was a god and a man at the same time; that was an idea that, later history shows, was going to have a long future." Christianity's claim that Jesus of Nazareth was both God and man would be rooted in beliefs in Jesus's moral perfection and his resurrection from the dead. Write 2-3 sentences contrasting these ideas with the foundations of Alexander's belief in his own divine-human nature.
There are. many differences between Jesus and Alexander's belief in his own divine-human nature. It was never recorded that his mother told Jesus that he was God's son; he just knew. Alexander was told by his mother this crazy story about a thunderstorm. Jesus had people agree with him that he was the son of God but never had something like when Alexander when on his eastern campaign, Olympias accompanied him and told him in private the secret of his birth, and wanted him to entertain those ambitions.
Both women and men qualify to be guardians in Plato's utopia described in The Republic.
True
Greek religious beliefs and practices were based on a fundamental concept of reciprocity: humans paid honors to the gods (such as the construction of public sanctuaries, the observance of festivals, or the offering of sacrifices) to thank them for blessings received and to receive blessings in return.
True
In 479 BC, Xerxes I offered a peace treaty with Athens that would have granted them protection and control over much of Greece, but the Athenians rejected it.
True
In classical Athens, women could inherit and control property.
True
In response to the social and economic pressures caused by long-term military engagement, Athenians approved a transition from democracy to oligarchy in 411 BC.
True
In the decades after repelling the Persian invasion in 480-479 BC, Athens grew in power and wealth. They sometimes used their superior power to force allied Greek city-states to agree with policies that favored Athens.
True
Plato's utopian vision had virtually no effect on the politics of his time.
True
The Myceneans were Greek-speaking peoples who dwelled on the Greek mainland.
True
How were the lives of women and men (from property-owning, citizen families) different in classical Athens? Write at least 3 sentences, emphasizing specific details from the chapter.
Women and men were very different in their normal day to day lives. Women were in charge of the cleaning and proper care of the household. Women typically married young to a much older man and were primarily there to bear children. They had little to no roles in Law and could own land if it was inherited. Men were able to own land and are apart of the Law system. Women and men were able to celebrate festivals together though and some of the festivals were just for women!
Match the periods of Greek history, as Martin explains them, to their corresponding dates.
c. 40,000 years ago - c. 2000 BC prehistoric c. 2000-1000 BC bronze c 1000-750 BC dark c. 750-500 BC archaic c. 500-323 BC classical 323-30 BC Hellenistic
Choose the answer that best completes the sentence: Aristotle believed that human happiness . . .
is the fulfillment of human potential.
In 461 BC, an Athenian citizen named Ephialtes persuaded the assembly to adopt a number of reforms that spread power from the Athenian elites to a broader cross-section of the male citizenry. The most important of these reforms, according to Martin, was the development of _________.
juries
The Greek word for "city-state" is ________.
polis
Martin points out that ancient Greek civilization is notable in part because they rejected royal rule as the default political structure; instead, "the new normal became widespread participation in decision making by male citizens who earned that privilege by helping to defend the community" (3). In some cases this meant the establishment of the world's first democracies. Nonetheless, not everyone was allowed to participate in the government of these early democracies. Which of the following groups were EXCLUDED from participation?
pg 3-4
The term _______, derived from Greek words for "goat" and "song," refers to dramatic plays built around fierce conflicts between human and divine forces, which often ended in terrible suffering, turmoil, and traumatic deaths. This type of drama emerged in Classical Athens as part of the festival of Dionysus.
tragedy
