Term
| Describe the Acropolis of Athens. |
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Definition
| A naturally fortified steep hill on which early rulers lived and other buildings were built. |
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Term
| What were the two main architectural orders used in the Classical period? |
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Definition
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Term
| What makes the Parthenon unique? |
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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. |
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Term
| What is displayed in the pediments of the Parthenon? the frieze? |
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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. |
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Term
| What makes the Erechtheion unique? |
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Definition
| Instead of columns, statues of maidens known as Caryatids held up the roof. |
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Term
| Describe the Athenian agora. |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe the theories of Empedocles. |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe the theories of Democritus. |
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Definition
| Democritus – matter is created from tiny indivisible particles known as atoma. Whatever shapes the form of matter is natural, not divine. |
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Term
| Describe the theories of Hippocrates. |
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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. |
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Term
| Who was Herodotus? Describe his Histories. |
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Definition
| A dude that studied history by interrogating people. He wrote about the Persian wars even though he wasn’t alive to remember them. |
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Term
| What is the moral of the story of Solon and Croesus? |
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Definition
| True happiness is found only in death. |
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Term
| Who was Thucydides? Describe his Histories. |
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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. |
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Term
| Who were the three greatest Athenian tragedians? What were their most famous plays and what were the plots of these plays? |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe Old Comedy as seen in the works of Aristophanes. |
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Definition
| Made fun of political stuff. |
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Term
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Definition
| Intellectuals of Athens, practiced debate. |
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Term
| How did the situation at Epidamnus cause renewed conflict between the allies of Athens and the Peloponnesians? Potidaea? Megara? |
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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. |
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Term
| What was the first openly hostile maneuver in the Peloponnesian War? |
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Definition
| The Thebans attacked Plataea. |
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Term
| What does the Oracle tell the Thebans to do to get rid of the plague? |
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Definition
| Find the murderer of Laius. |
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Term
| How does Teiresias anger Oedipus? |
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Definition
| He won’t tell him what he knows. |
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Term
| Of what does Oedipus accuse Creon? |
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Definition
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Term
| Why did Oedipus run away from Corinth? |
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Definition
| Because he received a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. |
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Term
| What does Jocasta do when she realizes the truth about Oedipus’ parentage? What does Oedipus do? |
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Definition
| She hangs herself. Oedipus gouges his own eyes out. |
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Term
| What does Creon do when Oedipus asks Creon to destroy him? |
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Definition
| He insists they consult an oracle before Oedipus exiles himself. |
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Term
| What was Pericles’ war strategy? |
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Definition
| Everyone get inside the long walls. |
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Term
| Describe the plague and its effects on Athenian society. |
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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. |
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Term
| Define the term “demagogue”. |
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Definition
| Lit. “a leader of the people”, a calculating politician who manipulated his voters. |
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Term
| Who were the two main speakers in the debate regarding Mytilene? What were their arguments? What was the result? |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe the stasis at Corcyra. |
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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. |
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Term
| What happened on the island of Sphacteria? |
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Definition
| Athenians marooned 420 Spartan soldiers there and held them hostage. |
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Term
| How stable was the Peace of Nicias? Why? |
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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. |
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Term
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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. |
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Term
| Who were the main speakers for and against the Sicilian Expedition? |
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Definition
| Alcibiades was for, Nicias was against. |
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Term
| What happened on the eve of the Sicilian Expedition? |
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Definition
| A bunch of statues of Hermes got their dicks cut off. |
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Term
| Describe the Athenian withdrawal from Sicily. |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe Persia’s role in the war. |
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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 |
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Term
| What was the structure of the Athenian government in 411 BC? |
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Definition
| The assembly had become the Council of 400 (later 5000). They wanted a democracy limited to landowners. They were super oligarchic. |
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Term
| How did Alcibiades’ career in Athenian politics come to an end? |
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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. |
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Term
| What happened to the victorious generals at Arginusae? |
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Definition
| They were executed because they didn’t collect the bodies of the dead for a proper burial. |
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Term
| Describe the battle at Aegospotami. |
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Definition
| Alcibiades told the Athenians to move from their vulnerable position, but they didn’t listen so they were all captured. |
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Term
| What were the terms for Athenian surrender? |
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Definition
| Athens would be Sparta’s ally, the Long Walls would be destroyed, all but 12 of their ships would be surrendered. |
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Term
| Why does Pericles urge the Athenians to reject the Spartans’ demands? |
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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!” |
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Term
| Give 3 reasons why Pericles thinks the Athenians can win the war. |
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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. |
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Term
| What does Pericles mean when he calls Athens the “school of Hellas”? |
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Definition
| He means that Athens is a model to the rest of Greece. |
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Term
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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. |
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Term
| What are Pericles’ main arguments to defend his war strategy after the plague? |
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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.” |
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Term
| According to Thucydides, what happened to Athenian politics after Pericles’ death? |
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Definition
| Demagogues started fighting for their own best interests, and a lot of military blunders resulted such as the Sicilian expedition. |
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Term
| What are the arguments of Cleon and Diodotus in the Mytilenean Debate? |
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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.” |
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Term
| What is the central argument in the Melian Dialogue? |
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Definition
| Might versus right – we’re stronger than you so we should destroy you. |
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Term
| How does Alcibiades convince the Athenians to sail against Sicily? |
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Definition
| “Sicily will be easy to beat! We should expand our empire.” |
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Term
| Describe the Oligarchy of the 30. What happened after they fell from power? |
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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. |
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Term
| Why was Socrates put on trial? What were the formal charges? Who are our sources for Socrates’ teachings? What were those teachings? |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe the treaty that ended the Corinthian War. |
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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. |
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Term
| Describe the Second Athenian League. |
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Definition
| A naval confederacy of Athens, Thebes, & their allies. |
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Term
| What was the significance of the Battle at Leuctra? |
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Definition
| The Theban leaders used unique and powerful military formations and utilized the Sacred Band, an elite group of hoplites, to defeat the Spartans. |
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Term
| In general, how did ancient Greek philosophers feel about democracy? |
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Definition
| They were very critical of it. |
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Term
| What format did Plato use for his writings? What ideas did he express? What was his ideal state? |
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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. |
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Term
| What was the Academy? the Lyceum? |
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Definition
Academy – a school in Athens where Plato taught philosophy.
Lyceum – institution of scientific learning founded by Aristotle |
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Term
| What were Aristotle’s interests? What was his view of the polis? What were his views on women? |
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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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