Name ______
Ancient Greece Study Guide (p. 114)
Section 1—Early People of the Aegean
- Read “Zeus Kidnaps Europa” at the top of the page. Where does the text suggest Crete (and hence early Greek) culture came from?
- After what legendary king did the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans name the culture he found on Crete?
- What was the primary activity of the Minoans and what two major cultures influenced their ideas?
- Where is the massive palatial capital of Minoan culture?
- Define shrines:
- Define frescoes:
- What are five things we can learn from the Minoan frescoes?
- Provide 4 potential causes of the fall of Minoan civilization.
- Who replaced the Minoans and left us a written record we can decipher?
- What type of language did the Mycenaean people speak?
- What did Mycenaean kings build on the mainland and how did they rule?
- What two groups fought against each other in the Trojan War, where was Troy likely located and who is said to have won?
- Define straits:
- Who excavated in Turkey and may have found the location of Troy?
- Who invaded from the North causing a “dark age” and forced many Mycenaeans to flee?
- To what blind poet are the Iliad and Odyssey attributed and what was the nature of these tales for generations?
- Who is Achilles and what does he struggle with in the Iliad?
- Who is Odysseus and what is his primary challenge in the Odyssey?
- What three major values do the Iliad and Odyssey advocate for Greeks?
- What would Greek civilization eventually accomplish after its emergence from the Dorian invasion?
The Rise of Greek City-States (pp. 118-123)
- Define polis:
- Describe the geographical and political organizational differences between Greece and Egyptian or Persian civilizations.
- What was caused by the existence of many fiercely independent city-states of Greece?
- While ______divided Greeks from one another, the ______provided a vital link to the world outside.
- List several items that the Greeks traded or traded for throughout the Mediterranean.
- What extremely important thing did the Greeks adopt from the Phoenicians?
- What did population growth force many Greeks to do and what was the impact of this?
- Define acropolis:
- Define citizens:
- Describe the lifestyle of most Greek men.
- Who held all the political power in Greece?
- Define monarchy:
- Define aristocracy:
- Define oligarchy:
- What replaced bronze in weaponry and armor around 650 B.C. in Greece?
- Define phalanx:
- How did the phalanx style of fighting help reduce class differences?
- Who originally settled and built the city-state of Sparta?
- Define helots:
- What did the fact that the vast majority of the people living on Sparta-controlled lands were helots mean in regard to the way Sparta organized itself?
- Who advised Sparta’s two kings?
- What qualifications were necessary to be citizens of Sparta (Spartiates) and how were they organized?
- What is an ephor and what was their job?
- What did Sparta do to its sickly infants?
- At what age did boys enter the military barracks?
- Describe life in the agoge (barracks).
- At what age could a man marry?
- Describe the activities and rights of women in Sparta.
- Describe how Spartans viewed trade, travel and new ideas.
- What group held power in Athens by 700 B.C.?
- What groups gradually grew discontented with the aristocracy in Athens?
- Define democracy:
- Describe the reforms of Solon.
- Define tyrants:
- Describe the reforms of Pisistratus.
- Describe the reforms of Cleisthenes.
- Define legislature:
- In what ways was the democracy in Athens very limited?
- How were women viewed by men in Athens and in what area of public life could they exercise a significant role?
- Provide six areas of learning explored by young Athenian men who could afford it.
- What factors helped unite Greek city-states despite their tendency to attack and kill one another?
- List and describe four ancient Greek gods. Where did these gods live according to the Greeks?
- What word did the Greeks have for foreigners?
Section 3: Conflict in the Greek World (pp. 124-129)
- How did the Ionian Greek city-states of Asia Minor feel about Persian rule despite having a largely self-governing situation?
- What did Athens do to help them?
- Where did a punitive Persian force land against Athens and what was the result of this battle?
- Who encouraged the Athenians to build a fleet of warships in preparation for battle with the Persians?
- Who sent a much larger force to Greece to crush the Athenians later in 480 B.C.?
- Who defended the narrow opening at Thermopylae and what was the result of this battle?
- What did the Persians do to Athens?
- What happened to the Persian fleet at Salamis and who watched it by the shoreline?
- How did the victory over Persia change how the Greeks viewed themselves?
- Define alliance:
- What is the Delian League and what was its original purpose?
- How did the Athenians use the Delian League?
- What paradox did Athens come to represent with regard to the ideas of democracy and freedom?
- Who led Athens during much of its golden age?
- Define direct democracy and explain how it differs from modern democracies.
- What reform did Pericles institute which allowed a broader democracy?
- Define stipend:
- Define jury:
- Define ostracism:
- How did the rebuilding of the acropolis and other programs help Athens?
- What other Greek league rose up to counter the power of the Delian League and what power led it?
- How long did the Peloponnesian War last?
- What major problem caused the weakening and eventual loss of the Peloponnesian War by Athens?
- What did Sparta do to Athens at the end of the war (and what did they refuse to do)?
Section 4: The Glory That Was Greece (pp. 130-137)
- What were early Greek thinkers driven by?
- Define philosophers:
- Define logic:
- What was most important to the sophists?
- Define rhetoric:
- From whom do we learn about Socrates?
- Socratic Method is a question and answer learning method. Why was this seen as a threat to many Athenians?
- What was Socrates accused of and what happened to him?
- How did Plato feel about democracy and what was the name of the school he founded?
- What did Plato believe could be accomplished through rational thought?
- What was the name of Plato’s book about government, into what three classes did he divide society and who should rule this ideal society?
- How did Plato view women?
- Who is Aristotle, why was he suspicious of democracy and how did he think people should live?
- What is the name and significance of the school set up by Aristotle?
- Explain is the goal of Greek architecture, explain the long-term significance of it and name its most famous building.
- How did Greek sculptors try to depict gods and humans in their statues?
- What are the only surviving paintings by the Greeks we still have today?
- Who were two great Greek poets and what subject matter did each concern themselves with?
- What did Greek dramas evolve out of, to what god were dramas mostly devotedand on what were they usually based?
- Name three major Greek playwrights and a play written by each.
- Define tragedies:
- What was the main purpose of tragedies?
- Define comedies:
- Who is Aristophanes and what play did he write?
- Why is Herodotus known as the “Father of History”?
- How did Thucydides improve on some of the contributions made to history given by Herodotus?
Alexander and the Hellenistic Age (pp. 137-142)
- How did the Greeks view Macedonia?
- Who did Philip II (King of Macedonia) hire to teach his son, Alexander the Great?
- What methods did Philip II use to gain territory and influence throughout Greece?
- Define assassination:
- What was the state of the Persian Empire under Darius III at the time of Alexander?
- How far did Alexander eventually march to the East and why did he stop and return?
- To whom did Alexander say his Empire should be given at his death?
- How was Alexander’s Empire divided after his death?
- What was Alexander’s most lasting achievement?
- Who settled in the cities founded by Alexander and his generals?
- Define assimilated:
- What two things did Alexander do to encourage the blending of eastern and western cultures?
- What four major cultures did Hellenism blend together and what city was at the center of it?
- How many people lived in Alexandria, Egypt and what were two of its major attractions?
- How did Hellenism change the roles of women?
- What new philosophy rose out of political turmoil during the Hellenistic period?
- Who was the founder of Stoicism and what did he urge followers to do?
- Provide a brief explanation of the contributions of the following people:
- Pythagoras
- Euclid
- Aristarchus
- Eratosthenes
- Archimedes
- Hippocrates
- What is the Hippocratic Oath?