Classical Greece Flashcards
What was the first civilization to develop in Greece ?
The Mycenaean
Where did the Mycenaean civilization develop ?
The Peloponnesus
On what island did the Minoan civilization develop ?
Crete
What happened when the Minoans and Mycenaean came into contact with each other ?
Mycenaeans adopted Minoan culture
What civilization influenced early Minoan culture ?
Egyptian
What 3 aspects of geography greatly shaped Greek life ?
The Sea, the land (3/4s rugged mountains; little fertile farmland), the climate (moderate)
How did Mycenaean traders conduct most their trade ?
by sea
The roots of Greek culture are based on the interaction of what three cultures ?
Mycenaean, Minoan and Dorian
What parts of Minoan culture greatly influenced the Mycenaean ?
Seaborne trade, the writing system, religious practice, art, politics, literature
How long did the Trojan War last ?
10 years
What caused the Trojan War ?
Because a Trojan prince had kidnapped Helen, the beautiful wife of a Greek king ?
Which Greek poet wrote The Iliad ?
Homer
Who were the major heroes of the Trojan War ?
Achilles (Greek) and Hector (Trojan)
What are the Homeric Epics and when were they composed ?
The Iliad and the Odyssey. 750-700 BCE
Why was the period 1150-750 BCE referred to as the Dark Ages ?
No written history
Identify and define the different forms of Greek government.
Democracy
Aristocracy (ruled by a small group of noble landowners)
Oligarchy (ruled by a few powerful people)
Monarchy (rule by single person)
Tyranny (powerful individuals who were usually nobles or wealthy citizens that illegally seized control of the government by appealing to the commoners for support)
Compare and contrast the societies of Athens and Sparta
At age 7 Athenian boys were studying while in Sparta they were going into the military. Athens focused on the arts and studying while Sparta focused on military excellence
Place the following in chronological order
a. Persian Wars
b. Peloponnesian Wars
c. Alexander’s conquests
a, b, c
Who was the leader of Athens during its Golden Age ?
Pericles (/ˈpɛrɪkliːz/; Greek: Περικλῆς [periklɛ̂ːs], Periklēs, “surrounded by glory”; c. 495 – 429 BC) was arguably the most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age— specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
Why was it referred to a Golden Age ?
he Golden Age of Athens was a time of many advances in science, medicine, literature, theatre, and much more. Many of the ideas we use today were founded in the Golden Age, and we can learn a lot from the theories and advances of the ancient Greeks.
For example, doctors and people in the medical field today take the Hippocratic Oath, founded by a man named Hippocrates who lived in Athens during the Golden Age.
Socrates, a famous philosopher, was also alive in the Golden Age, and developed many philosophical ideas we still recognize today. Other philosophers during the Golden Age include Plato and Aristotle.
Pythagoras, a mathematician and scientist of the day, developed such mathematical theories and formulas as the Pythagorean theorem.
Differentiate among Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Socrates was noted for his dedication to careful reasoning. He sought genuine knowledge rather than mere victory over an opponent. He employed the same logical tricks developed by the Sophists to a new purpose, the pursuit of TRUTH. His willingness to call everything into question and his determination to accept nothing less than an adequate account of the nature of things, make him the first of critical philosophy. Now Socrates was well known in his time for his conversational skills and his teachings, and he never wrote anything like in books or journals or diaries so we are dependent through his pupils/students on what he taught.
Now Aristotle’s aim was to develop a “Universal method” of reasoning by means of which it would be possible to learn everything there is to know about reality.Aristotle tried to justify the entire enterprise by grounding it all in “An abstract study of being qua being”. He defended his own vision of ultimate reality. Aristotle was known as the most notable product of the educational program devised by Plato.
Now Plato was a student of Socrates. When Socrates died, Plato traveled to Egypt and Italy studied with other students of Pythagoras, then eventually returned to Athens and started his own Philosophy Academy where he taught the heritage of Socrates but also to guide their progress through mathematical learning to the achievement of abstract philosophical truth. So to break this down, Socrates believed in the absolute truth, where Aristotle believed in the truth of reality and Plato believed in the mathematical learning of the philosophical truth.
What made Alexander so Great ?
When he took his 50,000 person army on a 12 year march across the continent to conquer lands unknown and unseen by the Greeks, he marched with them.
When they braved the 20,000 foot climb of the Hindu Kush mountains during winter, to march into India, he braved the cold with his soldiers. They marched in a single file that stretched ten miles long on the steep edges of the mountain. Any other man might have turned back, but not him. He showed them it was possible with his sheer will to march ahead one step at a time.
When he asked his infantry to charge ahead against the formidable elephants in the Indian armies, he fearlessly led the charge from the front and struck the elephants first.
He conquered parts of western India, won a glorious battle against the Raja’s vast armies, lost thousands of soldiers in the battle then gave India back to the Raja… all because he was impressed with the courage of the soldiers he faught against. What other man would do that?
When he asked his army to march back to Persia from India, he braved the dessert with them in the face of almost certain death. He lost over a third of his soldiers on the way but he didn’t shield himself… he just showed them that they could do it by leading from the front.
He spread Greek ideas and Aristotelian philosophies with people who weren’t his own… people that his soldiers thought were ignorant barbarians. He single handedly kicked off the beautiful and intellectual Hellenistic era because he knew a future of Persians, Egyptians and Greeks who freely shared ideals and culture was a richer one than one with Greeks confined to their own lands.
His soldiers first came to love him and be loyal supporters of his eastern conquest. Then they came to despise him for his liberal views toward the Persians. They hated him even more when he took a Persian bride. Then they hated him some more when Alexander asked them to do the same. They surely despised him because he kept them marching from country-to-country and kept them fighting from battle-to-battle for over a decade. But he did it with them, by their side, always first and always fearlessly willing.
Then he died at the young age of 32.
He wasn’t perfect but I admire this man because he led from the front, asked his men to do the impossible and never asked them to do anything he didn’t willingly do first. Two millennia later, we’re talking about the great man who was once just a man with godly ambition and the will to see his journey through.
What civilization succeeded the Mycenaean ?
Dorian
What did Heinrich Schliemann discover in the 1870’s ?
The site of the city of Troy
What society was more advanced the Dorian or the Mycenaean ?
Mycenaean
Who was the ruler of the Greek Gods ?
Zeus
Where did the Greek gods reside ?
Mount Olympus
Who was the wife of Zeus ?
Hera
Who was the daughter of Zeus ?
Athena, the goddess of wisdom
What is arete ?
The Greek heroic ideal
Why were the Homeric epics important the Dorian period ?
Because there were no written records, Greeks learned about their history from the epic poems of Homer, as did we. The Iliad told the story of the Trojan War, or we wouldn’t know about it either, and helped to define the standards of virtue and excellence that led to the rebirth of classical greek culture in the 500 years before Christ.
How did the physical geography of Greece cause Greek-speaking peoples to develop separate, isolated communities ?
Because there were so many mountains, the Greeks separated into communities and because it was hard to travel between the mountains, people would stay in their own communities
Who did Helen fall in love with ?
Paris
Who was Helen’s husband and what was he ?
Menelaeus, King of Sparta
