Greek depth study sources summary

Question 1

When was Aristotle’s Athenian Constitution written?

Answer 1

In the 320s BC

Question 2

Aristotle AC on how the Delian league tribute supported Athens? And when was the first assessment of tribute?

Answer 2

“more than twenty thousand men were supported from the tribute, the taxes, and the allies”
first assessment 478/7BC

Question 3

Aristotle AC on why Pericles devised juror pay?

Answer 3

to counteract Cimon’s generosity regarding his private property which he left open to anyone

Question 4

Aristotle AC on how Athens changed after Pericles death?

Answer 4

“after his death it became much worse”
(it being the constitution)

Question 5

“Cleon, it seems, more than anyone else corrupted the people by his wild impulses”

Answer 5

Aristotle AC on Cleon

Question 6

How does Aristotle AC describe Cleon’s speeches?

Answer 6

he would shout, swear and make speeches “with his clothes hitched up” whilst others spoke in an orderly manner

Question 7

“the masses generally come to hate those who have led them on to do anything wrong, particularly if they have deceived them”

Answer 7

Aristotle AC on democracy

Question 8

Aristotle AC on Nicias and Thucydides as leaders

Answer 8

nearly everyone agrees they “were public-spirited and behaved like fathers towards the whole city”

Question 9

“Pericles took away some of the powers of the Areopagus, and above all turned the city in the direction of naval power”

Answer 9

Aristotle AC on Pericles

Question 10

When was Pericles’ funeral speech given?

Answer 10

winter 431

Question 11

At what event was Pericles’ funeral speech given?

Answer 11

the annual “public funeral for those who had been the first to die in the war”

at which “a man chosen by the city… makes an appropriate speech”

Question 12

Key points about fundamental democracy shown in Pericles’ funeral speech?

Answer 12

“power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people”
“everyone is equal before the law”
“no one… is kept in political obscurity because of poverty”
“we are free and tolerant in our private lives; but in public affairs we keep to the law”

Question 13

“we do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all”

Answer 13

Pericles in Thuc funeral speech

Question 14

“we are in a position to enjoy all kinds of recreation for our spirits”

Answer 14

Pericles funeral speech

Question 15

“the worst thing is to rush into action before the consequences have been properly debated”

Answer 15

Pericles funeral speech

• can be linked to what happens w Mytilene in 427

Question 16

“I declare that our city is an education to Greece”

Answer 16

P fun speech

Question 17

“mighty indeed are the marks and monuments of our empire which we have left”

Answer 17

Pericles funeral speech - link to building programme

Question 18

the deaths of these men “shows us the meaning of manliness in its first revelation and in its final proof”

Answer 18

Pericles in funeral speech says that the meaning of manliness is sacrifice for the community

Question 19

“those of you who are the right age must bear up and take comfort in the thought of having more children”

Answer 19

Pericles’ funeral speech

Question 20

“the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you”

Answer 20

Pericles funeral speech on “the duties of women”

Question 21

initial decision regarding Mytilene according to Thucydides?

Answer 21

“to put to death… the entire adult male population of Mytilene, and to make slaves of the women and children”

Question 22

“there was a sudden change of feeling and people began to think how cruel and how unprecedented such a decision was”

Answer 22

The second day of the Mytilene debate

Question 23

“it was he who had been responsible for passing the original motion for putting the Mytilenians to death”

Answer 23

Cleon according to Thucydides

Question 24

Thucydides on Cleon?

Answer 24

“he was remarkable among the Athenians for the violence of his character, and at this time (427) he exercised far the greatest influence over the people”

Question 25

“What you do not realize is that your empire is a tyranny exercised over subjects who do not like it and who are always plotting against you; you will not make them obey you by injuring your own interests in order to do them a favour; your leadership depends on superior strength and not on any goodwill of theirs”

Answer 25

Cleon on why the decision regarding Mytilene should not be reversed

Question 26

Cleon on why they should act quickly regarding Mytilene?

Answer 26

“the best punishment and the one most fitted to the crime is when reprisals follow immediately”

Question 27

Who opposes Cleon on the matter of the Mytilene debate?

Answer 27

Diodotus

Question 28

Diodotus main point?

Answer 28

“if we are sensible people, we shall see that the question is not so much whether they are guilty as whether we are making the right decision for ourselves”

Question 29

“this is not a law-court, where we have to consider what is fit and just; it is a political assembly, and the question is how Mytilene can be most useful to Athens

Answer 29

Diodotus on Mytilene

Question 30

“if Cleon’s method is adopted, can you not see that every city will not only make much more careful preparations for revolt, but will also hold out against siege to the very end, since to surrender early or late means just the same thing”

Answer 30

Diodotus on Mytilene

Question 31

“if you destroy the democratic party at Mytilene, who never took any hand in the revolt and who… voluntarily gave the city up to you, you will… be guilty of killing those who have helped you, and, … will be doing exactly what the reactionary classes want most”

Answer 31

Diodotus on why the punishment would be unfair and problematic for future

Question 32

“at the show of hands the votes were nearly equal”

Answer 32

The Mytilene debate - it isn’t a clear example of the Athenians being lenient or changing their minds because it was only just a majority decision

Question 33

Gorgias Encomium of Helen summarised (date, subject)

Answer 33

written in around 425-400BC
Gorgias argues that if Helen was persuaded by either fate, force, language or love she is blameless.
It is a set speech designed to display the power of rhetoric.

Question 34

“All who have and do persuade people of things do so by moulding
a false argument”

Answer 34

Gorgias Encomium of Helen

Question 35

Who compares the power of speech on the mind to the power of drugs on the body?

Answer 35

Gorgias in Encomium of Helen

Question 36

Xenophon Poroi on metics?

Answer 36

“I can hardly conceive of a more splendid source of revenue”

Question 37

Xenophon Poroi on slaves?

Answer 37

suggests the state own a body of public slaves - 3 per citizen

Question 38

Who does Plutarch say taught Pericles and was most responsible for his “majestic bearing”

Answer 38

Anaxagoras (the first sophist to come to Athens in 460BC_

Question 39

“the two men’s rival ambitions and… struggle for power…. caused the one side to be named the party of the many and the other of the few”

Answer 39

Plutarch Pericles on Pericles rivalry with Thucydides

Question 40

“Pericles therefore chose this moment to hand over the reins of power to the people to a greater extent than ever before and deliberately shaped his policy to please them”

Answer 40

Plutarch Pericles on Pericles trying to stop the aristocrats gaining too much power

Question 41

What was one measure of Pericles (according to Plutarch) to increase the naval power and wealth of the Athenians internally?

Answer 41

Sending out “sixty triremes to cruise each year, in which many of the citizens served with pay for eight months and learned and practised seamanship at the same time”

Question 42

“Pericles answer to the people was that the Athenians were not obliged to give the allies any account of how their money was spent, provided that they carried on the war for them and kept the Persians away”

Answer 42

Plutarch on Pericles’ response to the people who said that moving the treasury would be seen by the allies as aggressive

Question 43

Plutarch on Pericles’ introducing the building programme?

Answer 43

“he boldly laid before the people proposals for immense public works and plans for buildings, which would involve many different arts and industries and require long periods to complete”

Question 44

“as imposing in their sheer size as they were inimitable in the grace of their outlines”

Answer 44

Plutarch Pericles on the buildings on the Acropolis

Question 45

What was Pericles’ response, according to Plutarch to the aristocratic party accusing him of spending too much on the building programme?

Answer 45

He told the people that if he had spent too much then it shouldn’t be taken from the public fund but his own. They protested - apparently either because they wanted a share of the glory or they admired the gesture.

Question 46

What does Plutarch compare Pericles too, in his role in the city?

Answer 46

A physician

Question 47

“Pericles, who gave help to many poorer citizens”

Answer 47

Plutarch

Question 48

Plutarch on Pericles at Aspasia’s trial

Answer 48

“contrived to beg off Aspasia by bursting into floods of tears during her trial”

Question 49

As a result of which law of Pericles does Plutarch say “nearly five thousand people were convicted and sold into slavery”

Answer 49

the law that one must have both Athenian parents to be a citizen

Question 50

“he lost his sister and most of his relatives and friends” including all his legitimate sons

Answer 50

Plutarch on Pericles during the plague

Question 51

Who says Nicias lacked the virtuous qualities of Pericles but used wealth to win the people’s favour?

Answer 51

Plutarch

Question 52

” the feud between Nicias and Alcibiades grew so bitter that it was decided to resort to an ostracism”
“the contest was between the younger generation who desired war, and the older who were for peace”

Answer 52

Plutarch on the Nicias’ relationship w Alcibiades and the split of opinions amongst the people - also shown in Thucydides when they debate going to Sicily

Question 53

Plutarch on the ostracism of Hyperbolus instead of N or A?

Answer 53

They worked together to have the ostracism on him but the people felt “the ostracism should have been degraded by being applied to so utterly unworthy a creature”

Question 54

“he counted above all else on his charm as a speaker to give him a hold over the people”

Answer 54

Plutarch on Alcibiades

Question 55

“the greatest orator Athens ever knew”

Answer 55

Plutarch on Alcibiades

Question 56

“Alcibiades lived a life of prodigious luxury, drunkenness, debauchery and insolence”

Answer 56

Plutarch on Alcibiades

Question 57

“all this suggests how difficult public opinion found it to judge Alcibiades, because of the extreme inconsistency of his character”

Answer 57

Plutarch on public opinion of Alcibiades

Question 58

Summary of the accusations against Alcibiades, according to Plutarch?

Answer 58

that he had disfigured sacred images and parodied the mysteries of Eleusis “On one of their drunken revels”
The case is postponed until “the campaign is finished” which Alcibiades protests, seeing the malice of such a decision

Question 59

“he succeeded in winning over Catana, but he achieved nothing more, as soon after this he was recalled”

Answer 59

Alcibiades’ initial success in Sicily and recall according to Plutarch

Question 60

“the evidence given by the informers contained no solid or established facts”

Answer 60

Plutarch on Alcibiades’ trial. More serious religious charges had been added on by the time he was recalled/

Question 61

Alcibiades’ return to Athens, according to Plutarch

Answer 61

In around 409/8BC Alcibiades returned, and he led the procession of the mysteries to Eleusis in 407 which had previously had to change to a sea route due to the fortification of Decelea. This illicited mixed responses and he soon left on campaign again

Question 62

“the sway which he held over the humbler and poorer classes was so potent that they were filled with an extraordinary passion for him to rule them as a dictator”

Answer 62

Plutarch on Alcibiades after he returned to Athens

Question 63

When did Alcibiades “abandoned the Spartan cause”

Answer 63

After the Athenians were defeated in Sicily and after this he became “the highest place” in Tissaphernes’ favour, then he abandoned the Spartans in favour of badmouthing them to Tissaphernes