Greek Life and Lit Flashcards
According to Socrates in Plato’s Apology, what is the maximum price one would have to pay for one of
Anaxagoras’ books when purchasing it from the Orchestra?
1 drachma
What were hippiatrikoi?
Veterinarians
In “Homer’s” Iliad, which Trojan broke the truce between the Greeks and the Trojans in Book IV?
Pandarus
In which Greek polis were women dominant over men?
None
Which of these figures in Greek literature had his eyes gouged out?
Oedipus
Which lyric poet wrote an elegy to the Spartans who died at Thermopylae?
Simonides
Plato’s Crito discusses Crito, one of Socrates’ followers, attempting to do what?
Free Socrates
Which of the following was depicted on Minoan pottery?
Bull-leaping
Our knowledge of Socrates comes largely from the works of Plato, Aristophanes and what Greek Historian?
Xenophon
In the Bacchae of Euripides, who is torn apart by the Bacchae?
Pentheus
What is the first word in the Odyssey?
Andra
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, who ultimately convinces Demeter to give up her anger?
Rhea
Which Greek writer was supposedly killed when a bird dropped a turtle onto his head?
Aeschylus
What was the mixing bowl known as?
krater
Who won the prize at the first presentation of tragedy in Athens in 534 BC?
Thespis
Which poet was opposed alike to free invention of heroic incident and to rehashing traditional material?
Callimachus
The famous “Long Walls” led citizens from Athens to what port city?
Piraeus
Where was the most famous oracle located?
Delphi
What was boustrophedon?
Method of writing
The Greeks most likely derived their alphabet from which civilization?
Phoenicians
An important aspect of Greek culture was the idea of kalokagathia. What was this?
beauty and goodness
“Homer” was thought to be from what region?
Ionia
Which Greek letter supposedly dropped out of use before the classical period?
Digamma
What was the council in Athens called?
Boule
Order of pottery from earliest to latest (O = oriental, RF = red figure, BF = black figure, G = geometric)
O BF RF
Which of the following refers to a general?
strategos
Which of the following was not a gymnasium?
Palaestra
“You cannot step into the same river twice”
Heraclitus
Aristotle’s Ethics were named after?
his father and son
What was a wide tunic worn by both men and women called?
chiton
Which of Plato’s dialogues concerns a conversation between Socrates and a poet, ultimately culminating in
Socrates concluding that he knows more about Homer than the poet himself?
Ion
Men live chained to their seats in such a way that they can only see shadows projected on the wall by a light of
truth which is behind them. This is a description of what?
Allegory of the Cave
What was the Areopagus?
Athenian Court
In which play is the construction of “Nephelokukkugia” intended?
The Birds
Which philosopher thought of the world as breathing air from the boundless mass outside of it and spoke of this
air as a god?
Anaximenes
What was the rigorous education and training regimen for all Spartan males?
Agoge
Name three of Homer’s works
Iliad, Odyssey, Nostoi
The first four books of the Odyssey are collectively known as?
Telemachy
What best describes nekuia?
Necromancy
Which month was called Poseideon in the Athenian calendar?
December
Aristophanes wrote works protesting what?
Peloponnesian War
In Plato’s Symposium, who describes love from a physician’s perspective?
Eryximachus
Mycenaean women began adopting fashion ideas from which other culture around the 18th century BC?
Minoans
Solon decreed that the happiest man in the world was?
Tellus
Who asked Solon for his advice on who was the happiest man in the world?
Croesus
How are the writings of Herodotus and Homer different?
History vs Poetry
Pnyx refers to?
hill in Athens
Which gate led to the Kerameikos?
Dipylon
What was the Kerameikos?
Cemetery
What was the term for the vertical staff of a sundial?
gnomon
What direction does one go when traveling from the Parthenon to the Temple of Hephaestus in the Agora?
NW
What was the council of elders at Sparta called?
gerousia
What was the elite force of 300 hoplites who acted as the royal bodyguard of Sparta?
hippeis
In his Ethics, Aristotle claims that the highest aim of humans is what?
excellence
What were the long spears carried by the cavalry?
sarissai
In which work does Hesiod discuss the origin of the universe?
Theogony
The syssitia were men’s clubs that formed the basis of social and military life in which polis?
Sparta
Which historian wrote “ As for the carrying off of women, it is the deed of a rogue; but to make a stir about such
as are carried off argues a man a fool”?
Herodotus
Which of Plato’s dialogues opens with a recapitulation of the first five books of the Republic?
Euthyphro
In which of Xenophon’s works does Socrates defend himself before the jury?
Memorabilia
What Spartan festival, held in honor of Apollo, resulted in Sparta’s absence at the Battle of Marathon?
Carnea
Who was said to have won a musical contest at this festival and founded the “First School” of music at Sparta?
Terpander
What cloth was used to make sails?
linen
What is the subject of the Iliad, as stated in the first line of the epic?
The wrath of Achilles
In the Odyssey, how long does it take Odysseus to reach Ithaca after the fall of Troy?
10 years
Classical Religion developed from Minoan and Mycenaean religion with influences from which region?
Near East
What was the common dialect of Greek during the time of Alexander?
Koine
What dialect was used by Athenian playwrights?
Attic
On a trireme, what were the second level of rowers called?
zygitai
Which dialect was brought into Greece along with its namesake “invasion?”
Doric
Anaximander proposed a rational explanation for the origin of the world. What is this concept?
Unbounded
Which of the works of the Oedipus trilogy was written first?
Antigone
Which of the works of the Oedipus trilogy takes place first chronologically?
Oedipus Tyrannos
What were settlements established specifically as trading posts?
emporia
Who was responsible for establishing the Academy school around 385 BC?
Plato
What was the measurement of the area of a strip of land that oxen could plow in one day?
plethron
Which goddess was wounded in the Iliad?
Aphrodite
In which sports event did participants jump on and off their moving chariot?
Apobates
What was the smallest silver coin?
obol
How long is one-sixth of a stadion?
100 feet
What were private individual bankers called?
trapezitai
Who was the most famous physician of Greek medicine?
Hippocrates
Which nephew of Plato was made head of The Academy after Plato’s death?
Speusippus
The betrothal was which of these?
engye
In a Greek house, what were the women’s quarters called?
gynaikonitis
“Whom the gods love, die young”
Menander
Whom is Aristophanes primarily attacking in his Clouds?
Socrates
What was the term for children’s toys?
paignia
Which ring, discussed by Plato in his Republic, could turn the wearer invisible?
Ring of Gyges
The Myth of Er discusses what?
The afterlife
What were dice called?
kuboi
Acharnae was which of these?
deme
Which philosopher of Agrigentum believed that the world was composed of four elements: earth, air, fire and
water?
Empedocles
Who was the author of the Argonautica?
Apollonius of Rhodes
Which of these was a colony founded by Sparta in 706 BC?
Taras
Which of Plato’s works contains a number of the fashionable wits sharing discourses on the nature of love?
Symposium
The Greek phalanx may have originated as early as the 8th century BC in what area?
Sparta
How many works of literature can we ascribe to Socrates?
None
What was the term for the sacrifice of 100 oxen?
hecatomb
