Greek Literature Cards Set I Flashcards
What Greek author wrote the Iliad and Odyssey?
Homer
How many books long are both Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey?
24
Which work of Homer tells the story of the wrath of Achilles?
Iliad
In what meter are both Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey?
Dactylic Hexameter
What Greek author, said to be blind, wrote namesake hymns to Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, and Dionysus?
Homer
What Greek poet wrote the Theogony and Works and Days?
Hesiod
Which work of Hesiod, a poem in dactylic hexameter, tells of the births of the gods and the beginning of the universe?
Theogony
To whom was Hesiod’s Works and Days addressed?
(His brother) Perses
Which work of Hesiod talks about farming and mentions the five ages of man?
Works and Days
According to Hesiod’s Works and Days, what are the five ages of man?
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, Iron
What Greek author, a slave from either Egypt or Thrace, is most well-known for his fables?
Aesop
What Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos, wrote lyrical songs about politics, love, hymns to the gods, etc.
Alcaeus
What Greek author from Mytilene had a feud with the tyrant Pittacus, fled to Egypt, then returned home after reconciling with Pittacus?
Alcaeus
What Greek author from Sparta was mainly known for his parthenia, songs sung by a chorus of maidens at religious festivals?
Alcman
What Greek lyric poet, born in Teos, moved to Samos under the Tyrant Polycrates before moving to Athens?
Anacreon
What Greek author is known to be the first to have written a book in prose?
Anaximander
What Greek pre-Socratic philosopher is said to have constructed the first map of the Earth?
Anaximander
What contemporary of Anaximander believed that the primary substance was air?
Anaximenes
What Greek poet from Paros famously details his abandonment of his shield in battle to save himself?
Archilochus
What Greek poet is the first to use the term iambic for his poems?
Archilochus
What legendary lyric poet, born on Lesbos, was a pupil of Alcman and lived in Corinth at the court of Periander?
Arion
What kind of animal, charmed by Arion’s singing, rescued Arion after he was thrown overboard by pirates?
Dolphin
What Greek author is credited with inventing the dithyramb, a form of choral lyric poetry?
Arion
What lyric poet from Ceos was the nephew of the poet Simonides?
Bacchylides
What nephew of Simonides wrote odes for victors at games in a similar style to Pindar?
Bachylides
What man, considered by Aristotle to be a forerunner to tragedy, is more famous for his Pindarian style odes for victors at games?
Bacchylides
What presocratic philosopher believed that the universe consisted of four elements: air, fire, water, and earth?
Empedocles
Most famous for his beliefs on the four elements, what Greek philosopher also composed two poems, On Nature and Purifications?
Empedocles
What Ephesian philosopher was known as the ‘weeping philosopher’?
Heraclitus
What Greek philosopher, who (like Empedocles) wrote On Nature, believed fire to be the primary element?
Heraclitus
Referred to as the “Father of History” by Cicero, what Asian born Greek author wrote histories on the Persian Wars?
Herodotus
What Greek author wrote a 9 book History of the Persian Wars?
Herodotus
What Greek author was allegedly avenged by a flock of cranes after he was killed by a group of robbers?
Ibycus
What presocratic philosopher from Elea founded the Eleatic school of philosophy named after his hometown?
Parmenides
The Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian odes were all written by what Theban lyric poet?
Pindar
What Greek poet, instructed by Corinna, is considered by many to be the greatest Greek lyric poet?
Pindar
Whose house in Thebes was the only one to be spared by Alexander the Great?
Pindar’s
An ode to Hieron I of Syracuse in Doric Greek are among the works of what Greek poet famed for his odes to victors of games?
Pindar
What presocratic philosopher, who let no writings, famously believed in the transmigration of souls?
Pythagoras
From what island is Sappho?
Lesbos
What lyric poet is known as the “tenth muse”?
Sappho
Poem 51 of Catullus is a translation of what lyric poet’s work concerning her love of a girl at first sight?
Sappho’s
What lyric and elegiac poet from Ceos is the uncle of Bacchylides?
Simonides
Although most famous for his epigrams, what Greek poet wrote epitaphs for the Athenian dead at Marathon and the Spartan dead at Thermopylae?
Simonides
What Greek poet, born in Matauros in Italy, apparently changed his name from Teisias?
Stesichorus
What Greek lyric poet, who lived in Himera in Sicily, is most famous for slandering Helen in one of his poems for which he was struck blind?
Stesichorus
What elegiac poet from Megara wrote love poems addressed to a young boy named Cyrnus?
Theognis
What Spartan elegiac poet wrote five books on war, exhorting the Spartans to conquer Messenia?
Tyrtaeus
What name is given to Bias, Chilon, Cleobulus, Periander, Pittacus, Solon, and Thales?
Seven Sages
Which of the Seven Sages brought Corinth to its greatest prosperity under his tyranny?
Periander
Which of the Seven Sages feuded with Alcaeus and became dictator in Mytilene on Lesbos?
Pittacus
Which of the Seven Sages was an Athenian lawgiver, archon, and poet?
Solon
Which of the Seven Sages enacted the seisactheia in Athens which ended enslavement for debt and all current debt?
Solon
To what man did Solon say “no man may count himself lucky until he is dead”?
Croesus
What man went into voluntary exile after enacting his laws, the most important of which was the seisactheia?
Solon
Which of the Seven Sages is known as the earliest Greek scientist?
Thales
Which of the Seven Sages allegedly predicated an eclipse of the sun in 585 BC?
Thales
Which of the Seven Sages believed the primary element was water?
Thales
At what festival in Athens was theater performed to honor the god of wine and revelry?
Great Dionysia
In the theater, what term was given to the dancing floor which later would be granted to the chorus?
orchestra
In the theater, what term was given to the altar to Dionysus?
thymele
In the theater, what term was given to the ‘watching-place’ for spectators?
theatron
In the theater, what term is given to the entrance, literally a ‘way in’?
parados
In the theater, what term is given to the dressing rooms, literally a ‘tent’ or ‘hut’?
skene
What Attican, whose name is the root of modern actors, is credited with inventing the play and the mask?
Thespis
What type of poetry may have been the precursor to the play?
Dithyrambic poetry
What Greek author is the earliest tragedian whose work survives?
Aeschylus
What Greek author was killed when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head while visiting Hieron I of Syracuse?
Aeschylus
What play of Aeschylus, the only surviving Greek tragedy with a historical theme, focuses on Xerxes and his downfall?
Persians
What play of Aeschylus explores the story of Eteocles and Polyneices, the sons of Oedipus, and their inability to share the throne?
Seven Against Thebes
What play of Aeschylus focuses on the Danaids and their attempt to flee their forced marriages?
Suppliants
What play of Aeschylus, the first of the Oresteia trilogy, details the titular character’s return from Troy and subsequent murder at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra?
Agamemnon
What play of Aeschylus, the second of the Oresteia trilogy, tells of Orestes avenging his father Agamemnon by killing his mother Clytemnestra?
Choephoroe (Libation Bearers)
What play of Aeschylus, the third of the Oresteia trilogy, focuses on the Furies’ hunt for Orestes and his trial for matricide?
Eumenides
What play of Aeschylus focuses on the titular Titan who received punishment from Zeus for giving fire to mankind?
Prometheus Bound
Although Thespis added the first actor to the chorus, what Greek tragedian added the second actor to the play?
Aeschylus
What Greek tragedian never placed lower than second in every contest and earned first 80% of the time?
Sophocles
Which play of Sophocles focuses on the titular Greek warrior’s descent into madness and suicide?
Ajax
Which play of Sophocles tells the story of Deianeira and her attempt to reclaim the love of Heracles?
Trachinian Women/Women of Trachis
Which play of Sophocles details a Theban king’s discovery of patricide and marriage to his mother?
Oedipus Rex
Which play of Sophocles highlights the final days of a Theban king’s life in exile with Theseus?
Oedipus at Colonus
Which play of Sophocles focuses on the daughter of Oedipus refusing king Creon’s orders not to bury her brother Polyneices?
Antigone
Which play of Sophocles centers on Orestes and his titular sister seeking vengeance for Agamemnon’s murder by Clytemnestra?
Electra
Which play of Sophocles tells the story of the titular Greek who was abandoned by the Greek forces at Troy on account of his smelly wound?
Philoctetes
What Greek tragedian is said to have written his plays in a cave on Salamis?
Euripides
What Greek tragedian is known to use Deus ex machina the most of any Greek author?
Euripides
19 plays of what Greek tragedian still survive, the most of any Greek dramatist?
Euripides
What Greek tragedian was torn apart by the dogs of Archelaus, the king of Macedon?
Euripides
What play of Euripides focuses on a queen who sacrifices herself to save her husband Admetus?
Alcestis
What play of Euripides tells the story of Dionysus avenging himself on city of Thebes for rejecting his worship?
Bacchae
What play of Euripides centers on Orestes and his titular sister seeking vengeance for Agamemnon’s murder by Clytemnestra?
Electra
What play of Euripides highlights the suffering of the Trojan queen following the fall of Troy?
Hecuba
What play of Euripides details the titular character’s false accusation of raping his stepmother, Phaedra?
Hippolytus
What play of Euripides tells the tale of the illegitimate son of Apollo and Creusa?
Ion
What play of Euripides details Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter to ensure safe sailing to Troy?
Iphigenia at Aulis
What play of Euripides highlights Agamemnon’s daughter’s life after her “sacrifice” and her escape with Orestes?
Iphigenia in Tauris
What play of Euripides tells of a sorceress’s revenge against her husband Jason?
Medea
What play of Euripides tells of a son’s murder of his mother Clytemnestra?
Orestes
What play of Euripides focuses on a Thracian king whose horses were destined to bring greatness to Troy?
Rhesus
What play of Euripides covers the mothers of the Seven Against Thebes looking to provide proper burial to their sons?
Suppliant Women/Suppliants
What play of Euripides shows the fate of Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra, et al. following the Greek capture of their city?
Trojan Women
What Greek author is the greatest writer of Old Comedy?
Aristophanes
What play of Aristophanes ridicules Socrates?
The Clouds
What play of Aristophanes ridicules the jury and court system?
The Peace
In what play of Aristophanes does the protagonist ride to heaven on a dung-beetle?
The Peace
In what play of Aristophanes do two Athenians travel to Nephelokokkygia (i.e. ‘cloudcuckooland’) to escape the war?
The Birds
In what play of Aristophanes, his most famous, do Spartan and Athenian women band together to spurn their husbands in an attempt to end the war?
Lysistrata
What play of Aristophanes imagines Athens in need of a tragedian in the wake of the deaths of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides?
The Frogs
In Aristophanes’s The Frogs, what god chooses Aeschylus as the greatest tragedian?
Dionysus
In what play of Aristophanes, one of two belonging to Middle Comedy, does Praxagora lead a group of women to take over the government?
Ecclesiazusae
What play of Aristophanes, his final extant play, is translated as ‘The Wealth’
Plutus
Who is the greatest writer of New Comedy?
Menander
What Greek comedian of New Comedy died by drowning in the harbor of Piraeus?
Menander
What play of Menander is the only one still extant?
Dyscolus (‘Bad-Tempered Man’)
What Greek author wrote an impartial account on the Peloponnesian War despite his status as an Athenian general?
Thucydides
What Greek historian was removed from his post as Athenian general for failing to take Amphipolis?
Thucydides
With what event in 411 BC does Thucydides end his History of the Peloponnesian War?
The recall of Alcibiades
What philosopher, the son of the sculptor Sophroniscus and the midwife Phaenarete, married Xanthippe?
Socrates
The thoughts of what philosopher, who famously never wrote anything down, were maintained by his students Plato and Xenophon?
Socrates
What name is given to the pseudo-gods which Socrates believed in?
Daimones
What philosopher was tried for corrupting the youth of Athens and was forced to drink hemlock in 399 BC?
Socrates
What school in Athens did Plato found?
The Academy
What philosopher is the teacher of Plato?
Socrates
What work of Plato is Socrates’s address at his trial?
Apology
Which tragedian is said to have increased the chorus from 12 to 15 members
Sophocles
What work of Plato takes the form of a dialogue with the titular character visiting Socrates in prison?
Crito
What work of Plato is a dialogue in which the titular character talks rhetoric with Socrates who states that it is better to suffer evil than to do evil?
Gorgias
What work of Plato is a dialogue concerning whether virtue can be taught?
Meno
What work of Plato is a dialogue between Socrates and his friends as he is dying about the nature of death and the immortality of the soul?
Phaedo
What work of Plato, his most famous, discusses the perfect government?
Republic
What work of Plato is a discussion of love at a dinner party?
Symposium
What work of Plato contains the beginning of the Atlantis story and discusses the origin of the universe?
Timaeus
What work of Plato, his last and longest work, his a modification of his political ideas in his Republic?
Laws
What two titles are shared by Plato and Xenophon, both students of Socrates?
Apology and Symposium
Who was the teacher of Xenophon?
Socrates
What Greek author, a member of the Ten Thousand, took command and led the mercenaries out of Persia?
Xenophon
What work of Xenophon, which covers the expedition of the Ten Thousand, contains the famous cry “Thalatta, Thalatta”?
Anabasis
What work of Xenophon consists of recollections of Socrates including his character and some of his philosophical ideas?
Memorabilia
What Greek author, born in Stageira in Chalcidice, was nicknamed Reader by his teacher Plato?
Aristotle
What Greek author was the tutor of Alexander the Great?
Aristotle
What Greek author founded a school named Lyceum and a school of philosophy called Peripateticism?
Aristotle
What work of Aristotle discusses matter, forms, and the four causes (Material, Formal, Moving, and Final)?
Physica
What work of Aristotle concerns the movements of celestial bodies?
De Caelo
What work of Aristotle consists of treatises about weather and the Historia Animalium, which discusses animals and their taxonomy?
Meterologica
What work of Aristotle, edited by his son, covers his views on personal morality and ethics?
Nicomachean Ethics
What work of Aristotle , edited by his student, was written before his Nicomachean Ethics and shows a more Platonic view of ethics?
Eudemian Ethics
In what 8 book work does Aristotle claim that limited democracy is best because no perfect ruler can exist?
Politics
What political work of Aristotle discusses the development of Athenian government and democracy in general?
Constitution of Athens?
What work of Aristotle is a discussion of oratory in general, focusing on persuasion?
Rhetoric
What work of Aristotle serves as his commentary on literature, particularly tragedy and comedy?
Poetics
What work, a lost poem about a fool’s adventures, does Aristotle claim to be a proto-comedy in his Poetics?
Margites
What work does Aristotle claim to be the supreme tragedy in his Poetics?
Oedipus Rex
Who founded Stoicism?
Zeno
What is the meaning of the Greek word at the root of Stoicism, a reference to where Zeno taught?
Porch
Harmony, detachment, and self-discipline are principal elements of what school of philosophy founded by Zeno?
Stoicism
That the universe is periodically doused in fire is a tenet held by members of what philosophical belief?
Stoicism
Stoics believed in a divine law known by what name?
Logos
What Greek was the founder of Cynicism?
Antisthenes
Who, the most famous Cynic, lived in a tub?
Diogenes
Alexander said that if he could not be Alexander, he would like to be what most famous Cynic?
Diogenes
Originally believing that virtue makes happiness, Diogenes shaped what school of philosophy into a general contempt for knowledge and morality?
Cynicism
What man, believing happiness to come from pleasure (the absence of pain) founded his own school of philosophy?
Epicurus
What man wrote ‘On Nature’ expounding the beliefs of Epicureanism?
Epicurus
What Roman author continued in the footsteps of Epicurus with his ‘De Rerum Natura’?
Lucretius
What school of thought, founded by Pyrrhon of Elis, was later adopted by the Academy?
Scepticism
That true knowledge is unattainable and the proper attitude is one of indifference are positions taken by what school of thought founded by Pyrrhon of Elis?
Sceptism
Who founded Sceptism?
Pyrrhon of Elis
What school of philosophy, whose most famous member Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob, was essentially wiped out by Christianity?
Neo-Platonism
What Greek is the original developer of the atomic theory?
Leucippus
What Greek improved on the atomic theory put in place by Leucippus?
Democritus
What Greek wrote Elements, establishing plane geometry?
Euclid
What group, who consist of travelling teachers, may have brought oratory/rhetoric from Sicily?
Sophists
What man may have been the originator of oratoryrhetoric?
Corax
What man from Leontini in Sicily is the most famous Sophist?
Gorgias
“Man is the measure of all things” is a quote from what famous Sophist from Abdera?
Protagoras
Which of the Ten Attic Orators, the earliest, is said to have been a teacher of Thucydides?
Antiphon
Which of the Ten Attic Orators was convicted for the Mutilation of the Hermae and therefore disgraced?
Andocides
In what work of Andocides does he ask for a return to Athens following his disgrace for the Mutilation of the Hermae?
On his Return
What work of Andocides refers to his time spent in the Eleusinian Mysteries?
On the Mysteries
Which of the Ten Attic Orators, originally from Syracuse, fled from the Thirty Tyrants after they killed his brother Polemarchus?
Lysias
Which of the Ten Attic Orators wrote ‘On the Murder of Eratosthenes’?
Lysias
Which of the Ten Attic Orators, who stayed out of public life due to his weak voice and lack of nerve, wrote a Panegyricus urging Greeks to unite?
Isocrates
Which of the Ten Attic Orators, staunchly pro-Macedonian, wrote the Philippus to Philip II of Macedon urging him to unite Greece?
Isocrates
What work of Isocrates, given in 355, urged Athens not to pursue an aggressive foreign policy and to abandon their maritime empire?
On the Peace
What Greek author is known as the greatest orator after overcoming a speech impediment by speaking with stones in his mouth?
Deomsthenes
What Greek studied under Isaeus on his way to becoming the greatest Greek orator?
Demosthenes
Which work of Demosthenes is a series of speeches against the king of Macedon?
Philippics
Which speech of Demosthenes, his greatest, was delivered against Aeschines’s ‘Against Ctesiphon’ proving that he deserved the reward?
On the Crown
With what man did Demosthenes feud and even have impeached from Athens?
Aeschines
Who delivered a speech against Timarchus, an ally of Demosthenes, sucessfully convicting him of immorality in 345 BC?
Aeschines
What Greek orator convinced Athens to commit to a sacred war with Amphissa which eventually led to a costly war with Macedonia?
Aeschines
Who delivered a speech against Ctesiphon for opting to give Demosthenes a crown for his efforts on behalf of Athens?
Aeschines
What member of the Eteobutadae family and pupil of Isocrates was in charge of Athenian finances from 338-326?
Lycurgus
‘Against Leocrates’ is the only extant speech delivered by what pupil of Isocrates?
Lycurgus
What Ionian scientist came to Athens around 460 BC and became a close friend of Pericles?
Anaximenes
What Ionian scientist wrote ‘On Nature’ and believed in a divine intelligence called Nous?
Anaximenes
What Ionian scientist and friend of Pericles was the first to explain solar eclipses?
Anaximenes
What Greek wrote ‘On the Gods’ and ‘Chronicle’ while living in Athens c. 140 BC?
Apollodorus
What Greek is said to have succeeded Eratosthenes as head of the Alexandrian library?
Apollonius of Rhodes
What Greek author wrote the Argonautica, an epic in four books about Jason and the Golden Fleece?
Apollonius of Rhodes
What author wrote the Phainomena, a work describing stars and constellations?
Aratus
What Greek author wrote Diosemal, which Cicero translated into Latin in his youth?
Aratus
What Greek scientist was killed in Syracuse when Marcellus and the Romans took the city?
Archimedes
With the help of what Greek scientist, who developed mirrors to set the Roman ships on fire, was Syracuse able to be defended from Rome for 2 years?
Archimedes
“Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I can move the Earth” is a quote attributed to what Greek scientist?
Archimedes
After observing the displacement of water in his tub due to his body, who screamed ‘Eureka’?
Archimedes
What Greek, who developed the theory that the sun is the center of the solar system, was not confirmed until Copernicus centuries later?
Aristarchus (of Samos) (the more famous one)
What head of the Alexandrian library edited the works of Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, et al.?
Aristarchus (of Samothrace) (the not as famous one)
What Greek author wrote the Milesian Tales, a series of short stories similar to the Satyricon of the Roman Petronius?
Aristides of Miletus
What pupil of Socrates founded the Cyrenaic philosophy, which believed pleasure to be the ultimate good?
Aristippus
What Samian writer of epigrams invented a new type of meter named after him?
Asclepiades
What poet, an imitator of Theocritus, wrote a ‘Lament for Adonis’?
Bion
What head of the Library of Alexandria wrote ‘Lock of Berenice’, which Catullus translated in his poem 66?
Callimachus
What man, who feuded with Apollonius of Rhodes, wrote ‘Hecale’ and ‘Aetia’?
Callimachus
What author of the ‘Lock of Berenice’ is also famous for his saying “Big book, big evil”?
Callimachus
What nephew and pupil of Aristotle accompanied Alexander on his conquests until he was executed in 327 BC for knowledge of an assassination plot against Alexander?
Callisthenes
What Cynic philosopher instructed Zeno?
Crates
What Greek (who shares his name with a comic poet and a philosopher) was the last head of the Old Academy?
Crates
What Greek, who succeeded Zenodotus as head of the Library of Alexandria, wrote the Chronographiae, the first scientific attempts to fix the dates of Greek history?
Eratosthenes
Which head of the library of Alexandria was most famous for calculating the circumference of the Earth?
Eratosthenes
What Greek, whose name lends itself to a modern medical oath, is known as the father of medicine?
Hippocrates
“Way to Write History” was written by what Greek author?
Lucian
The ‘Alexandra’, in which Cassandra foretells the fall of Troy, was written by what Greek author?
Lycophron
What Cynic philosopher is most famous for writing works with both prose and verse?
Menippus
What Greek poet from Colophon wrote ‘Theriaca’ (about the bites of venomous animals) and ‘Alexipharmaca’ (about antidotes to poison)?
Nicander
What lost epic poem of unknown authorship deals with the returns of various heroes from Troy?
Nostoi
What Greek author wrote ‘Descriptions of Greece’, a 10 book long guidebook for tourists?
Pausanias
What Syracusan-born poet is famous for writing idylls, short poems usually describing pastoral scenes?
Theocritus
What Greek poet wrote such idylls as ‘Lament for Daphnis’ and ‘Adoniazusae’?
Theocritus
What pupil of Aristotle eventually replaced him as head of the Peripatetic school?
Theophrastus
What Greek author wrote treatises on plants, metaphysics, and style, but is most famous for his ‘Characters’, a series of character sketches with each character humorously illustrating a different fault?
Theophrastus
Which Greek historian wrote about the plague in Athens during the late fifth century?
Thucydides
The Homeric Hymn to which deity discusses the Eleusinian mysteries?
Demeter
The Homeric Hymn to which deity talks his mother Leto’s struggles to give birth?
Apollo
The Homeric Hymn to which deity discusses the theft of Apollo’s cattle and the subsequent invention of the lyre?
Hermes
The Homeric Hymn to which deity has Zeus upset that they induced love between deities and mortals so is herself condemned to fall in love with the mortal Anchises?
Aphrodite
The Homeric Hymn to which deity has them captured by pirates whom they eventually turn to dolphins except for Acoetes?
Dionysus
