Key Term ID - section 1

Question 1

In Flagrante Delicto

Answer 1

Lysias, On the Murder of Eratosthenes
1. A Latin term that means catching an adulterer in the act of having an affair with your spouse
2. Euphiletus killed Eratosthenes and claimed that Eratosthenes was having a sexual affair with his wife
3. Euphiletus (or rather Lysias) must prove that he saw Eratosthenes in bed with his wife, having an affair,
which would mean Eratosthenes’ murder would be deemed just

Question 2

Cyrnus

Answer 2

Theognis, Selections
1. In his elegies, Theognis regularly addresses Cyrnus as his recipient
2. Theognis is attempting to teach Cyrnus about aristocratic practices and ideologies while also lamenting about the ramifications of having commoners in positions of power

Question 3

Isegoria

Answer 3

Thucydides, A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (i.e. speeches from Cleon and Diodotus)
1. This refers to the right of every citizen to speak in the democratic assembly
2. This concept can be seen in how each Athenian assembly begins with “who wants to talk”
3. Significant because speech is power, the person able to speak is a member of the power hierarchy in society
4. To successfully be involved in politics means having the ability to speak freely and speak persuasively in front of the assembly

Question 4

Candaules

Answer 4

Herodotus, Histories
1. Candaules is so amazed by his wife’s beauty that he insists on his slave Gyges to see her undress, she knows and says that Gyges can either die for seeing her naked or kill Candaules and marry her. Gyges kills Candaules and marries her
2. The story of Gyges and Candaules is paradigmatic for the Histories as a whole
- Unites the histories as a work and also establishes a pattern that is continuous (i.e. a leader of great wealth, luck, power etc. does something on account of their prosperity that they should NOT have done and as a result they are brought “low”
3. Herodotus’ Histories is innovative while also being incredibly traditional
- i.e. He believes that his investigations (his histories) prove the Greek perspective of how the proud are brought low, so his conclusion is familiar but the method in which he comes to the conclusion is entirely new

Question 5

Panegyris

Answer 5

Isocrates, Panegyricus
1. Meaning “the gathering of all,” references Panhellenic festival and this idea underlies the purpose of Isocrates’ speech
2. Isocrates is imagining addressing a public audience of Greeks
3. Specifically, an audience of Greeks. The gathering of all is exclusive to Greeks, others or “barbarians” are not included

Question 6

Medicine

Answer 6

Hippocrates, On Waters, Airs, and Places
1. Medicine and Hippocrates are both concerned with the health of an individual
2. According to Hippocrates, your health is determined by your environment as well as the institutions and politics that one lives under
3. Hippocrates’ medicine is dangerous because he makes medical assumptions and diagnoses based purely off the people group a person is part of

Question 7

Panhellenism

Answer 7

Isocrates, Panegyricus
1. Panhellenism refers to the unity of all Greeks and the ways in which they differ from others or “barbarians”
2. Isocrates’ Panegyricus is addressing an audience of Greeks and while he is showing off his own skill as an orator, he is also arguing for the Greeks to unite under leadership to fend off the Persians for good

Question 8

Symposium

Answer 8

Anacreon, Elegy 2 (selections)
1. A drinking party where attendance is limited to a group of elite men
2. The point of symposia was to maintain control over yourself despite ingesting large sums of alcohol while also being tested and pushed to your limits by the men around you
3. A key aspect is a balance between elitism and base carnal desire
4. A symposium is a privately public context as membership is limited but discussion often concerned the public policies, education etc of the larger polis

Question 9

Social Status

Answer 9

Lucian, Lucius or the Ass
1. Social status is important in antiquity because social status is what dictates the rights and privileges a person does or does not have.
2. To have a low social status means to have less autonomy and independence than someone with a higher social status
3. Lucius goes from being a citizen with rights and freedoms to a donkey that is enslaved and has zero autonomy
- this story can provide perspective to those with social status what it is like to live as an enslaved person with no social status

Question 10

Canon

Answer 10

Homer, The Iliad
1. Refers to the “basics” of literature
2. Especially during the Hellenistic period, but even
before then, Homer is studied and viewed as essential stories to know in the world of oral tradition and literature

Question 11

Forensic Oratory

Answer 11

Lysias, On the Murder of Eratosthenes
1. Forensic oratory is a form of speech used most often in a court of law with the goal of determining the facts or the truth of the case being discussed
2. At its base, it is a speech arguing for or against something
3. Lysias constructs an argument in defense of
Euphiletus claiming that the murder of Eratosthenes was just since he was found in bed having an affair with Euphiletus’ wife and in ancient Athens, murder is justifiable in that context

Question 12

Parody

Answer 12

Aristophanes, Clouds
1. The use of parody is significant as it is an important tool in literature used to discuss serious topics while disarming them to allow for a dialogue
2. Clouds depicts a parody or exaggeration of Socrates which allows for Aristophanes to question the legitimacy or concerns revolving around persuasive speech

Question 13

Eros

Answer 13

Anacreon, Elegy 2 (selections)
1. Eros is a god of love and men are expected to confront him in the form of desire at the symposium
2. You are expected to confront desire/Eros at a symposium and reject him but it is not possible to reject a god so ultimately, you will fall before temptation

Question 14

Sophistry

Answer 14

Gorgias, Encomium
1. Someone offering to teach a skill for a fee
2. Most often associated with speech writing
- The ability/skill of a person to make convincing arguments and the knowledge that if you write a good enough speech, you can influence the public and social order
3. Gorgias’ Encomium is an example of epideictic oratory where he is showing off his skill in persuasive speech to promote/market his abilities and seek out students

Question 15

Inquiry

Answer 15

Herodotus, Histories
1. Inquiry or investigation becomes more common in literature with the rise of archival prose
2. Herodotus seeks an explanation for the hostility between the Greeks and non-Greeks, specifically between the Greeks and the Persians
3. This is an entirely new approach to explaining why things are the way that they are
- Previously the gods or divinity would’ve been the explanation (i.e. Homer, Hesiod) but now there is an increased interest in explaining things through tangible reasoning

Question 16

Elegiac Couplet

Answer 16

Solon, Selected Elegies
1. A type of lyric poetry that uses groups of two lines to form a verse
2. There is no specific theme for this type of meter, the variety in topics means that elegiac poetry is just poetry written as an elegiac couplet
3. Contains dactylic hexameter within the couplet

Question 17

Scholarship

Answer 17

Callimachus, Aetia
1. He is assembling a body of knowledge explaining the world through minor/lesser known mythological figures deliberately
2. He worked at the library in Alexandria, the purpose of deliberately choosing lesser known myths is to challenge the reader in their knowledge of literature as well as encourage or promote seeking answers from the library
3. Hellenistic/Roman is not as inspired but rather is more refined and learned/mastered: it is studied.

Question 18

Lyric

Answer 18

Alcaeus, fragments/selections
1. Often composed for the symposium, public performance type of context
2. Literally refers to a poem accompanied by a musical instrument (lyre) but not all Lyric poetry was accompanied by a lyre

Question 19

Oral Tradition

Answer 19

Homer, The Iliad
1. Refers to the practice of telling/passing down stories verbally to an audience
2. Festival poetry, composed during performance
3. Still interested in preserving history, but the authority claimed for the source comes from the poet being the divine mouthpiece
4. Archival prose/written record evolves from oral tradition

Question 20

Funeral Oration

Answer 20

Thucydides, A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (i.e. Pericles’ speech)
1. Pericles (or rather Thucydides) takes the opportunity to remember Athenian soldiers who have died thus far as a result of the war with Sparta as well as remind the remaining army/listeners as to what they are fighting for
2. Athenian propaganda throughout the speech
3. A form of epideictic oratory

Question 21

Cosmogony

Answer 21

Hesiod, Theogony
1. Explaining the origin of the universe
2. Hesiod explains the origins of the universe by use of telling his story of how the gods came to be
3. A way of understanding the world, shows an interest or curiosity from antiquity of how the world came to be

Question 22

Archive

Answer 22

Hippocrates, On Waters, Airs and Places
1. Compiling a body of knowledge through written record
2. A concern with preserving the history and the knowledge known by the ancients for the purpose of allowing future readers to study from it and learn from it
3. The priority of establishing “contemporary” facts