Midterm

Question 1

Sargon

Answer 1

He was a ruler in Mesopotamia, c.a. 2350 B.C. He created the first empire and unified the city states of Mesopotamia. This helped to culturally unify the ancient Near East, and set a precedent for other empires like Hammurabi’s Babylon.

Question 2

Hammurabi

Answer 2

He was the king of Babylon in the early to mid 18th century B.C. He created the first Babylonian empire and wrote the first codified laws. These laws provided the basis for many future law codes, such as that of the Nesilim, and a framework for many ancient societies, such as the Assyrians and Hittites.

Question 3

Akhenaten

Answer 3

He was the pharaoh of Egypt in the mid 14th century. Originally, his name was Amenhotep, but he changed it to honor the sun god Aten, whom he worshipped exclusively. He suppressed the worship of other gods, and was either henotheist or monotheist. His reforms did not take hold, however, and successive pharohs destroyed his mummy and tried to erase his name from history.

Question 4

Solomon

Answer 4

He was king of Israel in the mid 10th century B.C. He was an important figure in Biblical history and built the temple in Jerusalem. He strengthened Israel during his reign, but it dissolved soon after his death. He left a last impact and example in Judeo-Christian beliefs, and his temple provided a symbol of the Jewish religion’s influence and power for 100’s of years.

Question 5

Tiglathpilesar III

Answer 5

He was an Assyrian ruler in the mid to late 8th century B.C. He brought the empire to its greatest size. He also exiled the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. He brought a greater cultural unity to the ancient Near East, forcing formerly separate peoples and ethnicities, such as Jews and Samaritans, to live and interact under one rule. His policies provided an example for future rulers, such as Nebuchadnezzar, who wished to rule large, diverse empires.

Question 6

Nebuchadnezzar

Answer 6

He was king of Babylon in the early and mid 6th century. He deported the leaders of Judah and later most of its population to Babylon in response to revolts. This began the Babylonian Exile of the Jews. It was during this time that the first copies of the Old Testament were written, establishing most of Judeo-Christian customs and beliefs.

Question 7

Cyrus

Answer 7

He was king of Persia in the mid 6th century B.C. He was originally an official of the Median empire, but led a revolt and took control, converting the Medians into the Persians. He ended the Babylonian Exile of the Jews when he conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and eventually created the largest empire yet known. Some of his policies, such as civil engineering projects, patronage of cities, and feudal-like government were emulated by many other rulers, such as Alexander the Great and the Romans.

Question 8

Zoroastrianism

Answer 8

It is a dualistic religion, focusing on a battle between the god of good Ahura Mazda and the god of evil Ahriman. Its religious text is called the Avesta, and its originator is the prophet Zoroaster. Cyrus and Darius were devout followers. Its ideas of heaven and hell, angels and demons, light and dark, and immortality and resurrection heavily influenced Judeo-Christian thought and is echoed in many places.

Question 9

Homer

Answer 9

He (or they) composed the epics of Greek history, the Iliad and the Odyssey, sometime in the mid 8th century B.C in Greece. These poems seem to portray the civilization of Homer’s time more accurately than when they are based. They provided most of the basis for Greek mythology, and were almost treated as sacred writ. They provided a cultural identity and history for the Greeks.

Question 10

Hoplon/Hoplite

Answer 10

They were Greek infantry, originally composed of aristocrats and later anyone who could afford it. They had a metal breastplate, greaves, and helmet, and carried a round shield, sword, and thrusting spear. Their primary formation was the phalanx. They allowed Greece to defend itself and become a formidable fighting force, fostering it into a warrior society. They later became obsolete, however, in the late 4th century due to replacement by pelasts.

Question 11

Helots

Answer 11

They were state slaves of the Spartans. They were originally inhabitants of the other polises surrounding Sparta, but were conquered by the Spartans during the 8th century B.C. The problem was that the Helots now vastly outnumbered the Spartans, which caused the Spartans to develop the Spartan system, in which all males were trained for and served in military service starting at the age of seven, along with a host of social changes.

Question 12

Solon

Answer 12

He was the first democratic reformer of Athens. He broke the aristocracy’s hold on elected office in 594 B.C. by establishing wealth as the basis for office, instead of birth. He also abolished economic obligations to the aristocracy and turned the assembly into an appeals court for certain cases. Eventually, his reforms led to the establishment of tyranny and the establishment of Athens as the first democracy.

Question 13

Cleisthenes

Answer 13

He was an aristocrat and a democratic reformer in Athens. He overcame his opposition in 508 B.C. and began instituting reforms. The major effect of these reforms was dividing up the Athenian population into 10 demes, or tribes, of roughly equal population, which officials then came from in equal number. This established the Athenian whole as superior over local institutions without destroying them, and still provided entrance to politics at the local level. In time, this provided the basis for an unprecedented amount of participation in self governance that allowed Athens to become the superpower of later eras.

Question 14

Darius

Answer 14

He was the Persian king from the 520s to the 480s. He consolidated the Persian empire and ensured that the Achaemenids stayed on the throne. He led the first failed invasion of Greece during the first Persian wars. He left a legacy of several unsettled frontiers, including the border with Greece. He left a lasting legacy of stability in the Persian empire, but also set the stage for the second Persian War, and as a result, the Peloponnesian War.

Question 15

Xerxes

Answer 15

He was king of Persia from the 480s to the 460s. He led the second Persian invasion of Greece, and defeated the combined forces of the Greeks at Thermopylae. His invasion ultimately failed when his navy was tricked and defeated by the Athenians and Salamis. His lasting impact was in the disunity among the Greeks and lead into the Peloponnesian wars that his invasion provided, rather than any real problems that he cause in his own empire.

Question 16

Themistocles

Answer 16

He was a prominent Athenian citizen in the late 480s B.C. He managed to get his opponent, Aristides, ostracized, and supported the building of triremes with Athens new silver income. He led the Athenians during the second Persian invasion. He rebuilt Athens walls and became anti-Spartan, and was later ostracized himself. His lasting impact was the defense of Greece from Persia, allowing the Peloponnesian wars and the classical age to emerge.

Question 17

Leonidas

Answer 17

He was king of the Spartans. He defended the pass at Thermopylae along with a mixed force of around 7,000 Greeks, but their ranks were betrayed from within and he, along with 300 Spartans, 700 Thesians, and 400 Thebans, defended the pass long enough for the rest of the men to escape. This delayed Xerxes army long enough that the Athenians and other Greeks could escape to Salamis, where the war was won.

Question 18

Battle of Thermopylae

Answer 18

It took place in 480 BC at Thermopylae during the second Persian invasion. Xerxes army was forced into a narrow bottleneck canyon, where they were held for several days by a force of 7,000 Greeks. A traitor led a portion of Xerxes army behind the Greeks, and flanked them. A force of 300 Spartans, 400 Thebans, and 700 Thespians, led by Leonidas, stalled the advancing army long enough for the rest of the Greek force to escape and allowing the Greeks to rally at Salamis.

Question 19

Battle of Salamis

Answer 19

It took place in 480 BC at Salamis during the second Persian invasion. The Athenians had evacuated their population to the island of Salamis and chose to make their stand there. Thermistocles tricked the Persians by telling them he would defect when they attacked, and in doing so destroyed the Persian fleet and dreams of ruling Greece.

Question 20

Pericles

Answer 20

He was a prominent Athenian statesman in the mid and late 5th century. He was a great patron of the arts in Athens, pushed the building of the Parthenon, and led Athens during much of the Peloponnesian wars. He was associated with a hetaera named Aspasia, who supposedly wrote all his speeches. He died in the Plague of Athens. Under his leadership, Athens became a beacon of high culture and learning that has been emulated and idolized for thousands of years.

Question 21

Alcibiades

Answer 21

He was a prominent politician in Athens during late 5th century. He led a campaign against Sicily, but when he was accused of profaning a sacred Herm he fled to Sparta, where he advised them on how to destroy Athens. Under his leadership, the Spartans got a navy from the Persians, blockaded Athens, and took it. This led to the disbanding of the Athenian league, the decline of Athens, then end of the classical age, and, because of the Persian alliance, the eventual decline of Sparta as well.

Question 22

Epaminondas/Leuctra

Answer 22

Epaminondas was a Theban general, who led the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. This battle broke the position of power and influence the Spartans had occupied in Athens place following the Peloponnesian Wars. This left Sparta with only 800 citizens left, and forced them to relinquish their empire and way of life. This led to the decline of Sparta, until it was just one more city vying for power, instead of the superpower of old.

Question 23

Metic

Answer 23

They were Greeks who lived in a city (primarily Athens) but were not citizens. They did, however, have rights and obligations, including taxes, military service, and the right to be represented in court. Some famous metics include Hippocrates and Aspasia. They formed nearly half the population, and many great philosophers and thinkers, such as Hippocrates, were metics. They allowed others to participate in the Athenian classical period without needing to be citizens.

Question 24

Hetaera

Answer 24

Their name literally translates to “companion”. In the most basic sense, they were very fancy prostitutes, but their duties far exceeded that of a normal prostitute. They were entertainers for their client’s guests, skilled at the arts of speech, debate, and philosophy. Unlike other women, they could speak their mind and engage in open conversation with men and in general were some of the freest women in Athens. They had to be witty, intelligent, well educated, and of course, pretty. One of the most famous hetaera, Aspasia, was companion to Pericles, and supposedly wrote all of his speeches.

Question 25

Sophocles

Answer 25

He was a great tragedian playwright in the mid fifth century in Athens. He was the first playwright to introduce 3 actors to the stage at the same time. Of his 120 or so plays, only 7 survive. Some of his great contributions include the Oedipus cycle, following the family of the kind Oedipus, who accidentally kills his father and marries his mother. His plays were more focused on the reactions of people to their fate, rather than the fate itself.

Question 26

Aeschylus

Answer 26

He was a great Athenian tragedian in the early fifth century. He was the first playwright to introduce two actors to the stage at once. Of his 70-90 plays, only 7 survive. Some of his most famous plays include the Orestian trilogy, which deals with blood feuds and revenge cycles within families. His plays provided new mythology and brought a balance between old and new social orders.

Question 27

Aristophanes

Answer 27

He was the greatest Athenian comedian playwright in the late fifth century. His play The Clouds ridiculed Socrates and other philosophers. He contributed to the comedies by being a kind of saturday night live, filling his plays with vulgar jokes, humor, and situations (a tradition that still lives on today!).

Question 28

Aristotle

Answer 28

He was a political philosopher in the mid 4th century Athens. He was a student of Plato. He focused on the balance between oligarchy and democracy, examining over 150 constitutions to discover how this balance could be found. His solution was to emphasize the importance of office holders and the middle class. He proposed that the stabilizing element in a society was proportional equality.

Question 29

Plato

Answer 29

He was a philosopher in the late 5th and 4th centuries. He opened a school for philosophy. He wrote The Republic, in which he describes an ideal state ruled by a philosopher-king. He refused to accept that democracy as Athens had it would ever hold together. He also advocated the theory of absolute truth, in which the essence of a thing exists on a higher plane of existence. His philosophies are regarded as some of the greatest of all time, and his work The Republic is still read by college students all over the world.

Question 30

Philip II

Answer 30

He was the king of Macedonia in the mid 4th century. He strengthened the military, adding to the companion cavalry, and modified the phalanx used by the army with better defenses, 18 foot pikes, and the ability to march backwards. He took all of Greece and formed it into a league under his command. His son was Alexander the Great. He was assassinated before any more of his plans could come to fruition. His reign set up everything needed for Alexander’s blitzkrieg during his reign.

Question 31

Corinthian League

Answer 31

When Philip II united the Greek states in 338, he formed this league as a governing body for them. No Greeks states were to go to war against each other, each was given representation in the council, and each was to remain autonomous, but they were to make contributions to the macedonian army in a war of revenge against Persia. Only Sparta abstained from this league. This created a power base from which the Macedonians could base campaigns into Persia, and for the first time, all of the Greeks were not only bound together, but subjugated to a foreign rule.

Question 32

Alexander III

Answer 32

He was the son of Philip II, and took over the throne in 336 when his father was assassinated. He quickly assumed control over the Corinthian league, and completely obliterated Thebes when it tried to rebel. He led a campaign through all of the Persian empire, taking it for his own. In Egypt, he became associated with the Zeus Ammon, and founded Alexandria. He then campaigned through much of central Asia, as far as India. His army ran into bad times and nearly mutinied, and by the time they got home 75% were dead. Alexander fell ill with fever soon after his return to Babylon, and died. His empire dissolved into factions soon after his death. His was the largest and most cosmopolitan empire ever known to that time, but in many ways it was more Persian than Macedonian. His empire spread Hellenistic ideas throughout the Near east and Asia, and created a tradition of Hellenistic god-kings throughout much of the known world.