Unit 4 Flashcards
What is Knossos?
A Minoan city that held a vast palace used by the Minoan rulers. The palace included rooms for the royal family, banquet halls, shrines, and artisan workshops.
Who were the Minoans?
They were a trading civilization based from an island in the Aegean Sea called Crete. The influenced Greek culture and evolved fro Egyptians/Mesopotamians. 1600-1500 BC. Vanished abruptly. Maybe natural disaster maybe Mycenaean invasion.
What is a Shrine?
An area dedicated to the honor of gods/goddesses. Often built in palaces, such as at Knossos.
What are Frescoes?
They are watercolor paintings done on wet plaster. They were often hung at the palace in Knossos. Tell of Minoan life. Dolphins = importance of sea. Bulls were religious figures. Had mother goddess. Women may have had more rights than other civs. of the time.
Who were the Mycenaeans?
An Indo-European speaking culture that took over the Greek mainland as well as Crete. Heavy traders. Had similar culture to Minoans. Lived in city-states on the mainland. Were attacked by sea-raiders and the Dorians.
What was the Trojan War?
Either an economic battle between Mycenae and Troy or a romantic altercation dealing with Greek gods and Helen a Greek princes is captured by Paris a Troy prince. 1250 BC. The Mycenaens are best known for this.
What are Straits?
Narrow water passages. Troy had control over the straights connecting the Mediterranean and Black Seas during the Trojan war.
Who is Heinrich Schliemann?
A German businessman that helped to prove that the Trojan war may have actually occurred. 1870’s.
Who are the Dorians?
A Greek-speaking people from the North that invaded the Mycenaens and plummeted Greece into a period of regression from 1100 to 900 BC. Led to Greek despair but aided in the revival of Greece. Settled the city-state of Sparta.
Who is Homer?
A blind poet that wandered from village to village in Greece singing of heroic deeds. Credited for the epics “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”. Both tell us most of what is known of the Trojan war. 750 BC. Passed on orally until finally written down.
What was the Iliad?
One of the two epics that tell us about the Trojan war, but tells us the most. Iliad is full of mythology (Gods, goddesses, talking horses) and tells of the mightiest Greek warrior Achilles and his battles and being withdrawn from them due to altercations with his commander and after a friend is killed he rejoins. Shows values of Greeks, honor courage, eloquence.
What is the Odyssey?
Odyssey tells of the Greek hero Odysseus and his struggles on his return home (One-eye giants and a sorceresses that turns men to swines) and his want to return home to his wife Penelope. Shows values of Greeks, honor courage, eloquence.
What is a Polis?
A Greek city-state. Greeks came up with new ideas on how to govern them, that were contrary from the beliefs of Egyptians/Mesopotamians of which they absorbed as well. Made up of major city w/ surrounding countryside.
What is the geography of Ancient Greece?
Greece is at the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula (extends south into the Eastern Mediterranean). Surrounded by 3 bodies of water, Mediterranean, Ionian, and Aegean. No major waterways/no key rivers. Hilly w/small-ish mountain ranges. Mts. cut off the city-states from one another and prevented unity.Mild climate, good soil, lots of rain. Terracing Agriculture. Mediterranean triad: grapes, olives, grain. Healthy died and protein came from fish/goats/sheep. Mainland Greece; Peloponnesus; Crete. Seas offered vital trade routes. Traded olive oil, wine, and marble. Adopted Phoenician alphabet through trade.
What is an Acropolis?
One of the two levels of a Polis. It is the part up on a hill. Filled w/marble temples to gods/goddesses. The lower level is the main city w/ the theater, market, etc.
Who were the citizens of Greece?
Free residents. They all shared pride in their city-states victories/defeats. Free men spent time in the marketplace due to warm climate. Citizens rights were unequal, men that owned land had all political power.
What is a Monarchy?
A government in which a hereditary ruler exercises central power. In Greece this power was originally held by the kings of each city-state.
What is an Aristocracy?
Rule by a hereditary landowning elite. Power shifted from kings to the class of nobles and this became the govt. of Greece. They first defended the king but over time took full power.
What is an Oligarchy?
When all the power is held by the hands of a small, wealthy elite. Once trade expanded, the merchants and rest of the middle class challenged and dominated the landowning nobles for power.
What is a Phalanx?
A massive tactical formation of heavily armed foot soldiers. Took lots of hours of drills to master. Gave sense of unity, got rid of classes in the military. It separated Sparta and Athens. During that time Iron replaced Bronze and now all cit. could have armor.
What is Sparta?
A Greek city-state founded when Dorian invaders from the north conquered Laconia (Southern Peloponnesus) Extremely military based and had little interest in arts. Very isolated and looked down on Trade/Wealth.
What was the Govt. of Sparta?
Two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly of cit. approved major decisions. Assembly also appointed 5 ephors, whom ran daily affairs.
Who were the citizens of Sparta?
Male, native born Spartans over the age of 30. Always on call for Mil. Can run for Pub. office.
What was the daily life of a Spartan?
It was a military based society. From a young age boys were trained for the mil. and sick babies were killed. Edj. is exclusively phys./moral. At 7 boys are sent to barracks where they have a strict diet and rigid training. Men at 20 can marry but live at barracks till 20 and eat there till 40. At 60 men can retire or tutor.
How were women treated in Sparta?
They had rigorous training but stayed home. They must obey men, but could own land and could even run households. Could marry at 20.
What is Athens?
A Greek city-state located in Attica (Just north of the Peloponnesus). Valued trade.
What was the govt. of Athens?
Evolved from a monarchy to an Aristocracy. They slowly became a democracy.
