REVIEW SHEET – TEST 1 (CLAS 201)

THEMES:

The Greek Miracle (textual sources for the ancient Greeks)

Who were the Greeks (Pelasgians, Minoans, Indo-Europeans)
Mycenaeans (culture, Homer, Epic cycle, Homer as source for Mycenaean culture)
Dark Age (decline)
Hesiod (Theogony, Works and Days)
Archaic Age (improvement, polis, hoplite warfare)
Athens (early history, development of constitution)

TERMS:

GREEK MIRACLE

Epic Poets:
Homer: Iliad, Odyssey; Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days

Tragedians:
Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Choephoroi, Eumenides; Euripides: Bacchae, Medea,
Hippolytus; Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Ajax

Comedy:
Aristophanes: Frogs, Lysistrata, Clouds

Historians
Herodotus, Thucydides

Philosophers
Plato: Apology, Republic, Phaedo
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, De Anima, Poetics

WHO WERE THE GREEKS?

Pelasgians

Minoans (2600-1400 BCE)

Crete, Arthur Evans, King Minos, Minoan, Knossos, Thalassocracy, palaces
(labyrinth), frescoes (peaceful scenes), Bull motif, Chthonic (earth), Mother
goddess, fertility, afterlife, male subordinate, Linear A, syllabary
Indo-Europeans
William Jones, Zeus (Dios), Jupiter (Diespiter), Dyaus Pitar, linguistic,
warriors/nomads/hunters, Olympian, sky god, immortal versus mortal, Helladic
branch (2000 BCE)

MYCENAEANS (1600-1200 BCE)

First Greeks, Heinrich Schliemann, Citadels, Mycenae, Tiryns, Argos, Pylos,

Cyclopean architecture, war-themed art, Linear B, Michael Ventris, Troy,
Hissarlik, Troy 6A

HOMER (c.750)

Iliad, Odyssey

Epic Cycle
Cypria, Iliad, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Persis Iliou, Nostoi, Odyssey

Cypria: Prometheus, Zeus, Thetis, Peleus, Eris, Athena, Hera, Aphrodite,

Judgement of Paris, Priam (king of Troy), Helen, Menelaus, Agamemnon (brother),
Priam (King of Troy), Xenia (hospitality), Zeus Xenios, Zeus Hikesios, Zeus
Horkios
Iliad: Agamemnon, Achilles, Briseis, Chryseis, Chryses, Hector (son of Priam),
Patroclus, Priam, Homeric values, kleos, aristos, kakos, time
Aethiopis: Memnon, Achilles, Paris
Little Iliad: fight over the arms of Achilles, Trojan Horse planned (Odysseus)

Iliou Persis: Trojan Horse, destruction of Troy

Odyssey: Odysseus, Ithaca, Penelope, Telemachus, suitors;

Homer as a source for Mycenaean times

Oral poetry, Dactyllic Hexameter, Milman Parry, Formulae, Body shield, Boar’s
tusk helmet, chariots, Mycenaean towns

COLLAPSE OF MYCENAEAN CULTURE (1200-1150 BCE)

famine, soil erosion, overextension, invasion, Dorians, Dorus, 1200-1000, NW

mainland, Peloponnese, flight of former Mycenaeans, Athens, Ion, Ionia, Ionians,
Myth: flood, Deucalion, Pyrrha, Hellen, Dorus, Aeolus, Xuthus, Ion, Achaeus;
Heracles, Heraclidae; Dorians vs Ionians, Militant/authoritarian/stern/frugal vs
exuberant/inquisitive/luxury loving

DARK AGE

Population decline, Urban Revolution in reverse, no large-scale building, foreign

contacts cease, writing (Linear B) disappears

Hesiod (c. 700)

Works and Days

Persé, Myth of 5 Ages (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroes , Iron)

Theogony
Generation of the gods, Chaos, Gaia (earth), Nyx (Night), Erebus, Tartarus, Eros;
Gaia + Ouranos (sky) = Titans (e.g. Cronus, Rhea), Cyclopes, Hekatoncheires (100
handed); Cronus + Rhea = Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon
(Olympians); Titans vs Olympians; Prometheus, Mekone (sacrifice), Fire (theft),
Pandora (All-gifts), Misogyny, Pithos (jar, not box), Elpis (Hope)

END OF DARK AGE, ONSET OF ARCHAIC AGE

Olympic games (776 BCE), population growth, return of building, pottery, writing
(alphabet, Phoenicians); excess population, colonization, Asia Minor, Black Sea,
Sicily, S. Italy

Polis
synoecism, citizenship, separate coinage, calendar, rituals, constitution, laws etc.
competition, democracy

Hoplite Warfare
hoplite, hoplon, phalanx, property qualification
ATHENS

Athens, Attica, Theseus, synoecism (c. 800), basileus, oligarchy, 9 archons,

eponymous archon, basileus, polemarchos, thesmothetai (6), Areopagus, ecclesia
(general assembly), eupatrids (nobles), georgoi (farmers), demiurgoi (tradesmen),
hektemoroi (sixth parters), currency, Theognis
READINGS IN TEXTBOOK:

The textbook’s purpose is to provide context for the ideas, events, civilizations,
personalities that I discussed in class. At best, it should be used to supplement your
notes (both the ones I posted and the ones you took in class); it should not
substitute for them.

Ancient Greece: Introduction, 22-46, 46-49, 51-53, 64-67, 84- 88, 99-101, 102-104,
116-120, 120-124, 181-185 (but omit Kylon, Draco or Solon)

A Brief History: Introduction, 15-26, 26-40, 47-50, 55-57, 59-62, 70-75, 80-83,
124-128 (but omit Kylon, Draco and Solon)

Note:
The test will consist of 60 multiple choice questions. You will have one hour and
fifteen minutes to write the test. After a fifteen break, I will lecture for an hour or
so. See you next week.