Quiz Notes

Quiz #1

1. Historians sometimes call Early Iron Age Hellas the “Greek Dark Age” because

a. There was a problem with the sun

b. Everyone was poor and covered in dirt

c. The archeological record goes suddenly blank after the collapse of the Bronze Age(true)

d. Black clothing became the norm

The “dark age” is dark to us, because we have much more difficulty “seeing” this period than the surrounding ones, for several reasons. (a) With the collapse of the Bronze Age civilization of the Mycenaean Greeks around 1100 BCE and the abandonment of cities that resulted, the Greeks lost all urban technologies including writing, so there is no documentary evidence giving us direct testimony until a new writing system is developed around 750 BCE. (b) The dispersed, rural civilization of the dark age is also harder to study archeologically because their extremely localized, agricultural economies produced much fewer material goods, because their communities are spread out and difficult to locate and excavate, and because the larger ones became the foundations of cities still occupied today in the modern Aegean.

2. Things that continued unchanged from Mycenaean times into the Early Iron Age include all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Palace-city industry(not true)

b. Everyday agriculture

c. Religious rituals and worship

d. Use of the Greek language and storytelling about the past

The Greeks abandoned their cities with the collapse of the Bronze Age, and their palace-city industry failed. But there was great continuity in the countryside, including agricultural practices, rural religious practices, and the use of Greek and the process of storytelling.

3. Signs of economic and cultural growth in the 9th century BCE include all of the following EXCEPT:

a. A shift from Protogeometric to more aesthetic and ambitious Geometric vase decoration

b. A market for more elaborate craft goods

c. Vast houses occupied by the superwealthy(not true)

d. Domestic luxury items like fine gold jewelry and ivory carvings

There was significant economic growth in the “Dark Age,” including advanced aesthetics and markets for such goods, but housing remained largely uniform and the wealthy did not build palaces as in the Bronze Age.

4. The prominence of independent local chieftains during the Dark Age is suggested by all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Basileus, the Mycenaean word for village chieftain, became the usual term for ruler or king

b. A “chieftain’s house” with an added curved courtyard was found in various settlements

c. Wanax, the Mycenaean word for great king, was now used only for legendary or mythical overlords like Zeus and Agamemnon

d. Only the most important man in each village was buried; the rest of the bodies were thrown away(not true)

Dark Age communities were independent and led by a chieftain (basileus), rather than ruled by a king, and burials reflected a wide range of community members.

5. Homer is credited as the author of

a. Iliad and Odyssey(true)

b. Ilyssey and Odiad

c. Theogony and Magogany

d. Kukla, Fran, and Ollie

Homer is the author of two key epic poems, Iliad (the story of the war with Troy, which was also called Ilios) and Odyssey (the story of Odysseus and his journeys).

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Why are the works of Homer important?

Homer’s works preserve the cultural and social conditions of his own time, the 8th century BCE, the last century of the dark age. Key elements include the dominance of chiefs—the local basileus who was both leader and best warrior, represented in Homer as the heroes from all the Greek localities like Achilles, Ajax, and Odysseus. Men were judged on bravery and honor (timē), and were expected to strive to surpass (aretē) in competition with their peers (agon). Strangers arriving in another Greek city expected to be treated with guest-friendship (xenia), a reciprocal pledge of protection, lodging, and assistance symbolized by gifts. This diplomacy and intercity relations were focused through (a) the trade taking place between them and (b) the personal relationships of their chiefs.

Quiz #2

1. Hesiod’s poetry is notable for its

a. lyrics about unrequited love

b. anti-aristocratic point of view reflecting the lives of ordinary people(true)

c. celebration of the great feats of heroes

d. rejection of any form of grammar or syntax

In contrast to Homer’s focus on heroes and gods, Hesiod reflects a grassroots view of everyday Greek life and is often critical of the greed of the nobility and wealthy merchant classes.

2. A polis, or Greek city-state, consists of all of the following EXCEPT:

a. A city and its adjacent territory making up a single, self-governing political unit

b. A council of elders (aristoi) and an assembly of men of fighting age (demos)

c. A small number of citizen-goats used for sacrifices(not true)

d. The governing role of the king/chieftain (basileus) is normally replaced by a council of aristocrats (oligarchy or aristocracy)

The polis was a form of city-state—a city and its adjoining territory forming a single political (and economic) unit. So the emergence of the polis involves formal political unification of an urban market center with its surrounding farmland territory, and centralization of government. Unification involves synoecism, whereby every village, town, and hamlet merge their political (and other) identities into a single unit. Also, rule by basileus (chieftain), characteristic of the dark age, gives way to collective leadership by a small group of magistrates (oligarchy) and an assembly made up of the citizens.

The aristoi—the wealthy, large-estate-holding, educated families—dominate the oligarchies and see it as their right and responsibility to govern. This creates tension with the common people (demos), who increasingly gain various levels of decision-making power.

3. All of the following are true of the revolutionary form of fighting known as hoplite warfare EXCEPT:

a. All citizens were included; if you couldn’t afford your equipment it would be given to you (not true)

b. Hoplites were heavily armored footsoldiers

c. They were arranged in a tightly packed formation called a phalanx

d. The strict equality of the ranks made personal glory and distinctions of wealth and birth less important

A hoplite is a heavily armed footsoldier, named for his large round shield (hoplon). They fight in a large, tightly packed formation called a phalanx. The effectiveness of the hoplite army made other forms of warfare obsolete. Within the hoplite army, made up of all citizens who could afford the equipment, all distinctions of status and birth vanish. As a result, the claim of the aristoi that only they were fit to wield power in the state was weakened.

4. A Greek tyranny is rule by

a. a man who seizes control of the state by coup and governs illegally(true)

b. a legitimate king who has become abusive

c. the nobles in opposition to the people

d. a foreigner who takes a city for his own

Greek tyrants arose when the upper classes’ oppression of the masses yielded a popular figure who was able to seize power illegally with massive popular support, leading to popular reforms and a divisive rule.

5. A statue of a young man, often used as grave monuments or offerings, is known as

a. an agora

b. a gymnasion

c. a kouros (female version: korē)(true)

d. a symposion

The grave monument figure was called the kouros.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Why did the Greeks colonize during this period?

Reasons for colonization include limited agricultural space in individual poleis; a need to expanded resources and markets, and economic/trade competition between poleis.

Quiz #3

1. To ensure an ideal warrior culture, Spartans practiced all of the following EXCEPT:

a. physical training of all boys from age 7 onward

b. inspection of male infants, exposing the unfit in the wilderness to die

c. an expectation that men remain fit and ready to fight through age 60

d. ensuring plenty of leisure for study and writing poetry to create the most well-rounded soldiers(not true)

All boys who survived the weeding out of the unfit as infants were removed to the barracks at age 7 to undergo a collective education by the state designed to train (or brain-wash, depending on your point of view) each succeeding generation in the all-importance of training to become invincible warriors. The education was built entirely around building the endurance and training necessary to live and fight as idealized hoplite warriors in harsh and unforgiving conditions. The boys were expected to become tough and cunning. They continued this training up through the age of thirty, remaining in the barracks even if they got married, as they were allowed to do after 20. The shared experience, on small band and larger groups that shared a mess and quarters, fostered loyalty, solidarity, and cooperativeness, as important to a hoplite warrior as skill in fighting and the ability to endure hardship. The agoge did not educate boys in arts, science, or anything else besides the skills necessary to become a Spartan warrior. As such it reflected the Spartan culture’s fixed perception that any pursuit but war was a distraction that could debase an individual Spartan and weaken and make vulnerable Sparta herself.

2. The helots were

a. protective armor worn over the shin

b. hereditary slaves of the Spartan state(true)

c. elected officials in charge of the blacksmiths

d. a form of gastrointestinal disruption

The helots were state-owned serfs. In origin they were the conquered peoples of Laconia and neighboring Messenia, subdued early in Sparta’s history and permanent “prisoners of war.” Each helot family farm provided a fixed amount of food year-round for a Spartan warrior, freeing the Spartans from the distractions of managing land, laborers, and produce. The helot families retained for their own use anything beyond what was levied, which is why they are at least nominally considered serfs and not slaves.

The Spartan system was heavily dependent on the helots. Because they greatly outnumbered the Spartan citizenry, which was restricted to the warrior elite (the homoioi), the Spartans were constantly alert to the dangers of uprising among the helots and feared marching their armies too far from home. To reinforce their status as prisoners of war, young Spartans were required to literally hunt helots as part of their training. Helots were also paraded before the young warriors drunk and humiliated to train them to think of helots as an inferior class.

3. The “mixed constitution” of the Spartan government included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Two kings with military, religious, and judicial powers

b. Five men elected to keep an eye on the kings

c. A high priest who could overturn any law(not true)

d. A council of old men

The Spartan government included two kings (mainly leaders of armies), an assembly of soldiers, a council of elders (man over 60 retired from military service), the ephors whose main role was to make sure the kings upheld the law.

4. Spartan women

a. were educated, exercised outside, and were well nourished(true)

b. wore elaborate cosmetics

c. lived in the barracks with their husbands

d. held the political offices so the men could focus on training as warriors

Spartan women were intended to be the first trainers of children and were generally educated; some were literate. Xenophon praised the Spartans for nourishing their girls as well as their boys, for it was unusual among the Greeks to do so. This differentiation in nourishment could exist even for suckling newborns. Xenophon also approved of the Spartan custom of encouraging women to exercise so that they could maintain a good physical condition for motherhood.

5. The Spartans called themselves

a. the krytea (the secret police)

b. the homoioi (men of equal status)(true)

c. the perioeki (the dwellers nearby)

d. the malakians (the jerks)

Spartan society was based on the hoplite phalanx, where all participants were of equal importance. Thus the Spartans referred to themselves as fellow hoplites—the men of qual status.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. What is “the Spartan mirage”?

Among both ancients and later writers in medieval and modern times, the purity of Spartan society—their unchanging pursuit of perfection—presented a compelling alternative to the wrenching turmoil experienced by less conservative societies enduring the constant and unpredictable upheavals associated with social, political, and economic “progress.” Writers thinking along these lines, which might include anyone from Athenians who admired the Spartans (like Xenophon) to Renaissance writers like Machiavelli to Victorian classicists dismayed by change in their own times, will tend to greatly idealize both the Spartans and their system. This effect is reinforced by the paucity of surviving testimony from the Spartans themselves.

Quiz #4

1. Stages of Athens’s political development included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Harsh penalties under the laws of Draco

b. Solon’s class-related reforms

c. Pisistratus killing everyone and painting the statues in blood(not true)

d. Cleisthenes’s reorganization of the tribes

Pisistratus established a successful and bloodless tyranny, which involves many popular reforms. His rule lasted long enough for him to pass the leadership of Athens to his sons, who were not as favored by the fates.

2. The Athenian lawgiver Solon wrote, “I took my stand with strong shield covering both sides, allowing neither unjust dominance.” Which sides was he talking about?

a. Sparta and Athens

b. rich and poor(true)

c. Greece and Persia

d. mortal and divine

Solon had the trust of both aristocrats and the commoners and so was able to enact reforms that benefitted Athens as a whole. He weakened the power of local and family influence by making participation in Athenian politics dependent on wealth, not blood, creating new classes that cut across local and family loyalties in order to strengthen Athenian unity and the prosperity that would come from a stronger and more vibrant unified economy. He strengthened Athenian agricultural production and relieved the debt slavery crisis that was crippling the poor peasantry. He fought not for the poor against the rich (as with the tyrants), or vice versa, but for a stronger Athens.

3. When Athens received a sudden windfall from the silver mines of Laurium, they spent the money on

a. triremes(true)

b. theater-building

c. jewelry

d. hookers and blow

At the urging of Themistocles, the Laurium windfall was spent on triremes to prepare Athens for the resurgence of Persian aggression, which was likely to come by land and by sea. This crucial decision resulted in Athens being able to establish itself as a naval power and as a viable rival to the military hegemony of Athens, in turn making possible the Delian League and the so-called Athenian Empire.

4. In Athens, the conspiracy of Cylon ended with

a. a successful coup and a long tyranny by Cylon

b. the murder of Cylon’s followers, who had sought sanctuary in the temple of Athena(true)

c. the intervention of Sparta, who took the citadel of Athens by force

d. the treachery of Baltar and the flight of Adama

Cylon was a popular Athlete who sought to take power in Athens. When the coup failed, Cylon surrendered to the archons and his followers sought refuge in the temple of Athena, descending by a string tied to the statue of the goddess. When the string snapped, the archon Megacles used the “rejection” of the goddess as a pretext to slaughter the supplicants. This sacrilege was held against Megacles and his clan, the Alcmaeonids, a cloud that dogged later extremely prominent clan members like Cleisthenes and Pericles. [Answer d is incorrect because the events being referenced took place on Caprica, not in Athens.]

5. The Greeks won all of the following battles against Persia EXCEPT:

a. the Battle of Marathon

b. the Battle of Thermopylae(not true)

c. the Battle of Salamis

d. the Battle of Plataea

(a) The battle of Marathon saw Athens (without Sparta) defeat a much larger Persian army on the beaches of Marathon in Attica. It demonstrated that the Persians could be beaten despite their vast numbers and Persia’s vast resources, and in particular it could be beaten by the free Greek fighting for freedom against disenfranchised Persians fighting for a despot. (b) At Thermopylae, a narrow pass into the heart of mainland Greece, 300 Spartans held the narrow pass to the last man before being overrun and defeated, forever remembered as the ideal of bravery. (c) At Salamis, the Athenian navy under Themistocles thoroughly defeated the larger Persian navy through clever tactics. This marks the beginning of Athens as a naval military power, and thus of the Athenian navy as a rival to the Spartan hoplite army as the protector of Greece. (d) At Plataea, a combined Greek land army led by the Spartans defeated the Persians, forcing them into retreat and ending the Persian invasions.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Of the leaders discussed in this chapter, who stands out to you as having a particularly interesting or important legacy? Why do you think so?

This is a subjective answer, potentially involving Theseus, Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, Cleisthenes, Themistocles, and others.