Deck 3: Classical Greece: the Hellenic Age

Question 1

The primary cause of the Peloponnesian War was

A) the rise of Sparta.
B) Athens's growing might and precarious military alliances.
C) the emergence of Thebes.
D) the threat from Philip of Macedonia.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In the play Lysistrata, Aristophanes has the women of Athens and Sparta withhold sex from their husbands

A) as a means of birth control.
B) because they feared sexually transmitted diseases in time of war.
C) to protest the absurdity of war.
D) to protect their cities against the ravages of the Persian armies.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The comic playwright who satirized Socrates as a hopeless dreamer was

A) Aristotle.
B) Agisthenes.
C) Aristophanes.
D) Aeschylus.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The best surviving history of the Peloponnesian War was written by which eyewitness?

A) Pericles
B) Sophocles
C) Thucydides
D) Aristophanes

Question 5

The Oresteia trilogy involved

A) three individuals caught in a planned single murder.
B) three short stories.
C) many moral issues.
D) a romantic tale of love.

Question 6

A common goal of the arts in classical Greece was to

A) have everyone conform to a uniform way of thinking.
B) strive toward perfection, an ideal form.
C) have a balanced view of public and private life.
D) preserve the best of the past.

Question 7

The dream of Alexander the Great was to

A) create a united world based on Greek and Persian culture.
B) set up an international league of city-states.
C) destroy all cultures except the Greek culture.
D) fuse African and Macedonian civilizations.

Question 8

Greek drama had which of the following features?

A) The plays were full of on-stage action.
B) It affirmed a basic moral order to the world.
C) Most of the dramas were based on current political events.
D) The plays had many characters and elaborate scenery.

Question 9

What development followed the death of Alexander with respect to Athens?

A) Athens was destroyed and abandoned.
B) Athens fought the Macedonians to a standstill and was allowed to govern itself in exchange for heavy taxes.
C) Athens rebelled and gained independence from the Macedonians.
D) Athens was conquered by the Macedonians, and an aristocratic government was installed.

Question 10

To the Greeks, which two gods manifested the extremes of moderation and excess?

A) Apollo and Dionysus
B) Zeus and Hera
C) Apollo and Athena
D) Mars and Aphrodite

Question 11

One of the ideals the Greeks strived for was a

A) unified Greek state.
B) uniform religion with one major deity.
C) balance or moderation in life.
D) recognition in life that all human beings are equal.

Question 12

The two founders of Greek historical writing were

A) Empedocles and Pythagoras.
B) Sophocles and Euripides.
C) Herodotus and Thucydides.
D) Plattus and Matthedides.

Question 13

The Greeks believed that music

A) was entertaining and fun.
B) served ethical and educational functions.
C) was basically expressive and emotional.
D) was simply the product of human creativity and innovation.

Question 14

In Sophocles' Antigone, Antigone opposes Creon because Creon

A) places the state's law above the divine.
B) plans revenge for the murder of his parents.
C) wants Antigone to be his wife.
D) plans an invasion of the city of Athens.

Question 15

Why was Athens unable to win the war of attrition against Sparta?

A) Sparta was able to burn crops for miles around Athens and starve the city.
B) Sparta possessed vastly superior naval forces.
C) A plague devastated the city of Athens.
D) Sparta was able to ally with the Persians and tip the balance of forces in its favor.

Question 16

During the Hellenic Age, a dominant feature of Greek society was

A) cooperation among the Greek poleis.
B) instability within each polis.
C) the building of walls around the Aegean.
D) equality between men and women.

Question 17

The primary feature of the Old Comedy of Greece, and its chief legacy, was

A) comic plots centered around orphans.
B) realistic costumes appropriate to the characters.
C) political criticism.
D) women playing comic roles.

Question 18

In a famous speech, Pericles boasted that Athens

A) had the best Olympic team in Greece.
B) was the model for Greece.
C) dominated the rest of Greece.
D) had the best theater in Greece.

Question 19

Euripides wrote plays that can be described as

A) satiric studies of Greek manners.
B) always having a happy ending.
C) dealing with the lives of ordinary Greek citizens.
D) often skeptical about religion.

Question 20

Aristotle's Poetics claims that the purpose of tragedy is to

A) bring about catharsis.
B) entertain.
C) provide civic spectacle.
D) supplement religious rites.

Question 21

In what way did the western Greek architects differ from eastern Greek architects?

A) They embraced Ionic architecture more completely.
B) They hewed more closely to Doric architecture.
C) They were more experimental.
D) They adopted rectilinear temple form.

Question 22

The central temple on the Acropolis was the

A) Erechtheum.
B) Parthenon.
C) Pantheon.
D) Athena Nike.

Question 23

The Parthenon has become one of the most important architectural landmarks in the West for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that

A) it embodies the ideals of Greek architecture.
B) it represents the zenith of Greek architecture.
C) it became the model for harmonious proportions.
D) it inspired Gothic art.

Question 24

Who is known as the "father of medicine"?

A) Socrates
B) Hippocrates
C) Aristotle
D) Herodotus

Question 25

The life of Socrates is known mainly through

A) his autobiography.
B) Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.
C) Plato's dialogues.
D) Plutarch's Lives.

Question 26

Unlike Plato, Aristotle

A) ignored the way that the world operated.
B) thought that the senses were to be ignored.
C) believed that form and matter were inseparable.
D) was not interested in politics.

Question 27

What did Socrates mean by "Virtue is Knowledge"?

A) Everyone who does good will be rewarded in heaven.
B) If one knows what is good, one will not commit evil acts.
C) Everyone will reach understanding if they have faith.
D) Being virtuous is all one needs to exist.

Question 28

The Socratic method of teaching can be described as a

A) step-by-step memorization process to learn terms.
B) process of asking questions to expose limitations in knowledge.
C) progression of theories based on numbers.
D) line of argument that refutes all basic values.

Question 29

Which temple on the Acropolis was dedicated to Athena, Poseidon, and the legendary ruler who introduced the horse to Athens?

A) Athena Nike
B) Propylaea
C) Erechtheum
D) Pantheon

Question 30

Aristophanes' Lysistrata principally criticizes

A) Greek colonial expansion.
B) the Persian Wars.
C) the Peloponnesian War.
D) the Spartan way of life.

Question 31

Thucydides was a forerunner of more recent historians in that he was concerned with

A) cause and effect.
B) the role of the gods in war.
C) interviewing the participants in the war with Persia.
D) the primary sources in the library at Alexandria.

Question 32

In the Republic, Plato created

A) an ideal society under a government run by soldiers.
B) an ideal society run by philosopher-kings.
C) a capitalist economic system.
D) a utopian land of peace and plenty.

Question 33

The Sophists could be described in all of the following ways EXCEPT as

A) teachers who claimed that they could make their students successful.
B) critics of pre-Socratic philosophy.
C) developers of atomistic theories.
D) proponents of humanistic values.

Question 34

Xenophon reasoned that married women's responsibilities included all of the following EXCEPT

A) managing the husband's estate.
B) bearing children.
C) submitting to the husband's will in all things.
D) carrying out domestic chores.

Question 35

Protagoras is famous for saying

A) "Man's life is but a dream".
B) "No man is an island to himself".
C) "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die".
D) "Man is the measure of all things".

Question 36

Socrates criticized the Sophists for their

A) inability to present a reasoned argument.
B) belief in the Olympian deities.
C) rejection of an enduring moral order in the universe.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 37

A comparison of the Doric and Ionic orders of columns reveals that

A) the Ionic is more decorated than the Doric.
B) most of the early temples were built with Doric columns.
C) the Ionic column has a capital that looks like a scroll or the horns of a ram.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 38

Socrates was accused of

A) aiding Athens's enemies during the Peloponnesian War.
B) corrupting the youth of Athens.
C) refusing to swear loyalty to the Athenian government.
D) not paying his debts.

Question 39

Plato's most important contribution to Western philosophy was his

A) theory of numbers.
B) establishment of the philosophical basis of Western idealism.
C) establishment of the Academy.
D) atomic theory.

Question 40

Which of the following is NOT a way in which Aristotle has influenced Western thought?

A) Middle Ages Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars regarded his writings as containing authoritative teachings on the natural world.
B) His ethical writings became the prevailing moral code of the West.
C) His logic is still taught in college philosophy courses.
D) His ideas were later accepted as authoritative by the Roman Catholic Church.

Question 41

Greek sculptors carved the human form in a graceful pose known as

A) the three-point stance.
B) contrapposto.
C) sfumato.
D) the flat-footed pose.

Question 42

Discuss the role of Greek religion in helping to shape the civilization of Hellenic Greece. Use examples from two of the following: the arts, architecture, history, philosophy, literature, and music.

Question 43

The high classical sculptural style attempted to

A) accept repose as a normal state for the carved object.
B) create a sense of vast motion.
C) show motion in a static medium.
D) demonstrate that emotion should dominate a work of art.

Question 44

What different aspects of human nature did Dionysus and Apollo represent? Which of these aspects did Hellenic civilization best embody?

Question 45

Discuss the various functions attributed to Greek theatrical productions, including religious ritual, civic spectacle, and psychological release for the audience.

Question 46

Discuss the Parthenon as a model of Hellenic architecture. What are the major features of the Parthenon? How did it use mathematics and refinements to create both the illusion and the reality of proportionality?

Question 47

Who were the Pre-Socratics? Note the contributions to philosophy of two of the schools of Pre-Socratic thinkers.

Question 48

Discuss the four phases of the Hellenic Age. What challenges did the Greek states face in this period, and how successful were they at meeting them?

Question 49

The architect Mnesicles designed which building on the Athenian Acropolis?

A) the Parthenon
B) the Erechtheum
C) the Propylaea
D) the temple of Athena Nike

Question 50

Compare and contrast the historical approaches of Herodotus and Thucydides. Which was the superior historian and why?

Question 51

The Severe style of Hellenic sculpture was characterized by

A) clenched fists and rigid postures.
B) wig-like hair and left foot forward.
C) individualized faces and emotionalism.
D) contrapposto and mastered representation of musculature.

Question 52

The frieze that decorated the Parthenon

A) depicted a procession of Greek deities.
B) was carved in high relief.
C) has been lost; we only have copies.
D) included humans, bestial creatures, and deities.
Essay Questions

Question 53

Discuss the features of Greek tragedy and explain how they were manifested in the works of Sophocles.

Question 54

What were the general characteristics of Hellenic civilization? How did they differ from the Archaic era?

Question 55

Discuss the artistic breakthroughs that allowed the Archaic style to develop into the Severe style of Hellenic sculpture. Use an example of each style of sculpture in your essay.