Deck 2: The Aegean: the Minoans, the Mycenaeans, and the Greeks of the Archaic Age

Question 1

Solon was

A) the leader of the Spartans in the Persian Wars.
B) an Athenian admiral during the Persian Wars.
C) an aristocrat who reformed the Athenian economy and social orders.
D) one of the early Greek playwrights.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Minoan civilization eventually fell to the

A) Egyptians.
B) Etruscans.
C) Mycenaeans.
D) Dorians.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A major political change occurred, in the early Archaic Age, that

A) shifted power from the land owners to the peasants.
B) made the kings more powerful than ever.
C) put power into the hands of the noble families.
D) allowed the slaves to serve in the government.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Named for King Minos, the Minoan civilization

A) had a simple class structure consisting of nobles and peasants.
B) was based on a stable mercantile economy.
C) was a society based on a military hierarchy.
D) had high walls protecting its great palaces.

Question 5

A major victory of the Persians during the Persian Wars was at the battle of

A) Thermopylae.
B) Marathon.
C) Salamis.
D) Plataea.

Question 6

A bard was a

A) person who bartered in the Greek agora.
B) poet who sang verses of an epic while strumming a stringed instrument.
C) Greek thinker interested in philosophy.
D) composer of Greek lyric poems.

Question 7

The cultural institution that grew out of the worship of Dionysus was the

A) library.
B) academy.
C) church.
D) theater.

Question 8

Greeks of the Archaic Age were NOT bound together by a

A) common language.
B) unified state.
C) shared tradition of heroic stories and folk tales.
D) standard set of myths and religious practices.

Question 9

Homer's writings drew on legends of

A) Egyptian civilization.
B) Minoan civilization.
C) Mycenaean civilization.
D) Etruscan civilization.

Question 10

Minoan civilization transmitted which legacy to Archaic Greece?

A) fortress-palaces
B) ashlar-style construction
C) legends and myths of gods and heroes
D) imaginative literature

Question 11

In Archaic Greece, a tyrant was a person

A) given extraordinary power to solve specific problems.
B) who usually represented a foreign power.
C) whom the Greeks came to trust above all others.
D) who guided citizens of the polis in religious festivals.

Question 12

Minoan religion exhibited which of the following key traits?

A) worship of a god of thunder
B) human sacrifices
C) worship of a mother goddess
D) belief in a deity who resides within each human subject

Question 13

An oligarchy is

A) government by the few.
B) similar to a democracy.
C) rule by a king.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 14

Who is the originator of the major conventions of epic literature?

A) Homer
B) Hesiod
C) Sappho
D) Archilocus

Question 15

The Minoan language known as Linear A

A) has never been deciphered.
B) was superseded by a Roman language.
C) was deciphered and became the basis of early Greek.
D) tells us about Minoan religions.

Question 16

Mycenaean civilization was centered

A) on the Peloponnesus.
B) in northern Greece.
C) on the Greek islands.
D) on Crete.

Question 17

Among the following Greek deities, which did the Greeks consider to be the leader?

A) Hermes
B) Zeus
C) Athena
D) Apollo

Question 18

The rest of Greece admired Sparta for its

A) artistic creativity.
B) contributions to philosophy.
C) military might.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 19

The significance of the Persian Wars was that they

A) meant the triumph of the East over the West.
B) ended the Golden Age of Greece.
C) allowed Greek democratic institutions and humanistic values to continue to develop.
D) led Greece to experience a century of peace.

Question 20

Greek religion taught the faithful to avoid the sin of hubris, or

A) greed.
B) extreme pride.
C) sexual immorality.
D) murder.

Question 21

Which of the following applies to the Odyssey?

A) It tells about the battles of the Minoan civilization.
B) It focuses on Odysseus's efforts to return home.
C) It reveals how women are often unfaithful to their husbands.
D) It recounts the defeat of the Greeks by the Trojans.

Question 22

Unlike the Egyptian style, the Archaic style was characterized by

A) an enigmatic smile on the face.
B) female and male nudes.
C) distortion of the musculature.
D) the free movement of the body.

Question 23

Sappho's lyric poetry mainly addressed the subject of

A) victorious athletes.
B) passionate love in all of its aspects.
C) political and social problems.
D) nature.

Question 24

A frequent subject in Archaic Greek sculpture was

A) portrait busts.
B) youths and maidens.
C) scenes of everyday life.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 25

The "humanities" are the

A) things that human beings do in any culture.
B) beliefs that arise out of religious worship.
C) original artistic and literary forms of the Greeks.
D) attitudes and practices that make human beings more sympathetic to others.

Question 26

The philosopher Heraclitus

A) was a materialist like Thales.
B) followed idealism like Pythagoras.
C) established the first dialectical form of reasoning.
D) found truth in a stable universe.

Question 27

The chthonian gods and goddesses were at first worshipped only by the

A) noble families in society.
B) lower levels of society.
C) priestly class.
D) early Greek kings, who considered themselves divine.

Question 28

The beauty of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, is the result of all of the following EXCEPT

A) graceful columns.
B) mathematical proportions.
C) a 1:2 ratio of its columns.
D) the stylized and abstract quality of its statues.

Question 29

Why is the Greek period after the Mycenaeans known as the "Dark Age"?

A) Most of the technological and intellectual developments of the Mycenaeans were lost.
B) Little is known about it.
C) The age was subject to almost constant warfare.
D) Greece fell under control of foreign powers.

Question 30

Pythagoras was author of which scientific theory?

A) the notion that the basic stuff of nature is water
B) the concept of atomism
C) the view of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water
D) the belief that everything is based on numbers

Question 31

Which of the following was a major aspect of Greece's first philosophers?

A) They described the physical world as the result of natural causes and effects.
B) They questioned the role, power, and existence of the Greek deities.
C) They established a body of knowledge that came to be identified as natural philosophy.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 32

One Egyptian influence on Archaic Greek sculpture was

A) open body stance and balance.
B) the shifting of bodily weight onto one leg.
C) left-foot-forward movement.
D) emotions recorded on faces.

Question 33

Which of the following characterized the philosophers and scientists of Archaic Greece?

A) belief that human reason could understand the natural world
B) belief that the deities controlled human events
C) belief that the earth and the universe were completely unpredictable
D) belief that mathematics was unrelated to the quest for knowledge

Question 34

In the Archaic style, how did a statue of a korē differ from a statue of a kouros?

A) A korē was given an Archaic smile.
B) The korē depicted a style of greater realism.
C) A korē was portrayed with stylized hair.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 35

Which of the following is true of the Greek colonies outside of the Greek mainland?

A) They gave the new middle class access to political power.
B) They were expected to provide food and resources for their "mother cities".
C) They were mostly concentrated in modern-day Turkey and Upper Egypt.
D) Greek political institutions largely were not present in the colonies.

Question 36

Which of the following features are common to the Doric temple style?

A) columns with undecorated capitals
B) metopes
C) triglyphs
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 37

Homer influenced Greek civilization by

A) writing the first history of the ancient world.
B) providing the basis for the Latin language.
C) undermining the religious institutions of his day.
D) serving as a moral guide and giving texture to the Greek language.

Question 38

What aspect of love does Sappho describe in the poem" He Seems to Be a God"?

A) ecstasy
B) contentment
C) hatred
D) jealousy

Question 39

The Greeks thought that human creativity came from

A) the Olympian deities.
B) Dionysus and his followers.
C) the oracle at Delphi.
D) nine goddesses called Muses.

Question 40

Which of the following traits was NOT shared by Olympian religion with the polytheistic cults of the ancient Near East?

A) the idea that gods intervene in daily human affairs
B) the belief that deities are like humans in many respects
C) the concept of a pantheon of gods and goddesses
D) belief in the divinity of their kings or rulers

Question 41

What were the central characteristics of Archaic Greek religion?

Question 42

How did life in Sparta differ from life in Athens for women?

Question 43

What were the three key political developments of Archaic Greece?

Question 44

Which of the following was NOT a characteristic of the Doric temple?

A) the use of plain tops
B) the use of a sculptural band called a frieze
C) the use of blank panels called metopes
D) ensuring that the design was a function of mathematical proportions

Question 45

Compare The Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer's Iliad, focusing on characters, narrative, and themes. What were the key differences in the Mesopotamian and Archaic Greek outlooks as exemplified by these texts?

Question 46

Explain briefly the philosophies of Thales, Pythagoras, and Heraclitus. Why were their accomplishments so momentous?

Question 47

Compare and contrast Linear A and Linear B scripts, noting when they appeared and how they were used.

Question 48

Describe a typical Doric temple, and name and identify its chief features.

Question 49

Explain the relationship of Archaic sculpture to Egyptian art, focusing on standing statues. How was Archaic sculpture similar to and different from Egyptian art?

Question 50

What became the dominant literary expression in the late Archaic Age?

A) the tragic play
B) epic poetry
C) the comedic play
D) lyric poetry

Question 51

What was the significance of Homer for Greek civilization?

Question 52

What was the polis, and why was it one of the most important contributions of Greek civilization?

Question 53

What was the "Mediterranean triad" of crops?

A) dried meats, grapes, apples
B) cereal grains, wheat, dried meats
C) wheat, rice, olives
D) olives, grapes, and cereal grains
Essay Questions

Question 54

The philosopher Heraclitus pioneered a philosophic tradition based on

A) the understanding that everything was composed of numbers.
B) the belief that everything was composed of water.
C) finding truth in constant change.
D) the concept that reason can understand the natural order.

Question 55

Which of the following was NOT among the rights or roles of Spartan women?

A) They were able to own land.
B) They were not expected or pressured to marry.
C) They were able to manage their own property.
D) Girls were given public education.