Deck 3: The Civilization of Greece,1000–400 B.C.E

Question 1

The ancient Greek synoikismos or synoecism meant:

A) borrowing useful inventions from Egypt, Israel, Assyria, and Persia.
B) combining the best of ancient cultures to make a better society.
C) the gradual coming together of a people into a unified political and geographic entity.
D) disbelief in the goodness of the gods.
E) the act of banishing a citizen from a city for a limited period of time.

Answer 1

the gradual coming together of a people into a unified political and geographic entity.

Question 2

Members of the Greek aristocracy created networks of economic,political,and social influence through the practice of:

A) war.
B) guest friendship.
C) colonization.
D) multinational trade.
E) highly ritualized diplomatic meetings.

Answer 2

guest friendship.

Question 3

Hubris is _________ ,which was punished by the gods.

A) excessive pride
B) excessive wealth
C) excessive strength
D) excessive wrath
E) excessive beauty

Answer 3

excessive pride

Question 4

The Iliad and the Odyssey:

A) are epic poems with no foundation in historical events.
B) provide evidence about early and Archaic Greece.
C) were composed in the Classical Period but were based on older, oral sources.
D) are the first examples of epic poetry from the ancient world.
E) are unquestionably based on the historical events of Mycenaean Greece.

Question 5

The Archaic Age of Greece begins with the emergence of the polis and the return of writing,but most of what we know of the period comes from the particular perspective of the:

A) Corinthians.
B) Spartans.
C) Thebans.
D) Athenians.
E) Persians.

Question 6

Panhellenic festivals in ancient Greece included:

A) national memorial days to honor those killed in wars.
B) devout expressions of the entrepreneurial spirit.
C) open invitations to other peoples to join the feasts.
D) poetic competitions and parades only.
E) athletic contests honoring the gods.

Question 7

Those Greeks who were able to accumulate wealth during the chaotic,isolated period:

A) eventually emerged as the Greek aristocracy.
B) carefully avoided acts of piracy and military confrontation.
C) founded the first religious temples and rejected the "heroic ideal."
D) are known to historians today as "pre-Socratic" philosophers.
E) colonized the islands of the Aegean Sea.

Question 8

After hoplites were introduced in Greece:

A) the chaos of early Greece ended and the Age of Enlightenment began.
B) aristocrats lost their monopoly on military prowess.
C) foot soldiers could not withstand armed men on horses.
D) individual soldiers did not have to keep armor and weapons.
E) democracy became the type of government for all of Greece.

Question 9

The best men or aristoi of early Greece modeled their behavior on:

A) the Babylonian military class.
B) wealthy Phoenician traders.
C) the heroes of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
D) the heroes of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
E) Persian soldiers.

Question 10

The Greeks referred to some people with whom they came into contact as barbarians because they:

A) wore their hair long and had beards.
B) fought without any regard for the formalities of war.
C) worshiped gods different from the Greeks.
D) were nomadic peoples.
E) did not speak Greek.

Question 11

A Greek aristocrat who seized power and ruled outside the traditional constitutional framework was called a:

A) monarch.
B) demagogue.
C) hoplite.
D) tyrant.
E) philosopher king.

Question 12

Homosocial relationships between men of the aristocratic class in Ancient Greece were part of:

A) ritual religious practices.
B) a mentoring process for young men.
C) military bonding rituals.
D) a Greek movement to embrace more liberal sexual practices.
E) a protest to end the Peloponnesian War.

Question 13

Although the history of Greece before the rise of the polis is largely undocumented and therefore difficult to study thoroughly,it seems clear that the:

A) population of mainland Greece rose steadily throughout the period.
B) early Greeks had no developed concept of heroic ideals or epic poetry.
C) early Greeks had little interest in religion or the gods.
D) early Greeks were living in a period of cultural isolation and economic stasis.
E) early Greeks traded extensively with the rest of the ancient world.

Question 14

The Greek polis was:

A) a collective group organized around an agora.
B) a well-armed militia of all adult men aged twenty-one to sixty.
C) a central marketplace close to the harbor.
D) a protected area around the temple.
E) the highest fortified ground within a city.

Question 15

By the sixth century B.C.E.,the Greeks founded numerous colonies around the Mediterranean basin.The most historically significant colonies were located in:

A) France and North Africa.
B) Anatolia and Italy.
C) Syria and the Black Sea.
D) Egypt and Palestine.
E) the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Question 16

In the symposiums of Archaic Age Greece,aristocrats:

A) enjoyed wine and listened to poetry.
B) were introduced to respectable women who might become future wives and confidantes.
C) discussed matters of state and edited important political documents.
D) competed in athletic games against men from all social levels.
E) engaged in philosophical debates concerning aesthetics.

Question 17

The relationship of the Archaic Greeks to their gods was:

A) one of trust and familial loyalty.
B) one of suspicion and appeasement.
C) an impersonal relationship that cultivated independence in the Greek people.
D) a personal relationship with gods who were considered to be positive forces in Greek culture and individual welfare.
E) ambivalent as the Greeks never completely accepted the existence of gods.

Question 18

The Greeks became literate again during the ninth century B.C.E.by adopting:

A) cuneiform script from the Assyrians.
B) Egyptian hieroglyphics.
C) the Phoenician alphabet.
D) the Hebrew alphabet.
E) the Etruscan alphabet.

Question 19

The growing class of aristocrats at the end of the early age of Greece made their wealth by:

A) heavy taxation of the temples.
B) engaging in trade and commercial enterprises.
C) conquest and colonization.
D) exploiting the discovery of new silver mines in the highlands.
E) piracy and plundering the peasant class.

Question 20

Since every polis needed hoplites:

A) production increased dramatically.
B) more athletic contests and public spectacles were required.
C) poleis were forced to grant more political power to them.
D) farmers suffered losses at their expense.
E) taxes needed to increase in order to arm them.

Question 21

The "Ionian revolution in thought," epitomized by Xenophanes and other philosophers from Miletus,can best be described as:

A) communism.
B) cynicism.
C) relativism.
D) philosophical universalism.
E) Neoplatonism.

Question 22

The catalyst of the Persian Wars was:

A) the imperial concerns of the Persians.
B) a revolt instigated by the Ionian Greeks against the Persians.
C) the imperial concerns of the Greeks.
D) a dispute between Sparta and Athens that the Persians were asked to resolve.
E) the unprovoked invasion of Euboea by the Persians.

Question 23

During the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 B.C.E.,Themistocles persuaded his fellow Athenians to:

A) invade and attack Persian settlements deep within Anatolia.
B) abandon naval defensive schemes and rely on ground-based forces.
C) temporarily suspend democratic government and be ruled by a military dictator.
D) rely on the Spartans for their defense.
E) abandon the city of Athens and let the Persians burn it.

Question 24

Cleisthenes is important in the history of Athenian government because he:

A) defeated Sparta in a series of brilliant naval campaigns.
B) rejected the practice of ostracism, which allowed Athenians to banish a citizen for ten years.
C) championed the cause of the demos and took steps to limit the power of aristocrats.
D) defeated Persia at the battle of Marathon.
E) championed the cause of the aristocrats and took steps to limit the power of the demos.

Question 25

Lyric poetry from Archaic Greece:

A) ignores or even mocks traditional military virtues and heroism.
B) expresses the individual feelings of the poet.
C) expresses romantic longing and sexual desire.
D) deals with themes such as beauty, love, and ambition.
E) promotes normative social practices in Greek society.

Question 26

Sparta:

A) required all citizens to do manual labor in order to preserve equality between them.
B) depended on the enslaved labor of helots.
C) relied on an elite, professional, mercenary army.
D) relied on its navy for self-defense.
E) devoted itself to the arts and to the preservation of the culture of the past.

Question 27

The Dionysia celebrated:

A) the goddess Hera.
B) Athenians who died in battle.
C) Athenian democracy and the greatness of the polis.
D) the god Ares.
E) Athenian ancestors who fought at Troy.

Question 28

Greek sculpture evolved from the rather stiff likenesses resembling Egyptian statuary to a style labeled as:

A) naturalism.
B) realism.
C) mannerism.
D) objective abstraction.
E) magical realism.

Question 29

The origins of Greek democracy can be identified,in part,in the rule of the Athenian aristocrat:

A) Areopagus.
B) Solon.
C) Drakon.
D) Hectares.
E) Peisistratos.

Question 30

Lyrical poetry like that written by Sappho demonstrates:

A) the political principles of Archaic Greece.
B) that individual feelings could differ greatly from the dominant Greek culture.
C) that aristocratic Greek culture was extremely decadent.
D) that love was to be valued above all else in Archaic Greece.
E) the Greeks' concern with social change.

Question 31

The role of the chorus in Greek drama was to:

A) narrate the action of the play.
B) provide comic relief.
C) present common Athenian opinion about the themes or action of the play.
D) provide musical interludes.
E) perform during pauses in the play's action for scene and costume changes.

Question 32

The Greek historian Herodotus believed:

A) Persia was a very efficient state and deserved to dominate Greece.
B) the Greeks were intellectually superior to the Persians and should have easily conquered Persia.
C) both the Greeks and Persians were great peoples.
D) Miletus would prosper under Persian control.
E) war between the Greeks and Persia would be the downfall of Hellenic civilization.

Question 33

The decisive Greek military victory over the Persians at Salamis was won by the:

A) Athenian fleet.
B) Spartan phalanx.
C) Greek hoplites.
D) diplomatic efforts of Themistocles.
E) Theban Sacred Band.

Question 34

Darius believed that a preemptive strike against Athens and Eretria was necessary because:

A) Athens was planning to launch a military campaign against Persia.
B) Eretria, aided by Athens, had instituted a government unfavorable to the Persians.
C) Athens and Eretria had executed Persian citizens who were residing in their poleis.
D) Greek poleis in Asia Minor could always revolt against Persia when they could look for support in this endeavor from Athens, Eretria, and other Greek poleis.
E) Athens, aided by Eretria, had instituted a government unfavorable to the Persians.

Question 35

The Delian League became a policy tool of which Greek polis?

A) Sparta
B) Corinth
C) Athens
D) Miletus
E) Thebes

Question 36

A tyrant was often able to seize power because:

A) he was a wealthy aristocrat who was able to raise a private army.
B) he had the support of the aristocratic class.
C) he was a charismatic leader who had the support of the slave population.
D) he manipulated the machinery of government to concentrate power in his hands.
E) the hoplites supported him militarily.

Question 37

Which sentence best describes the structure of the Spartan government circa 600 B.C.E.?

A) Sparta was organized and led by a core of military generals who were elected annually before the spring campaigns.
B) Sparta was ruled by a citizen assembly, a council of elders, and two kings.
C) Sparta was a democracy modeled after the government of its rival, Athens.
D) Sparta was ruled by a cadre of military officers.
E) Sparta was an oligarchy ruled by a small group of wealthy merchants.

Question 38

Democracy originated in Greece from the idea of the demos,which literally means:

A) the mob.
B) neighborhood.
C) clan.
D) tribe.
E) family.

Question 39

In preparation for war with Persia,Athens financed the:

A) creation of a permanent standing army.
B) manufacture of ten thousand new swords and shields.
C) evacuation of the port city of Marathon.
D) creation of a naval fleet.
E) construction of new, higher walls around Athens.

Question 40

The Athenian strategos Pericles expanded democracy in Athens by:

A) giving all Athenians, even slaves, the right to vote.
B) eliminating ostracism.
C) giving every Athenian citizen the right to propose legislation.
D) giving the vote to women.
E) passing a law that forbade rule by tyrants.

Question 41

Socrates agreed to meet his death calmly because he:

A) had realized the charges against him were true.
B) was very sick and ready to die.
C) was drugged before his execution.
D) believed in the importance of following laws.
E) did not want his followers to despair.

Question 42

Archaic Athens was the leading commercial city of Greece.

Question 43

"Hellenism" led to political cooperation between the poleis.

Question 44

Aristocrats of Archaic Athens believed commerce to be a disreputable career.

Question 45

Tyrannies were long-lasting forms of government in which familial dynasties took root.

Question 46

Due to the Persian Wars,the center of Greek philosophical speculation shifted from Ionia to:

A) the Greek colonies surrounding the Black Sea.
B) the Peloponnesus.
C) Athens.
D) the Greek "far west."
E) the Phoenician colony of Carthage.

Question 47

According to the philosophical tradition founded by Pythagoras,the ultimate essence of the universe was:

A) material.
B) mathematical.
C) intangible.
D) unknowable.
E) chemical.

Question 48

Socrates' most important pupil was:

A) Pythagoras.
B) Plato.
C) Aristotle.
D) Isocrates.
E) Zeno.

Question 49

The vast majority of Athenian citizens were of the merchant/artisan class.

Question 50

The Sophist claim that "man is the measure of all things" means that:

A) mathematics is the key to the secrets of the universe.
B) architecture should be proportioned to the human form.
C) goodness, truth, and justice are not absolutes, but vary according to the needs and interests of human beings.
D) nature is unknowable; only human beings can be understood.
E) all human measurements of the universe are relative to the individual making the measurement.

Question 51

Greek symposiums excluded all women.

Question 52

According to the historian Thucydides,the Peloponnesian War began:

A) as a way to permanently remove the Persian threat from the Aegean Sea.
B) because of the growing power of Athens, and the fear and envy this power inspired in Sparta.
C) to facilitate the expansion of Athens into Syracuse (Sicily).
D) because Athens failed to support the Delian League.
E) when Sparta's imperial ambitions threatened the Greeks north of the Peloponnesus.

Question 53

The Olympic Games did little to stop the rivalry between the poleis.

Question 54

Spartan soldiers were forbidden to engage in trade.

Question 55

What form of government did Sparta impose on the defeated Athenians and their allies?

A) democracy
B) oligarchy
C) aristocracy
D) tyranny
E) monarchy

Question 56

Solon was an aristocrat who had made his name and fortune as a hoplite soldier and thus had the respect of every faction in Athenian society.

Question 57

The Phoenicians introduced the Greeks to seafaring as a means of trade.

Question 58

The growth of Athenian democracy,with its emphasis on equality between citizens,led to:

A) greater equality between men and women.
B) greater inequality between men and women.
C) greater social freedoms for women, but no new political rights.
D) greater equality between all individuals by abolishing slavery.
E) distrust of all non-Athenians and isolationism.

Question 59

Socrates' aim was to show that:

A) there are no absolutes in the universe: everything is relative.
B) the Sophists were undermining the Athenian war effort.
C) philosophers could be respectable members of society.
D) the laws of the polis, if unjust, should be disobeyed.
E) truth is real and absolute standards of goodness and virtue do exist.

Question 60

Why was the Peloponnesian War deadlocked for an extended period of time?

A) The Athenian Plague was used as a form of early "germ warfare" against Sparta.
B) Athens could not defeat Persia on land, and Persia could not defeat Athens at sea.
C) Athens could not defeat Sparta on land, and Sparta could not defeat Athens at sea.
D) The philosophy of the Pythagoreans and the Sophists contradicted each other.
E) The leadership of Pericles throughout the war allowed Athens to hold out against the superior Spartan Army.

Question 61

In what ways did the new genre of comedy act as a vent for societal tensions?

Question 62

What was the role of slaves in Spartan society versus Athenian society?

Question 63

Why were the Sophists considered to be dangerous?

Question 64

The Spartans failed to come to the aid of the Athenians during the battle of Marathon because they were occupied in putting down a helot rebellion.

Question 65

The Corinthian League was the first political and religious confederation of independent poleis pledged to support each other in times of need.

Question 66

One purpose of tragedy was to help the audience purge their emotions.

Question 67

What were the effects of hoplite warfare on the Greek poleis?

Question 68

What changes occurred in ninth century B.C.E.that contributed to the rise of the polis?

Question 69

What was the effect of rising democracy on the position of women in Athens?

Question 70

How did Ancient Greek culture differ from Mesopotamian and Egyptian culture?

Question 71

What were the effects of depopulation on early Greece?

Question 72

What were the motives for Greek colonization in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E.,and what were the effects of colonization on the ancient world?

Question 73

The Peloponnesian War was a response to Athenian oppression,superiority,and aggression.

Question 74

How can it be said that although Sparta won the Peloponnesian War,they also lost?

Question 75

All Greek poleis except Athens and Sparta immediately surrendered to Xerxes' invasion forces.