Sparta (Eunomia)

What is eunomia? What did the Spartan government look like before the First Messenian War (kingship, gerousia, apella, ephors)? When/why did Sparta conquer Messenia? What effect did the conquest have on Sparta? How did the defeat at Hysiai in 669 BC affect the Spartan military; their view of themselves and of the Heroic Code? Their politeia? What does a Greek politeia refer to? What is the key underlying fact of the Spartan politeia? What are the Agoge and the Syssitia? Stages involved in the Agoge? Their training? Relations between individuals? What was the position of women? Their training? Marriage?
Athens (Isonomia) The Persian Wars
The Fifth Century: Overview Fifth Century Literature


Possible Essay Questions

1. Drama (etc)
a. Historians are interested in the ways that literature reflects the social norms of the times. Keeping this in mind, examine male/female relationships in the Antigone and the Lysistrata  and discuss what they may reveal about Athenian society of the times, using class notes and Pomeroy 157-161 (4th edit) as the benchmark for Athenian society.

b.
Greek drama is composed of both tragedy and comedy. Compare and contrast the two using specific examples from the Antigone and the Lysistrata. Also discuss how Greek and modern drama are both different and similar.

2. Athens & Sparta:
a. George F. Will recently noted that an underlying assumption within the US is a belief that "a particular kind of civic order -- democracy, representation, the rule of law, a large sphere of privacy and individual autonomy -- is right for the fulfillment of human nature" ("Grand Delusions," Washington Post, Sept 30, 2004: registration required). Compare and contrast the Spartan and Athenian systems (as they existed in the fifth century) based on his four points and determine which is most like the US based on those four.

b.
If President Bush (George W.) were alive in ancient Greece (as an Athenian or as a Spartan), would he more likely be successful as an Athenian or a Spartan? Make sure you answer why and why not.