Introduction

Land of Greece: general size, climate, & features

Food & Livestock: basic foods and animals

When, roughly, was Crete settled?

Four main periods of the Minoan Bronze Age? Their chief characteristics? How did they end?

"Palaces:" function, who lived in them, amenities, purposes of the central courtyard?

Religion: whom did they worship, where did they worship, importance of animals?

What type of writing system did they have? Deciphered?

What is their art like? Themes?

What are the main periods of the mainland Bronze Age and their chief characteristics? How did they end?

Who are the Indo-Europeans and their relationship with Greece?

Palaces & Cities: different from Minoan, who lived in them, & amenities, the purposes of the megaron?

Religion: whom did they worship, where did they worship, types of sacrifices or offerings?

Writing system? Significance?

What do we know from the written remains about:their political system, their social system, their military system?

What is their art like? Themes? Like Minoan? Different from Minoan

How did the Mycenaean age end? What are some of the various theories and their supporting facts?

• What are the salient points for this time period?
• What is the architecture like? Significance? What is their art like? Themes?
• What are the political structure and the social structure like?
• What do these terms refer to: basileus, genos, oikos, kleos, arete, time, aidos?

• The Iliad and the Odyssey
• Immortals: Like humans? Different from humans? How do they communicate with humans? Act justly? Differences between poems? Who are Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, &Thetis, and how are they important to the action in the Iliad and/or the Odyssey?
• Mortals: Who are Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, Patroclus, Chryseis, Briseis, Priam, Hecabe, Hector, Andromache, Paris, Thersites (Kebric), Telemachus, Odysseus, Penelope, Antinous, Eurycleia?
• The Heroic Code: Describe the Heroic Code: aim, key terms, ways to achieve, position of material possessions, & appearance. How does Achilles’ actions reflect the Heroic Code? How does Odysseus’ actions reflect the Heroic Code?
• Xenia: Describe xenia. What deity is in charge of xenia? Examine the meeting of Priam and Achilles in regard to xenia. How/why is xenia important for the maturation of Telemachus? For what happens to the suitors?

• Orientalizing Period 
• What are the various aspects of Greek civilization that this contact with the East changed and how did these aspects change?
• Warfare
• What were the changes in military equipment?
• What were the changes in military tactics?
• How did these changes affect other topics listed here?
• The Polis 
• What are the key elements in the definition of the polis?
• What is synoikism and why is it important to the formation of the polis?
• How was the polis afftected by the other topics listed here?
• Colonization 
• What areas were colonized? Why did it cease?
• Steps involved in colonization: What are the factors which influenced the choice of a site? Describe the leader-who was he and what was his role? 1st Colonists—who were they and what did they gain? How did some relate to the ‘natives?’ Women? Later colonists?
• How did colonization affect life on the mainland?
• Tyranny
• Defn. of tyranny, how long did a tyranny last in an individual polis, who typically became tyrants, how did they rule, and why did tyranny arise?
• How did tyranny affect the polis and Greek religion?
• Archaic Age Literature
• What do the poems of Archilochus and the poem of Tyrtaeus tell us about how the "Heroic/Homeric" Code has been transformed, adapted, abandoned in the Archaic Age and why?
• What does the poetry of Archilochus, Alcaeus, Mimnermus, Ibycus, Anacreon, and Sappho tell us about women in the Archaic Age?
• What can we learn from the examples of greek humor provided in Kebric, Ch. 1?
• Who are Hesiod, Thales, Xenophanes, and what did they do?
• Pan-hellenic institutions 
• Sanctuary sites (e.g. Delphi, Dodona, & Eleusis) what were they and why were they important?
• The "big four:"  Names, how often held, prizes at games, prizes when victor's got home? What did the sponsors of chariot and horse races gain? What happened to cheaters? Deities associated with the "major" major games?
• The Olympic games: Program for the 5 days? How religious? What is an agon & how does it relate to the heroic code? what was the origin of many of the contests? Competitors: who originally,  amateur? professional? Spectators--who, conditions, who not?
• The Gymnasium-defn, funding, importance
• Sexuality
• Male/male relationship: what were the restrictions placed on citizen to citizen relationships? citizen to slave relations? what function did it serve for the polis?
  
• Female/female? Male/female--marriage ages?, "love"? arranged by & why?
  

1. Religion: Discuss how the events, writings, etc. of the Archaic Age can be seen both as an affirmation and a transformation of the Homeric view/role of the gods. Also address whether there is a parallel between the Greek and today's society and what the implications of such a parallel would be. As usual give good concrete examples with proper citations.

2. Women: We have seen how the Heroic Code of the Homeric Warrior (and hence Dark Age warrior) undergoes a transformation during the Archaic Age--some even see the emphasis on warlike themes in Mycenaean art as a type of parallel for the Mycenaean Age. Argue whether a similar transformation takes place with regard to women.  Also address whether there is a parallel between the Greek transformation and today's society and what the implications of such a parallel would be. Also, you may address, if you want, whether there is a similar parallel in the Mycenaean/Minoan art. As usual give good concrete examples with proper citations.

3. Political Institutions/Human Nature: 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). Argue which, if any, of these mesh with what the evidence from the Archaic Age suggests as the underlying assumptions of the Greeks.

4. Heroic Code: We have seen how the Heroic Code of the Homeric Warrior (and hence Dark Age warrior) undergoes a transformation during the Archaic Age--some even see the emphasis on warlike themes in Mycenaean art as a type of parallel for the Mycenaean Age. Detail what this transformation entails, and address whether there is a parallel between the Greek transformation and today's society and what the implications of such a parallel would be. As usual give good concrete examples with proper citations.