Fall '07 GkCiv-Review 2

Review Sheet for Fall 2007

Archaic Age (~750 to ~500 BC):

Orientalizing Period

What are the various aspects of Greek civilization that this contact with the East changed and how did these aspects change?
Ways/areas literacy changed Greek civilization?

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?
What common qualities did the Greek polis have with the Pheonician cities?
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) 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?
Minor Games: an example, prizes, eventual number?
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? how was it affirmed in Greek myth?
Female/female? Male/female--marriage ages?, "love"?

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)

Prior to Solon: What was the Athenian state like before Solon? Colonization? Key terms: Archons, Council of Areopagus, Assembly, Tribes, Phratries. What was the significance of Cylon's attempt at tyranny? What was lawgiver Draco known for?
Solon: What was the aim of Solons reforms? How different from that of Sparta's? What were his reforms? Especially in regard to: the abolition of debt; the four property classes; the change in the offices; the council of 400; judicial & economic reform, 3 key reforms leading to democracy according to Aristotle
The Pisistratids: Why did the tyranny arise? How did Pisistratus seize power? What were the important changes Pisistratus made in the Political arena? The religious sphere? The artistic sphere?
Kleisthenes: What is isonomia? The tribes: How did he reform the tribes? Why was the change important? The demes: What was the key power of the demes? What did they replace and why was this important? The Boule: What was it? Who was in it? How did citizens become part of the Boule? What was its function? The Assembly: What function did it serve?

Possible Essay Questions (2007)

1. Athens & Sparta: An NPR article recently noted: "We have got to start the process of restoring people's faith, making them believe again that this really is a democracy, and that their voice matters when decisions are being made in Washington," Edwards said during the 1998 campaign. It's a theme he oft repeated during his 2004 and current White House run.' (Adam Hochberg, "Senate Race Marked Edwards as Rising Political Star,"NPR, Oct 1, 07).
Using this definition of democracy -- "democracy is where the people's voice matters when decisions are being made"-- and using solely the reading materials which we have covered so far, along with your notes, argue, which of the two poleis, Sparta and Athens, was more democratic and which was less [if you think both are equal in this regard, demonstrate why you think this].

2. Archaic Age: The modern archaeologist, Anthony Snodgrass, in Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment argued that the beginning of the Archaic Age was a "structural revolution" which

-"established the economic basis of Greek society"
-"established the main outlines of its social framework"
-"drew up the political map of the Greek world"
-"set up the forms of state what were to determine Greek political history"
-"provided much of the physical basis of Greek religion"
-"furnished the means for Greek society to defend its independence militarily" (Snodgrass, Archaic Greece)

For two or three of the following -- Polycrates, Archilochus, Sappho, Hesiod, Phayllus, Croesus -- discuss how they reflect some of these observations of Snodgrass.

3. Kleos: We saw that achieving kleos and avoiding aidos was important for the Homeric heroes. Using solely the materials we have covered so far (book and web), in your essay discuss how the ways to achieve kleos and avoid aidos have morphed during the Archaic Age.