Introduction

• Land of Greece: general size, climate, & features
• Food & Livestock: basic foods and animals

The Minoans (7000-1200 BC)

• 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?

Mainland Greece and the Mycenaeans (3100-1200 BC)

• 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?

The Dark Age (1200-750/700 BC)

• 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, aretê, timê, aidos?

The Iliad and the Odyssey

• Religion & Deities:
  • Who are Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, Hephaestus, & Thetis, and how are they important to the action in the Iliad and/or the Odyssey.
  • How are the deities: Like humans? Different from humans? Act kindly/cruelly? Unjustly/justly? Near/Far?
  • Differences between poems?
  • How do they communicate with humans?
  • What function do sacrifices/dreams/oracles/omens play in mediating between the immortals and mortals?
  
  
• Mortals:
  • The Iliad: Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, Patroclus, Chryseis, Briseis, Priam, Hector, Andromache, Paris, Thersites, Odysseus,
  • The Odyssey: Telemachus, Odysseus, Penelope, Antinous, Eurylochus, Eurycleia, and Eumaeus.
  • How is the Homeric chief (basileus) different from the commoners? What are their roles in society?
  
  
• Governmental Structure:
  • what is the governmental structure in the poems?
  • Expectations of the different classes?
  • Difference between the two poems?
  
  
• The Heroic/Homeric 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 Polyphemus? The suitors?

Possible Essay Questions:

1. Heroic Code: Examine how both Achilles and Odysseus act within and without the confines of the Heroic Code in the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey which we have read. Make sure you start with a brief, but complete definition of the Heroic Code. (FYI better essays have examples from several books from each poem; in this case you may either treat Achilles and Odysseus together or separately). For a definition of the Heroic Code, you must use the pdf in Moodle.


2. Xenia: Compare/contrast the examples of xenia in Bks 1 & 9 of the Odyssey, i.e. Telemachus & Athena (in disguise) in Bk 1; Polyphemus & Odysseus and his men in Bk 9. For a definition of Xenia, you must use the pdf in Moodle.


3. Civic Order: George F. Will 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). Examine the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey which we have read with regard to 2 of these 4 aspects (i.e. democracy, representation, ...).