Introduction

Land of Greece: general size, climate, & features

Food & Livestock: basic foods and animals

When, roughly, was Crete settled?

What are the four main periods of the Minoan Bronze Age? Their chief characteristics? How did they end?

What are the palaces like: their function, the purposes of the central courtyard, who lived in them, & their amenities?

What is the Minoan religion thought to be like: whom did they worship, where did they worship, importance of animals?

What type of writing system did they have?

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?

What are the palaces like: the purposes of the megaron, who lived in them, & amenities?

What is the Mycenaean religion thought to be like: whom did they worship, where did they worship, types of sacrifices or offerings?

What type of writing system did they have?

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

What is their art like? Themes?

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

What are the chief characteristics of the age?

What is the architecture like? Significance?

What is their art like? Themes?

What are the political structure and the social structure like as indicated by Homer?

What do these terms refer to: basileus, genos, oikos, kleos, arete, time, and aidos?

The Iliad and the Odyssey

• Immortals
• How are the deities like humans? How are they different from humans?
• How do they communicate with humans?
• Who are Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, &Thetis, and how are they important to the action in the Iliad and/or the Odyssey?
• Relationship with mortals
• What are the three pairs of opposites that can describe the relationship between mortals and the immortals?
• What are some examples of each pair from the Iliad? From the Odyssey?
• How do these change from the Iliad to the Odyssey?
• Mortals
• Who are Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, Patroclus, Chryseis, Briseis, Priam, Hector, Andromache, Paris, Thersites (Kebric), Telemachus, Odysseus, Penelope, Antinous, Eurylochus, Eurycleia, and Eumaeus?
• 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 it change?
• Ways/areas literacy changed Greek civilization?
• The Polis
• How was the formation of the polis affected by warfare? Colonization? Commerce?
• 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?
• Colonization
• What areas were colonized? Why did it cease?
• What are the factors which influenced the choice of a site?
• How did some relate to the ‘natives?’
• What were the steps involved in colonization?
• Describe the leader-who was he and what was his role?
• 1st Colonists—who were they and what did they gain?
• How did colonization affect life on the mainland?
• Warfare
• What were the changes in military equipment?
• What were the changes in military tactics?
• How did these changes affect the Polis? Colonization? Heroic Code? The Aristocrats? Commerce?
• Tyranny
• Who were the tyrants, how did they rule, and why did tyranny arise?
• How did tyranny affect the polis and Greek religion?
• Other
• 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, Polycrates, and Eupalinus and what did they do?
• Pan-hellenic institutions
• Sanctuary sites (e.g. Delphi) what were they and why were they important?
• Games:
• Where were the two main Pan-hellenic games held? Whom were they in honor of?
• For Olympic games: how were they religious? what is an agon & how does it relate to the heroic code? what was the origin of many of the contests? Who competed? Amateurs? What did they win--at the games, at their home poleis? What did sponsors gain? Who watched? Who could not watch?
• 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?
• what does Aristophanes' explanation of the origins of love reveal about Greek attitudes?

1) Religion. How has religion undergone a transformation from the time of the Minoans and Mycenaeans to the end of the Archaic Age? Aspects to focus on are 1) who is worshipped & where, & significance thereof; 2) how the relationship between the immortals and mortals had changed with regard to the concept of justice.

2) Politics. Trace the development of the governmental structure from the Mycenaean Age to the end of the Archaic Age, making sure you cover the structure in Homeric society, the definition of the polis, the role of tyrants (use Polycrates as an example). You should also present some of the reasons why the governmental structure changed.

3) East/West. The relationship between the "East" and Greece played a significant role in the shaping and development of Greece throughout antiquity. What are the ways which we have seen of this to date, focusing on the Mycenaean and Archaic Ages (for the purpose of this topic, consider Minoan as "Eastern")?