Review Sheet: Classical Age The Fifth Century

• The Delian League
• Why was the league formed?
• Who was in it?
• How was it organized?
• Why is it called the Delian league?
• What was its aim?
• What did it do?
• Athens and the Delian League
• How did the Athenians change the league?
• When was the treasury moved to Athens and why?
• What effect did the Peace of Kallias with Persia have?
• What did Perikles propose after the Peace? Sparta's repsonse and Pericles' reaction?
• Athens and Sparta
• What happened in 462 to strain the relations between Athens and Sparta?
• What happened when Athens attempted to establish a land empire?
• Where did Athens look after the 30 Year Peace was established and what did they establish in 443?
• Athenian Democracy and Family Life
• What were the key changes made by Ephialtes to the constitution? By Perikles?
• What is a liturgy and why is it important at Athens at this time?
• What is the agora--its key function and the types of buildings, etc. there?
• Marriage:
• Who made the decisions?
• When were people first married?
• Whom would one usually marry?
• What was the dowry?
• Women in Athens
• What did Athenian women do?
• Where did they stay?
• When did they go out?
• How were they viewed by Athenian men (cf. Pericles' funeral oration)
• The Peloponessian War
• What started the war?
• What was Perikles’ policy in regard to the war? Key problem with his policy?
• Why were both sides ready for peace in 421?
• Why did the Athenians send a force to Sicily? The result?
• What did Sparta do differently in the second phase of the war that eventually spelled success for Sparta?
• What role did Alcibiades play in all of this?
• What are sone of the effects of the war--in general and at Athens?

Fifth Century Art and Architecture

• Architecture
• What some of the unique features of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, and the Propylaia?
• Art
• What are the chief characteristics of the Severe style?
• What are the chief characteristics of the High Classical style? Examples?
• How was the High Classical style modified at the end of the fifth century? Examples?
• What is white ground lekythos?
• What are the key themes portrayed on Greek pottery? On Greek temple sculptures?
• What is the basic format (i.e. who is on one side) of coins at this time?

 Fifth Century Literature

• Tragedy
• How is tragedy religious?
• How is tragedy mythical?
• How is tragedy "form"al?
• What are the production circumstances?
• What are the origins of tragedy?
• What is the purpose of the masks?
• Who and how many acted in the plays?
• Sophocles
• What is the central question in Sophocles’ plays?
• What are the key elements to a Sophoclean hero?
• What is the role of the chorus in Sophocles’ plays?
• What are the key images and themes in Oedipus the King?
• For other questions concerning the play, see the handout.
• Comedy
• What are the origins of Greek comedy?
• What are the typical features of a Greek Old Comedy?
• Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
• What is the ‘fantastic idea’ of the play?
• What view of women and men does the play present?
• What kind of person is Lysistrata?
• How is she like a Sophoclean hero or an Homeric hero?
• What is her motivation?
• How is the play an inversion of Homer?
• For more see the handout on the play and the microtheme questions.
• Thucydides (c.460-400 B.C.)
• Funeral Oration (p.209-15).
• What are the values of Athens as Thucydides describes them in the funeral oration supposedly delivered in 431/30 B.C.?
• Why was Athens the "School of Hellas" (see p.209-15)?
• Human Nature and War ( pp. 215-217).
• What effect on human nature does war have, in Thucydides’ opinion?
• What did the revolution do to the value system?
• Melian Dialogue (p.217-23).
• What are the arguments that both the Athenians and Melians use?
• What importance do the Athenians place on expediency and what importance do they place justice?
• How do the values the Athenians espouse in their interaction with the Melians in 416 compare to those Perikles articulates in his funeral oration?
• How and why has Athens changed so dramatically since 431 B.C.?

Possible Essay Questions

• Art & Architecture: It has been noted by art historians that the themes portrayed on Greek art often mirror the current themes popular in Greek society at large. Discuss. Also be prepared to show how these themes were 'common,' i.e. where else do they occur? Be sure to give relevant examples to support your theses.
• View of Women:How are women portrayed in art and/or literature from this time period? Discuss. You may also include in your discussion a brief description of the lot of women at Athens. Be sure to give relevant examples to support your theses.
• Heroic Code: How do the readings from Greek literature for this unit (Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Aristophanes' Lysistrata, and Thucydides' history) and/or the art reflect the continuing change in the definition and application of the key values of the Heroic Code? Discuss. Be sure to give a complete, but brief definition of the Heroic Code and relevant examples to support your theses.
• Politeia: We studied last unit how the basic forms of politeia were set during the Archaic Age, in this unit we have looked at another type of political unit, one that stretches beyond the boundaries of the polis, the Delian League. Discuss how the league was formed, organized, and changed during this time period and also how the organization was similar to and different from that of the Athenian democracy at this time.