Introduction
- Land of Greece: general size, climate, & features
- Food & Livestock: basic foods and animals
The Minoans (7000-1150 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 (3100-1150 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 (1150-700 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, arete, time, aidos?
The Iliad and the Odyssey
- Religion & Deities:
- Who are Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, & 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:
- Governmental Structure: Using only the assembly scenes in the Iliad, Bk 1 & Bk 2 and the assembly scene in the Odyssey, Bk 2 as your source material, determine the expected 'roles' of the nobles. Also comment on the problem in the political structure that Book 2 of the Odyssey highlights. Make sure you give good examples from both the Iliad, Bks 1 & 2, and the Odyssey, Bk 2.
- Religion: What are the ways that the Greek deities communicated with mortals in the Iliad and the Odyssey and what are the dangers of these types of communication? Make sure you give concrete examples from the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey that we have covered.
- Religion: The pre-Socratic philosopher Xenophanes noted that the Greeks made deities in the Greeks' own image. Discuss for the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey that we have read. Make sure you give concrete examples from the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey that we have covered.
- Women: What are the range of acceptable (and unacceptable) actions (and words) that women can do (and say) in the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey that we have read? Make sure you give concrete examples from the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey that we have covered.