1. Historians sometimes call Early Iron Age Hellas the “Greek Dark Age” because

a. There was a problem with the sun

b. Everyone was poor and covered in dirt

c. The archeological record goes suddenly blank after the collapse of the Bronze Age(true)

d. Black clothing became the norm

The “dark age” is dark to us, because we have much more difficulty “seeing” this period than the surrounding ones, for several reasons. (a) With the collapse of the Bronze Age civilization of the Mycenaean Greeks around 1100 BCE and the abandonment of cities that resulted, the Greeks lost all urban technologies including writing, so there is no documentary evidence giving us direct testimony until a new writing system is developed around 750 BCE. (b) The dispersed, rural civilization of the dark age is also harder to study archeologically because their extremely localized, agricultural economies produced much fewer material goods, because their communities are spread out and difficult to locate and excavate, and because the larger ones became the foundations of cities still occupied today in the modern Aegean.

2. Things that continued unchanged from Mycenaean times into the Early Iron Age include all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Palace-city industry(not true)

b. Everyday agriculture

c. Religious rituals and worship

d. Use of the Greek language and storytelling about the past

The Greeks abandoned their cities with the collapse of the Bronze Age, and their palace-city industry failed. But there was great continuity in the countryside, including agricultural practices, rural religious practices, and the use of Greek and the process of storytelling.

3. Signs of economic and cultural growth in the 9th century BCE include all of the following EXCEPT:

a. A shift from Protogeometric to more aesthetic and ambitious Geometric vase decoration

b. A market for more elaborate craft goods

c. Vast houses occupied by the superwealthy(not true)

d. Domestic luxury items like fine gold jewelry and ivory carvings

There was significant economic growth in the “Dark Age,” including advanced aesthetics and markets for such goods, but housing remained largely uniform and the wealthy did not build palaces as in the Bronze Age.

4. The prominence of independent local chieftains during the Dark Age is suggested by all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Basileus, the Mycenaean word for village chieftain, became the usual term for ruler or king

b. A “chieftain’s house” with an added curved courtyard was found in various settlements

c. Wanax, the Mycenaean word for great king, was now used only for legendary or mythical overlords like Zeus and Agamemnon

d. Only the most important man in each village was buried; the rest of the bodies were thrown away(not true)

Dark Age communities were independent and led by a chieftain (basileus), rather than ruled by a king, and burials reflected a wide range of community members.

5. Homer is credited as the author of

a. Iliad and Odyssey(true)

b. Ilyssey and Odiad

c. Theogony and Magogany

d. Kukla, Fran, and Ollie

Homer is the author of two key epic poems, Iliad (the story of the war with Troy, which was also called Ilios) and Odyssey (the story of Odysseus and his journeys).

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Why are the works of Homer important?

Homer’s works preserve the cultural and social conditions of his own time, the 8th century BCE, the last century of the dark age. Key elements include the dominance of chiefs—the local basileus who was both leader and best warrior, represented in Homer as the heroes from all the Greek localities like Achilles, Ajax, and Odysseus. Men were judged on bravery and honor (timē), and were expected to strive to surpass (aretē) in competition with their peers (agon). Strangers arriving in another Greek city expected to be treated with guest-friendship (xenia), a reciprocal pledge of protection, lodging, and assistance symbolized by gifts. This diplomacy and intercity relations were focused through (a) the trade taking place between them and (b) the personal relationships of their chiefs.

1. Hesiod’s poetry is notable for its

a. lyrics about unrequited love

b. anti-aristocratic point of view reflecting the lives of ordinary people(true)

c. celebration of the great feats of heroes

d. rejection of any form of grammar or syntax

In contrast to Homer’s focus on heroes and gods, Hesiod reflects a grassroots view of everyday Greek life and is often critical of the greed of the nobility and wealthy merchant classes.

2. A polis, or Greek city-state, consists of all of the following EXCEPT:

a. A city and its adjacent territory making up a single, self-governing political unit

b. A council of elders (aristoi) and an assembly of men of fighting age (demos)

c. A small number of citizen-goats used for sacrifices(not true)

d. The governing role of the king/chieftain (basileus) is normally replaced by a council of aristocrats (oligarchy or aristocracy)

The polis was a form of city-state—a city and its adjoining territory forming a single political (and economic) unit. So the emergence of the polis involves formal political unification of an urban market center with its surrounding farmland territory, and centralization of government. Unification involves synoecism, whereby every village, town, and hamlet merge their political (and other) identities into a single unit. Also, rule by basileus (chieftain), characteristic of the dark age, gives way to collective leadership by a small group of magistrates (oligarchy) and an assembly made up of the citizens.—The aristoi—the wealthy, large-estate-holding, educated families—dominate the oligarchies and see it as their right and responsibility to govern. This creates tension with the common people (demos), who increasingly gain various levels of decision-making power.

3. All of the following are true of the revolutionary form of fighting known as hoplite warfare EXCEPT:

a. All citizens were included; if you couldn’t afford your equipment it would be given to you (not true)

b. Hoplites were heavily armored footsoldiers

c. They were arranged in a tightly packed formation called a phalanx

d. The strict equality of the ranks made personal glory and distinctions of wealth and birth less important

A hoplite is a heavily armed footsoldier, named for his large round shield (hoplon). They fight in a large, tightly packed formation called a phalanx. The effectiveness of the hoplite army made other forms of warfare obsolete. Within the hoplite army, made up of all citizens who could afford the equipment, all distinctions of status and birth vanish. As a result, the claim of the aristoi that only they were fit to wield power in the state was weakened.

4. A Greek tyranny is rule by

a. a man who seizes control of the state by coup and governs illegally(true)

b. a legitimate king who has become abusive

c. the nobles in opposition to the people

d. a foreigner who takes a city for his own

Greek tyrants arose when the upper classes’ oppression of the masses yielded a popular figure who was able to seize power illegally with massive popular support, leading to popular reforms and a divisive rule.

5. A statue of a young man, often used as grave monuments or offerings, is known as

a. an agora

b. a gymnasion

c. a kouros (female version: korē)(true)

d. a symposion

The grave monument figure was called the kouros.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Why did the Greeks colonize during this period?

Reasons for colonization include limited agricultural space in individual poleis; a need to expanded resources and markets, and economic/trade competition between poleis.

1. To ensure an ideal warrior culture, Spartans practiced all of the following EXCEPT:

a. physical training of all boys from age 7 onward

b. inspection of male infants, exposing the unfit in the wilderness to die

c. an expectation that men remain fit and ready to fight through age 60

d. ensuring plenty of leisure for study and writing poetry to create the most well-rounded soldiers(not true)

All boys who survived the weeding out of the unfit as infants were removed to the barracks at age 7 to undergo a collective education by the state designed to train (or brain-wash, depending on your point of view) each succeeding generation in the all-importance of training to become invincible warriors. The education was built entirely around building the endurance and training necessary to live and fight as idealized hoplite warriors in harsh and unforgiving conditions. The boys were expected to become tough and cunning. They continued this training up through the age of thirty, remaining in the barracks even if they got married, as they were allowed to do after 20. The shared experience, on small band and larger groups that shared a mess and quarters, fostered loyalty, solidarity, and cooperativeness, as important to a hoplite warrior as skill in fighting and the ability to endure hardship. The agoge did not educate boys in arts, science, or anything else besides the skills necessary to become a Spartan warrior. As such it reflected the Spartan culture’s fixed perception that any pursuit but war was a distraction that could debase an individual Spartan and weaken and make vulnerable Sparta herself.

2. The helots were

a. protective armor worn over the shin

b. hereditary slaves of the Spartan state(true)

c. elected officials in charge of the blacksmiths

d. a form of gastrointestinal disruption

The helots were state-owned serfs. In origin they were the conquered peoples of Laconia and neighboring Messenia, subdued early in Sparta’s history and permanent “prisoners of war.” Each helot family farm provided a fixed amount of food year-round for a Spartan warrior, freeing the Spartans from the distractions of managing land, laborers, and produce. The helot families retained for their own use anything beyond what was levied, which is why they are at least nominally considered serfs and not slaves.—The Spartan system was heavily dependent on the helots. Because they greatly outnumbered the Spartan citizenry, which was restricted to the warrior elite (the homoioi), the Spartans were constantly alert to the dangers of uprising among the helots and feared marching their armies too far from home. To reinforce their status as prisoners of war, young Spartans were required to literally hunt helots as part of their training. Helots were also paraded before the young warriors drunk and humiliated to train them to think of helots as an inferior class.

3. The “mixed constitution” of the Spartan government included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Two kings with military, religious, and judicial powers

b. Five men elected to keep an eye on the kings

c. A high priest who could overturn any law(not true)

d. A council of old men

The Spartan government included two kings (mainly leaders of armies), an assembly of soldiers, a council of elders (man over 60 retired from military service), the ephors whose main role was to make sure the kings upheld the law.

4. Spartan women

a. were educated, exercised outside, and were well nourished(true)

b. wore elaborate cosmetics

c. lived in the barracks with their husbands

d. held the political offices so the men could focus on training as warriors

Spartan women were intended to be the first trainers of children and were generally educated; some were literate. Xenophon praised the Spartans for nourishing their girls as well as their boys, for it was unusual among the Greeks to do so. This differentiation in nourishment could exist even for suckling newborns. Xenophon also approved of the Spartan custom of encouraging women to exercise so that they could maintain a good physical condition for motherhood.

5. The Spartans called themselves

a. the krytea (the secret police)

b. the homoioi (men of equal status)(true)

c. the perioeki (the dwellers nearby)

d. the malakians (the jerks)

Spartan society was based on the hoplite phalanx, where all participants were of equal importance. Thus the Spartans referred to themselves as fellow hoplites—the men of qual status.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. What is “the Spartan mirage”?

Among both ancients and later writers in medieval and modern times, the purity of Spartan society—their unchanging pursuit of perfection—presented a compelling alternative to the wrenching turmoil experienced by less conservative societies enduring the constant and unpredictable upheavals associated with social, political, and economic “progress.” Writers thinking along these lines, which might include anyone from Athenians who admired the Spartans (like Xenophon) to Renaissance writers like Machiavelli to Victorian classicists dismayed by change in their own times, will tend to greatly idealize both the Spartans and their system. This effect is reinforced by the paucity of surviving testimony from the Spartans themselves.

1. Stages of Athens’s political development included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Harsh penalties under the laws of Draco

b. Solon’s class-related reforms

c. Pisistratus killing everyone and painting the statues in blood(not true)

d. Cleisthenes’s reorganization of the tribes

Pisistratus established a successful and bloodless tyranny, which involves many popular reforms. His rule lasted long enough for him to pass the leadership of Athens to his sons, who were not as favored by the fates.

2. Solon wrote, “I took my stand with strong shield covering both sides, allowing neither unjust dominance.” Which sides was he talking about?

a. Sparta and Athens

b. rich and poor(true)

c. Greece and Persia

d. mortal and divine

Solon had the trust of both aristocrats and the commoners and so was able to enact reforms that benefitted Athens as a whole. He weakened the power of local and family influence by making participation in Athenian politics dependent on wealth, not blood, creating new classes that cut across local and family loyalties in order to strengthen Athenian unity and the prosperity that would come from a stronger and more vibrant unified economy. He strengthened Athenian agricultural production and relieved the debt slavery crisis that was crippling the poor peasantry. He fought not for the poor against the rich (as with the tyrants), or vice versa, but for a stronger Athens.

3. When Athens received a sudden windfall from the silver mines of Laurium, they spent the money on

a. triremes(true)

b. theater-building

c. jewelry

d. goats

At the urging of Themistocles, the Laurium windfall was spent on triremes to prepare Athens for the resurgence of Persian aggression, which was likely to come by land and by sea. This crucial decision resulted in Athens being able to establish itself as a naval power and as a viable rival to the military hegemony of Athens, in turn making possible the Delian League and the so-called Athenian Empire.

4. In Athens, the conspiracy of Cylon ended with

a. a successful coup and a long tyranny by Cylon

b. the murder of Cylon’s followers, who had sought sanctuary in the temple of Athena(true)

c. the intervention of Sparta, who took the citadel of Athens by force

d. the treachery of Baltar and the flight of Adama

Cylon was a popular Athlete who sought to take power in Athens. When the coup failed, Cylon surrendered to the archons and his followers sought refuge in the temple of Athena, descending by a string tied to the statue of the goddess. When the string snapped, the archon Megacles used the “rejection” of the goddess as a pretext to slaughter the supplicants. This sacrilege was held against Megacles and his clan, the Alcmaeonids, a cloud that dogged later extremely prominent clan members like Cleisthenes and Pericles. [Answer d is incorrect because the events being referenced took place on Caprica, not in Athens.]

5. The Greeks won all of the following battles against Persia EXCEPT:

a. the Battle of Marathon

b. the Battle of Thermopylae(not true)

c. the Battle of Salamis

d. the Battle of Plataea

(a) The battle of Marathon saw Athens (without Sparta) defeat a much larger Persian army on the beaches of Marathon in Attica. It demonstrated that the Persians could be beaten despite their vast numbers and Persia’s vast resources, and in particular it could be beaten by the free Greek fighting for freedom against disenfranchised Persians fighting for a despot. (b) At Thermopylae, a narrow pass into the heart of mainland Greece, 300 Spartans held the narrow pass to the last man before being overrun and defeated, forever remembered as the ideal of bravery. (c) At Salamis, the Athenian navy under Themistocles thoroughly defeated the larger Persian navy through clever tactics. This marks the beginning of Athens as a naval military power, and thus of the Athenian navy as a rival to the Spartan hoplite army as the protector of Greece. (d) At Plataea, a combined Greek land army led by the Spartans defeated the Persians, forcing them into retreat and ending the Persian invasions.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Of the leaders discussed in this chapter, who stands out to you as having a particularly interesting or important legacy? Why do you think so?

This is a subjective answer, potentially involving Theseus, Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, Cleisthenes, Themistocles, and others.

1. All of the following are true of the Delian League EXCEPT:

a. Its treasury was originally kept on the island of Delos, before being moved to Athens

b. It was an alliance of Greek city-states against Persia formed after the Persian invasions

c. The allies paid dues either in ships or in money

d. It was dissolved immediately after a year (not true)

The Delian League is the modern historians’ term for the naval alliance formed after the Persian Wars. The intent was to counterstrike against the Persians and win back Greek lands in the eastern Aegean and Anatolia previously conquered by Persia. A tribute of either ships or money was levied on all members of the league. Its treasury was at a neutral location, the temple of Apollo at Delos.—Originally Athens led the League as military hegemon. In a few short years the League had achieved its goal of winning back the Greek lands from the Persians, however, and after that the League became more and more about ensuring the cultural and economic preeminence of Athens, in opposition to its rivals Corinth and Sparta. Worse, Athens started punitively enforcing its dominance on member cities, forbidding them to leave the alliance and exacting retribution on cities that tried to do so or otherwise showed resistance. From the mid-century onward some modern historians call this alliance the Athenian Empire.

2. During the Undeclared War, things started going very badly for Athens when

a. Megara invaded Athens

b. Corinth invaded Megara

c. Athens invaded Egypt(true)

d. Sparta invaded Boeotia

At first Athens had the advantage in the Undeclared War, as it was fighting mainly Corinth at first and now had the protection of the Long Walls, preventing siege. Even after Sparta entered, the fighting in Boeotia gave Athens the upper hand in that region, spreading democratic government there. But by opening up a second war in Egypt—which became a disastrous failure—Athens gave Sparta the initiative.—With the Athenians overextended and in danger of losing should the war continue, the war ended with Athens suing for peace. The result was the agreement of the Thirty Years’ Peace, which established the Athenian and Spartan alliances as not being able to interfere in the other alliance’s operations; neutrals were free to join either side, but no allies could switch sides; and Athens and Sparta could use force to resolve conflicts among their own allies.

3. Resident aliens in Athens were known as

a. metics(true)

b. oikos

c. polis

d. Steve

“Metic” is the term for a resident alien. As skilled artisans and entrepreneurs who contributed to the robustness of Athens’s economy. Though they could not vote and paid special taxes, they were often wealthy or respected for their craft. Many were deeply integrated into culture and were often close friends of wealthy Athenians and aristocrats, joining the nobility in public and private social gatherings. This means they had cultural and even political influence behind the scenes.

4. All of the following are true about the Athenian Assembly EXCEPT:

a. A law passed in 451 meant that both parents had to be Athenian to vote

b. It required a quorum of at least ten citizens to pass important legislation(not true)

c. The frequency of its meetings increased from an average of once in a month to as often as once in every ten days

d. It met on the Pnyx

The quorum (minimum number of voters needed for a measure to pass) was 6,000 citizens.

5. Pericles is primarily known for being

a. the most prolific of the lyric poets

b. the most erotically explicit of the vase-painters

c. the sculptor most obsessed with minotaurs

d. the guiding spirit of Athenian imperialism(true)

Pericles was the statesman most associated with Athens’s aggressive pursuit of dominance over its allies, which some historians say developed into an Athenian empire. His authority came from his recurring seat on the board of generals (strategoi) and from the faith the Athenians placed in him.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Athens took pride in its radical democracy. In what ways was it unevenly representative of its (male) citizens? How might it be abused?

A number of factors prevented Athenian democracy from being representative of all its citizens. For example, the sprawling size of Attica meant that those living further from the urban center had to travel long distances to vote (the assembly met in Athens and you had to go there physically to participate). The frequency of assembly meetings also effectively disenfranchised those who could not easily leave their farms or workshops, giving disproportionate power to the wealthier citizens who could more easily be away from their jobs and lands.—There are also problems inherent in pure democracy. For example, the value of each citizens’ vote led to people attempting to sway voters to the speakers’ interests by telling the voters what they wanted to hear (demagoguery), as well as a market for those who teach how to argue convincingly regardless of morality or truth (sophistry).—The citizens divided into opposing groups, each working to block the other and preventing constructive action (faction). Finally, with majority vote comes the likelihood that the needs of the minority will be ignored (tyranny of the majority).—An example of these problems in action might be the way in which the Athenian practice of ostracism, the exile of one undesirable citizen by majority vote, gradually became a weapon wielded by politicians against their rivals.—Another, more unexpected problem was that the faceless, ephemeral nature of Athenian leadership, thanks to archons and council being chosen by the lot, led to a need for persistent faces; over time this empowered the board of generals (who could be reelected) and so men like Themistocles and Pericles, whose continued presence in a shifting government Athenians found reassuring.—Note: Male citizens are specified because no ancient society enfranchised its female citizens, so excluding women from voting is not a flaw of Athenian democracy specifically.

1. In Clouds, the character “Socrates” enters for the first time

a. through a golden door

b. lowered in a gondola or basket(true)

c. covered in tomato sauce

d. as a ghost, because he’s already dead

“Socrates” appears descending from above, much like gods at the end of a tragedy descending to dispense wisdom and justice (“deus ex machina”), only “Socrates” talks not about the wisdom of the gods but the “natural functions” and physical processes of the temporal heavens.

2. The breakdown of the Thirty Years Peace after only fifteen years involved all of the following EXCEPT:

a. A crisis caused by a Corinthian colony (Corcyra) allying with Corinth’s enemy, Athens

b. A crisis caused by an Athenian ally (Potidaea) refusing to break its ties to Corinth

c. A crisis caused by Athens issuing trading bans and other decrees against its neighbor, Megara

d. A crisis caused by an Athenian noble seducing and abducting the beautiful wife of a Spartan king(not true)

Short-term sparks included the crises in Corcyra, Potidaea, and Megara. Long-term causes include: (a) Diverging ideas about what it means to be Greek (warrior Sparta, cosmopolitan Athens, etc.); (b) Trade rivalries between Athens and Corinth; (c) Class tensions between the few (aristoi) and the many (demos) throughout the Aegean world, exacerbated by the emergence of democracy in Athens; (d) A trend toward domination by both Athens and Sparta over their allies, weakening the autonomy of the polis.

3. The historian Thucydides wrote about

a. The Peloponnesian War, which he fought in as a general(true)

b. The Persian Wars, which he researched from past writings

c. The Trojan War, for which he mastered generations of folklore

d. The dawn of time, which he saw in dreams

Both Herodotos and Thucydides were early historians living in fifth-century Greece who pioneered the writing of history. Herodotus wrote about the Persian wars; Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian wars.—Herodotus tends to explore human nature and behavior through anecdotes of the customs of various peoples, apparently partly derived from travel in various lands. Thucydides practices something closer to the modern historical method, advancing meticulously researched primary source evidence in support of arguments explaining historical events, so that future generations can understand why those events occurred. Thucydides also tends to focus on Athenians’ motivations, whereas Herodotus looks to contrast the natures of Greeks and other peoples.

4. All of the following describe classical theories about the natural world EXCEPT:

a. Anaxagoras said that material objects are made of particles held together by a force he called nous (intellect)

b. Democritos said that matter was made up of indivisible atoms that collide in a void

c. Hippocrates said that disease was caused by mundane factors that can be understood through careful observation

d. Gynecos argued that the womb and the liver are in fact the same organ(not true)

Explorations in natural philosophy involved the work of Anaxagoras, Democritos, Hippocrates.

5. The most famous tragedy of antiquity is probably the Sophocles play

a. Oedipus Tyrannos (true)

b. Oedipus Returns

c. Oedipus 3D

d. Oedipus Oedipus

Aeschylus pioneered tragedy, most famously with plays about the house of Agamemnon. Sophocles explored fate and judgment in tragedies, including a trilogy about the house of Oedipus. Euripides challenged traditions about heroes, reason, and passion, especially with the murdering heroine Medea. Generally, tragedies served to reinforce collective wisdom regarding an individual’s responsibility to society. This included the importance of justice for the greater good of the community, the burden for which shifted somewhat in Euripides’s plays from the gods more toward humanity.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. In Clouds, why does the main character, Strepsiades, go to the Thinkery? What’s his end goal?

Strepsiades goes to the Thinkery to learn how to argue away the debts his son piled up. There, he seeks to learn to argue falsely (sophistry).

1. People who taught the skill of arguing a question from any or all positions, as part of the art of rhetoric, in classical Athens were called

a. homoioi

b. hypocausts

c. gnostics

d. sophists(true)

Sophists taught the skill of arguing a question from any or all positions, as part of the art of rhetoric, in fifth-century Athens. Democracy in Athens created a market for this service, since effectively persuading other voters to your point of view was a valuable ability in a society where ordinary votes mattered. Critics charged that sophists taught the ability to argue a position regardless of truth or morality.—Unlike sophists, who taught a skill, philosophers as a group sought the spread and increase of knowledge and understanding, whether of the physical world or of human behavior. They tended to question received wisdom and superstition in order to develop more rational explanations. Those who taught philosophy, generally, were interested in teaching their students how to question things in order to discover truth; sophists, by contrast, taught their students how to give the most convincing answer regardless of its truth or value.

2. All of the following are true of barriers protecting the crucial road between Athens and its port, the Piraeus, EXCEPT:

a. They were built in the mid-5th century, during the Undeclared War

b. The walls had no military importance and were put up to keep traders from trespassing on nearby farms(not true)

c. They were constructed to prevent Athens from being besieged and cut off from supplies

d. They were known as “the Long Walls”

The Long Walls were built during the Undeclared War to prevent Athens from being besieged and cut from its port.

3. The philosophical debate over nomos vs. physis arises from the difficulty classical Athenians had in answering the question:

a. What is the source of morality and justice? How do we agree on what is right or wrong?(true)

b. Do humans have free will, or is their behavior determined by forces beyond their control?

c. What happens after death? Is there rest, suffering, or nonexistence?

d. Is a Pop-Tart a sandwich?

As Athens sought to achieve an ideal society, it was forced to confront the ultimate philosophic question: what is the source of morality? Some noted morality varies from city to city and county to country and argued that morality is nomos, whatever is agreed on in any one time and place; this suggests that morality is relative, and that it can be changed to suit whatever it is needed to be. The moral relativism of the sophists and the rhetoric they taught embodies this idea.—Others rejected moral relativism and argued that right and justice are physis, permanent laws of nature and therefore universal and unchangeable: what is right is always right. The real Socrates, unlike the cartoon of him presented by Aristophanes in Clouds, rejected the sophists and sought universal truths.

4. All of the following are true of the Parthenon temple EXCEPT:

a. It is situated on the Acropolis

b. It was a place for the entire Athenian populace to regularly gather together inside and worship Athena as a congregation(not true)

c. The Athenian treasury was kept in the back

d. It was named for, and meant to be the home of, Athena the Virgin (and her statue)

The Parthenon is a temple dedicated to Athena the Virginal, situated on the Acropolis. It was a sacred space, and so thought a safe place for keeping the Athenian treasury. As was true of ancient temples in general, it was not a place of popular gathering to worship, but a place kept for the private use of the goddess.

5. The agora was a place where

a. merchants sold and traded goods

b. citizens gathered for social, political, and religious events

c. government buildings and meetings were located

d. all of the above(true)

The agora is the beating heart of the polis. The agora is the main marketplace of a polis, used not only for trading at merchants’ stalls but for gathering, posting of laws, and public speeches. It was where news was exchanged, and the focus of social, political, and judicial activities. It represented the “outdoors” nature of the public space, where men were expected to spend their time.—The agora was surrounded by government buildings and public meeting places, including the buildings the housed the council and the board of strategoi, as well as altars, shrines, statues, inscriptions, fountains, and trophies of war. There could also be found shops, booksellers, bankers’ tables, wholesale merchants, schools, and other kinds of public social and commercial interaction.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. For today you read the rest of Clouds. What does Strepsiades do at the end? What reasons does he give for doing it?

Pheidippides beat up his father, a shocking twist in the story and symbolizing the way shifting morals were leading Athenians to attack the very traditions and customs that made Athens strong. Remorseful over his willingness to be taught moral relativism and impiety by the sophists, Strepsiades later burns down the Thinkery.

1. Pericles’s strategy for dealing with the Spartan threat to Athens was to

a. march out and fearlessly fight the Spartan army

b. evacuate the farms and bring everyone within the city walls(true)

c. sail to Sparta and attack the city

d. surrender and hope for the best

Pericles knew that the Athenian army could not defeat Sparta in pitched battle. He also knew the Spartans would not stay in Attica long enough to mount a long siege of the city, especially as Athens could be easily supplied by sea thanks to the Long Walls. Thus he ordered the farmers to hole up inside the walls of Athens with the urban population.

2. All of the following are true about the Athenian “renegade aristocrat” Alcibiades EXCEPT:

a. Handsome, charming, and pleasure-seeking, he was eagerly courted by men and women alike

b. He advocated expanding the empire as a means of defeating Sparta, leading to the Sicilian Expedition

c. He returned to Athens after the war and opened a successful brothel(not true)

d. Recalled from the war to stand trial for heresy, he slipped off and defected to Sparta

Alcibiades was a young and dissolute Athenian noble who advocated aggressive action against Sparta, especially during the interlude of the Peace of Nicias. His agitation for action led to the Sicilian Expedition, which he was to lead. However, at the last moment he was called home under accusations of sacrilege. Rather than return to Athens to face punishment he defected to Sparta. This had two effects: first, the Sicilian Expedition was left in the hands of Nicias, who was not invested in it and who was not well; the expedition, which might have failed anyway because it was an overextension of Athens’s power and resources, was a catastrophe in the hands of Nicias. Second, at Sparta Alcibiades was able to advise the Spartans on strategies for defeating Athens, including the base at Decelea. Ultimately he was kicked out of Sparta and fled to Persia.

3. Athens’s negotiations with the unallied island city of Melos resulted in Athens

a. asserting, according to Thucydides, a natural law that those with power must dominate

b. selling the city’s women and children into slavery

c. systematically massacring the city’s men

d. all of the above(true)

Though it professed to be neutral Melos was a Spartan colony in the middle of a chain of islands all of which had been brought under Athenian control (the Cyclades), and had made small contributions to Sparta. Thus, even though it was not a direct or immediate threat, it is of a piece with Athenian actions leading up to the war: Athens perceives a potential vulnerability (Potidaea, Megara) and strikes first and mercilessly to prevent the vulnerability from manifesting.—The ultimatum and massacre at Melos was a part of Athens’s increasing oppressiveness and militancy during the war, guided in part by Alcibiades. The defiance and tragedy of the Melians was famously commemorated by Thucydides in the section of his history known today as the Melian dialog and through Euripides’s play The Trojan Women the following year.

4. Sparta’s victory over Athens was made possible by all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Sparta’s deal with India for naval assistance(not true)

b. The devastating effects of plague in Athens

c. Athens overextending itself to create a western front in Sicily

d. The Spartan general Brasidas’s success in winning Athenian allies over to Sparta

It was Sparta’s deal with Persia, in exchange for Persian control over Greek Anatolia, that allowed the Spartans to end the war in a naval victory at Aegospotomi.—The massive loss of life due to plague meant that Athens was much weaker in terms of its agricultural and industrial labor force, so there was a huge impact on its economy. It was also weakened militarily, losing a great deal of manpower both for army and navy. Finally, the Plague removed the one leader most of Athens had faith in, Pericles; though he was under a cloud at the time due to accusations of corruption, his loss was like a blow. The overextension of their strength and resources by extending the war to Sicily ended in a huge catastrophe that permanently weakened Athens’s ability to fight off Sparta.—Another, more minor factor is the unexpected ability of a laconic Spartan general, Brasidas, winning over Athenian allies to Sparta, leveraging their disaffection and overcoming their feat of Athens.

5. The formal charges laid against the philosopher Socrates in his trial included accusations of

a. teaching false gods and corrupting the youth(true)

b. fomenting treason against Athens

c. desecration of the herms

d. underdeveloped rhetoric

Socrates was accused of denying Athens’s gods, teaching new ones, and corrupting the youth. He could not be accused of treason because of the amnesty laid down after the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants, but it is clear Socrates’s brazen defiance of tradition made him a scapegoat for the Athenian defeat.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. In your opinion, which city is most to blame for the Peloponnesian War? Explain why.

There are three obvious candidates. Athens gets the blame for its aggressive expansionism, especially the founding of cleruches and expanded trading during the Thirty Years’ Peace, and its mistreatment of its allies (e.g., Potidaea).—It’s Corinth, however, who treats every act of trading aggression by Athens as an indefensible provocation, and they call upon their ally, Sparta to turn the commercial rivalry between Athens and Corinth into Hellas-wide war.—Sparta, for its part, agrees to fight Athens because the Spartans believe that only their community is a true expression of the Greek idea, and that Athens’s version, empowering the demos and fostering widespread creative expression, was so detrimental to Hellas that it had to be stopped.