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In-Class Test Guide

Study Guide Test 1 – Homer and the Bronze Age

Know the following characters:

 Human – Agamemnon (Atreides), Achilles, Calchas, Menelaus, Nestor, Odysseus, Diomedes, Ajax (the Greater, son of Telemon), Chryseis,  Briseis, Thersites, Patroclus, Hector, Andromache, Priam, Hecuba, Paris, Helen, Aeneas, Helenus, Cassandra

Divine – Athena/Minerva, Zeus/Jove, Hera/Juno, Apollo, Poseidon/Neptune, Hephaestus/Vulcan, Ares/Mars, Aphrodite/Venus, Artemis/Diana, River Scamander/Xanthus

·         Know the following terms and their significance in the Iliad: geras, menis, themis, hero, arête, hoplon

·         Know that basic armor and weapons of the Homeric warrior.

        ·         Know basic story of the war: how it started and how it finished.

·         Reflect on the view Euripides’ play The Trojan Women presents of this war.  Is it different from Homer’s?

·         Know that basic cultural characteristics of the Minoans and Myceneans.  Where they lived and how they lived in general terms.

Mull over and be prepared to write briefly on:

• Qualities and leadership of Agamemnon (actions by which they are shown)
• Qualities and leadership of Achilles (actions…)
• Qualities and leadership of Hector (actions…)
• What skills in a soldier are most admired by Greeks and Trojans?
• What skills in a king/chief are most useful to Greeks or Trojans?
• What actions are considered shameful by Greeks or Trojans?
• Why does Homer call Achilles the ‘best of the Achaeans”?
• Why is Achilles so important to the Achaean troops?
• What purposes does the ‘display of forces’ in Book 2 serve?
• What handicap(s) do the Trojans have in this war?  What advantages?
• How is Hector’s situation/position/duty different from Achilles?  How the same?
• Are there international ‘rules’ to this war?  (i.e. any conventions that both sides recognize and can be counted to agree upon)
• Are there common values between the Greeks and Trojans?
• Perceptions: How does the war sound?  What does it look like?
• How do the gods behave?
• What do you learn about ancient Greek life from Homer’s similes?

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 Study Guide - Test 2 - Herodotus

Know the following people and the role they play in the Histories:  Gyges, Solon, Croesus, Adrastus, Cyrus, Rhampsinitus, Amasis, Pisistratus, Periander, Pheretima, Lycurgus, Otanes, Darius, Aristagoras, Cleisthenes of Athens, Cleomenes, Demaratus, Hippias, Cypselus, Mardonius, Miltiades, Xerxes, Themistocles, Aristides (the just), Artabanus, Artemsia, Leonidas

 Know the general developments of the Archaic Age in Greece.

 Ponder how well the 1950s film “The 300 Spartans” adhered to Herodotus’ account of the second Persian invasion.

 Know the following terms and their significance to Herodotus:  megala erga, adikia, isonomia, olbios, historia, kleos, eudaimonia, nomos, tyche, tyrranos, nemesis, helots, perioeci, polis

 Know something about barbarian cultures/societies on the boundaries of ancient Greece: Lydian, Egyptain, Persian, Babylonian, Scythian, Libyan  (How different are they from the Greeks?)

 Be able to write about each of the following, providing examples from the text:

• Significance of dreams in Herodotus
• Kinds of interactions among Greek poleis (city-states)
• Significance of the Delphic oracle
• Herodotus’ views of slavery and freedom
• Major battles: Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea
• Significance of ambitious rulers to historical events
• Spartan vs Athenian social organization
• Greek vs Persian social organization
• Roles of women in historical events
• Roles of ‘wise advisors’ to Herodotus’ kings
• Whether Herodotus keeps the promises he makes in his first paragraph
• Herodotus’ explanation of Athens’ rise to power and prosperity
• Overall life lessons in Herodotus (e.g., his musing on customs and human suffering)

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                                                                           Test III -  Study Guide – Renault & Plato

 Know the following people and who they are in 6^th-4^th century Greece and in The Republic: Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Gorgias, Diogenes, Xenophon, Pericles, Kritias, Socrates, Themistocles, Nikias, Cephalus, Polemarchus, Glaucon, Adeimantus, Thrasymachus of Calcedon, Milo of Kroton, Theagenes of Thasos

 Know the following terms and items: elenchus, sophist, logos, herm, hetairai, metic, dike/dikaiosyne, agora, chlamys, palaestra, pentathlon, pankration, strigil, triarch, strategos, philia, Long Walls, ’30 Tyrants’, Delian League, Ring of Gyges

 Know about the development and investigatory trends of Greek ‘philosophy’.

 Know the general developments in late 5^th century in Athens and the causes and upshots of  the Peloponnesian War.

 Ponder the nature of Athenian democracy in the late 5^th century.  What were its strengths and weaknesses in your view?  In the view of Athenians of that time?

 Be prepared to write on each of the following, providing examples from the pertinent text:

• Pericles’ famous funeral oration.  How did the ideal compare to the real spirit of Athens in that time?
• Xenophon’s essay on training a wife.  What assumptions does it make about a wife’s role in the household?  What is a wife’s role in the city?
• the personalities of people in the Republic: Cephalus, Socrates, Thrasymachus, Glaucon, and Adeimantus
• the relationships between Socrates and his conversationalists.
• on 5^th century Greek views of justice.
• the Socratic method and its aims
• social and educational customs of Athens in the late 5^th century as you can deduce them from Renault’s novel and Plato’s dialogue
• family life in 5^th century Athens
• Dichotomies: seeming vs. being, physis vs nomos, logos vs ergon

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                                                                                                                      Study Guide – Xenophon

Know the following characters from The Persian Expedition: Cyrus, Artaxerxes, Orontas, Tissaphernes, Clearchus, Proxenus, Menon (vide especially ‘Characteristics of the Five Generals’), Chirisophus, Cleander

Know what is: hoplite, peltast, hollow square, phalanx, paeon

Mull over and be prepared to write briefly on:

• Circumstances of Xenophon’s stepping into a leadership position (vide especially ‘Xenophon takes the initiative’)
• Challenges in terrain and weather encountered by the Greeks
• Challenges in battling various natives encountered by the Greeks
• Cyrus’ leadership – how he leads his own men and the Greeks
• Xenophon’s leadership – what he does and how he does it
• Xenophon’s actions in the book compared with the portrait of him in the novel, Last of the Wine
• Whether you would want to serve with Xenophon
• The foreign peoples that the 10,000 encounter in their travels
• Characteristics of the Greek troops in a foreign land—how well do they behave towards the natives, how well do they behave towards each other, how well do they behave towards the gods
• The value system of the Greek soldiers
• The look and sound of ancient combat (vide ‘Battle of Cunaxa’ and various fights exiting Persia and marching through the mountains)
• The interface of Greeks and Persians – how do the cultures interact
• What qualities make it possible for the Greeks to survive this expedition


                                                                                  Xenophon

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