Quiz 2: The School of Greece: Greek Politics, Society, and Culture, 600-400 Bce

What is the most important aspect of republics and democracies? A) language B) warfare C) religious authority D) diplomacy E) voting

Why didn't Athens establish colonies? A) Athens did send out colonies. B) Athens did not experience land pressure like other city-states. C) Athens conquered other city-states and took their land. D) Athens developed a large merchant fleet and excess population served as sailors on these ships. E) Athens sent its excess population to Corinth, a city-state that founded many colonies.

Under Solon, which group had the power to try major crimes against the state? A) the Eupatridae B) the Archons C) the Areopagus D) the entire citizen body of Athens E) Solon

Which of the following best explains the public disturbances in Athens during the late sixth century BCE? A) The Athenian army employed mercenaries. B) Many hoplite soldiers resented their lack of a voice in government. C) The population was frustrated with the Athenian army's abuse of power. D) Athens was unable to grow enough food for its population. E) The Areopagus council abused its power.

Which of the following best summarizes Draco and his laws? A) He was an aristocrat, and his laws were intended to bolster aristocratic power in Athens. B) Draco's laws were intended to bring justice by being more lenient in punishment. C) Draco streamlined Athenian law by giving similar crimes, such as murder and manslaughter, identical punishment. D) Draco attempted to make Athenian law fairer by categorizing crimes and assessing different punishments for them. E) Draco was remembered for the mildness of his laws.

Which political leader was also a poet? A) Pericles B) Draco C) Peisistratus D) Cleisthenes E) Solon

Which of the following best describes Solon's legal reforms? A) He based political participation on property held. B) He increased the power held by the traditional aristocracy. C) He gave the Areopagus the right to try certain major crimes. D) He instituted a completely democratic political system. E) He established a system of single-man rule.

How many times was Peisistratus tyrant of Athens? A) one B) two C) three D) four E) five

What did Solon mean when he said that his reforms created "good order"? A) The overthrow of Athenian government would become impossible. B) Citizens would be granted responsibilities and protections fairly according to their economic status. C) Choosing magistrates by lot would guarantee the most qualified citizens would serve Athens. D) Athens' natural superiority to other city-states would become evident through its new political system. E) The aristocracy's right to power would be reinforced.

Which city-state helped expel Hippias? A) Miletus B) Thebes C) Corinth D) Sparta E) Mycenae

How did Peisistratus attempt to expand Athens' economy? A) He formed an alliance with Corinth. B) He employed mercenary soldiers. C) He encouraged the trade of Athenian pottery in new markets. D) He put Venus on Athenian currency. E) He had a fleet of triremes built.

Cleisthenes organized Athens into what unit? A) tribes B) demes C) phratries D) neighborhoods E) districts

Why did Athenian democracy include broad participation by the citizenry? A) Participation ensured that Athens was governed by as wide a representation of its citizenry as possible. B) Participation ensured Athens was always prepared for war. C) Participation prepared every citizen for the possibility he or she might need to negotiate for Athens. D) Participation ensured that Athens would not become a tyranny. E) Participation encouraged citizens to vote.

What was the purpose of ostracism? A) It made sure that every Athenian was literate. B) It identified the least popular Athenian. C) It identified the best qualified person to lead the Athenian army. D) It removed someone who would threaten democracy. E) It brought new citizens to Athens.

The Athenian assembly's requirement of a quorum of 6,000 tells historians what? A) Ostracism required a quorum of citizens to be valid. B) The population of Athens was very small relative to other Greek city-states. C) Athenians did not enjoy attending meetings of the assembly. D) Athenian democracy did not depend on citizen participation. E) The majority of the Athenian citizen body was campaigning with its army.

How did Ephialtes change Athenian government? A) He instituted term limits for archons. B) He lowered the age limit for participation in the assembly to sixteen years. C) He limited the powers of the Areopagus council. D) He permitted metics to vote. E) He required plaintiffs to sacrifice to Apollo when bringing charges of homicide.

Who did Cyrus defeat to become the ruler of Asia Minor? A) Pericles B) Darius C) Ephialtes D) Croesus E) Solon

Which Greek suggested that Persia attack Naxos in the early fifth century BCE? A) Pericles B) Darius C) Polydamus D) Aristagoras E) Memnon

Which of the following Athenians would best fit the definition of "demagogue"? A) Pricles B) Nicias C) Socrates D) Cleon E) Plato

Which of the following supports the statement that trade had political significance for Athens? A) Athens built a fleet of triremes specifically for overseas trading. B) Various imported goods were available to Athenians of almost every class. C) Members of the Delian League needed Athens' permission to engage in trade. D) Athens put images of its most important exports on its currency. E) Athens rebuilt the Parthenon with Delian League funds.

Who won the battle at Miletus in 494 BCE? A) Persia B) Thebes C) Sparta D) Athens E) Crete

Which of the following events shows Sparta's distrust of Athens? A) Sparta refused to help during the helot revolt of the mid-fifth century BCE. B) Sparta tried to prevent Athens from rebuilding its city walls. C) Athens supported a Spartan ally against Corinth. D) Athens consolidated power within the Delian League. E) Sparta was late to help during the battle of Marathon.

What was the Athenian strategy against the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE? A) Athenian hoplites rushed the Persian center, and Athenian soldiers on the wings surrounded the Persian center, forcing the Persians to flee. B) Athenian archers and cavalry harassed the wings of the Persian army, and Athenian hoplites forced the center to retreat. C) The Athenian army advanced slowly against the Persians, and Persians were overcome by fear at the sight of such a disciplined army. D) Athenian hoplites on the wings advanced quickly to attack the Persian army on the flanks and from the rear, while Athenian hoplites in the center advanced slowly. E) Athenian hoplites in the center rushed the Persian center, while the Athenian cavalry advanced to the Persian camp and looted it.

The first ostracism in Athenian democracy took place after which battle? A) the battle of Marathon B) the battle of Thermopylae C) the battle of Salamis D) the battle of Plataea E) the battle of Mycale

Which of the following was a consequence of the Greek defeat at Thermopylae? A) The Greeks decided they needed a strong navy. B) The Greeks surrendered to the Persians. C) The Persians saw the advantages of lightly armed soldiers. D) The battle became a model for heroism. E) The Spartans saw flaws in their fighting style.

Which author wrote the earliest surviving Greek tragedy? A) Plato B) Aristophanes C) Sophocles D) Dionysus E) Aeschylus

What was the official purpose of the Delian League? A) The league supported expeditions to attack the Persians. B) The league provided Sparta with money for defense of the Greek mainland. C) The league rebuilt Athens. D) The league gave money to Athens to invade and conquer Persia. E) The league protected Greek communities by building walls.

What were "metics"? A) They were Greek slaves. B) It is the Greek word for "Persians." C) It is the Greek word for "hoplites." D) They were resident foreigners in Athens. E) They were members of the council in democratic Athens.

How did Athens use the silver discovered at Laureion? A) Athens built a new city wall. B) Athens used it to support its navy. C) Athens bought slaves. D) The silver was used as tribute for poorer members of the Delian League. E) Athens produced tragedies and comedies at Athenian festivals.

Which of the following suggests the Riace statue depicts a warrior? A) The statue has a shield strap on the left arm. B) The style of the statue's beard was popular among soldiers. C) The statue is nude. D) The statue probably does not depict a warrior. E) The statue has a muscular body.

Which of the following Athenians was cautious at the start of the Peloponnesian War? A) Themistocles B) Alcibiades C) Cleisthenes D) Pericles E) Cleon

Which architect and artist sculpted the gold and ivory figure of Athena Parthenos? A) Polydorus B) Phidias C) Pericles D) Plato E) Aristophanes

Where would an Athenian go to see the image of Athena that had been saved from the Persians during the Persian War? A) They would go to Marathon. B) They would go to the Royal Stoa. C) They would go to Stoa Poikile. D) They would go to the Parthenon. E) They would go to the temple of Erechtheus.

The Athenian use of Delian League funds to rebuild the Parthenon suggests what? A) Athens was slow to rebuild itself after the Peloponnesian War. B) Members of the Delian League also wanted a temple to Athena. C) Athenians felt gratitude to their gods for their victory over the Persians. D) Athens saw itself as the leader and possible ruler of other members of the Delian League. E) Athens was the cultural center of Greece.

What part of Athenian democracy most likely caused Plato to dislike democracy? A) Democracy tended to support war. B) Emotional appeals won over reason and logic. C) Women were permitted to vote. D) Jurors and sailors were paid by the state. E) Formal education was not a requirement to vote.

Which of the following is a characteristic of Greek polytheistic religion? A) There was a set and unchangeable number of gods. B) Temples were like modern churches, in that practically all services were held inside. C) Oracles were consulted and prayers were made for decisions. D) The institutions of religion and state were kept separate. E) Sacrifices would only be made of live animals.

How would portions of sacrificial animals be distributed to citizens in an oligarchic state? A) They were distributed in the same manner. B) They were distributed unequally, with lower status citizens receiving larger portions. C) They were distributed unequally, with higher status citizens receiving larger portions. D) There would not have been public sacrifices in other Greek city-states. E) The priests or priestesses would not have made any distribution of portions.

During Pericles' time, about how many slaves were in Athens? A) 40,000 B) 50,000 C) 80,000 D) 70,000 E) 60,000

What word best describes Athens and its economy? A) cosmopolitan B) cheap C) meager D) poor E) cautious

Which task was considered men's responsibility? A) weaving B) childcare C) household account-keeping D) supervising slaves E) earning a living by an occupation

Which statement supports that Athenian democracy was not democratic in the modern sense? A) Most men in Athens were citizens. B) Women of citizen families could not pass on Athenian citizenship through children born in marriage. C) Metics could vote. D) The percentage of citizens in Athens was probably higher than in other Greek city-states. E) If slaves were freed, they did not receive the rights of an Athenian citizen.

What subject would most likely be part of an Athenian woman's education? A) creating textiles B) medicine C) athletics D) military skills E) philosophy

Healers who believed illness was due to the environment belonged to what school? A) Asclepius B) Caduceus C) Hippocrates D) Aristotle E) Achilleas

What would a sophist likely tell a prospective student? A) "You will learn to read and write." B) "You will learn to dance well and become a member of the chorus." C) "You will learn how to argue a point based on what will persuade your audience." D) "You will learn eternal moral principles that please the gods." E) "You will learn principles of scientific observation."

Tragedy and comedy were invented to honor what god or goddess? A) Athena B) Zeus C) Poseidon D) Dionysus E) Venus

How were Athenian tragedy and comedy similar? A) Both were generally set in the mythical past. B) Both provided a means for the audience to consider difficult, often insoluble, political and social issues. C) Both were generally set in the present. D) Both were presented in ways that connoted great dignity to their original audience. E) Neither had choruses.

How was the Greek genre of history similar to literature by Homer and Hesiod? A) History included genealogy. B) History incorporated elements of skeptical reasoning. C) History was written in prose. D) History was an inquiry into the past. E) History was written in poetic meter.

Athenian tragedy and history both examined difficult political and social questions.How did history differ in its approach to political and social questions? A) History provided a means to understand how statesmen could influence events by linking causation to humans and gods. B) History looked first to divine causes, which are inherently unknowable. C) History considered geography and climate as significant factors in the health of those who lived in a particular location. D) History included speeches by figures that helped to explain their choices and actions. E) History was concerned with actual events, which tragedy did not address.

Which work of Plato includes Socrates' defense speech? A) the Republic B) the Symposium C) the Phaedo D) the Apology E) the True Defense Speech of Socrates

Which of the following beliefs did Socrates believe? A) Philosophy should apply to every aspect of a person's life. B) Oligarchy was the best possible government. C) People should be taken at their word. D) Teachers should be paid. E) Examination of oneself and others was a waste of time.

Athens adopted a hoplite army at about the same time as other city-states such as Thebes.

Based on archaeological evidence, Athenians of the fifth century BCE were proud to take part in democratic institutions.

One of the consequences of Cleisthenes' reorganization of the Athenian citizen body was that every tribe became representative of Athens' population as a whole.

Juries under Athenian democracy had members selected based on their study of Athenian law.

Ostracism drew its name from the practice of using pottery fragments as writing material.

Spartans were late to the battle of Marathon because they had to wait for a religious festival to end.

The modern footrace called the marathon was based on a real person, Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce Athens' victory.

The soldiers and sailors who served in Athens' navy were paid for their service.

After the Peloponnesian War, Sparta installed an oligarchic government in Athens, but democracy soon returned.

The democratic process in Athens served as an education for its citizens.

The ideal that Athenian women should be confined meant that higher-status women were viewed as more respectable than lower-status women.

Limitations on funeral expenditures prevented displays of wealth and reflected the democratic spirit of Athens.

Men and women were actors in tragedies and comedies performed at the festival of Dionysus in Athens.

A tragedy such as Oedipus the King reminds a modern audience that its standards of justice could be very different from Athenian standards.

Elements of multiple literary genres, including epic, tragedy, and rhetoric, are found in Herodotus's history.

What social tensions help to explain the development of democracy at Athens?

What was the most significant factor for the success of democracy in Athens? And what was the greatest weakness of Athenian democracy?

Why did Athens become a cultural center of the Greek world in the fifth century BCE?

What purposes did ostracism serve in Athenian democracy? In your answer, consider the advantages, disadvantages, and frequency of this practice in democratic Athens.

What was the significance of the Greek victory over Persia in the Persian Wars? Consider military, economic, political, and cultural aspects.

To what extent was Athenian military and economic power important for the success of Athenian democracy?

What does the architecture of classical Athens reflect about Athenian identity?

What rights did women have under Athenian democracy? In what ways were they excluded from democracy?

In what ways did tragedy and comedy comment on Athenian life and politics?

Was Socrates a sophist?