Ancient Greece Unit Test

Ancient Greece Study Guide – Homework Answers & Main Ideas

I. Sparta and Athens –

1) Tyrants were able to seize power from the nobles with the support of Greek farmers, merchants, and artisans.

2) Why were tyrants popular in the city-states? Tyrants built new marketplaces, temples, and walls.

3) The Spartans focused on military skills to control the people they conquered.

4) Why did the Spartans stress military training? They stressed military training so they could conquer their neighbors and control the large helot (captive workers) population.

5) Unlike Spartans, Athenians were more interested in building a democracy than building a military force.

6) How did Cleisthenes build a democracy in Athens? Cleisthenes made the assembly the center of the government, gave citizens more powers, and created a citizen council to help the assembly.

II. The Age of Pericles –

1) Under Pericles, Athens became very powerful and more democratic.

2) What is the difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy? In a direct democracy, all citizens vote on laws; in a representative democracy, elected officials vote on laws.

3) Athenian men and women had very different roles.

4) How did Athenian men and women spend their time? Men worked and exercised, and some went to all male social events. Most women read, played music, wove cloth, and took care of children and the home.

5) Sparta and Athens went to war for the control of Greece.

6) What effects did the Peloponnesian War have on Greece? The war weakened all of Greece and made it open to conquest by others.

III. The Culture of Ancient Greece –

1) The Greeks believed that gods and goddesses controlled nature and shaped their lives.

2) Why did the Greeks have rituals and festivals for their gods and goddesses? The Greeks held rituals and festivals because they hoped the gods and goddesses would grant good fortune to them.

3) Greek poetry and fables taught Greek values.

4) What are the characteristics of a fable? A fable is a short tale, it teaches a lesson, and it often involves funny stories about animals that speak.

5) Greek drama stills shapes entertainment today.

6) What two types of drama did the Greeks create? The Greeks created tragedies and comedies.

7) Greek art and architecture expressed Greek ideas of beauty and harmony.

8) What was the most important type of building in ancient Greece? The most important building in ancient Greece was the temple dedicated to a god or goddess, such as the Parthenon.

IV. Greek Philosophy and History –

1) Greek philosophers developed ideas that are still used today.

2) How did Aristotle’s idea of government differ from Plato’s? Aristotle favored mixed government with rule by the many, while Plato described a state with three distinct classes.

3) Greeks wrote the first real histories of Western civilization.

4) How did Thucydides view war and politics? Thucydides believed that war and politics were the activities of human beings, not gods.

5) Who were the Sophists and what were their beliefs? The Sophists were traveling teachers, they rejected the idea of absolute right and wrong.

6) Before Herodotus, how did Greeks explain the past? They explained the past through legends and myths.

7) What were Plato’s ideas of organizing an ideal government? Plato’s republic had three groups: philosopher-kings (ruled using logic and wisdom); warriors (defended others); and the masses (produced food and clothing).

8) How are Aristotle’s teachings related to the scientific method used today? Both of these processes promote using the senses to make observations.

9) What is different about the works of Herodotus and Thucydides? Herodotus included the influence of gods and goddesses to describe some events; Thucydides examined history as the activities of humans, not gods.

10) Describe Aristotle’s contributions to government. Aristotle examined different forms of government and concluded that mixed government was best.

V. Alexander the Great –

1) Phillip II of Macedonia united the Greek states.

2) Why did Phillip II invade Greece? Phillip II wanted to unite all of Greece under Macedonia in order to defeat Persia.

3) Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and spread Greek culture throughout southwest Asia.

4) What was Alexander’s legacy? Alexander spread Greek art, ideas, language, and architecture across Asia and brought new ideas from Asia to Greece.

VI. The Spread of Greek Culture –

1) Hellenistic cities became centers of learning and culture.

2) How did the Hellenistic kingdoms spread Greek culture? The Hellenistic kingdoms introduced Greek architecture, sculpture, and literature to the new cities in Asia and Egypt.

3) Hellenistic scientists made major discoveries in math and astronomy.

4) Who was the most famous scientist of the Hellenistic Era? What did he contribute? Archimedes was the most famous scientist, he contributed ideas in solid geometry, he figured out the value of pi, and designed catapults for defending cities from attack.

Definitions & Descriptions for the 40 Study Cards

Ancient Greece: Journey Across Time text, Jan. 2010

Sparta – Spartans focused on military skills to control the people they conquered and enslaved (called “helots”). Spartans feared the helots might someday rebel, as a result the government (an oligarchy) firmly controlled the people of Sparta and trained boys and men for war. p126,127

Athens – unlike Spartans, Athenians were more interested in building a democracy than building a military force. Athens is a two-day trip away (NE) from Sparta. Boys were educated by several teachers in many subjects – they had good minds and bodies. Girls stayed at home and learned household duties. Athens was ruled by landowning nobles (oligarchy) at first, then a tyrant, but democracy eventually grew with lawmakers, a council, and an assembly. p128,129,130

tyrant – person who takes power by force and rules with total authority

oligarchy – government in which a small group of people holds power

democracy – government in which all citizens share in running the government

Persia – the people of Persia lived in what is today SW Iran; early Persians were warriors and nomads who herded cattle; originally dominated by others, Cyrus the Great united them into a powerful kingdom

Marathon – the Battle of Marathon happened near Athens in 490 B.C. during the Persian Wars. There were 20,000 Persian troops against 10,000 Athenians. The Athenians attacked when the Persian cavalry were sailing away on ships. A runner ran about 25 miles from Marathon to Athens with news of the victory, then died from exhaustion.

Thermopylae – During the Persian Wars, the Greeks needed to stall the Persian army (who were on the march to Athens) as they readied their fleet for battle. They chose Thermopylae, which was a narrow pass through mountains that was easy to defend. 7,000 Greek soldiers held off the Persian army for two days. The Greeks lost the battle, but their valiant stand gave Athens enough time to assemble 200 ships in their fleet. The Greek fleet went on to destroy the Persian fleet.

Cyrus the Great – a leader who united the Persians into a powerful kingdom. He ruled from 559 B.C. to 530 B.C. and Persia built the largest empire in the world.

Darius – Persian king from 521 B.C. to 486 B.C. He reorganized the government to make it better. He divided the empire into 20 provinces called satrapies.

Pericles – A popular Athenian general (one of 10 generals who carried out the assembly’s laws and policies) who ruled for 30 years, from 461 B.C. to 429 B.C., shortly before his death. Pericles helped Athens dominate the Delian League, a group of city-states (not Sparta) that banded together to protect themselves from Persia. He made Athens more democratic, and the arts blossomed under his rule.

Aspasia – not a native Athenian, she was a woman who held special status; she was well educated and taught public speaking; Plato said her work influenced his ideas; many leaders consulted her and she influenced politics in this way.

direct democracy – system of government in which people gather at mass meetings to decide on government matters

representative democracy – system of government in which citizens choose a smaller group to make laws and governmental decisions on their behalf

philosopher – thinker who seeks wisdom and ponders questions about life

Mount Olympus – the 12 most important gods and goddesses were believed to have lived here, the highest mountain in Greece. The Greeks believed gods and goddesses controlled nature.

Delphi – the most famous oracle at the Temple of Apollo; an oracle is a sacred shrine where a priest or priestess speaks for a god or goddess.

Homer – poet who wrote the epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey during the 700s B.C. They were based on stories of a war between Greece and Troy.

Sophocles – one of the best-known writers of Greek tragedies; He was a general and he developed drama further than the early writers; he used three actors and scenery; two of his most famous plays were Oedipus Rex and Antigone. In Antigone, Sophocles asks, “Is it better to follow orders or to do what is right?”

myth – traditional story describing gods or heroes or explaining natural events

oracle – sacred shrine where a priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess

epic – long poem that tells about legendary or heroic deeds

drama – story told by actors who pretend to be characters in the story

tragedy – form of drama in which a person struggles to overcome difficulties but meets an unhappy end

comedy – form of drama in which the story has a happy ending

Pythagoras – a philosopher that taught his pupils that the universe followed the same laws that governed music and numbers; he believed that all relationships in the world could be expressed in numbers; his theorem shows a way to determine the lengths of a sides of a triangle.

Socrates – was a sculptor whose true love was philosophy; he left no writings behind; he believed that an absolute truth existed and that all real knowledge was within each person; he invented the Socratic method – he asked pointed questions to force his pupils to use their reason and see things for themselves. He was sentenced to death for leading young Athenians to rebel against the state; he could have fled, but he chose to remain, drink poison and die.

Plato – one of Socrates’ students; he wrote the Republic; it explains his ideas about government – he thought democracy was not a good system; he divided people into three groups: philosopher-kings at the top (driven by wisdom), warriors in the middle (driven by courage), and the rest of the people in the third group (driven by desire)-they produced food, clothing, shelter; he also believed men & women should have the same education and an equal chance to have the same jobs.

Aristotle – Plato’s best student at the Academy; he wrote more than 200 books on a wide range of topics; he opened his own school, the Lyceum, where he taught the “golden mean” (a person should do nothing in excess); he advanced science with his idea of scientific observations; he compared the governments of 158 places and divided them into three types: government by one person (monarch or tyrant), government by a few people (oligarchy or aristocracy), and government by many people (democracy); he thought the best government was a mixture of a few people ruling (rich) and a democracy (poor people); the founders of the U.S. government used his ideas of a balance of power.

Herodotus – in 435 B.C., he wrote the history of the Persian Wars; despite the fact that it includes errors and uses gods and goddesses to explain some events, he is considered to be the “father of history” by Western historians.

Socratic method – way of teaching developed by Socrates that used a question-and-answer format to force students to use their reason to see things for themselves

Macedonia – to the north of Greece; Macedonians raised sheep and horses and grew crops; they were a warrior people who fought on horseback; they had a powerful kingdom by 400 B.C.

Alexandria – Alexander the Great built this city in Egypt after conquering Egypt; it was a center of business and trade and became one of the most important cities in the world.

Phillip II – Alexander’s father; became king of Macedonia in 359 B.C.; he had lived in Greece as a young man and admired everything about Greece; he took over the Greek city-states one-by-one so he could build an army mighty enough to defeat the Persians; he was murdered before he could defeat the Persians.

Alexander the Great – son of Phillip II, he was 20 when he became king of Macedonia; he defeated the Persians, and invaded Syria and Egypt; he built the city of Alexandria in Egypt which became one of the most important cities in the world; he died from a bad fever at the age of 32 before he could invade southern Arabia.

Eratosthenes – an astronomer, he was in charge of the library at Alexandria; he concluded that Earth is round; he used his knowledge of geometry and astronomy to measure Earth’s circumference – his estimate was within 185 miles of the actual distance; he also calculated the distance to the sun and moon.

Euclid – probably the most famous Greek mathematician; his best-known book, Elements, describes plane geometry

Archimedes – the most famous scientist of this era; he was from Syracuse; he worked on solid geometry; he figured the value of pi, which is used to measure the area of circles; he invented levers to defend the city of Syracuse – machines that hurled rocks, spears, and arrows.

plane geometry – branch of mathematics that shows how points, lines, angles, and surfaces relate to one another

solid geometry – branch of mathematics that studies spheres and cylinders