Download Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings

Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
Instructions: These readings are intended to supplement and expand on the material presented in
class. Most of them are quite short and can be read in a matter of minutes, though some are longer.
The study questions will help you understand what you should be getting from the reading and will
guide your note-taking. These will also serve as review questions to help you prepare for your exams.
A General Timeline of Major Periods of Greek History
Summary of the 5th Century BC
Major Events in the Peloponnesian War
© 2015 The Lukeion Project
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Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
The Peloponnesian War
1) General Timeline: http://www.tulane.edu/~august/H310/chronologies/Peloponnesian.htm
2) General Overviews – Knox, Martin, and Livius.org all view the Peloponnesian War slightly
differently. There is value not only in the repetition, but also in the variant perspectives. Please
read and compare them.
a) E.L. Skip Knox, Boise State University
(1) I highly recommend reading through these very good, though brief, pages that tell the
story of the Peloponnesian War. Instead of clicking on each link below, you can just use
the arrow at the top of the page to move through the pages in order. Knox does a very
good job of explaining the Sicilian Expedition.
i)
http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/01.shtml
ii)
http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/02.shtml
iii) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/03.shtml
iv) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/04.shtml
 The “First Peloponnesian War” and the “30 Years Truce”
v)
http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/05.shtml
vi) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/06.shtml
vii) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/07.shtml
 The Archidamian War. Knox skips pretty quickly over the Pylos/Sphacteria affair,
which was significant because of the Spartan surrender.
viii) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/08.shtml
 The Peace of Nicias
ix) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/09.shtml
x)
http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/10.shtml
 The Sicilian Expedition is covered in sections 10 through 14
xi) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/11.shtml
xii) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/12.shtml
xiii) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/13.shtml
xiv) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/14.shtml
xv) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/15.shtml
xvi) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/16.shtml
 The Final Defeat of Athens
xvii) http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/peloponn/17.shtml
b) Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander
i) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009%3Acha
pter%3D12
(1) Who is our primary source for the Peloponnesian War? How does he have first-hand
knowledge of the early years of the war, and why did that come to an end?
(2) Causes of the Peloponnesian War
(a) Describe the dispute over Megara
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Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
(b) Describe the dispute over Potidaea
(c) Describe the dispute over Corcyra
(d) What does Martin say are the deeper causes of the war?
(3) What were the symptoms of the plague that raged within overpopulated Athens?
(4) What the Athenian strategy in the Peloponnesian (Archadamian) War.
(5) What were the effects of the plague upon the Athenians?
(6) Describe the conflicts at Pylos and Amphipolis. How did they affect the course of war?
(7) How did the terms of the “Peace of Nicias” affect the Athenian and Spartan coalitions?
(8) Know the major events and personalities involved in the disastrous Sicilian Expedition.
(9) Be aware of the temporary Democratic setbacks in the second phase of the war.
(10)What Spartan victory finally brought Athens to her knees?
c) Livius.org
(1) Livius.org always presents possibilities (and opinions) that give a broader view of the
events than many textbooks do. It also includes a lot of details that are interesting, but
don’t get caught up in them if we haven’t touched on them in class.
ii) http://www.livius.org/pb-pem/peloponnesian_war/archidamian_war.html
(1) What were the three major areas of conflict that brought an end to the 30-Years Peace
and launched the Peloponnesian War? (We discussed these in class, too.)
(2) Why is this called the “Archidamian” war?
(3) Define what Livius.org defines as a victory for Sparta or for Athens. Based on this
understanding, who won the first phase of the Peloponnesian War (the Archidamian
War)?
iii) http://www.livius.org/pb-pem/peloponnesian_war/intermezzo.html
(1) Please note that the picture of a bust of Alcibiades on this page looks suspiciously like
Alexander the Great. I strongly suspect that it has been misidentified, especially since it
is broken at the neck.
iv) http://www.livius.org/pb-pem/peloponnesian_war/sicilian_expedition.html
(1) In very general terms, why did Athens get involved in Sicily?
(2) What were the results of the Sicilian Expedition? What were their ramifications for
Athenian relations with Sparta?
v) http://www.livius.org/pb-pem/peloponnesian_war/decelean_war.html
(1) Why is this called the “Decelean” war?
(2) Alcibiades claimed to be able to bring the Persians into the conflict to support Athens, if
Athens would do what?
(3) Who did Persia really support throughout this conflict?
vi) http://www.livius.org/pb-pem/peloponnesian_war/thirty.html
(1) What do you think the last sentence on this webpage means: “The only victor in the
Peloponnesian War was the great [Persian] king”?
2) Pericles’ “Funeral Oration”
a) PBS summary of the content of Pericles’ speech
i) http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/background/36.html
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Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
b) Ancient History Sourcebook – The text of Pericles’ speech, as related by Thucydides, which
memorializes the Athenians fallen in the first year of the war, and describes Pericles’ conception
of Athenian Democracy
i) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pericles-funeralspeech.html
(1) What are some ways that Pericles says Athenian democratic society differs from that of
its neighbors?
(2) This is one of the most famous of all historical speeches, though we aren’t sure how
exactly Thucydides records it. Be familiar with Pericles’ main arguments in favor of
Athenian democracy.
© 2015 The Lukeion Project
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