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.
© 2016 The Lukeion Project
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Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
Sparta
a) Thomas Martin, Overview of Classical Greek History
i) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009%3Acha
pter%3D6 (These questions cover the first sections of this page, down through the section
titled “The Obligations of Sparta”)
(1) Describe Sparta’s physical location and how that affected their development
(2) Explain the political situation of Sparta by describing each of these groups:
(a) The two kings
(b) The “gerousia”
(c) The five “ephors”
(d) The “perioikoi”
(e) The “helots”
(3) What was the “Rhetra” and what did the Spartans believe about its origin?
(4) Describe the training and subsequent life of Spartan men.
(a) How long did boys live at home? Then where did they live?
(b) What did they do during their period in the “secret band”?
(c) What role did the “sussition”, the “common meal”, play in maintaining the values of
Spartan society?
(5) How did the life of Spartan women differ from the lives of women in other Greek citystates?
(6) List some ways Spartan society broke down traditional family roles and replaced them
with loyalty to the state.
b) Suzanne Bernard
i) http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/loc/sparta.htm
(1) Who was Lycurgus? What was he believed to be responsible for? Can we determine
the truth of what comes down to us about Lycurgus?
(2) What are the most striking features of Spartan society, as reflected in its foundational
document, the Rhetra?
c) Michael Lahanas
i) http://www.mlahanas.de/Greece/History/HistoryOfSparta.html
(1) Skip the section entitled “Prehistoric period” – Start with “The expansion of Sparta” and
read only down to the discussion of the “so-called First Peloponnesian War”
(2) What happened in each of the Messenian Wars?
(3) What was Sparta’s position in the Greek World at the end of the 6th century (on the eve
of the Persian War), and how did she perform in that role? Did she have the interests of
all Greeks at heart?
(4) How did Sparta lose her leadership position to Athens during the Persian War?
© 2016 The Lukeion Project
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Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
d) New York Times
i) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/arts/design/29onas.html
(1) Yes, the Spartans did produce some art!!
The Rise of Democracy and Precursors to the Persian War
1) Early Athens
a) Cylon’s followers found in Athens?
i) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/15/newly-discoveredmass-graves-could-be-filled-with-an-ancient-greek-tyrants-followers/
and
http://phys.org/news/2016-04-ancient-mass-graves-greece.html
(1) Note that the date is wrong in these articles. Archaeologists published it in Greek as the
“3rd quarter of the 7th c. BC”, which would be 650-675 BC.
ii) http://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2016/04/15/what-is-the-real-date-of-cylonsmurdered-conspirators-from-ancient-greece/#4c3edec1612d
(1) Response to the articles above, as well as a correction of the date issue.
b) Thomas Martin, Overview of Classical Greek History – scroll down and begin at the section
labeled “Theseus and Democracy at Athens” (you’ve already read part of this)
i) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009%3Acha
pter%3D6
(1) To what hero did the Athenians attribute the creation of the Athenian city-state?
(2) Describe the laws instituted by Draco.
(3) What were the characteristics of Solon’s reforms? How did he re-organize Athenian
society?
(4) What positive changes happened in Athens under the tyranny of Peisistratus?
(5) How did the tyranny of Peisistratus and his sons come to an end?
(6) What were the major features of Cleisthenes’ reforms? (Read through Persuasion and
Cleisthenic Democracy, where you can stop reading)
c) John Porter, University of Saskatchewan
i) http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/CourseNotes/SolonNotes.html
(1) Early Athens Section:
(a) What seems to have been the purpose of Draco’s reforms, and for what were they
famous?
© 2016 The Lukeion Project
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Ancient Greek History: Supplemental Readings
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(b) Know these terms and their functions:
(i) archon
(ii) archon basileus
(iii) polemarch
(iv) eponymous archon
(v) Council of the Areopagus
Solon Section (you don’t need to read the paragraphs under Solon and divine justice.)
(a) How did Solon address the economic crisis? How did he re-define citizenship?
What was the new council that he instituted, and what was its effect on the power
of the Areopagus?
Pisistratus Section
(a) How did Peisistratus come to power, and what was his “attitude” toward the
democratic institutions of Solon and toward the demos (citizen body)?
(b) What positive changes did Athens undergo during the tyranny of Peisistratus?
Cleisthenes Section
(a) Cleisthenes’ democratic reforms were aimed at doing what?
(b) Explain Cleisthenes new governmental organization, using these terms:
(i) trittyes
(ii) 10 tribes
(iii) boule (how was it changed from Solon’s day?)
(iv) ecclesia
Athenian Democracy Section:
(a) Explain Porter’s claim that, while Cleisthenes did usher in radical democracy, that
was not his primary goal.
(b) How did the strategoi come to have more power and influence than the archons?
© 2016 The Lukeion Project
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