Classical Studies 1003. Fall, 2001. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS. D. B. Levine
Study Questions:
ANCIENT GREECE, BY THOMAS R. MARTIN. CHAPTER 7:
CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS
1. Why is the first section of this chapter called OLD AND NEW IN THE ATHENIAN GOLDEN AGE? What is an example of the 'old', and what is an example of the 'new'?
2. What was the 'basic tenet of Greek religion?' (125)
3. How does Martin explain the gods' "love" for mortals in Greek belief?
4. What was a MIASMA? What caused it, and and how could it be done away with?
5. Why did Greek priests and priestesses not "guardians of theological orthodoxy"? (127)
6. What does Martin say about the calendar at Athens, as regards some of the gods? (127)
7. What do we learn about sacrifices in this chapter in terms of offerings, and the relationship between the community and the divine world? (127-128)
8. What were the steps in blood sacrifice? (128)
10. How was Theseus involved in hero cult at Athens? (128-129)
11. Briefly describe the Eleusinian Mysteries. (129)
12. What were the twelve plays chosen for production at the Athenian late-spring Dionysos festival? (130)
13. How was the performance of ancient Athenian tragedies different from modern theater production? (131)
14. What contributed to the "spectacle" of Athenian tragedy? (131)
15. What were the responsibilities of an author chosen to present his plays at the festival of Dionysos? (131)
16. What is remarkable about Aeschylus' epitaph? (131-132)
17. How does Sophocles' play AJAX use a mythological setting to portray a picture of a 5th-century Greek polis? (132)
18. What is remarkable about the portraits of women in Greek tragedies? Give two examples. (133-134)
20. Besides entertainment, what educative function might Athenian tragedies have had? (134-135)
21. What does Euripides' tragic character Melanippe say about the importance of women in Greek life? (135)
22. Explain Athenian dowry customs. (135-136)
23. How did inheritance for women operate in Athens? (136)
24. How much contact with the 'outside world' of men did upper-class Greek women have? How does this contrast with the experience of lower-class Greek women? (137)
25. What was an "andron"? (137)
26. Why and under what circumstances did upper-class Athenian women leave home? (137)
27. What would upper-class Greek women take pride in? (138-139)
28. How did Greek men feel about the paternity of their children? (138)
30. Who were "hetairai"? How did they live? What were they like? (139)
31. What was the basic level of literacy in Classical Athens? (140)
32. What does Martin mean when he speaks of the love between older men and boys as "more than just desire"? What does it have to do with education? (140-141)
33. Why does a character in Plato's Symposium say that an army of homosexual lovers would be undefeatable? (141)
34. What did 'sophists' do, and what was their reputation? Who was an important sophist, and what did he teach? (141-142)
35. What were two controversial views which sophists taught? (143)
36. How could rhetoric be used to help someone argue both sides of a case, as in the Dissoi Logoi? (Give three examples) (143-144)
37. Why did traditionalists and religious men fear the ideas of Leucippus and Democritus? (144-145)
38. What was the most important part of Hippocrates' teachings? To what extent were the gods involved? (145-146)