Greek Achievement Midterm 1: Study Guide

NOTE: all students must purchase and bring to the test a blue book. This is a small booklet with a blue cover which you can buy in the University bookstore. DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON THE BOOK. You will turn in the book and receive another book with the department stamp, in which you will write your test answers. This is done for security reasons.

Part 1 (10): quotations. Identify the SPEAKER in two quotations. Here are some SAMPLE quotations.
A Peleus was never your father
Or Thetis your mother. No, the grey sea spat you out
Onto crags in the the surf, with an icy scab for a soul.
What is is? If some secret your mother
Has learned from Zeus is holding you back,
At least send me out, let me lead a troop
Of Myrmidons and light the way for our army.”
___________________
B. So come inside the wall, my boy.
Live to save the men and women of Troy.
Don’t just hand Achilles the glory
And throw your life away. Show some pity for me
Before I go out of my mind with grief.
____________________
C. You poor man. You can stop grieving now
and pining away. I’m sending you home.
Look, here’s a bronze axe. But some long timbers
And make yourself a raft fitted with topdecks
Something that will get you across the sea’s misty spaces.
I’ll stock it with fresh water, food, and red wine.
____________________

Part 2: Essay (50). You will choose one essay topic from a list of three. Be sure to give examples wherever possible. Writing an outline first is helpful for most students. Here are some sample questions. One of more of these will definitely be on the test.

1. Describe the three cultures of the Bronze Age Aegean. What did they have in common and how were they different? Be sure to mention famous sites and their excavators.
2. "The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War." Agree or disagree and discuss.
3. List and discuss at least 4 important changes in Greek culture that were made by the end of the "Dark Age"?
4. What is oral poetry? Describe some of the conventions of oral poetry and give examples.
5. What are some important thematic differences between the Iliad and the Odyssey?
6. Discuss the female figures in the Odyssey. How is their treatment different from what we find in the Iliad?
7. What was a polis? Describe the archaic polis in Sparta, Corinth and Athens.

Part 3: ID's (30). You will pick SIX out of ten and identify as fully as possible in the time permitted. Answers of one or two words will receive minimal credit. IDs may include authors of works we read, characters from stories, and key terms from lectures. Here are some SAMPLE IDs.
Arthur Evans
Hesiod
ekphora
Knossos
Theognis
Kirke
Nausicaa
in medias res
Muses
Gaia
hoplite
Solon

Part 4 Slides (10) : the slides will be shown in the middle of the period, after all latecomers have arrived. You will be asked specific questions about each slide. For example:
Name the Bronze Age culture that produced this object [i.e., Minoan, Cycladic, Mycenaean].
Name the figure I am pointing to [for vase paintings with figures].
What is happening in this scene on a Geometric vase? [e.g. a funeral].