Study Guide for Chapter 2: Early Greece
Directions: Use the questions, list of artworks, and terms below to help you grasp the key
information in reading Chapter 2. Be sure you can accurately answer each one.
Introduction:
1. What two epic poems became the first great works of literature of early Greece?
2. What war marks the end of the period of early Greece and the beginning of the Classical
period?
Homer and the Heroic Age
3. What was the polis? In what sense was the polis both the glory and the ruin of Greek
civilization?
4. What book in Greek religion was the equivalent of the Old and New Testaments?
5. Which Greek deity represented the father of the gods? Which deity was the daughter of Zeus
and the goddess of wisdom? Who was the goddess of love and beauty?
6. What tow opposing aspects of Greek civilization were represented by Apollo and Dionysus?
Are the two forces represented by Apollo and Dionysus also part of our “human nature”? How
so?
7. Which Greek god represented supreme good? Supreme evil?
8. For the ancient Greeks, what was the role of art and literature in examining the problems of
human morality?
9. Who was the first known author in the history of western literature? What were his
achievements?
10. Which Greek epic tells the story of the siege of Troy (Ilium)?
11. What was the lesson of the anger of Achilles (and other mortals)?
12. According to Zeus in Book 1 of The Odyssey, why is it unjust for men to blame the gods for
human suffering?
Art, Architecture, and Music
13. Why is painted pottery emphasized in the study of the first three hundred years of Greek art?
14. What was the meander found on Greek geometric pottery?
15. By the eighth century B. C. E., what had become the principal subject of Greek art?
16. What was the purpose of the amphora (fig. 2.2) with a hole in its base?
17. What figures are found on the main decorative band of the Dipylon Amphora (fig. 2.3) to
reinforce the belief that this was used as a grave marker?
18. How did the technique of red-figured style vases compare with the earlier black-figured
technique?
19. What facial expression is found on the Peplos Kore (fig. 2.10)?
20. How did the clothing of the kouros differ from that of the kore?
21. What is the difference between high relief and low relief sculpture?
22. In architecture, what style or order is associated with the Archaic period of Greece? The
Classical period? With Roman architecture?
23. In Doric architecture, what were the triglyphs? The metopes?
24. How did the Doric differ from the Ionic style or order of architecture in terms of the base, the
capital, and the frieze?
25. In Greek music, what was the doctrine of ethos?
Early Greek Literature, Philosophy, and History
26. Who was the first woman to leave a literary record of her personal feelings and opinions in lyric
poetry?
27. What is the literal meaning of the word “philosophy”?
28. What is the subject of each of the following branches of philosophy: Logic, Political
Philosophy, Aesthetics, Ethics, Epistemology, and Metaphysics?
29. Which Presocratic philosopher tried to explain all phenomena in terms on one or more material
elements? Which one believed that mathematical relationships represented the underlying
principle of the universe? Which one believed that our world was subject to constant change
(“It is not possible to step into the same river twice.”)? Which one taught that “Man is the
measure of all things”?
30. Why did the Persian king Darius invade Greece?
31. What were the famous “wooden walls” of Athens?
32. Who was the first Greek historian (the “Father of History”)? What was the title of his famous
work?
33. According to Herodotus, why were the Persians defeated? What Greek word does he use for
his explanation? What is the English translation of this word?
34. What new age in Greek history began with the Greek victory in the Persian Wars?
Define or Identify
Polis
Homer
Iliad
Odyssey
Apollo
Dionysus
Geometric Art
Meander pattern
Black-figured Vases and Red-figured Vases
Relief (high and low)
Architectural Styles: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
Frieze: Triglyph and Metopes
Sappho
Presocratic Philosophers: Thales of Miletus, Pythagoras, Heracleitus, Protagoras
Herodotus
Significant Works to Remember
Kouros, c. 530 B. C. E.
Peplos Kore, c. 530 B. C. E.
Iliad
Odyssey
History of the Persian Wars
Key Terms
Atomists
Aulos
Black-figure
Red-figure
Cithara
Dithyramb
Dorian
Dualists
Ethos
Hubris
Kore
Kouros
Meander
Octave
Paean
Philosophy
Polis
Phrygian
Presocratics