Test your basic knowledge |

CLEP Western Civilization Ancient Greece

Subjects : clep, history
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. ____ (c. 469-399 B.C.E.) - an ancient Greek philosopher who is credited with laying the foundation for Western philosophy - emphasized the welfare of the soul and believed that knowledge was gained through divine dispensation rather than through inst






2. Many Mycenaens who were overrun by Dorian Greeks fled to Anatolia and established Greek culture in an area called ___.






3. The word '____' came from a battle in 490 B.C.E. in Attica in which greatly outnumbered Athenians defeated the Persian army under emperor Darius I and afterward - a messenger ran 26 miles to report this remarkable victory






4. The Athenians were defeated in 413 B.C.E. after Alcibiades - Pericles' nephew - led them in a failed invasion of Spartan allies at the city of ____ in Sicily.






5. In 499 B.C.E. - the Ionian Greeks in Anatolia - who had been invaded by the Persians in 546 B.C.E. - rebelled against Persian control and were aided by the city-state ___ on the Greek mainland.






6. A characteristic of the religion of the ancient Greeks






7. Aristotle opposed ____ as a form of good government but rather - divided government into three types with the ideal rule by the majority - 'polity -' for the good of the people.






8. The Greek poet ___ (518-438 B.C.E.) is known for his poetic odes of victory for purposes of athletic contests.






9. ___ was a philosophical school of thought in Hellenistic culture that proposed that morality was relative and questioned the existence of any philosophical certainty.






10. Greek historian ____ (c. 460-400 B.C.E.) - recounts the Peloponnesian Wars in an impartial manner in which he interviews contenders on either side.






11. An elected board that was active in foreign policy and monitored the kings' and generals' exercise of military authority - Assembly of all male citizens over age 30 - two kings with limited authority - Voting using precise counts






12. In 546 B.C.E. the Nobleman ____ emerged into power in Athens during a time of revolutionary unrest and worked to reform the structure of society and replacing the aristocratic brotherhoods (phratries) who ruled the Council with the demes (townships o






13. Athens was made into a complete democracy under the ruler Pericles and entered into a time of prosperity known as the ___ Age of Athens.






14. As the population and trade both increased and farming declined in the ____ Greek period - a large spread developed between the rich and the poor leading to threats of anarchy between classes






15. Homer's epic poem the ___ describes the siege of Troy by the Mycenaeans.






16. Plato's student ___ (384-322 B.C.E.) founded a school in Athens known as the Lyceum in which he taught many subjects and a form of logic that could be applied to all studies.






17. Greek ____ was generally used to honor the gods - originally involved a chorus (group of singers) alternating verse with a single leader - and grew to include dialogue between actors






18. The ________ Wars (431-404 B.C.E.) are generally thought of as an attempt of Sparta - whose military power was land-based - to prevent rival Athens - whose military power was sea-based - from taking over all of Greece.






19. In the fifth century B.C.E. - Greek ruler Pericles ordered the construction of the ___ - a temple to the goddess Athena - on the hill known as the Acropolis.






20. ___ of Miletus (c. 600 B.C.E.) - who believed that water was the universal substance behind all things - was the earliest known Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher.






21. Ancient Greek philosopher ____ (c. 500 B.C.E.) was the first individual in the Western world to create a forceful philosophical system and was preoccupied with the universality of change.






22. Like Draco - ___ (594 B.C.E.) was elected as archon and given a great deal of power to deal with the agrarian crisis facing Athens.






23. The Delian League led to the formation of the Athenian Empire as Athens - led by the general _____ conquered city-states who attempted to secede from the league; the Delian League treasury was moved from Delos to Athens in 454 B.C.E






24. Greek poet ___ (c. 700 B.C.E.) wrote the Theogony - a work describing the birth of the gods - and Works and Days - which tells about the life of a farmer






25. In order to continue the work of Socrates - Plato also founded a school in Athens called the ____ - a school which was the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.






26. The Greek tragedies of playwright _____ (c.480-406 B.C.E.) lack the moral and religious concerns of other tragedians - but rather - restructured the traditional Athenian tragedy and focused on the inner lives and motives of his characters.






27. Pottery - which was influenced by the Mycenaean - mainly includes pottery on vases with scenes depicting anything from mythological events to everyday life.






28. After the formerly illiterate Greeks acquired literacy through trading contacts with a group known as the ____ - they were able to write down and record early poetry - which has been passed down through the generations as oral traditions.






29. The Greeks prevented further westward expansion of the Persian empire when they defeated the army of King Xerxes at the battle of ___ in 480 B.C.E.






30. The most well known Greek writer of comedies was ____ (c. 450-385 B.C.E.) - a playwright who used the medium of a comedy to make fun of other Athenians






31. After unifying Greece - Macedonian King Philip II created the League of ____ as federation of Greek city-states as self-ruling entities who were required to give allegiance to Macedon and facilitate King Philip's use of military forces in foreign aff






32. An elected board that was active in foreign policy and monitored the kings' and generals' exercise of military authority - Assembly of all male citizens over age 30 - two kings with limited authority






33. While the Athenian Draco is known for his strict 'Draconian' law codes - Solon is known for the _____ which he brought to Athens; Solon structured Athenian government into a Council of 400 members (boule) - a general Assembly (ekklesia) - and public






34. The Lycurgan code of which Greek city-state dictated that all males ages 7 to 30 live in military barracks and undergo military training?






35. In order to deal with the socio-economic crisis occurring in Athens during the seventh century B.C.E. - a certain man known as _____ was given a tyrant-like status; this leader was faced with revolutionary-type violence and responded with a severe la






36. When other methods failed to bring social conflicts - the polis would use a ___ - an individual given complete power in order to restore the polis - to mediate.






37. ____ (496-406 B.C.E.) was an ancient Greek tragedian who wrote several plays including Oedipus and Antigone which each address moral and religious issues; this playwright wrote from the perspective that humans were born into a world that lacks knowle






38. Sparta lead a system of alliances known as the ___ League that was composed of other city-states and served to guard Sparta from outside revolts and threats.






39. The Hellenistic system of philosophy known as ____ was founded by Zeno of Citium (c. 335-263 B.C.E.) in Athens and teaches that inner peace and clear-thinking could be obtained through self-control and suppression of passions - emotions - and desires






40. After the polis (city-state) of ____ decided to leave the Delian League in 465 B.C.E. - Athens invaded this city-state and overthrew its government as an example to others who may in the future try to leave the league.






41. King _____ __ (r. 359-336 B.C.E.) established the Macedonian empire and extended this empire to the Near East






42. ____ was the only Mycenaean Greek city state to survive when the Dorian Greeks invaded the Balkan Peninsula






43. Although the most impressive towns in early Greek civilization is at ____ - a site known for the Lion's Gate - its sculpted entryway - its huge 'Cyclopean' walls - and its royal tombs with beehive shaped interiors - other early Greek towns included A






44. Pericles' strategy against the Spartan invasion of Attica - the peninsula on which Athens was located - in 431 B.C.E. happened early in the...






45. After fighting with and enslaving neighboring Messenia - a Greek city-state known as Sparta came to control the...






46. Greek philosopher ________ (c. 530 B.C.E.) theorized that mathematical relationships could be use to describe all of reality; this philosopher is also believed to have coined the term 'philosopher -' stating that he was a 'lover of wisdom' and the mo






47. Cyrus the Great expanded his Persian empire into Greece in 546 B.C.E. when he gained control of a region in Asia minor known as ______.






48. As Greek military techniques changed from small - wealthy cavalry units to large infantry groups - soldiers who would buy spears and armor became known as hoplites who were organized into large units able known as ____ that were able to resist cavalr






49. During the transition in which the Mycenaens fled to Anatolia after being overrun by Dorian Greeks - their art of writing and related administrative skills were lost and thus - the cultural achievements of these Greeks declined leading to a historica






50. Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E. - many of the Greek city-states reasserted their independence and formed the ____ League as a confederation of city-states in the southern area of Greece.