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. Between 800 and 750 B.C.E. - a Greek cultural revival began and the ___ (city-state) emerged as the central unit of economic - social - and political structure and organization; these city-states were small - self-governing units






2. __________ (c. 310-250 B.C.E.) proposed a geocentric theory stating that the sun revolves around the earth.






3. Early Greek philosopher _____ (c. 400 B.C.E.) theorized that physical objects were composed of atoms (the Greek word atoma meant 'indivisible').






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






5. In order to protect themselves and neighboring city-states from future attacks from the Persians - the Athenians formed the ___ League (478 B.C.E.) - a naval alliance made up of over a hundred poleis (city-states) all located along the Aegean Sea sho






6. Following the Peloponnesian Wars - bickering continued between the Greek city-states in an effort for supremacy and Sparta could not remain strong enough to control all of Greece. Philip II of Macedon won the Battle of _____ after invading Greece in






7. 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.






8. 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.






9. 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






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






11. 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.






12. As the polis declined throughout the Hellenistic period - new religious ideas and mystery cults were brought into the region by armies returning from the Near East; the Persian cult ____ - in which religious practice centered around a cave or cavern






13. The ___ Sea became an important geographical core of Greek civilization in that it stood between the Balkan Peninsula and Anatolia; sea travel was much more efficient than land travel due to the terrain of the land surrounding this early Greek civili






14. 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.






15. 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






16. 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.






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






18. The socio-economic turmoil facing Athens in the seventh century B.C.E. affected these people the worst






19. ___ 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.






20. Temples were typically very flamboyant and elaborate and included architectural structures such as pediments - friezes - and sides made of fluted columns with Doric - Corinthian - or Ionic capitals. Statues from Classical Greece included lifelike thr






21. ________ - a philosophical school of thought prominent in the Hellenistic period - taught that the greatest good came from seeking modest pleasures in order to reach a state of tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia) and absence of bodily pain (






22. 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






23. The _____ Marbles - sculptures depicting battle scenes that originally decorated the pediments (the triangular sections enclosed above the columns and below the angled roof) of the Parthenon - were removed from this temple in the 19th century and tak






24. Greek philosopher Plato wrote _____ in order to recount - expound upon - and defend the philosophical methods of Socrates that had led to his trial and conviction






25. The ___ Method - which is perhaps Socrates' greatest contribution to Western philosophy - involves a didactic (answering a question with a question) method of examination to help an individual determine the extent of his or her knowledge and underlyi






26. Plato's Theory of ____ indicates that there is a higher realm that exists beyond the material - sensory world of our present reality and gives the empirical world its existence






27. 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.






28. 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






29. ___ - a blind poet who lived between 850 and 700 B.C.E. - has been attributed with writing the great Greek epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey






30. Which seventh century B.C.E. Greek poet devised the new poetic form of writing lyrics - short poems with themes that describe a certain human experience?






31. 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






32. Some of the greatest actors in the earliest form Greek drama - ____ - (sixth century B.C.E.) include Aeschylus - Sophocles - and Euripides; Athenians engaged in competitions for the best performers in this type of drama.






33. The ____ Empire was established by Alexander the Great's general Ptolemy after Alexander's death and included Egypt and Palestine.






34. 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






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






36. ____ (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






37. ___________ (c. 276-196 B.C.E.) calculated the circumference of the earth.






38. The ____ Kingdom - spanning from the original Macedonia - areas in Asia Minor - and Greece - was established following Alexander the Great's death by Alexander's general Antigonus.






39. Ionian Greek ___ (c. 484-425 B.C.E.) - the 'Father of History -' wrote an account of the conflicts between the ancient Greeks and the Persians.






40. ____________ - (c. 300 B.C.E) - the 'father of geometry' developed many geometrical theorems in his book called the Elements.






41. Greek culture established in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C.E. became known as '___' as later generations used it as a standard by which they could measure their own accomplishments; Greek culture influenced Roman literature - art - and language






42. 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 ______.






43. 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






44. 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






45. 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






46. 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






47. 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.






48. 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






49. 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






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