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. 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






2. 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






3. 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






4. 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.






5. ____ (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






6. ___ 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.






7. 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.






8. ________ - 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 (






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






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






11. ___ - 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






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






13. 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.






14. ____ (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






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






16. 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






17. 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






18. 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






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






20. 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.






21. 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.






22. As Phillip II and Alexander the Great extended the Macedonian empire to the Near East - the blending of eastern and western civilization led to a culture known as ____.






23. 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






24. 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






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 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.






27. 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






28. 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.






29. 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.






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






31. A characteristic of the religion of the ancient Greeks






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 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.






34. 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?






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






36. 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






37. A policy of ____ - exiling an individual for ten years - was used by the Athenians to make sure that no one politician gained too much power.






38. ____ of Cos (c. 460-377) - the 'Father of Medicine -' was an ancient Greek physician who rejected beliefs of supernatural forces inflicting illness and is known for his great advances in clinical medicine including the doctrines of clinical observati






39. 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.






40. 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






41. 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






42. 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






43. 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






44. 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.






45. ____ __ ____ assumed power of the Macedonian empire in 336 B.C.E. when his father - King Philip II - died from assassination and is remembered for his conquest of the Persian Empire in 328 B.C.E. and creation of the largest empire in the world until






46. 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






47. 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






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






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






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