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. Through a series of battles at land and at sea - the Athenians were able to defeat the Persians with the assistance of the city-state of _____.






2. 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.






3. ________ - 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 (






4. 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.






5. 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






6. ____ 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






7. ___ 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.






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






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






10. 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?






11. 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






12. 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






13. 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






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






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






16. 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






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






18. 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 ______.






19. ____ __ ____ 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






20. 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






21. 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.






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. 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.






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 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






26. 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






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. 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






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






31. Famous Greek sculptor ______ (c. 490-430 B.C.E.) was hired by Pericles to design the large statue of Athena inside the Parthenon.






32. 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






33. The plays of Aeschylus (c. 525-456 B.C.E.) - which have moral and religious themes - focus of ___ - exaggerated pride and self-confidence - that leads to individuals bringing nemesis - divine punishment - upon themselves.






34. 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






35. 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.






36. 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 ____.






37. 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






38. 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






39. 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






40. 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.






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






42. 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






43. 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






44. ____ (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






45. 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






46. 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






47. 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






48. 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.






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






50. 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