CLAS 150: Week Seven

Key Terms, Dates, Individuals

Aeschylus        Sophocles        Euripides        City (or Great) Dionysia        choregoi        liturgy

Theatre of Dionysus        Creon        Antigone        Ismene        Haemon         Sophists        Gorgias

dissoi logoi        physis vs. nomos        Socrates        Plato        Aristotle        Aristophanes (The Clouds)

Strepsiades        Pheidippides        Demosthenes

peltast        Macedonia        Philip II        Battle of Chaeronea 338 BC        Alexander 356-323 BC

Battle of Granicus River, Issus, Tyre, Gaugamela        Hellenistic Period        Antigonid Kingdom

Ptolemaic Kingdom        Seleucid Kingdom        Pergamene Kingdom 

Issues, Questions to Consider

• How can we contextualize the development of tragedy within the historical circumstances of the sixth century?
• How was the City Dionysia organized?   For example, how many days did it last?  On what days were the tragedies performed (and how many)?   When were the comedies performed (and how many)?
• Describe the production of a Greek tragedy.   Who organized the productions?   Who paid for them?
• How were the productions of Greek tragedy judged?
• Who watched the tragedies?   What can we say about the audiences?
• Give a general synopsis of Sophocles' Antigone.
• Evaluate the character of Antigone.
• Evaluate the character of Creon.
• What does each of these characters stand for?   What bonds, laws does each prioritize?
• Contextualize the concerns of Creon and Antigone within the historical circumstances of sixth and fifth century Athens.
• Discuss the changing basis for "success" and "leadership" in the fifth century.
• Who were the Sophists?   What did they teach?   Why?
• Discuss the physis vs. nomos debate.
• Why was Socrates associated with the Sophists?
• How is Socrates depicted in Aristophanes' The Clouds?
• Is this a fair depiction?
• What was the state of Athens, Thebes, Sparta after the Peloponnesian War and at the beginning of the fourth century?
• What is the basis of the "military revolution" as discussed in chapter 5 of Nagle?   How were the changing circumstances, needs of war different from the state of affairs in the fifth century?
• What sort of advantages did Macedonia have in the political and military climate of the fourth century?
• What were some of Philip II's strengths?    What was his strategy, policy regarding Greece?
• Make sure you are able to discuss, even briefly, Alexander's campaigns against Darius.
• Make sure you are able to discuss, even briefly, Alexander's campaigns in central Asia.
• How can we characterize Alexander as a general?  Statesman?  Ruler?
• What happens to the territory conquered by Alexander after his death?