CLAS 150: Week Three

Key Terms, Dates, Individuals

Archaic Age ca. 800-500 BC        hoplite         hoplite phalanx        polis (pl. poleis)               agora 

oikos (pl. oikoi)        776 BC        Olympia        Olympic Games        symposium        Dionysus

Issues, Questions to Consider

• What factors were involved in the recovery of Greece during the Archaic Age?
• What effects did colonization have on Greek civilization?
• What are the basic features of hoplite warfare and the hoplite phalanx?  
• What were the demands and benefits of the hoplite phalanx?
• What are the differences between hoplite warfare and the conditions of combat as depicted in the Homeric poems?
• What were the social repercussions of the hoplite phalanx?
• The textbook discusses the "crisis of the old order."   What does the textbook mean by this, and what were some of the social and political pressures exerted by the "crisis of the old order?"
• How would you define polis?
• How was authority exerted in the polis?
• What reasons can you give for the development of the polis?
• What are some of the social and political consequences of the development of the polis?
• Describe the basic features of the Spartan polis.
• What general observations can you make about marriage in the Greek world?
• What constituted the oikos?
• What was the relationship between oikos and polis?
• What are some of the main features of athletics in Homeric society?
• How do athletics in the Archaic Age compare to athletics in Homeric society?
• What were the main athletic festivals?   Sports?
• Who competed in athletic festivals?  Why?
• What impact did athletic festivals have on Greek social and political life?
• What role did athletics have in the archaic polis?
• Describe the relationship between banquets, feasts in Homer and the aristocratic symposium.
• What rituals did the symposium entail?
• What are some of the social and political components of archaic symposium?