Humanities 251 Exam

The Greeks

Fall 2009

Dr. Robert Kibler’s class

• Part I Directions

• Identify the date, the event, the form (1 point), and note why important (1 point).

• 10 items

• Why do Ethiopian gods have dark skin and thick lips, and Thracian ones blond hair and green eyes? Why important?

• Death of Socrates and why important?

• Persian Wars and why important

• Antigone written this century and why important

• Thought fire the essential ingredient of the universe and why important?

• Define Hamartia and why important

• Peloponnesian War and why important

• Thucydide’s “Melian dialogue written and why important.

• Contrapposto and why important

• Who was born on the island of Chios, and why important?

• Part II Directions

• Identify the period (1 point), and three specific details which support your identification (4 points)

• 5 images

• Part III Directions

• Respond to the following passages, identifying the work or author (1 pt); the speaker (1 pt); the context (1 pt), and the greater value (2 points). Please remember to do all jobs.

• 5 passages

• Quite a little speech you’ve let slip through your teeth, Daughter. How could I forget godlike Odysseus? No other mortal has a mind like his, or offers sacrifice like him to the deathless gods in heaven.

• But hope is by nature an expensive commodity, and those who are risking their all on one cast [of the dice] find out what it means only when they are ruined.

• Far longer is there need I satisdy those nether Powers, than powers on earth; for there forever must I lie. You, if you will, hold up to scorn what is approved of Heaven!

• It was built of polished stone and surrounded by mountain lions and wolves, …drugged and bewitched….

• Myself, I drew my sharp sword and sat, keeping the feeble death-heads from the blood until I had questioned Tiresias.

30 Points

• Part IV Essay (20 minutes) Directions

• Respond in organized, specific, and thoughtfull prose to the following question, remembering to offer an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion:

• The Ancient Greeks often considered that a person was flawed if they suffered from hubris, or from hamartia. Using the Odyssey, Antigone, and either the Melian Dialogue or the general works of Sappho, consider the difference between hubris and hamartia as it is in evidence through the final outcomes of one character or group from each work. What do those outcomes say about what the Greeks admire? How do we consider such traits today, in our own world? Be specific, organized, and thoughtful. Good luck.

• Extra Credit 3 points each

• Identify #2, #7, and #9