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The Western Experience, 8/e

Mortimer Chambers, University of California - Los Angeles
Barbara Hanawalt, Ohio State University
Theodore Rabb, Princeton University
Isser Woloch, Columbia University
Raymond Grew, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The Forming of Greek Civilization

Problems for Analysis

I. Crete and Early Greece


1		Compare the Cretan and Mycenaean civilizations. What evidence is there for contact between these two civilizations?



2		In what ways did Greece enter a Dark Age between 1100 and 800? Was this an unmitigated disaster? Why?

II. The Greek Renaissance


3		Analyze the religious and cultural importance of the Homeric epics.



4		In what ways did colonization lead to significant changes in Greek economic, social, and political life?



5		How do the main themes of Archaic literature relate to the concerns of modern life?

III. The Polis


6		How was the polis organized?



7		Compare Sparta and Athens. What were the advantages and disadvantages of the various political and social choices these two city-states made?



8		Trace the development of more democratic institutions in Athens. What were the main problems in shaping this development?

IV. The Challenge of Persia


9		How do you explain the Greek victory over the Persians, despite the overwhelming odds?

V. The Wars of the Fifth Century


10		How was Athens able to rise to such a position of leadership in the Greek world? How did its role in the Persian War contribute to this? How important was Pericles?



11		Considering that Athens survived and remained independent, what was so particularly disastrous about the Peloponnesian War?



12		What does Athens' conduct before and during the Peloponnesian war suggest about the nature of democracy?

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