Greece/Rome Study Guide
                                                            Ch. 5 and 6
1. A British archaeologist who unearthed the ruins called this civilization the Minoans, after the legendary King, Crete. The importance of the Minoans location was that they had contact with Egypt and Mesopotamia, which acquired them to get ideas and technology that they soon adapted to their own culture. 

2. The Spartans location was important because they were isolated from other Greeks. They looked down on trade and wealth forbade their own citizens to travel and had little use of new ideas for the arts.

3. The Trojan War was fought outside the city’s well-defended walls in Troy, which was located in Turkey.

4. The geography of Greece helped to shape the river valley civilizations early. This also created many small city-states that each included a city. These small city-states were cut off from one another by land or water.

5. The Persians crushed rebel cities. They outnumbered Athenian forces two to one. Persians marched south and burned Athens. The Athenians still dominated later in the war.

6. The Peloponnesian War was fought between the Athenians and Spartans. This was a 27-year war that engulfed all of Greece. Athenians had disadvantages, and Sparta could not be attacked because they were inland. Finally in 404 B.C. with the help of the Persian navy Spartans captured Athens, which ended Athenian greatness.

7. Greek theater origins started with Greek literature that began with the epics of Homer. The first Greek plays evolved out of religious festivals. Plays were performed outdoors in large cities gouged out of the sides of hills.

8. Alexander the Great had many achievements. He won victory against the Persians at the Granicus River. Alexander conquered lands from Africa to Asia. In 331 he took Babylon, then seized the Persian capitals. Most lasting achievement was that he spread Greek culture. 

9. The cities of the Hellenistic world employed armies of architects and artists, schools of philosophy. The age saw important advances in the sciences and mathematics. Alexandria, Egypt, became the center of trade and learning in the Hellenistic world.

10. Greece is part of the Balkan Peninsula that extends southward into the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Mountains divide the peninsula into the isolated valleys. Seas provided a vital link to the world outside.

11. An oligarchy is a government in which ruling power belongs to a few people. As trade expanded, a new middle class of wealthy merchants, farmers, and artisans emerged in some cities. They challenged the landowning nobles for power and came to dominate some city-states. This result was a form of government called an oligarchy.

12. A democracy is the government by the people. Merchants, and soldiers resented the power of the nobles and demanded change. Many farmers were forced to sell their land to the nobles.

13. Spartan childhoods were very military like. From childhood a Spartan prepared to be part of a military state. At the age of 7 boys began training.

14. Athens’ golden age was when they were very successful in their government. The Greek culture was also very united.

15. Aristotle’s meritocracy was that he analyzed all kinds of government- from monarchy to aristocracy to democracy. He favored rule by a single strong and virtuous leader.

16. Some of the Greek’s values were that they loved their theaters and literature. They also valued their culture very much. 


Chapter 6
1. Augustus ruled from 31 B.C. to A.D. 14. Augustus exercised absolute power of the Romans. He helped Rome recover from the long period of Civil War. Augustus created an efficient, well-trained civil service charged with enforcing the laws. The government that Augustus organized functioned well over 200 years.

2. Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman, who laid the foundation of the Roman imperial system. He was one of the most influential political leaders in history. The Civil War in 40 B.C. made him the absolute ruler of Rome.

3. Hannibal was selected as leader of the Carthaginian army when his father passed away. In 218 B.C. he embarked on one of the most daring military expeditions in history, across the Alps.

4. Jesus, a Jew, was the founder of Christianity. Jesus was born in Jerusalem. He worshipped God and followed Jewish law. Jesus and his disciples spread the message, which were his teachings.

5. Paul was a Jew from Asia Minor, who began the wider spread of Christianity. Paul had never seen Jesus, then one day he had a vision in which Jesus spoke to him. He immediately converted to the new faith, and then spread Jesus’ teachings beyond Jewish communities.

6. Odoacer was a Germanic leader that ousted the emperor of Rome. He came after the fall of Rome.

7. Ptolemy was an astronomer-mathematician who proposed his theory that the earth was the center of the universe, an idea that was accepted in the western world for nearly 1,500 years.

8. Virgil, wrote the epic poem the Aeneid. He tried to show that Rome’s past was as heroic as that of Greece.

9. Martyrs were people who suffer or die from their beliefs. Over the centuries, thousands of Christians became martyrs.

10. A mercenary was a foreign soldier serving for pay, to defend its borders. These people were Romans.

11. Messiah was Mary’s son, or savior sent by God, and soon appear to lead the Jewish people to freedom. According to the Gospels, an angel had told Jesus’ mother, Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah. “He will be great,” said the angel, “and he will be called the son of God.”

12. Patricians were members of the landholding upper class. In the early republic, the most powerful governing body was the senate, and its 300 members were all patricians.

13. A Plebian is a farmer, merchant, artisan, or trader that made up the majority of the Roman population. They had very little rights in regard to the republic, but soon broke through and gained rights to the laws.

14. An Aqueduct was a bridge like stone structure that brought water from the hills into the Roman Cities. Roman engineers built immense aqueducts.

15. Heresies were beliefs said to be contrary to official Church teachings. The church also sent out missionaries both within the Roman Empire and beyond to convert people to Christianity.

16. A legion was a basic unit made up of 5,000 men. Roman armies consisted of citizen-soldiers who fought without pay and supplied their own weapons.

17. A republic is a government in which officials were chosen by the people. Romans thought that a republic would keep any individual from gaining to much power.

18. A sect is a small group within Judaism. At first Christianity remained a sect, and then Paul began the wider spread of the new faith