Greek Civilization/History Exam #2 Primary Source Passages

In this passage Herodotus describes the origins of the conflict between the people living in the east and the west

According to learned Persians, it was the Phoenicians who caused the conflict. Originally, these people came to our sea from the Red Sea, as it is known. No sooner had they settled in the land they still inhabit than they turned to overseas travel. They used to take Egyptian and Assyrian goods to various places, including Argos, which was at that time the most important state, in all respects, in the country which is now called Greece. Once, then, the Phoenicians came to Argos and began to dispose of their cargo. Five or six days after they arrived, when they had sold almost everything, a number of women came down to the shore, including the King’s daughter, whose name (as the Greeks agree too) was Io, the daughter of Incanus. These women were standing around the stern of the ship, buying any items which particularly caught their fancy, when the Phoenicians gave the word and suddenly charged at them. Most of the women got away, but Io and some others were captured. The Phoenicians took them on their ship and sailed away for Egypt.

In this passage from Herodotus, ______ ,the tyrant of Miletus delivers an important message to the messenger sent by Periander.

Thrasybulus

Meanwhile, every time he saw an ear of grain standing higher than the rest, he broke it off and threw it away, and he went on doing this until he had destroyed the choicest, tallest stems in the crop.

This passage from Herodotus preserves the oracle that led the people of Corinth to believe that they must kill ________.

Cypselus

An eagle conceives in a rocky place and will bear a lion - A strong, savage lion which will loosen the knees of many. Beware, Corinthians, beware, you inhabitants of cragge Corinth, near fair Peirene.

In this passage from Herodotus, Periander recieves a message when he tries to locate the funds of a dead friend.

The ghost of Melissa appeared and said that she wouldn’t indicate or reveal where the money was, because she was cold and naked; the clothes Periander had buried her in were no use, the ghost explained, unless they were burnt. As proff of the fact that she really was who she said she was, she said that Periander had put his loaves into a cold oven.

In this passage from Herodotus, the sister of Lycophron tries to persuade him to take over as tyrant in _____. 

Corinth

Come home; stop punishing yourself. Stubborn pride warps a person, and two wrongs don’t make a right. There are plenty of precedents for doing what is reasonable rather than what is strictly right - and also plenty of cases where siding with the mother has meant losing a paternal inheritance. Absolute power is difficult and dangerous; there are always lots of people who lust after it, and he is an old man now, past his prime. Don’t give other the good things in life which are rightfully yours.

In this poem, written by 7th century BCE poet ______, includes Homeric language, but the ideas are un-Homeric as they are more reflective of lyric poetry. 

Mimnermus

What is life, what is pleasure, without golden Aphrodite? May I die when these things no longer matter: secret intercourse and soothing gifts and bed, which are flowers of youth to be plucked by men and women. But when painful old age comes to one, which makes a man both shameful and sordid, evil cares always oppress his heart, nor does he enjoy beholding the light of the sun; instead he is hateful to boys, contemptible to women. So bitter a thing the god made old age. 

This poem was written by Archilochus

Some Thracian sports my splendid shield: I had to leave it in a wood, but saved my skin. Well, I don’t care - I’ll get another just as good. 

This poem was written by Anacreon

Thracian filly, why do you, looking at me with suspicious eyes, evade me pitilessly, and assume that I have no skills? Listen to me: I could easily throw a bridle upon you and working the reins bend you around the limits of the course. As it is, you graze in the meadows and frisk, lightly prancing, for you don’t have an expert rider upon you, one who knows horses. 

This poem was written by Theognis

Boy, master your feelings and listen to me. I will make a statement neither persuasive nor unpleasing to your heart. Make yourself grasp this word with your mind: it is not necessary to do what is not in accordance with your desire.

This poem was written by Sappho

Intricate, undying Aphrodite, snare-weaver, child of Zeus, I pray thee, do not tame my spirit, great lady, with pain and sorrow. But come to me now if ever before you heard my voice from afar and leaving your father’s house, yoked golden chariot and came. Beautiful sparrows swiftly brought you to the murky ground with a quick flutter of wings from the sky’s height through clean air. They were quick in coming. You, blessed goddess, a smile on your divine face, asked what did I suffer, this time again, and why did I call, this time again, and what did I in my frenzied heart most want to happen.

This passage was written by Xenophanes

But if cattle and horses and lions had hands or drew with their hands and completed works like men, horses would draw images of their gods that were like horses and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodied like the bodies each of them had.

In this passage, Thucydides discusses the differences between Sparta and other cities in terms of archaeological remains.

If, for example, Sparta were to be deserted and only the temples and the foundation of the buildings remained, I imagine that people in the distant future would seriously doubt that Sparta’s power ever approached its fame…The Spartans never developed one metropolitan area or built lavish temples and buildings but rather live in scattered settlements in the old-fashioned Greek way.

In this passage, Xenophon explains why he has written a document in which he describes the Spartan way of life.

Lycurgus, who gave them the laws that they obey, and to which they owe their prosperity, I do regard with wonder, and I think that he reached the utmost limit of wisdom. For it was not by imitating other states, but by devising a system utterly different from that of most others, that he made his country pre-eminently prosperous.

In this passage, Xenophon explains how Spartan men prepare for battle.

The following arrangements made by Lycurgus with a view to the actual fighting are also, in my opinion, very useful. When a goat is sacrificed, the enemy being near enough to see, custom ordains that all the fluteplayers present are to play and every Lacedaemonian is to wear a wreath. An order is also given to polish arms. It is also the privilege of the young warrior to comb his hair before entering battle, to look cheerful and earn a good report.

In this passage, Xenophon describes a custom carried out at the Temple of Artemis.

He made it a point of honour to steal as many cheeses as possible, but appointed others to scourge the thieves, meaning to show thereby that by enduring pain for a short time one may win lasting fame and felicity. It is shown herein that where there is need of swiftness, the slothful, as usual, gets little profit and many troubles. 

In this passage, Xenophon describes the comportment of young men between the ages of fourteen and twenty. 

Moreover, wishing modesty to be firmly rooted in them, he required them to keep their hands under their cloaks, to walk in silence, not to look about them, but to fix their eyes on the ground. The effect of this rule has been to prove that even in the matter of decorum the male is stronger than the female sex.

In this passage, Xenophon describes the conditions in which young men between the ages of twenty and thirty lived. 

He believed, therefore, that if he could match the young men together in strife of valour, they too would reach a high level of manly excellence. I will proceed to explain, therefore, how he instituted matches between the young men. 

In this passage from Herodotus, Solon addresses Croesus, the king of Lydia.

You see, someone with vast wealth is no better off than someone who lives from day to day, unless good fortune attends him and sees to it that, when he dies, he dies well and with all his advantages in tact. After all, plenty of extremely wealthy people are unfortunate, while plenty of people with moderate means are lucky. 

This poem was written by Solon. 

I have made laws, for the good man and bad alike, and shaped a rule to suit each case, and set it down. Had someone else not like myself take the reins, some ill-advised or greedy person, he would not have held the people in. Had I agreed to do what pleased their adversaries at that time, or what they themselves planned to do against their enemies, our city would have been widowed of her men.