Greeks

T   F  ​1)  When the Persian King Xerxes attacked Greece in 480 BC, he had assembled,

​perhaps, the largest and most sophisticated army in the world, up to that time.  

T   F​2)  The Persian Empire was very large, extending from India to Egypt.

T   F​3)  Though Persia was very large in 480 BC, they were almost evenly matched in size by

​the Greek world, if one included both the Spartan and Athenian empires.

T   F​4)  One motivation that Xerxes may have had for his attack was Athens support of a

​rebellion against Persia, 25 years earlier.

T   F​5)  At the Battle of Thermopylae, the Greeks are outnumbered at about 50 to 1.

T   F​6)  At the Battle of Thermopylae, only 300 Greeks (Spartans) are set against the Persians.

T   F​7)  Thermopylae was chosen as the battle site by the Greeks because it is a small pass, in

​which a small force could hold off a larger one.

T   F​8)  Leonidas is the brilliant but doomed commander of the Persians under King Xerxes.

_____​9)  Who is one of the earliest Greek historians?  A)  Plato;  B)  Herodotus;  C) Leonidas;

​D)  Archimedes;  E)  Burtonus.

T   F​10)  Though Xerxes had a huge land force, he was continually hampered because he had

only a tiny fleet of ships.

T   F​11)  Just as important for the Greeks on land at Thermopylae is the control of the

​Artemesium Straits, for if they are lost, the Persian fleet can land and attack Thermopylae

​from behind.

T   F​12)  The Admiral in charge of the Greek (Athenian) fleet is:  A)  Herodotus;  

B)  Leonidas; C)  Themistocles;  D)  Archimedes;  E)  Halsey.

SPARTAN LIFE

T   F​13)  The Spartan State would inspect every baby born, and if it were imperfect, it would

​be exposed on a hillside to die.

T   F​14)  Everything is within state control in Sparta, from childbirth to death – all for the

state.

T  F​15)  Young boys were encouraged to fight and to never cry – there were even flogging

​“rituals” in which the last boy to withstand the whipping was highly honored.

T   F​16)  By their teen years, Spartan boys were trained killing machines, in fact, one did not

​become a man until he had snuck up on a Helot slave and murdered him, without being

​caught, of course.  (Nice rite of passage.)

T   F​17)  Spartan mothers were especially proud when their sons entered the army, telling

​them, “Come back with your shield, or on it,” which means, win or die in battle. [Thanks,

​Mom!]

T   F​18)  “Marriage” was sometimes simply a Spartan male “taking” (i.e., raping) a wife,

​unless she was tough enough to fight him off.

T   F​19)  As one can imagine from all this, the Spartans were not a very religious people.

T   F​20)  It is possible that the Oracle at Delphi was breathing in ethylene gas, bubbling up

​from underground, when she prophesied.   [Perhaps she was high!]

T   F​21)  The Oracle at Delphi was a priestess that would utter prophecies which were

​interpreted by priests to the questioner.

T   F​22)  The Oracle at Delphi told that the Persians will destroy Sparta unless a King of

​Sparta was killed – and Leonidas was a King.

PERSIANS

T   F​23)  The Persians combined infantry and cavalry in their army, in which the cavalry

would ride in the center to punch a hole through the enemy’s front line.

T   F​24)  The Ionian Revolt was Greek cities in modern day Turkey that revolted against the

​Persians.

T   F​25)  The baby democracy, Athens, sent help to the Greeks in the Ionian Revolt, and aided

​in burning a Persian city to the ground – the Persians do not forget this.

T   F​26)  In 490 BC at the battle of Marathon, the Athenians lose their first battle against the

​Persians – the Athenians do not forget this.

T   F​27)  One way that the Persian king trained his son, Xerxes, to be a good warrior was to

​turn a lion loose on him in a courtyard – kill or be killed.  [Thanks, Dad]

T   F​28)  To get across the Hellespont, Xerxes had a pontoon bridge made of a huge number

​of ships stretching over a mile, to march his gigantic army to the other side.

T   F​29)  When the Spartans were told by the Persian messenger that, unless they surrendered,

the Persians would fire so many arrows into the sky that they would block out the sun, a

Spartan replied, “Then we shall fight in the shade.”

T   F​30)  The Hoplite Phalanx was a tactic used against the Spartans, but it failed.

T   F​31)  The Spartans in their Hoplite Phalanx are well protected by shield and helmet, using

​stabbing spears as their primary weapon.

Artemesium Strait

T   F​32)  The Athenian, Themistocles, is the unsung hero of Thermopylae, because he holds

​the Artemesium Strait against the Persians, not allowing them to land behind the

​Spartans.

T   F​33)  It is because Themistocles is born in Athens, in a democracy, that he is able tocome

up from humble beginnings to be a military leader – i.e., you don’t have to be an

aristocrat in a democracy to be a leader.

T   F​34)  Unlike most politicians, Themistocles made sure to never lie to the Athenians,

​thus, he was able to convince them to build a large fleet against the Persians.

T   F​35)  A Trireme is a type of military siege weapon, similar to a catapult.

T   F​36)  Sea battles amongst the ancient Greeks were usually fought by trying to ram a hole

​into the side of the other ship with the pointy front of their own.

Thermopylae & Artemesium Straight (Day 2)

T   F​37)  The Persian crack infantry troops are called the Immortals -- 10,000 silent, masked

troops, carrying wicker shields.

T   F​38)  Because the front line held at Thermopylae, the Persians sent troops through the

​mountain pass to get BEHIND the Spartans.

T   F​39)  Only 300 Spartans stayed at Thermopylae, sadly, no other Greeks stayed behind to

​help.

T   F​40)  To prepare for the final battle, a Persian scout saw them doing something bizarre:  

​they were in the nude, putting oil on their bodies, and fixing their very long hair!

T   F​41)  The 300 Spartans, finally, LOSE the Battle of Thermopylae, and are all killed.

T   F​42)  After Thermopylae, Themistocles convinces the Athenians to abandon their city.

T   F​43)  The Persians burn Athens to the ground.

T   F​44)  Perhaps the most important battle is the Battle of Salamis, led by Themistocles, in

​which the Persian fleet is destroyed by the Athenians, allowing the land army to dwindle

​and withdraw from Greece.

T   F​45)  Without the defeat of the Persians, the Athenian democracy would have been

​destroyed and the Western way of thinking in art, philosophy, and science would,

​perhaps, have never come about.  [And thus you would not be taking this class.]