THE GREEK POLIS
This term describes the independent city-state that became the basic political unit of ancient Greece.
What is a polis?
This enormous empire invaded the Greek mainland during the Greco-Persian Wars.
What was the Persian/Achaemenid Empire?
This system of government allowed eligible citizens to participate directly in political decisions.
What is democracy?
This student of Socrates founded the Academy and wrote philosophical dialogues.
Who was Plato?
This long war pitted Athens and its allies against Sparta and its allies.
What was the Peloponnesian War?
This city-state became famous for its rigorous military society.
What is Sparta?
This 490 BCE battle ended with an unexpected Athenian victory over a Persian invasion force.
What was the Battle of Marathon?
This Athenian statesman became the dominant political leader of Athens during much of its Golden Age.
Who was Pericles?
This philosopher became famous for challenging people through persistent questioning. So much so, his philosophy was an early and foundational precursor to the scientific method.
Who was Socrates?
This devastating disease killed thousands of Athenians, including Pericles, during the Peloponnesian War.
What was the Plague of Athens?
This city-state became famous for democracy, philosophy, theater, and a powerful navy.
What is Athens?
This Spartan king led a small Greek force in a legendary stand against Xerxes at Thermopylae.
Who was Leonidas?
This magnificent temple to Athena was constructed on the Athenian Acropolis.
What is the Parthenon?
This student of Plato later became tutor to Alexander the Great and Ptolemy I.
Who was Aristotle?
This disastrous Athenian military expedition against a city in Sicily destroyed a huge army and fleet.
What was the Sicilian Expedition?
This elevated fortified hill containing important temples formed the sacred center of many Greek cities.
What is an acropolis?
This narrow pass became the site of the famous Spartan stand against the Persian army in 480 BCE.
What is Thermopylae?
This alliance originally created to continue resistance against Persia eventually became dominated by Athens.
What is the Delian League?
This historian wrote about the Greco-Persian Wars and is often called the “Father of History.”
Who was Herodotus?
This northern kingdom eventually exploited the weakness of the divided Greek city-states.
What is Macedon?
This public marketplace and gathering place served as a center of political, commercial, and social life.
What is the agora?
This naval battle in 480 BCE shattered much of Xerxes’ fleet and helped save Greece from Persian conquest.
What was the Battle of Salamis?
Athens increasingly transformed the Delian League into this, collecting tribute and controlling its allies.
What is the Athenian Empire?
This historian’s detailed account of the Peloponnesian War emphasized evidence, politics, and human decision-making.
Who was Thucydides?
This Macedonian king defeated an alliance of Greek city-states at Chaeronea in 338 BCE.
Who was Philip II?