20 questions of different levels about Ancient Greece to test your knowledge of the topic.
Easy level
question 1
In Ancient Greece, the main city-states were
a) Babylon and Athens
b) Sparta and Rome
c) Babylon and Sparta
d) Athens and Sparta
e) Rome and Babylon
Correct alternative: d) Athens and Sparta
Athens and Sparta were the most important cities in Ancient Greece and they left a visible legacy to this day.
The other alternatives are not correct, as Rome is in Italy and Babylon was a city in Mesopotamia.
See too: Sparta and Athens
question 2
The religion of ancient Greece was
a) Christian
b) Jewish
c) Polytheist
d) Islamic
e) Buddhist
Correct alternative: c) Polytheist
The word “polytheist” means several gods. The ancient Greeks worshiped gods like Zeus, Apollo, Athena and Aphrodite.
a) WRONG. The Christian religion developed in Palestine many centuries later.
b) WRONG. The Jewish religion takes place in Palestine and for the tribes of Israel.
d) WRONG. Islam appears in the year 622 d. Ç. also long after this time.
e) WRONG. Buddhists are limited to Asia at this time.
question 3
The history of ancient Greece is divided into 4 periods that extends from century XX to century IV a. Ç.. Are they:
a) pre-Homeric, Homeric, Archaic and Classical
b) Greco-Roman, Doric, Homeric, Classical
c) Doric, Athenian, Classical and Hellenistic
d) Hellenistic, Homeric, Athenian and Classical
e) Greco-Roman, Pre-Homeric, Classical and Hellenistic
Correct alternative: a) pre-Homeric, Homeric, Archaic and Classical
The Homeric period, 20th-12th centuries a. a., includes/understands the stage of formation of the Greek towns. Then comes the Homeric, from 1150 BC. Ç. to 800 BC C., which designates a moment of organization of Greek society around autonomous nuclei.
On the other hand, the archaic period includes centuries VIII-VI a. Ç. and is characterized by the development of philosophy and the emergence of the Olympic Games. Finally, the classical period belongs to the V-IV centuries a. a., where Athens consolidates like one of the most important cities of the region.
question 4
Fill the gap: __________ was a political regime created and adopted in Athens in the period of Ancient Greece.
a) attic
b) democracy
c) dictatorship
d) monarchy
e) thalassocracy
Correct alternative: b) democracy
Democracy, a Greek word meaning “government of the people”, was the Athenian mode of government. Of course, it was very different from what we know today, but there was more political participation by the population compared to the political regimes in neighboring territories.
a) WRONG. Attica is a peninsula and also called the meeting of several Greek cities.
c) WRONG. The dictatorship, a regime of one person supported by the army, was not adopted by Athens as a political regime.
d) WRONG. The monarchy, a hereditary government regime, does not belong to the time or place in question.
e) WRONG. The thalassocracy (power of the seas) was the condition of dominating the seas militarily and was not the regime in force in Athens at the time.
See too: Athenian Democracy
question 5
War of the Peloponnese was a civil war that happened in Old Greece between 431 and 404 a. Ç. This military conflict lasted 27 years and ended with the victory of:
a) Thebes
b) Sparta
c) Athens
d) Crete
e) Persia
Correct alternative: b) Sparta
During the Battle of Egospotamos, the Spartans conquer Athens and this city falls into decay.
question 6
About the Greek polis, it is correct to state
a) Macedonia and Thebes were the most important cities.
b) The term “polis” in Greek means “society”.
c) They lacked autonomy and power.
d) Their social organizations were the same for all.
e) Represented the city-states of Ancient Greece.
Correct alternative: e) Represented the city-states of Ancient Greece.
The “polis”, a Greek word for city, was the center of political and economic decisions in Ancient Greece. Note that these cities were independent of each other, but united by common culture, religion and languages.
a) WRONG. Macedonia and Thebes were not the most important cities in Ancient Greece.
b) WRONG. The term "polis" means city and not society.
c) WRONG. Polis were independent of each other and only made alliances in case of war.
d) WRONG. Being independent, each had its own social organization.
See too: greek cops
question 7
In the city of Athens, only those who were born in the city were considered a citizen. Therefore, foreigners could not participate in the political decisions of the polis. The name given to foreigners was
a) fratricies
b) georgols
c) helots
d) metecos
e) eupatriate
Correct alternative: d) metecos
Only free men born in Athens were considered citizens. For this reason, women, slaves and foreigners were excluded from political life.
a) WRONG. Fratrias were social organizations from the Homeric period, like a tribe or clan.
b) WRONG. Georgols were part of the "genos" and were distantly related to the Pater familiae.
c) WRONG. The helots were serfs whose property belonged to the state.
e) WRONG. Eupatrids were the children and close relatives of the Pater familiae who were entitled to the best properties.
See too: Ancient Greece
Middle level
question 8
(Vunesp) Among the legacies of the Greeks of Classical Antiquity that remain in contemporary life, we can mention:
a) the conception of democracy with the participation of the universal vote.
b) the promotion of the fraternization spirit through sports and games.
c) the idealization and valorization of manual work in all its dimensions.
d) artistic values as an expression of the religious and Christian world.
e) urban planning according to the standards of the acropolis cities.
Correct alternative b) the promotion of the spirit of fraternization through sport and games.
The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece were a celebration of peace. The best warriors turned into athletes and played games to see who would be the best in the competition. This objective was recovered with the initiative of Baron de Coubertin in reviving the Olympic Games in Athens, in the year 1896.
a) WRONG. Democracy is an idea inherited from the Greeks, but universal suffrage will only be discussed and applied in the 20th century.
c) WRONG. The Greeks neither idealized nor valued manual work.
d) WRONG. The Greeks would not know Christianity until much later.
e) WRONG. Greek city planning was not imitated because it reminded the pagan world that Christianity wanted to avoid.
question 9
(Mackenzie) "The story goes that, with Athena's help, Epeus built a large wooden horse, where he hid warriors. Ulysses cunningly introduced him to Troy for the warriors to plunder. "In his work, the author turned the struggle for control of the Strait of Dardanelles (Helespont) into a conflict involving gods and heroes. The work and its author are:
a) The Republic - Plato.
b) Oedipus Rex - Sophocles.
c) The Iliad - Homer.
d) The Seven Against Thebes - Aeschylus.
e) The History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides.
Correct alternative: c) The Iliad - Homer.
Homer's The Iliad is the narrative of the war that involved several Greek kings to take the city of Troy.
As the dispute lasted several centuries, Ulysses, king of Ithaca, had the idea of putting his best Greek warriors inside a wooden horse and thus offering it as a gift to the Trojans. Once inside the city, the Greeks sacked it and opened the gate for the other soldiers to pass through.
a) WRONG. Plato's Republic is a philosophical dialogue.
b) WRONG. Oedipus-King, by Sophocles, is a tragedy that tells the story of King Oedipus who marries Jocasta, his mother.
d) WRONG. The Seven Against Thebes - Aeschylus is a tragedy that narrates the dispute for power between the brothers Oedipus and Polynices.
e) WRONG. Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War portrays this conflict and is considered the first western history book.
See too: Iliad
question 10
(PUC-Campinas) The decay of Greece, which began from the fourth century BC. C., is explained, among other factors, by the
a) absence of political unity and the struggles between city-states.
b) invasion of the Cretans in the city of Troy and the destruction of the Mycenaean civilization.
c) evolution of the polis that contributed to the development of the ideal of democracy in the Peloponnese region.
d) social organization of the city-states of Athens and Sparta, structured on the slave labor of individuals from Messinia.
e) isolationist posture developed by city-states unable to participate in maritime trade and, of course, without opportunities for economic development.
Correct alternative: a) absence of political unity and the struggles between city-states.
The city-states were rivals among themselves and this situation facilitated the conquest by an external enemy, as this one took advantage of internal discords to advance on them.
b) WRONG. It was not the Cretans who invaded Troy, nor was this invasion the cause of Greece's decay.
c) WRONG. Democracy was not the political regime of all city-states, so there was no such evolution.
d) WRONG. Although most of Sparta's slaves came from Messinia, the same was not true of Athens.
e) WRONG. This isolationist stance was already maintained by many cities. However, we need to note that they banded together when they were threatened. So, by itself, this does not explain the decay.
question 11
(UEMT) The weakening of Greek cities after the Peloponnesian War (431-404 a. C.), enabled the conquest of Greece by:
a) Byzantines
b) Hittites
c) Assyrians
d) Persian
e) Macedonians
Correct alternative: e) Macedonians
Macedonia ceases to be a pastoral society and sets out to conquer the Greek territories, with Felipe II and, later, with his son, Alexander the Great.
a) WRONG. The Byzantines would not be a powerful army until centuries later.
b) WRONG. The Hittites no longer existed as kingdoms at this time.
c) WRONG. This people did not go to war with the Greeks on this occasion.
d) WRONG. The Persians did not enter and fought the Greeks in this conflict either.
question 12
(UECE) Regarding the "League of Delos", which would be the basis of Athenian imperialism, we can correctly say:
a) resulted from the alliance of Greek and Persian cities against the Macedonian expansion.
b) intended to free some Greek cities, led by the city of Delos, from Spartan domination.
c) emerged from a process of subjection or domination exercised by Athens over the other cities of the League.
d) initially defined as a military alliance, which provided autonomy for its participants, reserving command of operations to Athens.
e) even though it is led by Athens, Sparta has a great influence on her.
Correct alternative: d) initially defined as a military alliance, which provided autonomy for its participants, reserving command of operations to Athens.
The League of Delos was a political-military alliance that brought together a series of Greek city-states, led by Athens, whose headquarters was at Delos and its main objective was to fight Sparta and conquer the cities that were under its influence.
a) WRONG. The League of Delos was an alliance of Greeks against Persians.
b) WRONG. The city of Delos was only the headquarters, as the leader of the league was Athens.
c) WRONG. The league came about due to the need for Greek cities to defend themselves from the Persians.
e) WRONG. Sparta was only part of the League of Delos at first and then withdrew, founding its own association.
question 13
(UNIFESP) “I never feared men who have a place in the center of their city to meet and deceive one another with oaths. With these words Cyrus insulted all the Greeks, for they have their agoras [squares] where they gather to buy and sell; the Persians completely ignore the use of agoras and have no place for that purpose”.
(Heródotus, Stories, century Go. Ç.)
The text expresses
a) the inferiority of the Persians who, unlike the Greeks, did not yet know life in cities.
b) the inequality between Greeks and Persians, despite the same uses that both made of urban space.
c) the Greek character, based on the specific use of civic space, built in opposition to others.
d) the author's inability to look objectively at the Persians and describe their different customs.
e) the complacency of the Persians towards the Greeks, resulting from the superiority of their economic and military power.
Correct alternative: c) the Greek character, based on the specific use of civic space, built in opposition to others.
Most Greeks used the democratic system, where decisions were debated in public squares by free men. For their part, the Persians had a centralized government, where the king and the deity were confused, and the laws were not discussed in public spaces.
a) WRONG. The Persians did know life in cities.
b) WRONG. The text expresses the differences that both peoples made about the urban space.
d) WRONG. Herodotus, despite being a Greek, does not demoralize the Persians when describing their customs.
e) WRONG. The passage has no understanding of the Greeks towards the Persians and criticizes the latter.
question 14
(Mackenzie) The economic and social characteristics of the Spartan City-State in the Archaic period were:
a) the individual's position in the community was defined by his degree of kinship with the patriarch and his economy was natural and collectivist.
b) the social classes linked to commerce, while acquiring greater economic power, sought to expand their social domain.
c) the existence of an aristocratic oligarchy, which monopolized military, political and religious power, culturally archaic, without mercantile activities.
d) the prohibition of debt slavery by the dominant oligarchy encouraged foreign artisans to come to the city in order to promote trade and cultural activities.
e) maritime city dominated by peasant owners of smallholdings, which allowed foreigners, Metecos, to carry out cultural activities.
Correct alternative: c) the existence of an aristocratic oligarchy, which monopolized military, political and religious power, culturally archaic, without mercantile activities.
In the archaic period, Spartan society was dominated by an aristocratic oligarchy that occupied all important positions in the military, political and religious fields. This allowed the preservation of the privileges of this elite and the closing of society in itself.
a) WRONG. These characteristics, in this period, we find in Athens, not in Sparta.
b) WRONG. The trade-related social classes already belonged to the Spartan economic and political elite and there was no need to expand their power.
d WRONG. Debt slavery was not prohibited during the Archaic Period in Sparta.
e) WRONG. The city was not made up of small landowners and the metecs were generally dedicated to commerce and finance.
See too: Archaic Period
Hard level
question 15
(UFPR) “Xerxes did not send heralds to Athens and Sparta to demand the submission of these cities. Darius had previously sent them for this purpose, but the Athenians had cast them into Baratro while that the Lacedaemonians threw themselves into a well, telling them to take earth and water from there to take to the King. Espertias and Bulls, both Spartans of high lineage, offered to suffer punishment that Xerxes, son of Darius, wanted to impose on him for the death of the heralds sent to Sparta. […] Leaving for Susa, they went to the house of Hydames, a Persian by birth and governor of the sea coast of Asia. […] After inviting them to participate at his table, he said to them: cedeLacedemonians, why do you refuse in such a way the friendship that our sovereign offers you? You can see, from the privileged situation I enjoy, that he knows how to reward merit; and as he highly esteems your courage, I am sure that he would also give each of you a government in Greece, if you would recognize him as sovereign ’. ‘Sir – replied the young people – you know how to be a slave, but you have never experienced freedom, therefore ignoring its sweetness. If you had ever known it, I will encourage us to fight for it, not only with spears, but even with axes.”
(“HERODOT”. History. São Paulo: Tecnoprint, s/d, p. 340)
Based on Herodotus' text and knowledge of the conflict between Greeks and Persians in antiquity, consider the following statements:
1. Herodotus' narrative conceives of time as cyclical, since, for him, knowledge of history allows for the correction of past mistakes.
2. In his text, Herodotus attributes to the Greco-Persian Wars the meaning of a conflict between free men and slaves.
3. Herodotus demonstrates, through his narrative, that the inviolability of heralds, founded on the rights of the people, was a political custom shared by Greeks and Persians.
4. The attitudes of the Athenians and Spartans, narrated in Herodotus' text, reveal why the Persians called the Greeks “the barbarians of Classical Antiquity”.
Check the correct alternative.
a) Only statements 1 and 2 are true.
b) Only statements 1 and 4 are true.
c) Only statements 2 and 3 are true.
d) Only statements 1, 3 and 4 are true.
e) Only statements 2, 3 and 4 are true.
Correct alternative: c) Only statements 2 and 3 are true.
Number 2: The Greco-Persian Wars, also called Medical Wars, are used by Herodotus as a pretext to exalt the condition of the free man against the slave, as expressed in item 2.
Number 3: The heralds were official messengers between the kingdoms and sometimes did not bring good news and therefore, they were protected by governments as different as the Greek and the Persian. After all, they were not to blame for the news they announced.
Number 1: WRONG. although Herodotus is Greek, he uses the concept of linear time in his works and not circular time, as his contemporaries did.
Number 4: WRONG. It was the Greeks who called the Persians barbarians and not the other way around.
question 16
(Fuvest) The Hellenistic Empires, eclectic amalgams of Greek and Oriental forms, enlarged the space of the urban civilization of classical antiquity, diluting its substance [...]. From 200 to Ç. onwards, Roman imperial power advanced eastwards [...] and by the middle of the second century its legions had crushed all serious barriers of resistance in the East.
(P. Anderson. Passages from Antiquity to feudalism. Porto: Afrontamento, 1982.)
In the region of Greek social formations,
a) the autonomy of the city-states remained untouchable, despite the political centralization implemented by the Hellenistic emperors.
b) these formations and the Hellenistic empires were constituted with the advance of the Spartan conquests in the period after the wars in the Peloponnese, at the end of the V century; Ç.
c) the Roman conquest was characterized by a strong offensive against the Hellenistic culture, imposing the Latin language and restricting the Greek philosophical schools.
d) the East became a preponderant area of the Roman Empire from the 3rd century onwards d. a., with the crisis of the slavery, that more strongly affected its western part.
e) the spaces were conquered by the Roman troops, in Greece and in Asia Minor, in their heyday period, due to internal struggles and rivalries between city-states.
Correct alternative: d) the Orient became a preponderant area of the Roman Empire from the 3rd century onwards; a., with the crisis of the slavery, that more strongly affected its western part.
The Roman Empire seized all the territories bordering the Mediterranean Sea, either through military alliances or occupation. However, with the expansion, slave labor is scarce in the West, which is gradually invaded by the peoples of the North. Thus, its Eastern portion becomes the most important region, leading to the subsequent division of the Roman Empire.
a) WRONG. The autonomy of city-states is diminished in the face of imperial centralization.
b) WRONG. Sparta's victory in the Peloponnesian War did not guarantee the constitution of a great empire, as several city-states fell into economic ruin.
c) WRONG. The Romans did not fight Greek culture but absorbed it.
e) WRONG. The city-states were already weakened and therefore the conquest cannot be attributed solely to a matter of internal rivalries.
question 17
(UFPR) "In such a way, our city has distanced itself from other men, in terms of thought and speech, that its students became masters of others, and the name of Greeks no longer seems to be used to designate a race, but a Mentality ..."
(SOCRATES, Athenian orator, Panegyric. In: AQUINO, R. S. L. of et alii. History of societies: from primitive communities to medieval societies. Rio de Janeiro: Ao Livro Técnico, 1980, p. 215.)
The cultural supremacy of the Greeks in Classical Antiquity highlighted in this commentary can be justified by some assertions. Choose the correct alternatives.
(1) The Greeks used a conception of History that was not based solely on legends and myths, but on facts produced by human actions.
(2) Alongside magical-religious thinking, Greek philosophers developed forms of rational thought.
(4) Through rhetoric and sophistry, the Greeks developed techniques of persuasion, speech and spoken argument, widely used in political activities.
(8) Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle created philosophies that made them masters of schools of thought in Classical Antiquity.
(16) Due to democratic and liberal thinking, the use of the Greek language was optional in official communications.
(32) The Greeks stood out because the Romans were their masters. They assimilated ideas and values from Rome and rejected the influence of Homeric thought on their attitudes and behavior.
In response, give the sum of the correct statements.
Correct alternatives: sum 15
(1) The Greeks used a conception of History that was not based solely on legends and myths, but on facts produced by human actions.
(2) Alongside magical-religious thinking, Greek philosophers developed forms of rational thought.
(4) Through rhetoric and sophistry, the Greeks developed techniques of persuasion, speech and spoken argument, widely used in political activities.
(8) Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle created philosophies that made them masters of schools of thought in Classical Antiquity.
The Greeks were the first people to try to explain the historical facts as a consequence of the actions of men and not the will of the gods. In this way, they developed sophisticated ways of constructing a discourse based on figures of speech and logic.
Later, there would flourish several schools of thought that would be the basis of the philosophy that governs the Western world.
(16) WRONG. The Greeks were not liberal and the use of the Greek language was not even questioned as optional or not.
(32) WRONG. The Greeks were the masters of the Romans, absorbing their mythology, philosophical schools and countless other ideas from the Greeks.
question 18
(UFPE) The arts were a highlight in Greece, especially Architecture, in Athens, where they stood out Greek architectural styles, represented by the following figures: In which of the alternatives are the three indicated styles?
a) The Dorium, the Ionian and the Corinthians.
b) The sophist, the Platonic and the Socratic.
c) The Alexandrian, the Mannerist and the Baroque.
d) The Dorion, the Gothic and the Alexandrian.
e) The Hellenic, the Romantic and the Hellenistic.
Correct alternative: a) The Dorium, the Ionian and the Corinthians.
Dorius, Ionian and Corinthian were three styles (or orders) of Greek architecture that are present to this day in many buildings.
The Dorium is the simplest, with striped columns ending in straight lines. For its part, the Ionian style features columns that end with curved decoration. Finally, the Corinthian style is the most elaborate and full of details.
b) WRONG. These terms refer to philosophy and not architecture.
c) WRONG. Alexandrino refers to a meter of verse, while Mannerist and Baroque are European art styles from the 19th century. XVI/XVII.
d) WRONG. Gothic refers to art from the Middle Ages.
e) WRONG. Hellenistic and Hellenistic are adjectives to designate the Greeks, while Romantic is a nineteenth-century literary and artistic movement.
question 19
(Fuvest) In certain respects, the ancient Greeks were always a scattered people. They penetrated the Mediterranean world in small groups and, even when they settled in and ended up dominating it, they remained disunited in their political organization. In the time of Herodotus, and long before him, Greek colonies were to be found not only throughout the whole of present-day Greece, but also on the coast of the Black Sea, off the coasts of present-day Turkey, southern Italy and eastern Sicily, the northern coast of Africa and the Mediterranean coast of France. Within this ellipse, some 2500 km long, were hundreds and hundreds of communities that often differed in their political structure and that always asserted their sovereignty. Neither then nor at any other time in the ancient world was there a nation, a single national territory governed by sovereign law, which was called Greece (or a synonym for Greece).
(I. Finley. The world of Odysseus. Lisbon: Editorial Presence, 1972. Adapted.)
Based on the text, one can correctly point
a) the political disorganization of ancient Greece, which quickly succumbed to the military onslaught of peoples that were more united and better prepared for war, such as the Egyptians and Macedonians.
b) the need for deep political centralization, such as that which occurred between the Romans and Carthaginians, so that a people could expand their territory and spread their cultural production.
c) the lack, among almost all peoples of antiquity, of political thinkers capable of formulating adequate strategies for structuring and unifying political power.
d) the inadequacy of the use of modern concepts, such as nation or national state, in the study of ancient Greece, which lived under other forms of social and political organization.
e) the valorization, in ancient Greece, of the principles of patriotism and nationalism, as a way of politically and economically consolidating the national State.
Correct alternative: d) the inadequacy of the use of modern concepts, such as nation or national state, in the study of ancient Greece, which lived under other forms of social and political organization.
The Greeks understood by nation or nation-state only its city-state. In this way, we cannot transport this concept to this time in history without running the risk of being imprecise.
a) WRONG. Even without a central government, ancient Greece lasted for a long time as a people united by language and culture.
b) WRONG. Although they did not have the political centralization of the mentioned peoples, the Greek city-states expanded their territory.
c) WRONG. The list of Greek thinkers is enormous and we can cite Plato, Socrates, Aeschylus, Sophocles, etc.
e) WRONG. Patriotism and nationalism are nineteenth century concepts and cannot be applied to this historical moment.
question 20
(Enem-2014) The scope of a claim that arises since the birth of the city in ancient Greece is thus understood: the wording of laws. When writing them, one does nothing more than assuring them permanence and fixity. Laws become quite common, as a general rule, capable of being applied to everyone in the same way.
VERNANT, J. P. The origins of greek thought. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 1992 (adapted).
For the author, the claim met in ancient Greece, still in force in the contemporary world, sought to guarantee the following principle:
a) Isonomy - equal treatment of citizens.
b) Transparency - access to government information.
c) Tripartition - separation between state political powers.
d) Equalization - gender equality in political participation.
e) Eligibility - permission to candidacy for public office.
Correct alternative: a) Isonomy - equal treatment of citizens.
Equality is about ensuring that the laws are complied with for everyone, without exception and discrimination. Even today, it is persecuted by various groups that feel marginalized, such as women, blacks, homosexuals, etc.
b) WRONG. Transparency is a recent concept that aims to inform citizens about public accounts.
c) WRONG: Tripartition is an 18th century idea created by the Baron of Montesquieu.
d) WRONG. Equalization emerged at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century defending the right to vote for women.
e) WRONG: Eligibility was a struggle within the context of the Industrial Revolution that would allow women to be appointed to public office.
