GREEK 22

MIDTERM REVIEW

1. Identify the following (all terms and persons should be identified in an athletic context; for the terms be sure to consult the Index and Glossary of Arete):

1. dolichos

2. stadion (2 meanings)

3. Hippodamia

4. Aias (Telamon's son)

5. halma

6. halteres

7. terma

8. balbis

9. bater

10. Antaeus

11. Diomedes

12. akoniti

13. korykos

14. himantes

15. hemerodromos

16. epinician

17. hoplitodromos

18. hysplex

19. Epeios

20. kampter

21. apene

22. skamma

23. pentathlon

24. pankration

25. sharp himantes

26. caestus

27. Polydeuces (Pollux)

28. kanon

29. Aias (Oileus' son)

30. ephedros

31. hippios

32. sphairai

33. Nemean Lion

34. phaininda

35. Amykos

36. Phoinix (Phoenix)

37. Atalanta

38. diaulos (2 meanings)

2. In the Caucus Conference for Classics 22, review the various images you have seen in class and their interpretation. There will be images on the midterm, about which you will have to answer questions.

3. Discuss the antithesis of metis and bia in Nestor speech to Antilochus in the Iliad before the chariot race. Which side of this antithesis does Nestor favor in his speech? Explain your answer by giving specific examples from his speech. How does Antilochus apply his father’s advice in the actual race? Would Nestor have approved (Homer does not tell us what Nestor’ opinion was)? Explain your answer.

4. In an essay with illustrative examples from Lucian’s Anacharsis discuss the title character’s objections to the sports he sees being practiced in an Athenian gymnasium and Solon’s answers to these objections.

5. Scholars debate the question whether Homer is describing games in his own time or in the Mycenean period. Which side of this question does Colin Renfrew (handout: “The Homeric Evidence”) favor and why? Be specific.

6. Explain Poliakoff ‘s (“The nature and purpose of combat sport,” pp. 112-15) theory that the Greek agon fills a social need.

7. Discuss the elder Alcibiades’ reasons for competing in the chariot race (Sweet, selection 1, p.89).

8. Discuss the antithesis of metis and bia in the wrestling match between Telamonian Ajax and Odysseus. What event does this contest foreshadow in the post-Iliadic tradition? Explain your answer.

9. Discuss the role of the gods in the funeral games for Patroclus in the Iliad and the Phaeacian games in the Odyssey.

10. The Greeks are said to have been a very competitive people. Discuss competitive attitude in both the games in the Iliad and Odyssey. Include the following characters in your discussion: Nestor, Antilochus, Menelaos, Eumelos, Diomedes, Oilean Aias, Idomeneus, Epeios, Odysseus (Odyssey), Euryalos (Odyssey).

11. Greek epinician poets were paid to write songs honoring athletic victors. In a brief paragraph discuss the Greek view of defeat and victory as illustrated by Pindar (selection 188 on p. 197 in Arete. Why does Pindar think that epinician song is superior to sculpture as a way of honoring athletes (selection 187 on p. 196 in Arete).

12. Explain why Dio Chrysostomos believed the boxer Melancomas to be a very special athlete and a most fortunate man.

13. Discuss typical Greek boxing strategy as illustrated in the match between Polydeukes and Amykos from Theocritus.

14. How does selection #5 on p. 30 of Sweet prove that the husplex was not used in the early 5^th century?

15. What constituted a fall in wrestling? How were winners of wrestling, boxing, and pankration determined? Why did the Spartans not compete in the Pankration and boxing in the crown games?

16. Explain to what the following simile from the Iliad refers with regard to wrestling: "[the two wrestlers are] like rafters which a famous builder has raised in a lofty dwelling to meet the force of the winds." How does this simile illustrate the antithesis of metis and bia?

17. Explain how the torch race was different from the normal athletic foot race.

18. Discuss what meaning the story of Arrachion's (Arrichion's) unusual victory in the pankration as told both by Pausanias (selection 30, p. 36 of Arete) and Philostratus (Pictures in Gallery, selection 31, p. 37 of Arete) has for Greek athletics. Give examples from this to illustrate you explanation.

19. Briefly compare Minoan with later Greek sport. Give specific examples.

20. Give two ancient theories of the origin of nudity in Greek athletics as found in Pausanias (Sweet, selection 2, p. 126) and Thucydides (Sweet, selection 4, p. 126)

21. How could a competitor in a combat sport in a multi-round tournament not have to compete until the final?