Hey guys, here are your next few homework assignments! Also, see below for a reading (short) on the explosion of the island of Thera (now Santorini) that may have destroyed the Mycenaen Civilization (with a little Dorian help)
here are some Greek Terms you will need to understand your reading"
demos - litterally: "the people"
agathoi - the aristocratic or powerful class of greeks
tyrranis - tyrant, dictator
genos - "clan" or "lineage"
basileus -- an archaic greek king
Assignment 1:
Read the section titled "The Hoplite Army" pp 103 - 105 and please answer the following questions.
q1: What is a phalanx, and why is it important?
q2: What is a hoplite?
q3: What is a hoplite's job within a phalanx?
q4: What is "the pushing"?
q5: Who could fight as a hoplite?
Assignment 2:
Read the section titled "The Hoplite Army and the Polis" pp. 105 - 106 and answer the following questions.
q1: How did the Hoplite Phalanx effect Greek Political ideology?
q2: What is Tyraeus' view of the phalanx and honor?
q3: How did the Hoplite Phalanx destroy the power of the aristocrats (
agathoi)?
Assignement 3:
Read the section titled "The Archaic Age Tyrants" and answer the following questions.
q1: What is a Greek
Tyrrannos?
q2: What brought about the creation of a
tyrranos?
q3: Why would the commoners of a Greek polis support a
tyrrannos?
From: www.kent.net/DisplacedDynasties/TheSantoriniExplosion.html
The Eruption of Thera
The island known as Santorini lies approximately 45 miles (75 km) north of Crete. According to the traditional history it was an important constituent of the Cretan Minoan confederacy until that civilization ended, supposedly in the early part of the 15th century B.C., at a time when Egypt was ruled by its 18th dynasty. The island, known also by the name Thera, was volcanic, its central peak rising to a height of around 5000 feet (1600 m) According to prevailing scholarly opinion a series of eruptions, culmating in a cataclysmic explosion, destroyed a major part of the island around the year 1470 B.C. The explosion not only destroyed a major part of the island, including much of the Minoan population both there and on Crete, but so weakened the Minoan civilization that it soon succumbed to an invasion of Mycenaean Greeks and vanished from history.
The final vocanic eruption of Thera is the stuff of legends. The explosion has been favorably compared to that of Krakotoa, east of Java in 1883 of the present era. That recent massive upheaval send giant tidal waves throughout the south pacific and filled the atmosphere with ash that spread throughout the world, influencing climate for generations. Santorini, according to the experts, "was about 4 times larger than Krakotoa, and probably at least twice as violent. The fury of Santorini's final explosion is inferred from geologic core samples, from comparison to the detailed observations made on Krakotoa in 1883, and from the simulaneous obliteration of almost all Minoan settlements." One author (unidentified) summarizes the event as follows:
In summer, circa 1470 BC, Santorini exploded. Volcanic ash filled the sky, blotted out the sun, and triggered hail and lightning. A heavy layer of volcanic ash rained down over the Aegean, covering islands and crops. Earthquakes shook the land, and stone structures fell from the motion. When the enormous magma chamber at Santorini finally collapsed to form the existing caldera, enormous tsunamis (tidal waves) spread outward in all directions. The coastal villages of Crete were flooded and destroyed. The only major Minoan structure surviving the waves and earthquakes was the palace at Knossos, far enough insland to escape the tidal waves. But in the days that followed, volcanic ash covered some settlements, and defoliated the island. Buildings were completely covered in volcanic ash by the cataclysmic explosion. In famine from the ash, with the bulk of their civilization washed away, the remaining Minoans were overrun by Mycaeneans from Greece, and Knossos finally fell.
What was left in the aftermath of the great explosion was the jagged edge of the once proud and majestic volcano, the central caldera now covered by the Aegean sea, the rim less than a third the height of the original peak. A quick glimpse of the site immediately raises a question: What must have been the effects on contiguous areas of the ancient near east, indeed on the world, as this mountain turned to ash polluted the atmosphere and obliterated the sun for days and weeks or even months and years following? The event must have had severe consequences beyond those already noted for the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.
GOOD LUCK!
