The Culture and Politics of Athens, C.460-c.399 BC | OCR A-Level Ancient History (H407)

The Culture and Politics of Athens, C.460-c.399 BC

295 questions
18 subtopics
Component Group 1: Greek depth study, one of three
Component Group 1

The Culture and Politics of Athens, c.460–c.399 BC is examined in Component Group 1, Greek period study and Greek depth study.

It covers democracy and oligarchy, and the critics of the Athenian system, the ecclesia, the boule and the officials of the democracy, ostracism and the popular lawcourts, Athens as leader of an empire and her treatment of the allies, leadership in fifth-century Athens: Pericles, Cleon, Nicias and Alcibiades, citizens, metics, slaves and women in Athenian society, the Sophists and the teaching of rhetoric, the Sophists' view of Athenian society and its values, Socrates: his method, his critique of democracy and his trial, the Persian Wars, Delian League funds and the origins of the building programme, the buildings of the Acropolis and the Agora, Acropolis sculpture and the sanctuaries of Attica, the City Dionysia, the Lenaea and the organisation of dramatic festivals, tragedy and comedy as genres, Aristophanes, Old Comedy and contemporary Athens, Athenian attitudes to religion and the changing relationship with the gods, the festivals of the Athenian religious year and the Panathenaea, Athena and Poseidon on the Acropolis.

Sample questions from The Culture and Politics of Athens, C.460-c.399 BC

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Democracy and oligarchy, and the critics of the Athenian system

Which Athenian offices continued to be filled by election rather than by lot, and why?

Show the answer
The generals and the senior financial officials were elected, because those posts needed proven expertise that the Athenians were unwilling to leave to chance.
Ostracism and the popular lawcourts

Why was the ostracism of Thucydides son of Melesias in 443 BC significant for Pericles?

Show the answer
It removed the leader of the organised opposition to his policies, above all to his spending of allied money on building, and left him without a serious rival.
Leadership in fifth-century Athens: Pericles, Cleon, Nicias and Alcibiades

Explain in what way Cleon was a new kind of Athenian politician.

Show the answer
His family wealth came from a tannery rather than from land, and he made his career through the assembly and the courts rather than through birth or high command.
The Sophists and the teaching of rhetoric

What impression did Gorgias make when he came to Athens in 427 BC?

Show the answer
He arrived as an envoy seeking help for his city and astonished his audience with an ornate style of balanced and rhyming phrases that was widely imitated afterwards.
Socrates: his method, his critique of democracy and his trial

What did Socrates hold to be necessary for good government?

Show the answer
He held that ruling is a form of expert knowledge, so authority belonged to those who understood justice and the good rather than to whoever the majority happened to prefer.
The buildings of the Acropolis and the Agora

Why was the gold on the statue of Athena Parthenos made removable?

Show the answer
It was designed so that the plates could be taken off and weighed or spent, which made the statue a reserve of bullion as well as an offering.
The City Dionysia, the Lenaea and the organisation of dramatic festivals

Define the term proagon.

Show the answer
The proagon was the preliminary event at which each poet appeared with his actors and chorus, without masks or costumes, to announce the plays he was about to present.
Aristophanes, Old Comedy and contemporary Athens

What do the names of the two main characters in Wasps signify?

Show the answer
One name means love of Cleon and the other loathing of Cleon, marking the old juror and his son as the two sides of the argument about the courts.

The 18 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Democracy and oligarchy, and the critics of the Athenian system	Recall questions on demokratia and oligarchy, isonomia and isegoria, the lot against election, Ephialtes' reform of the Areopagus, state pay, direct democracy and the thetes, the Four Hundred, the Five Thousand and the Thirty, and the criticisms of the Old Oligarch, Thucydides and Plato.	15
The ecclesia, the boule and the officials of the democracy	Recall questions on the assembly on the Pnyx and how it debated and voted, the probouleuma, the council of five hundred and its limits and duties, the prytaneis and the epistates, dokimasia and euthyna, the archons and thesmothetai, and why the elected strategia became the most powerful office.	17
Ostracism and the popular lawcourts	Recall questions on the procedure, quorum and penalty of ostracism, the ostracisms of Themistocles, Cimon, Thucydides son of Melesias and Hyperbolus, arguments for and against it, the selection, size and pay of juries, how a trial ran, graphe and dike, the graphe paranomon, and allied cases heard at Athens.	17
Athens as leader of an empire and her treatment of the allies	Recall questions on the tribute and the move of the treasury, cleruchies and the standards decree, the terms imposed on Chalcis and Thasos, the Mytilenean debate, and Melos.	14
Leadership in fifth-century Athens: Pericles, Cleon, Nicias and Alcibiades	Recall questions on Pericles' background, citizenship law, generalships, war strategy, funeral speech and deposition, Cleon's rise, Mytilene line, Pylos and death, Nicias' mining wealth, peace and Sicilian command, Alcibiades' links to Pericles and Socrates, the charges of 415 BC and his advice to Sparta, and Thucydides' judgement on Pericles' successors.	18
Citizens, metics, slaves and women in Athenian society	Recall questions on the qualifications, enrolment and duties of citizens, the status, obligations, restrictions and economic role of metics and Xenophon's Poroi, the sources and work of slaves, the demosioi and slave testimony, and citizen women's legal position, household role, religious prominence, the hetairai and Pericles' remark on women.	18
The Sophists and the teaching of rhetoric	Recall questions on who the Sophists were and why rhetoric mattered, Gorgias of Leontini and his visit in 427 BC, Protagoras and the weaker argument, dissoi logoi, the Sophists' arete, Aristotle's means of persuasion and kinds of oratory, Plato's Gorgias, and the logographoi.	14
The Sophists' view of Athenian society and its values	Recall questions on nomos and physis, Protagoras' man the measure, Antiphon on Greeks and barbarians, Thrasymachus on justice, Sophistic defences of empire, resentment of fees, Plato's Protagoras and Hippias Major, the problem of Plato as a source, and conservative fears and young men's enthusiasm for Sophistic education.	13
Socrates: his method, his critique of democracy and his trial	Recall questions on Socrates' background, the elenchus and aporia, the Delphic oracle, how he differed from the Sophists, his objections to the lot, his stands over Arginusae and Leon of Salamis, Critias and Alcibiades, the charges of 399 BC and the daimonion, his penalty and execution, Xenophon's Memorabilia and Plato, and Aristophanes' Clouds.	20
The Persian Wars, Delian League funds and the origins of the building programme	Recall questions on the sack of the Acropolis, the Oath of Plataea, the charge that allied money paid for the buildings, Pericles' answers to it, and the surviving building accounts.	13
The buildings of the Acropolis and the Agora	Recall questions on the Parthenon's dates, architects, Pentelic marble, Doric and Ionic features and refinements, Phidias' Athena Parthenos, Mnesicles' Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike and its parapet, the Erechtheion and Caryatid porch, the Hephaisteion, the Bouleuterion, Tholos, Painted Stoa and Odeion, and the Agora's role.	16
Acropolis sculpture and the sanctuaries of Attica	Recall questions on the Parthenon pediments, metopes and frieze and how they are interpreted, the Athena Promachos, the Severe Style, Polyclitus' Doryphoros and contrapposto, the temple of Poseidon at Sounion, the bears of Artemis at Brauron, and why Athens built sanctuaries across Attica.	15
The City Dionysia, the Lenaea and the organisation of dramatic festivals	Recall questions on Dionysus and the timing of the City Dionysia, its opening ceremonies and their political meaning, the proagon, what a tragedian presented, the archon and the choregos, how winners were judged, the Lenaea and comedy, the theatre building and stage machinery, and theatre-going as a civic duty.	14
Tragedy and comedy as genres	Recall questions on tragedy's mythical subjects and Aeschylus' Persians, the chorus, actors and masks, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the satyr play, Old Comedy and the parabasis, and Euripides' Hippolytus: its plot, Phaedra, the Nurse, oaths, Theseus' curse, Artemis, legitimacy, the gods and its value as evidence for women.	24
Aristophanes, Old Comedy and contemporary Athens	Recall questions on Aristophanes' value and limits as a source, his feud with Cleon, Knights and the character Demos, Wasps and the jurors, Thesmophoriazusae and the Thesmophoria, comedy and the war, and Clouds: its production, plot, the Thinkery, Zeus and Vortex, the Better and Worse Argument, and its unreliable Socrates.	24
Athenian attitudes to religion and the changing relationship with the gods	Recall questions on polis religion and ritual over belief, reciprocity, how priesthoods were filled, animal sacrifice and divination, the plague's effect on piety, Anaxagoras, Protagoras on the gods and the invented-gods theory, the Sophistic threat, impiety as politics, the scandals of 415 BC, and how little everyday practice changed.	14
The festivals of the Athenian religious year	Recall questions on the lunar festival calendar and its many festival days, what a festival involved and why it mattered socially, the Eleusinian Mysteries and who could be initiated, the Thesmophoria, the Anthesteria, the Apatouria, deme religion and the Rural Dionysia, and how festivals were paid for.	13
The Panathenaea, Athena and Poseidon on the Acropolis	Recall questions on the annual and Great Panathenaea, the procession's route and participants, the peplos and Athena Polias, the hecatomb, the apobates race and rhapsodes, prize amphorae of olive oil, the allies' offerings, Athena's contest with Poseidon, her three Acropolis cults, and Poseidon's place in the Erechtheion and the west pediment.	16

The Culture and Politics of Athens, C.460-c.399 BC is 295 of the 2,709 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.