Midterm Flashcards

Question

Explain why Sparta was an exceptional Greek city-state in terms of its social order and gender relations.

Answer 1

* Social Order * because there were no governments, other city-states were freewilling and competitive places. * histories relate violent rivalries between individuals, social classes, and other groups * Sparta avoided most of this internal strife * they achieved greater calm by means of rigorous social discipline and military organization * cut off the city from many external influences * Spartans rejected coin money and chattel slavery * therefore, avoiding the "corruption", unlike other cities * Women: * women in other city states have little to no role in any sort of public role * if they do, they are expected to hold intellectual conversations with men about public matters * they remained enclosed with the private world of the family * had no standing to debate policy in public, vote, or hold office * Sparta women were a partial exception * were allowed to exercise in the nude in public (alongside men) * were able to hold property in their own right

Answer 2

* city state promote new ideas vs. past past civ. * city-states were self-governing, a new political form * because they had no administrative structure, they had to find some way to govern their affairs * previously there were always governments, and no absolute free will to kind of conrol what they wanted * philosopher focus * Socrates * encouraged people to reflect on ethics and morality * stressed the importance of honor and integrity, instead of wealth and power * Plato * presented Socrates philosophy in a series of dialogues * in one dialogue, he envisioned a perfect city that philosopher-kings would rule * he thought that if fallible people could imitate this^ model city more closely, their policies would be less likely to the decline affecting the Greek city-states of his own day * belief was a more outgrowth of his own general theory of "ideas" that are imperfectly copied in the real world * Aristotle: * Plato's most famous pupil * believed that by collecting all the facts one could about a given thing and studying it closely, one could achieve a better understanding * main idea: the interested inquirer can find out more about the world by collecting as much evidence as possible about a given thing, and THEN making deductions from these data about general patterns * most influential: idk * I think that Socrates was probably the most influential philosopher because both Plato and Aristotle's ideas were somewhat drawn from him. Plato was a student of Socrates, and Aristotle was Plato's most famous pupil.

Answer 3

* which one? * agricultural communities definitely promotes greater differences between men and women than hunting and gathering did. * explain roles * Agricultural communities * agricultural revolution marked a greater division among men, and particularly between men and women * increasing differentiation of roles between men and women also affected power relations in households and communities * women: * net losers of agricultural revolution -although their knowledge of wild plants contributed to early settled ag. they did not benefit from the transition * advances in agrarian tools left women with the backbreaking and repetitive tasks of planting, weeding, harvesting, and grinding grain into flour * men: * no longer involved in hunting and gathering * now took on heavy work of yoking animals to plows * became dominant in households, and over women in leadership positions * hunting and gathering * men * specialized in hunting * women * specialized in gathering and in child rearing * scholars believe that: * they made a larger contribution than men * they enjoyed their high status * mostly likely because their dietary staples were cereals and fruits, which they most likely harvested and prepared

Answer 4

* what events caused it * climate change * invasion of pastoral nomads * use of war chariots * characteristics of territorial states vs. city-states * territorial states differed from the city-states that preceded them * the city-states of the riverine societies were polities * politically organized communities or states * organized around the temple and the palace * the territorial states based their authority: * monarchs * widespread bureaucracies * eleborate legal codes * large territorial expanses * definable borders * ambitions for continuous expansion * new ruling groups also appeared in these areas * where did they emerge * riverine cities of Mesopotamia * how would you describe relationships between rulers * Awesome! * They learned to settle their differences through diplomatic negotiations rather than on the battlefield. They created treaties that brought an end to military eruptions, and exchanged gifts that stregthened relationships among rulers and showed a ruler's respect for his neighbors. * what evidence suggests rulers did or didnt get along * a remarkable cache of 300 letters discovered in present day Egyptian village Amarna offers intimate views of these complex interactions.

Answer 5

* Why? * riverine settlements soon yielded agrarian surpluses that supported greater wealth, more trade with neighbors, and public works * Mesopotamia- Tigris and Euphrates Rivers * Indus River Valley- Ravi River * Egypt- Nile River * Organization of resources * Mesopotamia * technological breakthrough in irrigation; systems built by early Mesopotamians were revolutionary * rivers were important routes for transportation and communication by foot and pack animal * natural drainage basins AND farmers built levees to prevent negative flooding effects to irrigation * trade with inhabitants of surrounding areas * Indus River Valley/Harrapans * expansion of agriculture depended on rivers annual floods * ^ farmers began planting wheat and barley as soon as waters receeded * they harvested crops the next spring as temperatures rose * meanwhile, villagers improved tools of cultivation * trade * Egypt * similar to both mesopotamia and indus river valley in numerous ways * densely populated areas who inhabitants * depended on irrigation * gave their rulers immense authority * created complex social order * monumental architecture * However, less open to trade * Who was responsible for allocating/distributing resources * farmers and villagers

Answer 6

* Vedic and Zhou vs. Assyrian and Persian * Vedic and Zhou * Assyrian and Persian * * * How successful? * role of religion, language, and trade

Answer 7

- politial form that emerged in the riverine cities of Mesopotamia, which were overwhelmed by the displacement of nomadic people - kingdoms organized around charismatic rulers who headed large households; each with a defined physical border

Midterm Flashcards

(31 cards)