Everything Was Invented In Ancient Greece Quiz

Answer: They added vowels.

In modern times, most alphabets have both consonants and vowels. However, many of the earliest alphabets, starting with the Phoenician alphabet, did not show the vowels. The Greek alphabet, used since the 700s BC, had twenty-four letters, both vowels and consonants, and only had one form; in other words, there was not an upper and lower case. From Greece the alphabet made its way to Italy, where it was modified first by the Etruscans, and later by the Romans.

The Latin alphabet was eventually used, not just for the Romance languages, but for most other European languages as well.

Answer: Melpomene and Thalia

The two masks, sock and buskin, which represent the ancient Greek genres of comedy and tragedy, still symbolize the theater today. Thalia, the Muse of Comedy is represented by the laughing mask, while Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, is represented by the weeping-faced mask.

In ancient Greece, actors with tragic roles wore a buskin, or boot, that raised them above the others; comedic actors wore a sock, which was a shoe with a sole and leather upper. The two muses were typically depicted wearing their symbolic shoes.

Answer: Athens

The Greek city-states appears to have gone through a progression of forms of government as they searched for the perfect one. While every polis seems to have believed that each citizen should perform certain civic duties, they were not all governed in the same manner. Typically, the sequence of governmental development in ancient Greece was monarchy, government by hereditary ruler, following by an aristocracy, or government by a few wealthy people. Next came a timocracy, where participation in the government was based on wealth. Athens alone took the next step toward democracy; as there was a long list of people who could not participate (women, children, slaves, foreigners, criminals, etc.) the government of Athens is best described as a limited democracy.

Answer: They wanted to promote pan-Hellenism.

The Olympics were held to promote pan-Hellenism, or Greek unity. Even though the ancient Greeks were very warlike, and constantly engaged in some sort of civil dispute or even war, they did recognize that they were descended from the same ancestor, Hellen, and tried to promote a sense of unity - every now and then, anyway! It was possible to use athletic contests to prove who was best without going to war, but many times the games themselves created more disagreement and grudges. Beginning in 776 BC, the Olympics were held every four years to honor Zeus.

A sacred truce, called the Olympic peace, was called a month before and after the games so that participants and spectators going to and from the contest could travel in relative safety.

Although there is no clear-cut consensus, it is believed that the ancient Olympics were suspended in 393 AD when the Roman emperor Theodosius banned all pagan practices. The beginning of the modern games under the International Olympic Committee took place in 1896.

Answer: Male citizens

The jury system seemed to be more fully developed in ancient Athens than in the other Greek city-states. There, strict qualifications had to be met in order to have the privilege of participating in the government. A person had to be male, 18, free, and born in Athens in order to be classified as a citizen. Once a year all the citizens (some sources say they had to be over 30 years old) would participate in in a lottery, in hopes of having a random selection of many different groups, to see who would serve on jury duty for the next year. Six thousand were chosen and from that number a jury of at least 201 people, so there wouldn't be a tie, would be selected.

The number of people who sat on the jury varied according to the severity of each case.

There was a situation recorded that called for all six thousand to serve on the jury!

Answer: Plato

The Akademia (Academy) was founded in a suburb of Athens in approximately 385 BC. Located in a grove that was dedicated to the goddess Athena, the Akademia was a very exclusive school; although Plato did not charge, the school was not open to everyone.

It appears that there was no set curriculum to follow. Instead, problems that included topics in mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy were raised, for which the students were to find answers. It is also known that Plato lectured there, and it is known that as least two girls were allowed to attend! The school was run by other individuals after Plato died.

However, it was so badly damaged in 86 BC when the Roman general, Sulla, laid siege to Athens, that it is believed that it was closed. Sources suggest that the philosophers continued to teach and the school was reopened at another location.

The Emperor Justinian closed the school in 529 AD because it was a pagan institution of learning.

Answer: False

Actually the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians wrote the first geometry texts; the "Rhind Papyrus" dates back to approximately 2000 BC in Egypt, and "Plimpton 322" is a clay tablet that dates to approximately 1900 BC in Babylonia. Both groups studied astronomy and constructed buildings using geometric principles. What was different about the Greek use of geometry, however, was that they made it a science; the Greeks were interested in discovering the rules and axioms of geometry. One of the first to study geometry, Thales of Miletus, who some believe was the first great Greek mathematician, used logic rather than experimentation or intuition to solve problems. Pythagoras, who some believe was the student of Thales, proved his theorem, although it had probably already been used before his time. And what about Euclid, who some call the Father of Geometry? He collected the theorems of those who came before him and complied them in "Elements of Geometry", providing a way that geometric statements could be verified by reasoning rather than demonstration, which is how geometry is still taught today.

Answer: True

Known as the "Father of Medicine", Hippocrates was a physician during the Golden Age of Athens, which is considered to be one of the most brilliant times in history. Born on the island of Kos, it is believed that Hippocrates, who is also known as Hippocrates II, learned the practice of medicine from his father, Heraclides, and his grandfather, Hippocrates I.

The first person credited with believing that illness had natural causes and were not the result of the wrath of the gods, Hippocrates attempted to separate religion and worship, encouraging his patients to watch their diets and live in a healthy environment.

He is also credited with writing the Hippocratic Oath.

Answer: Atoms

As early as the 600s BC, the ancient Greeks were looking for the basic element, or "primal stuff", of which all things were made. Thales of Miletus believed the basic element was water, Heraclitus believed it was fire, and Anaximander called it "the Boundless". Democritus, who lived from 460-370 BC, said that everything was made of an infinite number of invisible and indivisible particles that move around and combine to create matter.

He began a philosophy called atomism.

Answer: Marathon

According to Herodotus, the Athenian runner, Pheidippides, ran over 140 miles to Sparta to ask for assistance after the Persians landed at Marathon; the day after he left, Pheidippides made it to Sparta. Upon his return to the battlefield at Marathon and the subsequent victory of the Greeks, Plutarch said that Pheidippides ran another 26 miles to tell the Athenians about the victory, proclaiming "We win" and then collapsing from exhaustion. What historians believe really happened was that after fighting the army of Darius the Great on land at Marathon, the Greeks marched about 26 miles to Cape Sounion to head off any Persian attack by sea. Apparently Plutarch misunderstood the purpose of the 26 mile march, and some people say the runner was possibly someone other than Pheidippides. Whatever happened, the marathon race is still run today. Perhaps it became a tradition to commemorate the Athenian victory over the Persians at Marathon - Herodotus said that 6,400 Persians died there, while the Greek lost on 192 men - or perhaps it became a tribute what man can do.