Greek is for Geeks Trivia Quiz

Answer: No

The ancient Greek word "apologia" means "court defense". Only later was it watered down to its current meaning of "Sorry!" But, in realistic terms, if the "Apology" isn't much of an apology, it's not much of a defense, either-- he doesn't specifically address the charges brought against him! He brings up his own!

Opinions on the "Apology" vary widely, even among Classicists. One of my professors holds up the "Apology" as a sterling example of intellectual honesty. Socrates defends his life of self-examination until the bitter end, because to do otherwise would destroy the value of his life. Another one of my professors cites Socrates' defense as a prime example of intellectual DIShonesty. Socrates evades charges, inventing fictitious slanders from long ago which he proceeds to dismantle as straw men. This professor (ever Dr. Doom-and-Gloom) proceeds to conclude that if people have such respect for Socrates, no wonder Western civilization is so messed up! I would encourage you, Dear Reader, to consider the "Apology" critically and come to your own conclusions.

Answer: If you know a concept, you are remembering it from a previous existence.

Plato's argument, as outlined in the "Phaedo," goes something like this:

- You see two sticks of roughly equal length.
- The two sticks remind you of the concept of equality.
- But, the two sticks are not actually equal in length. There is some deficiency that prevents the sticks from being exactly Equal.
- In order to think that the sticks are not exactly equal, you must have some prior concept of the Equal.
- But, you have never perceived, through your senses, any two objects in your life which are exactly equal to each other.
- So, you must have possessed knowledge of the Equal even before you were born.
- Therefore, whenever you "learn" a concept in later life, you must really be just "remembering" it from a time before you were born. All learning is really recollection.

Plato uses this argument to show that our souls exist beyond the scope of our earthly lives, so that, in the "Phaedo," Socrates can comfort his loving friends about his impending demise!

Answer: Croesus

What was Tellus the Athenian's claim to happiness? His city was prosperous, he had fine sons and even lived to see his grandchildren born, died a glorious death in battle after routing the enemy, and was given a public funeral on the spot where he fell in battle. Hmmm. This was not what Croesus was expecting.

Cleobis and Biton were even more puzzling. Their mother needed to drive to the temple of Hera in her ox cart to celebrate the festival. However, the oxen didn't come, and it was getting late...so her sons yoked themselves up and pulled her to the festival themselves, for nearly six miles. Everyone at the festival was congratulating the mother and her two sons, so she prayed to Hera to grant her two sons the greatest blessing that can fall to mortal man. And Hera fulfilled her prayer. That night, Cleobis and Biton both DIED. Then people set up statues of them at Delphi.

The moral of the story? First, life is chancy. You can't judge whether your life is fortunate or not until you've ended it. Second, living a good life and dying a good death, by serving your city, your family, and the gods, counts for far more than wealth. Later, Croesus got himself into trouble with his hubris, but that's another story!

Answer: Buddha

Greek and Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language from which the word "Buddha" comes, are descendants of the same mother language, which we call Indo-European. The Indo-European root "bheudh-" meant "to be aware, to make aware." In Greek, the word evolved to "pyth-," meaning "to find out through investigation." In Sanskrit, the word changed to "bodhati," meaning "he awakes, is enlightened". For those with a bit of interest in linguistics, note that the pairs p and b, and th and dh, are pronounced at the same point in the mouth.

The only difference is whether you use your vocal cords when pronouncing them (yes for b and dh, no for p and th).

Answer: Cassandra

Cassandra, famous though she is, has an odd history in Greek literature. The earliest reference to her is in Homer's "Iliad." There, she has none of her prophetic powers. She's just the most beautiful of Priam's daughters. It's only in later literature, especially tragedy (Aeschylus' "Agamemnon") that she assumes the role of the priestess who foretold the Trojan horse, the fall of Troy, and the death of Agamemnon, but who nobody could believe (or understand).

There is a simple linguistic explanation for all this. In early Greek writings, there are two spelling variants, which are actually not spelling variants-- they have two different meanings. The etymology of one means "the most beautiful." This fits the description of Homer's Cassandra. The etymology of the other means "she who speaks with authority." This fits the description of the Cassandra from Greek tragedy. The two different identities probably became conflated just because sounds and the spellings of the two different names were so similar.

Answer: The one-day-old cattle rustler made off with Apollo's prize herd.

The day Hermes was born, he snuck out of his cradle and out of his house, and stole fifty of Apollo's best cattle. Naturally, Hermes took precautions. He wove huge, strangely shaped sandals to disguise his footprints. He also drove the cattle backwards out of the field. So, when Apollo came looking for the missing cows, he thought some strange giant beast had driven the cows into their normal pasture-- but the cows weren't there!

Alas, Apollo quickly found Hermes out. Tempers flared. Finally, they reached a compromise. Hermes would get to be the god of thieves and trickery. Hermes could keep the cattle, but Apollo would get the lyre that Hermes had invented. See, before Hermes stole the cattle, he found a turtle and made a lyre out of it. These were the days before electric guitars were really cool. Incidentally, the University of Texas Business School has Hermes as its mascot, in his role as "God of Commerce." Yeah.

Answer: Bringing all of his men safely home.

The Greek concept of the hero is roughly split between Achilles, the star of the "Iliad," and Odysseus, the eponymous hero of the "Odyssey". Achilles is outstanding because of his strength, his bravery, and the fact that he is honorable to the last. He says, to the embassy that was sent to persuade him to remain at Troy, "I hate like the gates of Hell the man who says one thing but in his heart holds another."

Odysseus, on the other hand, is a pretty good fighter, but really shines because of his intelligence and cleverness-- some would say his manipulativeness. He's the one who gives the speech which brings the army back from the brink of desertion, he's the one who leads the stealth raid on Rhesus' camp, who devises the Trojan Horse and escapes from the Cyclops' cave with only an olive stake.

But are Odysseus' intentions honorable? Certainly not. Deceitful tactics like a night raid and a concealed stealth attack may be effective, but contrary to the heroic "code of honor." And, it's clear that Odysseus is only really working in his own self interest. He tries to get out of going to Troy by pretending to be crazy, and, in the "Odyssey," he ignores the safety of his own men for his own personal gain.

The spirit of Odysseus lives on in Greece today, in the idea of the "sketlios"-- someone who you have to admire for their cleverness, ruthlessness, and determination in getting ahead, but woe to you should you get in their way! It's a sad commentary on the way the nation's poverty creates such ruthless competition for positions and resources.

Answer: Alexandria

Alexandria, located in Egypt at the mouth of the Nile, was a center of learning and culture for six hundred years, beginning in 300 BCE, when the city was founded by Alexander the Great. It was a place where cultures from far-flung parts of the world--Greece, Rome, Egypt, Persia, Phonecia, even the remotest corners of Europe, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa--came to mingle.

The jewel of the city was its library, which may, at one point, have held over a million papyrus scrolls. The library was the center of research for a number of great scholars, listed above.

After the destruction of the library, it took nearly two thousand years for their work to be replicated. The library at Alexandria was also the center for the Alexandrian school of poetry, which encouraged short, pithy, and abstruse poetry.

Their motto? "Big book, big bad"!

Answer: Michael Ventris

Linear B was the writing system the ancient Greeks used before the alphabet was invented. It dates to ca. 1400-1200 BC, about half a millennium before Homer. Linear B only came to light in 1900, when Sir Arthur Evans began archaeological excavations at the Palace of Knossos on Crete.

Michael Ventris first became fascinated with Linear B when he visited Sir Arthur Evans' "Minoan World" exhibition as a young boy. Witnesses report that Evans was showing the schoolboys some of the Linear B tablets, when a small voice piped up, "You say they haven't been deciphered, sir?" From that moment onwards, Ventris was obsessed with deciphering Linear B. He attended the Architectural Association school to become an architect, and served in the Royal Air Force during WWII, but always kept his interest in Linear B alive.

In 1951, Ventris quit his job as an architect to work on Linear B exclusively. He deciphered Linear B the next year, in 1952, at the age of 30. Ventris' decipherment was especially remarkable for two reasons. First, there is no "Rosetta Stone," no bilingual inscription containing a text in Linear B with a translation in a known language. Ventris could only work from observations of the internal structure of Linear B. Second, Ventris had no professional training in the Classics, even though he was a brilliant polyglot. He was simply a gifted amateur who succeeded when two generations of Classical scholars had failed.

Sadly, Ventris' life took on a "tragic hero" quality after the decipherment. Once the fame and glory wore off, what could he do next? He was never interested in reading the texts, just in the challenge of decipherment, and didn't have the Classical training to pursue Linear B research further. He took a prestigious architectural job, only to turn it down a short time later because he felt inadequate for the task. It was clear to friends that Ventris was feeling increasingly depressed and dissatisfied with his life. What should he have done? We'll never know. Ventris died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances in 1956. He was only 34.

Answer: Thucydides

According to the "Right Web" website (rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1239) Kagan believes that the US should be more militaristic in its approach to foreign policy and that "America must learn from the mistakes of the British Empire by aggressively confronting a supposed new crop of Hitlers."

Now, the Peloponnesian War involved the happy, prosperous, democracy-loving Athenians fighting against the conservative, suppressive Spartans. See the connection? Right. Of course, the Athenians began rampantly abusing their power and wealth, using it to bully enemies, neutral states, and allies alike, and making a number of hubristic tactical decisions. See the connection? Right.

So, "Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides is perfect material for anyone analyzing US foreign policy in the 20th and 21st century... but it can be taken from either a liberal or a conservative viewpoint.