I.—FIFTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “BRIEF HISTORY OF GREECE.”
1. Q. So far as we know where did the history of Europe begin? A. In Greece.
2. Q. Who first settled the country, and who first conquered the land? A. The Pelasgians, a simple agricultural people, were the first to settle the country. Next, the Hellenes, a warlike race, conquered the land.
3. Q. To what did the blending of the Pelasgians and the Hellenes give rise? A. To the Grecian language and civilization.
4. Q. What were two great “holding-points” for all the Greeks? A. The half-yearly meeting of the Amphictyonic Council, and the national games or festivals.
5. Q. What are the subjects of four of the early legends in the history of Greece? A. The Argonautic Expedition in search of the Golden Fleece, the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the Siege of Troy, and the Hunt of the Caledonian Boar.
6. Q. What was one of the first clearly defined events of Grecian history? A. The Dorian migration. The Dorians descended from the mountains, moved south, conquered the Achæans in the Peloponnesus, and occupied the chief cities—Argos, Corinth, and Sparta.
7. Q. What two races came to be the leading ones in Greece, and what rival cities represented their opposing traits? A. The Dorians and the Ionians. Sparta represented the Dorians and Athens the Ionians.
8. Q. Who finally crystallized into a constitution all the peculiarities of the Spartan character? A. Lycurgus, a member of the royal family.
9. Q. What are some of the regulations Lycurgus prescribed in his aim to make the Spartans a race of soldiers? A. Trade and travel were prohibited. No money was allowed, except cumbrous iron coins. Most property was held in common. Boys were educated and cared for by the state.
10. Q. What conquest made Sparta dominant in the Peloponnesus? A. The conquest of Messenia in two long, bloody wars.
11. Q. According to the legends, what did Cecrops, the first King of Athens, teach the people of Attica? A. Navigation, marriage, and the culture of the olive.
12. Q. After the death of Codrus, the last monarch, how was Athens governed? A. By archons, who first ruled for life, then for ten years, and finally for one year.
13. Q. What was the character of a code of laws prepared by Draco for the government of Athens? A. They were said to have been written in blood, every offence being punished with death.
14. Q. Who drew a new constitution, repealing the harsh edicts of Draco, and what was the effect upon Athens? A. Solon. Athens prospered under his wise management.
15. Q. What tyrants subsequently governed Athens? A. Pisistratus, and his sons, Hippias and Hipparchus.
16. Q. After the assassination of Hipparchus and the banishment of Hippias, what form of government was established in Athens by Cleisthenes as archon? A. A democracy.
17. Q. What brought about the Persian wars near the beginning of the fifth century? A. The attempt of Cyrus, the King of Persia, to punish Athens for assisting the Ionian cities of Asia Minor in throwing off the Persian yoke.
18. Q. What was the result of the first expedition against Greece, sent out under Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius? A. The land troops were defeated in Thrace, and the fleet was shattered while rounding Mount Athos.
19. Q. In what famous battle were the Persians defeated on a second expedition against Greece? A. The battle of Marathon, the victorious forces being commanded by Miltiades.
20. Q. After the death of Miltiades what two generals associated with him at Marathon came to be the leading men in Athens? A. Themistocles and Aristides.
21. Q. Under whom was the third invasion of Greece by the Persians attempted? A. Under Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius, with over a million soldiers.
22. Q. At what place were the Persian hosts held in check by a small band of Greeks under Leonidas, a Spartan? A. At the pass of Thermopylæ.
23. Q. On the third day, a traitor having pointed out a mountain path by which the Persians gained the rear of the Greeks, what was the fate of Leonidas? A. He, with three hundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians, perished, fighting to the last.
24. Q. What leading city of Greece did the army of Xerxes burn? A. Athens.
25. Q. In what naval contest were the Persians soon after totally defeated? A. The battle of Salamis.
26. Q. On the same day of the battle of Salamis what contest occurred at the island of Sicily? A. The battle of Himera, in which the Carthaginian forces under Hamilcar were utterly routed by Gelo, the tyrant of Syracuse.
27. Q. In the following year what land and what naval battles gave the final death blow to the Persian rule in Europe? A. Platæa and Mycale.
28. Q. What league was formed to keep the Persians out of the Ægean? A. A league called the Confederation of Delos, the different states annually contributing to Athens a certain number of ships, or a fixed sum of money for the support of the navy.
29. Q. After the banishment of Themistocles and the death of Aristides, who were the leading men at Athens? A. Pericles and Cimon.
30. Q. To all students of Grecian literature, who must always appear as the central figure of Grecian history? A. Pericles.
31. Q. What is the period during which Pericles ruled Athens called? A. The Age of Pericles.
32. Q. During the latter part of the life of Pericles what war broke out in Greece, which lasted twenty-seven years? A. The Peloponnesian war in which nearly all the states of Greece took part, Athens and Sparta being on opposite sides.
33. Q. What was the plan for the conduct of the war on either side? A. The Spartan plan was to invade and desolate Attica, while that of Athens was to ravage the coast of the Peloponnesus with its fleet.
34. Q. While the citizens of Attica were seeking protection within the walls of Athens, what leader died during the pestilence that followed? A. Pericles.
35. Q. Who was chief among the demagogues that now arose in Athens? A. Cleon, a cruel, arrogant boaster, who gained power by flattering the populace.
36. Q. What was the fate of Platæa during this war? A. It was besieged by the Spartans, and when those defending the city surrendered every man was put to death and the city razed to the ground.
37. Q. After peace had been established, by the influence of what demagogue was the bloody contest renewed? A. By the influence of Alcibiades, a young nobleman, the nephew of Pericles and pupil of Socrates.
38. Q. What naval expedition was fitted out at the instance of Alcibiades, and with what result? A. An expedition against Sicily. The Athenian ships were defeated, and the troops attempting to flee by land were overtaken and forced to surrender.
39. Q. Before the final defeat of the expedition, to what rival city had Alcibiades given his support upon being summoned to Athens to answer charges that had been brought against him? A. To Sparta.
40. Q. How was the Peloponnesian war ended? A. By the surrender of Athens and her fleet, and the destruction of her long walls.
41. Q. By whom was Athens now for a time ruled? A. An oligarchy of thirty persons. After they had ruled only eight months the Athenian exiles returned in arms, overthrew the tyrants, and re-established a democratic government.
42. Q. What is meant by the “Retreat of the Ten Thousand” in Grecian history? A. The march of ten thousand Greeks from the heart of the Persian empire through a hostile country back to Greece.
43. Q. What battle, under what general resulted in the overthrow of Spartan rule, and made Thebes the chief city in Greece? A. The battle of Leuctra, the Theban army being led by Epaminondas.
44. Q. At what place did Epaminondas fight his last battle and die in the moment of victory? A. At Mantinea.
45. Q. When Philip came to the throne of Macedon, to what end did he bend every energy of his mind? A. To becoming the head of all Greece.
46. Q. What wars grew out of Philip’s scheme? A. The Sacred wars.
47. Q. At what battle did the Macedonian phalanx annihilate the armies of Thebes and Athens? A. The battle of Chæronea.
48. Q. What befell Philip as he was preparing to lead an army into Persia? A. He was assassinated at his daughter’s marriage feast.
49. Q. Who succeeded Philip, and by his conquests established a vast empire in Asia? A. His son, Alexander.
50. Q. Soon after the death of Alexander, among whom was his empire divided? A. Among his principal generals.