Information concerning exam, Friday Dec. 13, 2002

The final exam, Friday, December 13, 4:00 - 5:50 (one hour and 50 minutes) will be cumulative. It will more or less combine the formats of the Oct. 3 and Nov. 14 tests. There will be about 15 short answer questions (75%) and one essay (25%). The essay will somehow deal with Starr's "Sources on Athenian Democracy and Imperialism" (pp. 193-211).
Besides the readings included on the syllabus, you should also be familiar with Xenophon, Socrates' Defense to the Jury (Reeve, pp. 177-184). You should also be familiar with all the material presented in the various handouts.
Other additions and/or supplements are the following:
In four maps in Starr (pp. 2, 93, 106-107, 154-155), you should know the location of the following places or areas:
You should have some general idea of Greek writing systems. Starr, p. 96, illustrates a Mycenaean Linear B tablet and also contrasts the Linear B system with the classical Greek alphabet - a much more efficient means of representing Greek. In fact, the classical Greek alphabet is still the basis of our alphabet, although a number of letter forms have changed in potentially confusing ways.

A transcription of the Linear B tablet which Starr includes is as follows:

The first six symbols are syllabic signs (probably a place name wa-to, with some additional information), and the rest is some kind of inventory of livestock, as indicated by Starr.

In the classical Greek alphabet, some of the letter-forms are identical to ours, but a number show some variation. A fairly straightforward Greek inscription is given by Starr, p. 55, where there is a bust of Pericles (Perikles) with the following inscription (This consists of capital Greek letters, which should show up correctly in most - though not all - web browsers):

ΠΕΡΙΚΛΗΣ
ΞΑΝΘΙΠΠΟΥ
ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΣ

This could be transliterated as follows:

PERIKLÊS
XANTHIPPOY
ATHÊNAIOS

with a translation as follows:

Perikles
(son) of Xanthippus
Athenian

Variations between Greek and English letter forms which are illustrated in this inscription are as follows (the Greek is given first, and then the transliteration:

Π=P; Ρ=R; Λ=L; Η=Ê; Σ=S; Ξ=X; Θ=TH; Υ=U

Additional variations are the following:

Γ=G; Δ=D; Φ=PH; Χ=CH (or KH); Ψ=PS; Ω=Ô

while the following ten letters are pretty much the same in both the Greek alphabet and in transliteration:

A B E Z I K M N O T

Additional observations concerning Starr's "Sources on Athenian Democracy and Imperialism":
No. 2, "The Old Oligarch" is indicated in our manuscripts as having been written by Xenophon. This attribution is undoubtedly incorrect - but it may reflect an oligarchic tendency of Xenophon, evident in the brief quote from Xenophon, bottom of Starr, p. 210. In discussing the Old Oligarch, Starr seems to imply (p. 197) that this pamphlet was written a few years after Pericles' funeral oration was delivered. Actually, though, it may be from very near the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (and hence earlier than Pericles' funeral oration). One indication of this is the fact that the Old Oligarch seems to reflect the sorts of criticism which people outside of Athens made of Athens in the period immediately preceding the Peloponnesian War (cf. the Corinthian analysis of the Athenian character, made at the Congress at Lacedaemon in 432 B.C. (Starr, pp. 207-208). As it happens, Starr slightly condenses the Old Oligarch, and in so doing, omits an important piece of evidence. The full text of the Old Oligarch is available on line at both the Perseus site and from the University of Richmond. (The latter site seems to be the more readily accessible most of the time.) As you will see if you consult either of these websites, the opening paragraph of the Old Oligarch is as follows (the clause which is omitted by Starr is underlined):

"And as for the fact that the Athenians have chosen the kind of constitution that they have, I do not think well of their doing this inasmuch as in making their choice they have chosen to let the worst people be better off than the good. Therefore, on this account I do not think well of their constitution. But since they have decided to have it so, I intend to point out how well they preserve their constitution and accomplish those other things for which the rest of the Greeks criticize them."

Another passage in which Starr introduces some potentially significant changes is his quotation from Plato, Apology of Socrates (Starr, p. 204). Apparently to simplify matters, Starr substitutes the phrase "your / my accuser" for the proper name "Anytus". This may seem simple enough; however, Starr also is glossing over the particular way in Socrates is referring to Anytus as, somewhat paradoxically, having said that "I [Socrates] shouldn't have been brought to trial at all" (Apology, 29c, see Reeve, p. 44, with footnote 63). Probably the contrast between Socrates' philosophizing at Athens or potentially going into exile (and so conducting philosophical inquiry elsewhere) is more central to the passage than Starr would seem to allow for in his rather general question ("Do you think that Socrates was intelligent to make this statement when he was on trial for his life?")