Early European History Part 24

6. What reasons can be given for the Greek victory in the struggle against Persia?

7. Distinguish between a confederacy and an empire.

8. Compare the relations of the Delian subject cities to Athens with those of British colonies, such as Canada and Australia, to England.

9. What do you understand by representative government?

10. If the Athenian Empire could have rested on a representative basis, why would it have been more likely to endure?

11. How far can the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" be applied to the Athenian democracy?

12. Did the popular a.s.sembly of Athens have any resemblance to a New England town meeting?

13. Compare the Athenian jury system with that of England and the United States.

14. The Athenian democracy of the time of Pericles has been described as a _pure_ democracy and not, like the American, as a _representative_ democracy. In what lies the difference?

15. Can you suggest any objections to the system of state pay introduced by Pericles? To what extent do we employ the same system under our government?

16. What conditions of the time help to explain the contempt of the Greeks for money-making?

17. Trace on the map, page 107, the Long Walls of Athens.

18. Why has the Peloponnesian War been called an "irrepressible conflict"?

Why has it been called the "suicide of Greece"?

19. What states of the Greek mainland were neutral in the Peloponnesian War (map facing page 108)?

20. Contrast the resources of the contending parties. Where was each side weak and where strong?

21. Why was the tyranny of Sparta more oppressive than that of Athens?

22. What were the reasons for the failure of the Athenian, Spartan, and Theban attempts at empire?

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Ancient History_, chapter vii, "Xerxes and the Persian Invasion of Greece"; chapter viii, "Episodes from the Peloponnesian War"; chapter ix, "Alcibiades the Athenian"; chapter x, "The Expedition of the Ten Thousand"; chapter xi, "The Trial and Death of Socrates."

[2] See the map facing page 38.

[3] See page 87.

[4] See the ill.u.s.tration, page 99.

[5] Thucydides, i, 18.

[6] See page 272.

[7] Herodotus, vii, 228.

[8] See the map on page 107.

[9] See page 96.

[10] See page 83.

[11] See the map facing page 108.

[12] See page 155.

[13] See page 44.

[14] The commercial importance of Athens is indicated by the general adoption of her monetary standard by the other Greek states. (For ill.u.s.trations of Greek coins see the plate facing page 134.)

[15] Thucydides, ii, 38.

[16] See the map, page 107.

[17] For a description of ancient Athens, see pages 288-292.

[18] Thucydides, ii, 41.

[19] Thucydides, ii, 8.

[20] Thucydides, i, 118.

[21] Thucydides, vii, 87.

CHAPTER VI

MINGLING OF EAST AND WEST AFTER 359 B.C. [1]

39. PHILIP AND THE RISE OF MACEDONIA

MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIANS

The land of Macedonia, lying to the north of Greece, for a long time had been an inconspicuous part of the ancient world. Its people, though only partially civilized, were Greeks in blood and language. No doubt they formed an offshoot of those northern invaders who had entered the Balkan peninsula before the dawn of history. The Macedonian kings, from the era of the Persian wars, seized every opportunity of spreading Greek culture throughout their realm. By the middle of the fourth century B.C., when Philip II ascended the throne, the Macedonians were ready to take a leading place in the Greek world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHILIP II From a gold medallion struck by Alexander]

PHILIP'S AIMS

Philip of Macedonia, one of the most remarkable men of antiquity, was endowed with a vigorous body, a keen mind, and a resolute will. He was no stranger to Greece and its ways. Part of his boyhood had been pa.s.sed as a hostage at Thebes in the days of Theban glory. His residence there gave him an insight into Greek politics and taught him the art of war as it had been perfected by Epaminondas. In the distracted condition of Greece, worn out by the rivalries of contending cities, Philip saw the opportunity of his own country. He aimed to secure for Macedonia the position of supremacy which neither Athens, Sparta, nor Thebes had been able to maintain.