How Well Do You Know Ancient Greek History?

Zeus! Zeus was the son of Rhea and Kronos the Titan. When his father ate the rest of Zeus' siblings, Zeus rebelled, killed Kronos and freed his brothers and sisters. They became the first of the Olympians.

Athena gave her name to Athens. According to myth, she won that right in a contest with her uncle Poseidon. Poseidon gave the Athenians a sea, but Athena gave them an olive tree. The tree provided the Athenians with food and farming, so she won.

Delphi. The Oracle of Apollo was located at Delphi. The oracle, a young girl, would predict the future for petitioners.

Solon introduced political and economic reforms to Athens. One of these was getting rid of the debt slavery that existed in the legal code. Another example of his reforms was allowing any citizen to take someone to court.

Hesiod's Theogony describes the "titanomachy," or battle where the gods overthrew the titans. Hesiod is one of the main sources for this myth. Hesiod likely composed the Theogony, and Works and Days, about 750 B.C.

Homer is traditionally credited with composing the Iliad, the story of the Trojan War. That said, scholars still argue over whether Homer's poetry was written by one person, or was a collection of different storytellers.

The Socratic Turn is the turn from focusing on nature to focusing on mankind. The change is so radical that the philosophers who came before Socrates are collectively called the "Pre-Socratics." Where these philosophers asked what the world was made of (water? fire? air?), Socrates asked how you should live in the world.

Plato was Socrates' most famous pupil. Socrates did not write his ideas down; Plato recorded them all in his dialogues. Scholars still debate how much of the Socrates in Plato's dialogues is actually Socrates, and how often Plato uses his teacher as a mouthpiece.

Theseus was Athens' founder in mythology. He was sent to fight the minotaur as part of a yearly sacrifice of young people Athens sent to Crete. Theseus was meant to die, but killed the minotaur with the help of Ariadne, a Cretan princess.

Corinth was home to a famous temple of Aphrodite. Aphrodite was particularly important to Corinth. At her temple, people could pay to have sex with the female servants (a practice sometimes called "sacred prostitution").

Sparta had a very militant class system, and the helots were the slave class of Sparta. It was their revolt that led the Spartans to constitute a strict military government.

Athens and Sparta were the primary enemies in the Peloponnesian War. Athens lost after 27 years of fighting. That loss signaled the end of Athens' dominance.

The Persian Wars were a major event in Greek history. The first was fought against Darius, and the second against Xerxes. Their victory in the second Persian War ended the threat of Persian invasion for good.

Athens has Themistocles to thank for the naval strategy that won the second Persian War. They also have him to thank for their navy, period. It was Themistocles' idea to put a vein of silver to the purpose of building a fleet.

Artemis, goddess of the hunt, vowed never to take a husband. She was so intent on chastity that she killed a man who accidentally saw her naked. Her twin brother, Apollo, was god of the sun, poetry and archery.

Orpheus was the legendary musician whose music moved inanimate objects and calmed beasts. He's also known for botching an attempt to bring his wife, Eurydice, back from the underworld. There are theaters named “Orpheum” in cities as diverse as Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Vancouver.

Hoplites were the name of Greece's heavily armed, and armored, soldiers. They were usually rich, as they bought their own arms and armor, and chose to fight. Hoplites were sought out as mercenaries throughout the ancient world.

Sparta! Sparta's army was famously well-trained. From age seven, Spartan boys were trained as soldiers. They came to be one of two dominant city-states in the Greek world.

The Macedonians, under Philip II and Alexander the Great, would conquer Greece. The Macedonian Empire would continue beyond Greece, as well, and spread Greek culture farther than it had even spread.

Aeschylus wrote the Oresteia, a trilogy of plays about Agamemnon and his family. Aeschylus is also famous for introducing a second actor to drama (previously, plays only featured a solo performer). Despite his dramatic success, Aeschylus's self-composed epitaph refers instead to his participation at the Battle of Marathon.

The phalanx was a battle formation where a line of hoplites stood with shields facing the enemy, and advanced against them.

At Salamis, the Greek fleet, led by the Athenians, crushed the Persian navy. The Greeks only fought the Persians because Themistocles tricked the Greeks into it. Worried his countrymen would avoid a chance to crush Persia, he arranged for the Greek fleet to be trapped, so they'd be forced to fight. The gamble paid off.

At Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 299 Spartans held off the Persian army. They only lost when the Persians were shown a way around the Spartans, and were able to attack them from behind. When Xerxes told Leonidas to lay down his arms, he famously responded "molon labe"-- come and take them.

Lycurgus was the legendary (and possibly mythical) Spartan who designed that city's draconian laws. One legend says that he told the Spartans not to change the laws he'd made until he returned, then chose to starve himself in the wilderness so the law code wouldn't be able to change.

Dionysus was the god of wine and theater. He was adopted by the Greeks. Dionysus was also a god of manic excess, and the philosopher Nietzsche would use his name to define the chaotic force necessary to civilization.

Epaminondas changed the face of Greek warfare by putting his best troops on his left flank. For years, it was common to put the best troops on the right. At Leuctra, this radical idea helped him defeat the Spartans.

Euripides wrote Medea and The Bacchae. The Bacchae is about the worship of Dionysus, and Medea is about the hero Jason's jilted wife. Both plays feature mothers killing their children.

The stoics were philosophers who emphasized controlling oneself, rather than outside forces. They believed that fear was merely a reaction to outside phenomena, and could be conquered. They also believed virtue was its own reward.

Alexander idolized Achilles, and is said to have slept with a copy of Homer beneath his pillow. He wasn't the only fan. There were several spots throughout the ancient Mediterranean where cults worshipped Achilles. Alexander stopped to worship at one of these sites on his way through Asia Minor.

Zeus fathered monsters with Echidna. Hesiod says Hera raised the monsters so they could later attack heroes, many of whom were Zeus' illegitimate children.

Aristotle's method was called peripatetic, and entailed walking around constantly, observing the natural world. Aristotle was Plato's greatest student. He was also Alexander the Great's tutor.

Demosthenes was the famous Athenian rhetorician who opposed Macedonian rule. Demosthenes made his money as a speechwriter. Demosthenes' famous speeches, the Philippics, attempted to warn Greece against the invading Philip II of Macedon.

Perseus killed Medusa. One legend states that Pegasus, the winged stallion, burst from her decapitated body. Perseus defeated Medusa by looking at her reflection in his shield, as looking at her directly could turn you to stone.

Pythagoras, mathematician and philosopher, is best known today for his eponymous theorem. But math was actually a form of mysticism for Pythagoras, who saw numbers as the key to understanding the divine framework underlying reality.

Pericles is the Athenian politician and general who presided over an Athenian golden age. He is responsible for the construction of the Parthenon, the Odeon, and the fostering of intellectual life in Athens. Under Pericles, Athens also became an economic powerhouse.