A Carver's Road Through Greece, 432 BCE

Follow a described map from Miletus to Sparta to compare city-states and Greek achievements.

Answer Key

The map and the journey

Read the map description and the journey. Then answer the questions.

A Map of Greece in 432 BCE (described in words)
1. Athens lies in central Greece, a short walk from its port on the Aegean Sea.
2. Miletus is a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor (today's Turkey), east of Athens across the Aegean Sea.
3. Corinth lies west of Athens on the isthmus, the narrow neck of land that joins central Greece to the Peloponnese, a large peninsula to the south.
4. Delphi sits on a mountainside north of Corinth, across the Gulf of Corinth.
5. Olympia lies in the western Peloponnese, southwest of Delphi.
6. Sparta lies in the southern Peloponnese, southeast of Olympia.

The Journey of Theron the Carver

1Miletus. Theron, a young stone carver, sets out to see the great works of Greece. His city is proud of Thales, who lived here about 150 years earlier. Thales tried to explain earthquakes and floods through natural causes instead of the anger of the gods, and ancient writers say he predicted an eclipse of the sun. Another man of Miletus, Hippodamus, planned towns with straight streets crossing in a grid, including the port of Athens.

2Athens. On a hill called the Pnyx, Theron watches the Assembly, where any citizen man 18 or older may speak and vote. Pericles, the city's leading general, had Athens begin paying citizens a small daily wage for jury service. On the Acropolis, workers are finishing the Parthenon, a marble temple to Athena begun in 447 BCE. Its sculptures were planned under the sculptor Phidias.

3Corinth. Ships and carts crowd this rich trading city. Corinth has no assembly like the one in Athens; a council of wealthy men makes its decisions.

4Delphi. Visitors from many city-states climb to the temple of Apollo. Greeks believed Apollo answered questions through a priestess called the Pythia, and cities sent messengers to ask her advice before founding colonies or going to war.

5Olympia. Every four years, athletes from across the Greek world compete here in games held in honor of Zeus. During the games, a sacred truce pauses wars between Greek city-states. Theron finds Phidias himself in a workshop, shaping a huge seated statue of Zeus from gold and ivory.

6Sparta. Sparta has few grand buildings. Two kings lead its army, and they sit with 28 elders, men over 60, on a council. Five officials called ephors, elected every year, watch over the kings and can even put a king on trial. People in the streets talk of a coming war with Athens.

Theron sails from Miletus to Athens. In which direction does he travel?

A. North along the isthmus
B. South toward the Peloponnese
C. East across the Aegean Sea
D. West across the Aegean Sea

Which stops on Theron's route lie on the Peloponnese? Choose all that apply.

A. Olympia
B. Sparta
C. Athens
D. Delphi

Using the map, what most likely helped Corinth become a rich trading city?

A. It sat high on a mountainside above the gulf.
B. Land routes between central Greece and the Peloponnese crossed it.
C. It was the closest city to Asia Minor.
D. It lay in the far south, away from other cities.

What does the sacred truce at Olympia best show about the Greek city-states?

A. Greek cities stopped fighting one another after 432 BCE.
B. Rival cities still shared religious festivals and games.
C. Athens ruled the other cities during the games.
D. The games were held to choose one king for the Greeks.

Three ways to govern

Use the Athens, Corinth and Sparta stops.

Sort each detail by the city-state it describes.

Any citizen man 18 or older may speak and vote.A council of wealthy men makes the decisions.Officials elected each year watch over the kings.Citizens earn a daily wage for jury service.Elders over 60 sit on a council with two kings.

Athens	Corinth	Sparta
Any citizen man 18 or older may speak and vote. Citizens earn a daily wage for jury service.	A council of wealthy men makes the decisions.	Officials elected each year watch over the kings. Elders over 60 sit on a council with two kings.

Before the jury wage, many Athenian jurors were men who could afford to miss a day of work. How did the wage most likely change who served?

A. Wealthy men were no longer allowed to serve.
B. Poorer citizens could afford to serve too.
C. Women and enslaved people could now serve.
D. Fewer citizens wanted to be jurors.

A classmate says that every Greek city-state was a democracy like Athens. Which two stops best challenge this claim?

A. Corinth and Sparta
B. Miletus and Delphi
C. Delphi and Olympia
D. Athens and Miletus

Underline the sentence from the Sparta stop that best shows that Spartan kings did not hold unlimited power.

Sparta has few grand buildings.Two kings lead its army, and they sit with 28 elders, men over 60, on a council.Five officials called ephors, elected every year, watch over the kings and can even put a king on trial.People in the streets talk of a coming war with Athens.

Greek achievements

Use the whole journey.

Match each person to the achievement the journey connects to him.

ThalesC
HippodamusA
PhidiasB
PericlesD

A. Towns with streets laid out in a grid
B. Huge statues and temple sculpture
C. Explaining nature through natural causes
D. Paying citizens for jury service

10.

Use the Athens stop. Theron visits in 432 BCE. Subtract the years.

By the time of Theron's visit, work on the Parthenon had gone on for about 15 years.

11.

A doctor today looks for the cause of an illness by studying the patient instead of blaming bad luck. Which person on Theron's route used the most similar approach?

A. The Pythia
B. Pericles
C. Thales
D. Phidias

12.

Claim: Greek achievements came from many city-states, not from Athens alone. Do you agree or disagree? Give evidence from at least two stops and explain your reasoning.

I agree. Athens gave Greece the Assembly on the Pnyx, where any citizen man 18 or older could speak and vote, and it built the Parthenon. But other cities added a great deal. Miletus produced Thales, who explained earthquakes and floods through natural causes, which is an early step toward science, and Hippodamus, who planned towns with streets in a grid, even the port of Athens. Olympia was the home of the games and of Phidias's statue of Zeus. Sparta also had its own idea of limits on power, with ephors elected every year who could put a king on trial. So many city-states, not only Athens, shaped what we call Greek achievements.