CLAS240 Ancient Societies: Sport and Recreation

Sample Multiple Choice Questions

Note: These questions are based upon previous exams and quizzes. Not all topics are covered every time the course is offered. These questions should only be used as guidelines.

__________1. The original meaning of the English word "sport" is a.) to play; b.) to compete; c.) to amuse oneself; d.) to run; e.) to make love.

__________2. The Greek word arete means a.) excellence; b.) sport; c.) competition; d.) a measurement of distance; e.) an amusement.

__________3. The following is NOT a philosophy of sport: a.) sport as an aesthetic phenomenon; b.) sport as ethical training; c.) sport as history; d.) sport as a sign-world; e.) sport as a model for an Aachieving@ society.

__________4. The philosophy of sport proposed by Konrad Lorenz is: a.) sport as a form of the necessary discharge of intraspecific aggression; b.) sport as a medium of self- or life-fulfillment; c.) sport as excess strength and the root of creative living; d.) sport as a mean in the class struggle, of increasing production and overcoming alienation; e.) sport as symbolized father-son conflict and substitute narcissistic satisfaction.

__________5. In The Origin of Greek Athletics Sansone argues that sport originated in: a.) warfare; b.) ritual sacrifice; c.) song; d.) competition; e.) education.

__________6. The Mediterranean region where bull-leaping was a popular sport was: a.) Italy; b.) Crete; c.) Palestine; d.) China; e.) Egypt.

__________7. An ancient ballgame popularized by the gods was played by the: a.) Chinese; b.) Japanese; c.) Maya; d.) Egyptians; e.) Greeks.

__________8. The following event was NOT included in the funeral games for Patroclus in the Iliad: a.) stade; b.) chariot-race; c.) javelin; d.) discus; e.) boxing.

__________9. The hero Odysseus won back his wife=s hand in marriage via the following sport: a.) chariot-racing; b.) archer; c.) foot-race; d.) discus; e.) boat-racing.

_________10. The following word refers to the four years between the ancient games in honor of Zeus: a.) Olympic; b.) Olympics; c.) Olympus; d.) Olympiad; e.) Olympian.

_________11. The site of Olympia is dominated by a hill named after: a.) Pelops; b.) Zeus; c.) Hera; d.) Kronos; e.) Herakles.

_________12. The following person is NOT associated with a myth telling the founding of the ancient Olympic games: a.) Herakles; b.) Pheidias; c.) King Augeas of Elis; d.) King Iphitos of Elis; e.) Pelops.

_________13. The heralds who announced the Olympic Truce were called: a.) hippodromos; b.) spondophoroi; c.) halteres; d.) hellanodikai; e.) periodos.

_________14. The following city was NOT the site of a panhellenic or national athletic festival in ancient Greece: a.) Athens; b.) Corinth; c.) Nemea; d.) Olympia; e.) Delphi.

_________15. The following was NOT part of the Temple of Zeus: a.) the Pediment of the Chariot Race of Pelops; b.) Pheidias' Statue of Zeus; c.) the Pediment of the Great Altar of Zeus; d.) the Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs; e.) Metopes of the Labors of Herakles.

_________16. Stood on a pillar nine metres high near the Temple of Zeus: a.) the Leonidaion; b.) Pheidias' Zeus statue; c.) the Heroon; d.) the Zanes; e.) the Victory of Paionios.

_________17. The most remarkable feature of the Temple of Hera at Olympia was its: a.) columns; b.) statue of the goddess; c.) color; d.) location; e.) roof.

_________18. The burial mound of a hero at Olympia was: a.) the Pelopion; b.) the Philippeion; c.) the Prytaneion; d.) the Bouleuterion; e.) none of the above.

_________19. The length of the Olympic stadium is approximately: a.) 100 metres; b.) 192 metres; c.) 50 metres; d.) 300 metres; e.) 150 metres.

_________20. Contained a practice area as large as the Olympic stadium: a.) the palaistra; b.) the hippodrome; c.) the gymnasium; d.) the bouleuterion; e.) the Zanes.

_________21. The following event took place in the hippodrome: a.) chariot race; b.) discus; c.) foot-race; d.) javelin; e.) race in armor.

_________22. The long-distance foot race at the ancient Olympic games was called: a.) hoplitodromos; b.) marathon; c.) diaulos; d.) stade; e.) dolichos.

_________23. The following was NOT an event in the pentathlon: a.) wrestling; b.) jumping; c.) relay; d.) javelin; e.) discus.

_________24. The oldest Olympic event was the: a.) pankration; b.) dolichos; c.) chariot race; d.) stade; e.) boxing.

_________25. A four-horse chariot race was called: a.) tethrippon; b.) balbis; c.) dokimasia; d.) synoris; e.) hippodrome.

_________26. Athletes swore oaths to Zeus here: a.) Zanes; b.) Altar of Zeus; c.) Temple of Zeus; d.) Leonidaion; e.) Bouleuterion.

_________27. Contestants in javelin-throwing at Olympia did NOT compete: a.) in the stadium; b.) on foot; c.) with wooden javelins; d.) on horseback; e.) with a leather thong (ankyle).

_________28. Ancient Olympic jumpers used: a.) thongs; b.) poles; c.) weights (halteres); d.) no equipment; e.) special belts.

_________29. The following facility was NOT available at ancient Olympia: a.) hotel; b.) swimming pool; c.) gymnasium; d.) boxing rings; e.) practice areas.

_________30. The following was NOT a combat sport: a.) boxing; b.) wrestling; c.) pankration; d.) diaulos.

_________31. The following was NOT an event at the ancient Olympics: a.) competitions for trumpeters; b.) tethrippon; c.) marathon; d.) stade; e.) pankration.

_________32. Milo of Croton was victor at Olympia five times in the following event: a.) pentathlon; b.) stade; c.) pankration; d.) wrestling; e.) chariot-race.

_________33. Raising the right index finger is the pankratist's sign for: a.) assistance; b.) anger; c.) victory; d.) submission; e.) none of the above.

_________34. A triakter is the victor in a.) boxing; b.) stade; c.) wrestling; d.) jumping; e.) chariot-racing.

_________35. The myth of the Lapiths and the Centaurs illustrates the following event: a.) stade; b.) pankration; c.) discus-throwing; d.) chariot-driving; e.) javelin-throwing.

_________36. The most popular event at ancient Olympia was: a.) boxing; b.) pankration; c.) wrestling; d.) jumping; e.) chariot-racing.

_________37. The Greek god of horses and charioteers was: a.) Hades; b.) Poseidon; c.) Herakles; d.) Zeus; e.) Hippopotamus.

_________38. Apollo killed Hyacinthus with a: a.) discus; b.) javelin; c.) halter; d.) skamma; e.) ankyle.

_________39. The Greek god of athletes was: a.) Zeus; b.) Hermes; c.) Poseidon; d.) Hades; e.) Apollo.

_________40. The wrestling scene in the illustration depicts: a.) the Greeks and the Trojans; b.) the Lapiths and the Centaurs; c.) Hercules and Antaeus; d.) the Olympic pentathlon; e.) Theseus and Cercyon.

This material has been published on the web by Prof. Tom Sienkewicz for his students at Monmouth College. If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.

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