Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/138

QO General History of Europe Sophists ? Why were these teachers opposed ? What progress was made in science? in medicine? Who was the first historian of whom we have any account ? With what events does his history deal ? II. Describe the most celebrated building of Athens the Parthenon. What importance did the drama have at this time ? Tell something of the plays of iEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Can you give the names of any of their plays? Contrast as far as you can the Greek play with our own. What two kinds of plays were given? Define a tragedy ; a comedy. Can you recall any examples in English, for in- stance, among the plays of Shakespeare? What books were available at this time? III. Why was Athens looked upon with jealousy by the other cities of Greece? Review the Second Peloponnesian War. Who was Alcibiades? Describe the fall of Athens. NOTE. This illustration shows us the lovely porch of the Maidens built to adorn the temple on the Acropolis known as the Erechtheum. It was a very ancient sanctuary of Athena, supposed to have gained its name because it was originally a shrine in the castle of the prehistoric king Erechtheus on the Acropolis. The temple was believed to stand on the spot where Athena overcame Poseidon in her battle with him for the possession of Attica, and here was the mark of the sea god's trident which he struck into the earth. Here also grew the original olive tree which Athena summoned from the earth as a gift to the Athenians. The building was erected during the last Peloponnesian war, in spite of the financial distress of Athens at that time. It is one of the most beautiful archi- tectural works left us by the Greeks.