Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/113

 The Coming of the Greeks 69 the whole of the Peloponnese. As the leader of this league Sparta was the most powerful state in Greece. It had no industries, and it therefore did not possess the prosperous commercial class which had elsewhere done so much to overthrow the nobles and bring about the rise of the tyrants. Sparta was also opposed to the rule of the people and looked with a jealous eye on the rising democracy of Athens. QUESTIONS I. How did Europe first receive metal ? Where and how did higher forms of civilization begin in Europe? Describe the physical aspects of the ^gean world. Why did civilization develop in Crete earlier than in Europe ? Describe the art and industries of Crete. Had Euro- peans ever had sailing ships before ? What were the earliest influences of Cretan civilization on the mainland? What contribution did the Hittites make to the advancement of civilization ? II. To what race do the Greeks belong ? Describe the Greek tribes- men when they first appeared in northern Greece. Describe the in- vasion of the JEgean world by the Greeks. What became of ^Egean civilization? Who were the Philistines? Describe the origin of the Greek city-states. III. Describe the life of the early Greeks. How did they gradually improve their ways of living ? With what civilizing influences did they come in contact when they settled in the ^Kgean? Tell what you know of the Phoenicians. How was the Phoenician alphabet adopted by the Greeks? Describe the songs of adventure so popular with the Greeks. Who was their most famous bard ? What celebrated poems is he supposed to have written? Describe the gods of the Greeks. Why are they sometimes called anthropomorphic ? IV. Where did the Greeks found colonies? Tell something of the development of trade and business among the Greeks. When and where was coined money first used by them ? Why did the Greeks fail to unite into a nation? Were there any national bonds among them? V. Describe the reforms of Solon ; of Clisthenes. Why were the sons of Pisistratus not permitted to rule? What was the Spartan League ?