Unit 28: Thucydides and the Plague of Athens

Click or select any word to translate.

Word List

  • n. Avail is help or benefit.
    His studying was to no avail because he failed the test.
  • v. To define means to clearly state, show, or explain what something is.
    People define success in many different ways.
  • v. To dread is to be afraid of something that could, or is going to, happen.
    I dread the possibility that I will not get into college.
  • v. To expand is to become bigger in size.
    A balloon will expand as you blow air into it.
  • adj. If something is fundamental, it is a basic part of something.
    The fundamental rules of basketball are easy.
  • adj. If something is horrifying, it is frightening and very unpleasant.
    There was a horrifying car accident today.
  • adj. If someone is incredulous about something, they do not believe that it is true.
    She was incredulous that monkeys could ever drive a car.
  • v. To linger is to last for a long time.
    The smell of fresh cookies lingered in the bakery.
  • n. An organism is a living thing, especially a very small one.
    We studied the organism under the microscope.
  • v. To paraphrase is to make someone else's writing or speech shorter.
    The students were asked to paraphrase the story they had just heard.
  • n. A plague is a serious disease that quickly spreads to many people.
    A plague in Europe killed millions of people.
  • adv. If something happens presently, it is happening right now.
    Presently, our profits are good, but by next year we can do even better.
  • adj. If something is random, it happens without any pattern or reason.
    Young children often ask random questions.
  • n. A riot is a crowd that reacts to bad news by violently breaking laws.
    A riot broke out after the candidate lost the election.
  • v. To scribble is to write something quickly without caring about how it looks.
    I scribbled a rough diagram of our plan and gave it to him.
  • n. A shrine is a religious building built to honor a person, event, or god.
    He prayed at the shrine for an hour.
  • n. Solitude is the state of being totally alone.
    John lives a life of solitude because he doesn't get along well with people.
  • adj. If something is stark, then it is severe or clear in appearance or outline.
    There is a stark contrast between their test scores.
  • v. To summon a person is to ask them to come to you.
    We summoned the doctor as soon as we noticed she was sick.
  • v. To worsen is to get worse.
    The weather suddenly worsened, and we had to stay inside.

 

Exercise

A ‣ Circle the word that fits the definition.

  1. to ask someone to come
    • a. worsen
    • b. scribble
    • c. linger
    • d. summon
  2. basic
    • a. verse
    • b. riot
    • c. avail
    • d. fundamental
  3. to get bigger
    • a. expand
    • b. define
    • c. stark
    • d. organism
  4. to be afraid
    • a. dread
    • b. shrine
    • c. random
    • d. horrifying
  5. not believing
    • a. solitude
    • b. presently
    • c. incredulous
    • d. plague

 

B ‣ Circle the right definition for the given word.

  1. plague
    • a. a violent reaction
    • b. different
    • c. a disease
    • d. without reason
  2. solitude
    • a. being alone
    • b. success
    • c. afraid
    • d. right now
  3. define
    • a. to last a long time
    • b. to get bigger
    • c. to explain clearly
    • d. to make easier
  4. organism
    • a. a religious building
    • b. a living thing
    • c. not believing
    • d. to send for
  5. horrifying
    • a. to get worse
    • b. basic
    • c. to write quickly
    • d. very unpleasant

 

C ‣ Write the word that best fits each blank.

  1. shrine / riot
    There was a _____ in the city yesterday, but the _____ was not damaged.
  2. paraphrased / defined
    For the book report, I _____ the book and clearly _____ the author's purpose for writing it.
  3. expand / presently
    There are fifteen members in the group _____, but I expect that number to _____.
  4. avail / solitude
    His attempt to catch the train was to no _____. He spent hours in _____ waiting for the next one.
  5. fundamental / worsen
    The _____ point of my speech was to show that people need to act. If we don't do something, things will _____.
  6. linger / scribble
    I tried to _____ down the information as fast as I could because I didn't have time to _____.
  7. dreaded / horrifying
    After seeing that _____ plane crash, I _____ flying.
  8. incredulous / stark
    She was _____ that there could be such a _____ contrast between boys' and girls' grades.
  9. organism / summon
    We should _____ scientists from around the world to study this new _____.
  10. plague / random
    At first, we thought _____ people were getting sick. Then we realized that a _____ was spreading.

 

Thucydides and the Plague of Athens

Thucydides was the world's first historian. Presently, we get most of our knowledge about ancient Greece from his writing. But Thucydides didn't just write about history, he lived through it. However, he almost didn't survive one historical event: the Plague of Athens.

In 430 BCE, an army attacked the city of Athens, where Thucydides lived. Thousands of people hid from the army behind Athens' large walls. The city became very crowded as the population expanded. Then, a horrifying disease broke out. People summoned doctors. But it was to no avail because no one understood how the disease spread. It seemed random. They didn't know that it was an organism. Instead, they defined disease as a punishment from their gods. Thucydides was incredulous that the gods caused the plague, but he explained why others believed it. There was an old, long verse which predicted the disease. To paraphrase it, the verse said the gods would send a disease during a war. As a result, large crowds gathered at shrines to ask the gods to stop the plague. But the situation only worsened because these people were so close to each other they became sick. That's how they learned a fundamental lesson about the plague: it spread from person to person.

People wanted to leave the crowded city, but they dreaded what the army outside would do to them. At this time, Thucydides got sick, too. He quickly scribbled down notes because he thought he would soon die. His writing shows the stark contrast between people's behavior before and during the plague. There were riots, and people ignored laws. They didn't think they'd live long enough to be punished. Many sick people were left to die in solitude because no one wanted to be near them. The plague lingered for two years. But luckily, Thucydides survived. Without his writing, we would know much less about ancient Greece and the Plague of Athens.

 

Reading Comprehension

Part A: Mark each statement T for true or F for false. Rewrite the false statements to make them true.

  1. _____ Presently, a horrifying plague has broken out in Athens.
    __________
  2. _____ At first, people thought the spread of the disease was random
    __________
  3. _____ The people summoned doctors, but to no avail.
    __________
  4. _____ Thucydides was incredulous that the plague was caused by an organism.
    __________
  5. _____ By gathering at shrines, people made the plague worse.
    __________
  6. _____ Luckily, Thucydides survived the plague.
    __________

 

Part B: Answer the questions.

  1. What is the passage about?
    • a. A great war in Athens
    • b. Methods of recording history
    • c. Ancient beliefs about plagues
    • d. Ancient medicine
  2. Why did Athens' population expand?
    _____
  3. What fundamental lesson did the people learn?
    _____

 

Answer Key

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