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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book 2.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What natural phenomenon affects the war at the same time as a failed peace envoy to Sparta?
(a) Cyclones sweep across the eastern side of Greece.
(b) An earthquake brings down much of Athens' walls.
(c) The plague appears in Lesbos, then Athens, and then Potidaea.
(d) A tsunami causes widespread destruction in the Peloponnesian isthmus.

2. Where is the Attica-Euboea-Boeotia area of Greece?
(a) The area West of the Peloponnesian Isthmus
(b) The area directly North of the Peloponnesian Isthmus
(c) The area South of the Peloponnesian Isthmus
(d) The area East of the Peloponnesian Isthmus

3. Why is Athens in a superior position at the start of the war?
(a) Because her her allies are more numerous, richer, and better positioned to prosecute hostilities against the largely agrarian Spartans.
(b) Because the Athenian army is better trained and more rugged.
(c) Because Athens is built on an unassailable mountaintop.
(d) Because Athens has the largest army in the world at that time.

4. After the Spartan forces give up the Attica offensive, what does Athens continue to do?
(a) Hit-and-run naval attacks on the Peloponesian isthmus
(b) Build higher walls around Athens
(c) Press for a military truce and peace treaty
(d) Stockpile commodities against future Spartan attacks

5. What is the stated purpose of Book One of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War?
(a) To show the importance of Corinth in the Peloponnesian War.
(b) To discuss the daily life of people in Sparta and Athens.
(c) To establish the credentials of Thucydides as a historian.
(d) To establish background and attempt to examine the causes of the war.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is the fourth major area where much of the early activity takes place?

2. What event in ca 479 BC gives rise to a period of prominence in Athens?

3. What are the four major geographic areas listed in Book One?

4. What complication does geographic scope add to the difficulty of reading Book One?

5. Why is the Theban attack able to precipitate the war?

(see the answer key)

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