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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What ultimatum does Athens give to Melos?
(a) Join the Delian League or remain neutral
(b) Pay tribute or be wholly destroyed
(c) Build triemes for Athens or face an embargo
(d) Surrender supporters of Sparta or face the consequences

2. Stylistically speaking, what is the quality of Thucydides' text?
(a) It is uneven and often misleading.
(b) It is archaic and fails to deliver what Thucydides had hoped for.
(c) Its simplicity of style makes it simple for even non-scholars to study.
(d) It is complex and extraordinarily dense which often leads to difficulty with clear interpretation of issues.

3. What happens in the second battle at Syracuse?
(a) Cleon comes and takes command of the Athenians.
(b) Alcibiades arrives with reinforcements.
(c) Nicias finally takes aggressive action.
(d) Gylippus leads his troops to victory.

4. What happens in 411 BC to the Athenian democracy after the defeat at Syracuse?
(a) The democracy splits into three separate factions.
(b) Martial law is declared to restore order and democracy.
(c) All the leaders resign in helplessness.
(d) Athenian democracy collapses under the pressure of assassinations and military defeat.

5. What serious setback happens to Athens in 413 BC?
(a) All of Athens' allies desert to Sparta.
(b) The Athenian fleet is decisively destroyed in Sicily during the winter of 413 BC.
(c) The plague returns, wiping out two thirds of the Athenian military.
(d) There is an earthquake that destroys the walls around Athens.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Thucydides suddenly include more information on Peloponnesian events?

2. After military setbacks, what disagreement arses between Nicias and Demosthenes?

3. What further mischief does a former Athenian general create in 412 BC?

4. How does the text of Thucydides' history end?

5. What does Athens do in Scione?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was the charismatic Athenian who promulgated an anti-Spartan alliance in the Peloponnesus? What weakness did he seem to have?

2. What unusual twist of fortune occurred for Alcibiades in 411 BC?

3. After the defeat at Syracuse, what was the condition of of the Athenian league?

4. During the so-called peace of Nicias, what marked the military conflict between Athens and Sparta?

5. After Gylippus' arrival in Syracuse, what immediate conflict began between Syracuse and the Athenians?

6. What shift in the balance of power occurred immediately after the disastrous defeat of the Athenian army and navy at Syracuse?

7. What happened in Athens after the revolt of Euboea?

8. In 411 BC, what happened to Athenian democracy?

9. What feature of Thucydides' writing would not be acceptable in historical writing today?

10. What was the mindset of Athens after the defeats at Syracuse?

(see the answer keys)

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