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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What color does Lostris wear to prove she is a virgin bride?

2. How is Lostris thrown from the Breath of Horus?

3. Of what crime does Pharaoh find Tanus guilty?

4. How are Taita's animals killed?

5. What hunt do Taita and Lostris attend with Pharaoh before the windstorm strikes?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the immediate effect as Tanus begins to rout the Shrikes? How does this change affect people's loyalty to Pharaoh? What do you think might be the long-term effects of this new loyalty?

2. What condition is Tanus in when Taita finally finds him? How is this condition similar to Lostris's desire for death on her wedding night? How is Taita able to save Tanus in much the same way he saved Lostris?

3. How does Lostris interact with Pharaoh during their first three months of marriage? Though Smith does not say this is so many words, how does Pharaoh reveal his true character during this time?

4. When the people cry out to Pharaoh to give Tanus mercy from the death sentence, what does Pharaoh do? What leads to this decision? Does it show Pharaoh's mercy or his weakness?

5. When Taita disguises himself as a priest so that he is not recognized in his native city Thebes, how is he treated? What does this say about the Egyptian people's attitude toward their religion? What does this say about the priests' ethics?

6. What account does Taita give of the girl he loved when he was sixteen? How does his telling of it, half his lifetime later, show the changes he has gone through? Is he more cynical or more understanding of what happened?

7. What power does Pharaoh's seal have? Why must a man acknowledge it, as Tanus does when Neter comes to arrest him? Is this seal a sign of power or of weakness?

8. In the days leading up to Lostris's wedding, Taita is not allowed to go near her. Even during the wedding ceremony, he stands at the back of the crowd and cannot see much. What is the literary significance of Taita's inability to see Lostris? How does this relate to Smith's silence about Tanus's reaction?

9. What does Taita learn from his friend Tiamat about the Shrikes? How does this explain the destitution of Egypt and the weakness of Pharaoh?

10. Why does Lostris want to die on her wedding night? Does Taita respond properly to her demands for poison? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role do animals play in Egyptian culture? How are animals tied closely to the gods? How does this change when they encounter unknown animals? Do they continue to deify or vilify them?

Essay Topic 2

What value of the story comes in its historical background? Does the story become any richer or more plausible because of the history? How might you read the novel if you knew it was completely fictional?

Essay Topic 3

Is Taita a realistic character? To what extent is it plausible that he is gifted in so many areas?

(see the answer keys)

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