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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. Who is a figure from Greek and Roman mythology NOT depicted in the temple of Apollo?

2. What tale does Dido want Aeneas to tell?

3. What action does the goddess Rumor take after Dido and Aeneas begin to revel in each others' company?

4. Who calms the ocean so Aeneas and his men can make it safely to land?

5. What important things has Aeneas carried with him from Troy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jupiter predict will be the destiny of the Trojans?

2. How does talking to Anchises prepare Aeneas to go build a new city for the Trojans in Italy?

3. Explain how Deïphobus died and why his body is mutilated.

4. Compare and contrast the Greeks with the Trojans in the affair of the wooden horse.

5. How will Aeneas start the line that turns into the rulers of the Roman Empire?

6. Why might the Trojan women have been tempted to set fire to the ships even without Juno and Iris befuddling them?

7. What are some ways the characters in Book 2 are affected by fate?

8. What does Dido ask her people to do and what does she personally vow to do before she committed suicide?

9. Why is Juno so angry with the Trojans?

10. How does Aeneas fare as a leader in Book III? Support your answer with examples from the text.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the role of signs, portents, omens, prophesies, and so forth in The Aeneid. What are some forms these signs take? Who sends them, if anyone? Can false signs be sent, and if so, for what purpose? How do people fare when they interpret signs correctly and follow them? How do they fare when they try to act against them?

Essay Topic 2

Compare the information about the future depicted on the shield of Aeneas with the information about the future told to Aeneas when he travels to the underworld to see Anchises. How are the depictions alike? How are they different? What might these similarities and differences signify?

Essay Topic 3

A bildingsroman is a work of art that tells of the development of a character, perhaps telling how the character matures or grows capable of taking on a duty as the process of a journey or a series of trials. Explain why The Aeneid is or is not a bildingsroman by examining how Aeneas does or does not develop over the course of it. Examine issues such as:

1) his capacity as a leader

2) his control over his emotions and temper

3) the wiseness of his judgement

4) his treatment of others.

(see the answer keys)

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