1. Alexandros wants to go to battle with the older Spartans. Who tries to stop him?
(a) Xeones tries to stop him.
(b) Leonidas tries to stop him.
(c) Polynikes tries to stop him.
(d) His mother tries to stop him.

2. What is oktonyktia?
(a) It is the armor and shield that each soldier must carry.
(b) It is the lake near Sparta.
(c) It is an eight-night training exercise.
(d) It is the final right of passage from boyhood to adult status.

3. What does Apollo tell Xeones about the spear in his vision?
(a) Apollo tells Xeones that the spear is a great weapon.
(b) Apollo tells Xeones that the spear is an inelegant weapon.
(c) Apollo tells Xeones that he will be killed by with a spear.
(d) Apollo tells Xeones that the spear will be the salvation of Sparta.

4. Where do Xeones and Diomache separate?
(a) They separate at The Crossroads.
(b) They separate at a fork in the road called Three Corners.
(c) They separate just before reaching Sparta.
(d) They separate when they reach Athens.

5. How do the Spartans view war?
(a) The Spartans see war as a good form of population control.
(b) The Spartans see war to be simply work in the business of killing as many of the enemy as possible.
(c) The Spartans see war as a terrible abomination.
(d) The Spartans see war as the only way to peace.

Short Answer Questions

1. Xeones tells of an exercise that the people in the baggage train practice where they serve as punching bags for the Spartan heavy infantry. What is this exercise called?

2. Why do the Spartans use that method to count their dead?

3. Who is the Lady Arete asking about?

4. Why does Xeones go out into a snowstorm to freeze to death?

5. What do the people of Sparta sing as the soldiers march off to war?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 460 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)

View a FREE sample