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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is Book One considered difficult to read?
(a) Book One assumes that the reader will know information not available to modern readers.
(b) It is organized along thematic lines rather than being chronological.
(c) It has many obscure references that cannot be corroberated.
(d) There is some evidence that someone other than Thucydides wrote this section.

2. What event in ca 479 BC gives rise to a period of prominence in Athens?
(a) Defeat of the Spartans
(b) The influence of Socratic philosophy
(c) Defeat of the invading Persian army
(d) Incorporation of the surrounding city-states

3. Book One concludes in the winter before hostilities erupt. What date is given by modern scholars for this time?
(a) 421/420 BC
(b) 432/431 BC
(c) 398/397 BC
(d) 410/409 BC

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

5. Which government did Sparta seek to form an alliance with in spite of earlier conflicts?
(a) Egypt
(b) Corinth
(c) Persia
(d) Thrace

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is the Attica-Euboea-Boeotia area of Greece?

2. Why does Thucydides say that Sparta chose to go to war against Athens?

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

4. How is Athens insulted by Megara and Euboea about the same time as the Boeotian revolution?

5. What is the general title given to the first twenty-three paragraphs of Book One?

(see the answer key)

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