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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What natural phenomenon affects the war at the same time as a failed peace envoy to Sparta?
(a) Cyclones sweep across the eastern side of Greece.
(b) An earthquake brings down much of Athens' walls.
(c) A tsunami causes widespread destruction in the Peloponnesian isthmus.
(d) The plague appears in Lesbos, then Athens, and then Potidaea.

2. For Athens in 425 BC, what funny thing happens on the way to Sicily?
(a) The Athenian fleet is blown off course and lands in Crete.
(b) The fleet comes ashore and fortifies a base at Pylos in Sparta.
(c) The Athenians come upon new triremes headed for Sparta and sink them.
(d) The Spartans mistake Athenian ships for theirs and let them pass.

3. What happens to the Athenian attack on Megara?
(a) It is a hasty coup.
(b) The Athenians fail to respond quickly enough to the Spartans under Brasidas.
(c) The Athenians surround Brasidas and the Spartans.
(d) Brasidas retreats and leaves Megara vulnerable.

4. How are Spartan envoys able to get through the Athenian blockade of Mytilene?
(a) They disguise themselves as merchant ships.
(b) They go around and come in on the back side of Lesbos.
(c) They infiltrate the Athenians and get into the city.
(d) In those days, envoys are always given safe passage.

5. What is Athens doing toward the end of the 526 BC campaign?
(a) Athens is adding to its already sizable fleet.
(b) Athens is reenforcing its position in Attica.
(c) Athens is sending out envoys to even more surrounding states.
(d) Much of the latter campaign season is consumed by Athenian attacks upon Aetolia.

6. What action is Athens taking in Sicily and Italy?
(a) Athens is building new triremes to attack from the West.
(b) Athenian troops capture a few small cities in Sicily and Locris in Italy.
(c) Athens is raising additional armies.
(d) Athens is establishing diplomatic relations in Sicily and italy.

7. Why is Sparta somewhat weakened at the start of the war?
(a) Sparta is also involved in a war with Persia.
(b) Sparta no longer has the services of vast numbers of Helots.
(c) Sparta is in the process of recruiting new troops.
(d) Sparta sufferes from a major famine.

8. How does Corinth enter the war?
(a) As part of their alliance with Thebes
(b) Independently and not yet allied with Sparta
(c) As opportunists hoping to divide and conquer
(d) Under seige from the spartans

9. Why is the Theban attack able to precipitate the war?
(a) False information has Thebes invading Athens.
(b) Athens and Sparta both embrace the Theban attack as the justification for, and opportunity toward, a greater conflict.
(c) It threatenes to weaken the Spartan strength and made immediate war necessary.
(d) There is a serious debate over which league would be allied to Thebes.

10. What happens to the Corcyran fleet?
(a) It is lost in a freak storm.
(b) It is sent to Mylitene.
(c) It is victorious over the Peloponesian fleet.
(d) It is defeated by the Peloponesian fleet.

11. Where are Spartan ground forces marooned after the battle for Pylos?
(a) On the island of Sphacteria
(b) In Sicily
(c) On Lesbos
(d) In Crete

12. What catastrophic event leads to the revolt of the Helots?
(a) A famine in Sparta
(b) An earthquake in Sparta
(c) A wildfire in Sparta
(d) A tidal wave in Sparta

13. Which political powers are at the epicenter of the Peloponnesian War?
(a) Athens and Macedon
(b) Athens and Corinth
(c) Athens and Thrace
(d) Athens and Sparta

14. Why is Athens in a superior position at the start of the war?
(a) Because her her allies are more numerous, richer, and better positioned to prosecute hostilities against the largely agrarian Spartans.
(b) Because the Athenian army is better trained and more rugged.
(c) Because Athens has the largest army in the world at that time.
(d) Because Athens is built on an unassailable mountaintop.

15. What distant event at this time would later prove important in the Peloponnesian War?
(a) Sicily and Syracuse sign a defense pact.
(b) Sparta invades Syracuse.
(c) Syracuse invades Messana.
(d) Sicily invades Sparta.

Short Answer Questions

1. What suggests that the account of Cleon's accomplishments is not thoroughly documented?

2. After the war begins, what diplomatic success does Athens have?

3. What puts a strain between Athens and Sparta after the revolt?

4. In the case of a conquered land, what is the general practice of that time regarding private property?

5. How might the Spartan envoy to the Athenians have changed history?

(see the answer keys)

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