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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the time of the Athenian fortification of Pylos, what is happening in Corcyra?
(a) There is an earthquake in Corcyra.
(b) Persia is negotiating with Corcyra.
(c) Corcyra is rebuilding its defenses.
(d) Famine is causing widespread starvation.

2. After the prominent Spartan general, Pausanias, briefly becomes politically powerful, what causes his defeat?
(a) His bad advisors
(b) His arrogance
(c) His ill health
(d) His lack of troops

3. What happens to the Spartan offer of peace?
(a) The Athenians do not like all the specifications of the peace.
(b) The Athenians think the offer is a trap.
(c) Cleon wants to spy on Spartan strength first.
(d) Under the persuasion of Cleon, the Athenians reject Sparta's offer of peace.

4. Why does Thucydides say that Sparta chose to go to war against Athens?
(a) Because Spartan soldiers need war to stay in shape.
(b) Because Athens is interfering in Spartan politics.
(c) Because Athens refuses to join the Peloponnesian League.
(d) Because of Athens' great political power at the time.

5. In the same year as the Plataea defeat, what is happening in Corcyra?
(a) They hold new elections.
(b) They are disbanding their army.
(c) The economy is growing from sales of weapons.
(d) There is a revolt.

6. What does the Spartan declaration of war against the Helots allow?
(a) The legal means to take away the Helots' weaponry.
(b) The confiscation of Helot children.
(c) It is only an exercise in legal maneurving.
(d) The killing of Helots by Spartan citizens without legal implication.

7. What happens immediately after the defeat of the Corcyran fleet?
(a) Athens leaves Corcyra to defend itself.
(b) Sparta withdraws to rebuild its fleet.
(c) The Athenian fleet defeates the Peloponesian fleet.
(d) Winter sets in and the hostilities cease.

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

9. How is Athens insulted by Megara and Euboea about the same time as the Boeotian revolution?
(a) Megara and Euboea revolt against Athens and tentatively join Sparta's Peloponnesian league.
(b) Megara and Euboea recall their soldiers from the Athenian army.
(c) Megara and Euboea join with the Persians against Athens.
(d) Megara and Euboea stope sending taxes to Athens.

10. What opinion does Thucydides seem to have about Pericles as a leader?
(a) He blames him for the later defeats of the Athenians.
(b) He faults him for not taking on Sparta sooner.
(c) He rates him as highly effectual.
(d) He thinks he is too passive.

11. After the war begins, what diplomatic success does Athens have?
(a) Athens successfully launches an anti-Spartan publicity attack.
(b) Making a peace deal with Corinth.
(c) Gaining a neutrality pact from Persia.
(d) Athens concludes alliances with Odrysian, Thrace, and Macedonia .

12. 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.

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

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

15. Who are the peltasts?
(a) Stone age warriors
(b) Suicide attackers
(c) Barbarian mercenaries
(d) Unarmored men throwing darted missiles

Short Answer Questions

1. What conflict in the region occurs outside of Athens' political control?

2. What does Cleon do at Sphacteria?

3. How are Spartan envoys able to get through the Athenian blockade of Mytilene?

4. Why is Sparta somewhat weakened at the start of the war?

5. During the winter of 427 BC, what returns to Athens?

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