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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What ultimatum does Athens give to Melos?
(a) Join the Delian League or remain neutral
(b) Surrender supporters of Sparta or face the consequences
(c) Build triemes for Athens or face an embargo
(d) Pay tribute or be wholly destroyed

2. How does Gylippus counteract the Athenian siege?
(a) By launching a counter-siege.
(b) By retreating swiftly.
(c) By setting fire to the countryside.
(d) By using Nicias' hit and run tactics.

3. What is the resulting military action after the revolt of Chios?
(a) A combined Athenian and Argive force achieves a victory at Miletus but then retires as a larger Peloponnesian relief force approaches.
(b) The arrival of a Persian fleet in the Aegean Sea
(c) A surprise attack on Athens by Sparta and Syracuse
(d) A larger revolt involving more of the Delian League allies

4. Stylistically speaking, what is the quality of Thucydides' text?
(a) Its simplicity of style makes it simple for even non-scholars to study.
(b) It is uneven and often misleading.
(c) It is archaic and fails to deliver what Thucydides had hoped for.
(d) It is complex and extraordinarily dense which often leads to difficulty with clear interpretation of issues.

5. What happens in Attica during the time of the battle at Amphipolis?
(a) The Boeotians enjoy military success in Attica.
(b) All of Attica is annexed by Sparta.
(c) The Crocyrans launch a successful attack.
(d) The farmers are allowed to return to their fields.

6. What is the final year in Thucydides' history?
(a) 399 BC
(b) 412 BC
(c) 411 BC
(d) 404 BC

7. What is the significance of Thucydides' inclusion of the story of Aristogiton and Harmodius?
(a) It is a strange inclusion of Greek superstition.
(b) It is an important event that is glossed over lightly.
(c) It is a nearly unique authorial digression from the history of the war itself.
(d) It has nothing to do with either Athens or Sparta.

8. How was Thucydides like news reporters today?
(a) He went to battle sites as a war correspondent.
(b) He studied journalism at the university.
(c) He was reticent about revealing his sources.
(d) He had a column in the Athenian newspaper.

9. After the demise of Athenian democracy, what political force gains control?
(a) Alcibiades returns and takes control of the government.
(b) The transient new government, referred to as the Four Hundred, rules by force.
(c) A group of pro-Spartan sympathizers
(d) The Helots rise to power.

10. What are the Athenians doing in Italy at about the same time?
(a) Preparing to invade Syracuse
(b) Regrouping to attack Peloponnesus
(c) Taking a break from the war
(d) Calling an international conference

11. What military involvement in 416 BC is hotly argued in Athens?
(a) Mounting an invasion of Italy
(b) Sending a fleet again to Sicily
(c) Sending hoplites to guard the borders of Attica
(d) Conscripting Helots to fight the Spartans

12. How do scholars generally explain the contradictions in Thucydides' text?
(a) Thucydides seems to have a great deal of trouble making up his mind.
(b) Correctly analyzed, what appears to be contradictions are actually not.
(c) Much of the manuscript is lost and Thucydides forgets what he has said earlier.
(d) Over time. he revises his opinions and understanding but does not always update all relevant textual passages.

13. What is the historic view of the years from 421 to 413 BC?
(a) The bloodiest era of the Peloponnesian War occurs during this time.
(b) The years through 413 BC are marked by a generally less intense conflict where Athens and Sparta fight against each other in distant theaters
(c) It is regarded as the real end of the Peloponnesian War.
(d) Most of the attacks against either side are done by allies of the two armies.

14. What is the contradiction of Tissapherne's interaction with Sparta?
(a) He makes an alliance with Sparta but also makes a secret alliance with Syracuse.
(b) Even as he declares an alliance with Sparta, he begins to cut material contributions to the Peloponnesians.
(c) He never intends to keep his promises to Peloponesus.
(d) After making an alliance with Sparta, he continues negotiating with Athens.

15. What desecration of religious idols is charged to Alcibiades?
(a) Setting fire to the temple of Apollo
(b) Knocking over the statues of Athena
(c) The stoning of the Oracle at Delphi
(d) The vandalism of the Hermae of Athens

Short Answer Questions

1. During the winter of 421 BC, what happens with the Boeotians?

2. Who negotiates with both sides--Sparta and Athens--after the defeat at Syracuse?

3. What further mischief does a former Athenian general create in 412 BC?

4. What occurs between Athens and Sparta during the winter of 422 BC?

5. What is the response to Nicias' communique during the winter of 414 BC?

(see the answer keys)

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