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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What event precipitates the beginning of the war?
(a) The actual advent of hostilities comes about through a Theban surprise attack against Plataea.
(b) The beheading of Athenian envoys to Sparta
(c) An attempted sea attack agains Athens from Sparta
(d) Word that Thrace had invaded Corinth.

3. In the early days of the war, which power seems to have the upper hand?
(a) Sparta
(b) Athens
(c) Corinth
(d) Thrace

4. What are the dates of the Peloponnesian War ?
(a) 190 BC to 25 AD
(b) 431 to 404 BC
(c) 380 to 45 BC
(d) 525 to 480 BC

5. Who are the Helots?
(a) A minor political party in Sparta
(b) Greeks from Helotia
(c) Serfs who are little more than Spartan slaves
(d) Athenian spies in Sparta

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Why is Book One considered difficult to read?

3. Why is Athens in a superior position at the start of the war?

4. What is the stated purpose of Book One of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War?

5. After the prominent Spartan general, Pausanias, briefly becomes politically powerful, what causes his defeat?

Short Essay Questions

1. What punishment did Athens mete out to Mytilene after the revolt?

2. What was happening in 432 BC between Athens and Sparta and what was its true purpose?

3. What did Thucydides identify as the starting point of the war?

4. After the battle for Pylos, what happened to the Spartan survivors?

5. What was Sparta's advantage in the war?

6. What might have ended the Peloponnesian war after the battle of Pylos?

7. What was Thucydides' reaction to the aftermath of the Corcyran revolt?

8. What happened to the Spartan fleet dispatched to Mytilene?

9. What was the significance of the Mytilenean revolt against Athens?

10. How did Pylos actually become an Athenian stronghold in Sparta?

(see the answer keys)

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