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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 s Sparta's excuse to resume major hostilities against Athens?
(a) The continue raids in Lycos.
(b) Athens refuses to receive Spartan envoys.
(c) Athens has allied with Argos against the Spartans.
(d) Alcibiades informs Sparta that Athens is out of money.

2. What success does Cleon have during the time of Book 5?
(a) Cleon is elected to lead the country for life.
(b) Cleon succeeds in reguilding the Athenian war machine.
(c) Cleon negotiates a cease fire with Crete.
(d) Cleon leads an Athenian expedition to Thrace where he recaptures some areas formerly subjugated by Sparta.

3. What is happening to the once invincible hoplite phalanx?
(a) It is failing because it had been overused.
(b) It is becoming too expensive to mount.
(c) It is no longer being used by the Athenians.
(d) It is becoming ineffective against new weapons and tactics.

4. How does a lunar eclipse enter into the Athenian plans to withdraw?
(a) It gives the Athenians a chance to withdraw in darkness.
(b) It terrifies the Syracusans and causes them to withdraw.
(c) It gives the Syracusans a chance to attack in darkness.
(d) It iss viewed as an omen and the Athenians wait too long to depart.

5. 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 complex and extraordinarily dense which often leads to difficulty with clear interpretation of issues.
(c) It is uneven and often misleading.
(d) It is archaic and fails to deliver what Thucydides had hoped for.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is instrumental in getting Sparta to join Syracuse against Athens?

2. What serious setback happens to Athens in 413 BC?

3. What desecration of religious idols is charged to Alcibiades?

4. Who are the main antagonists over the military strategy in 416 BC?

5. What is the resulting military action after the revolt of Chios?

Short Essay Questions

1. What unusual event transpired at Amphipolis in 422 BC and how did Thucydides view the results?

2. What was so alarming about the revolt of Chios?

3. How did Syracuse put the Athenian forces on the defensive?

4. Who was the charismatic Athenian who promulgated an anti-Spartan alliance in the Peloponnesus? What weakness did he seem to have?

5. After the defeat at Syracuse, what was the condition of of the Athenian league?

6. Besides a war history, what value is placed on the History of the Peloponnesian War?

7. What unusual twist of fortune occurred for Alcibiades in 411 BC?

8. Aside from the disintegration of Athens and its allies, what was the political/military condition of the Grecian world in 412 BC?

9. What happened to the dialogue between Melos and Athens?

10. To what did Thucydides attribute the final rout of the Athenian navy in the harbor at Syracuse?

(see the answer keys)

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