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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What slows down the Greeks as they trek toward Troy to find Paris?

2. How does Byblis tell the family member that she is in love with him?

3. How does the enemy of Rome get in to defeat the city?

4. Where does Orpheus go to attempt to win back his wife?

5. How do Aeneas' daughters escape their lives of slavery?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Achilles killed?

2. How does Picus find himself transformed into a woodpecker?

3. What does Ovid predict about the words of his novel in his epilogue?

4. Why does Myrrha transform into a tree?

5. How does Scylla exact her revenge on Circe?

6. Why does Pythagoras believe that man should abstain from eating meat?

7. How does Pygmalion meet his wife?

8. What story does Hippolytus tell Numa's wife when she is mourning over her husband's death?

9. How does Peleus eventually get Thetis to marry him?

10. How does Orpheus die?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the most famous arguments in Ovid's "Metamorphoses" happens between Ulysses and Ajax after Achilles dies in battle, as both men want to inherit Achilles' armor. Explain the argument that each man gave for deserving the armor, and then explain the effect that the final decision had on the plot of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

The forces of nature are very strong throughout the novel. Many characters find themselves transformed into earthly elements such as water, trees, and flowers. Choose two examples of characters that were transformed into earthly elements and explain the circumstances of their transformations, and what their transformations symbolized.

Essay Topic 3

All of Ovid's relationships in the text seem to end the same way - with one or both of the lovers in extreme pain. Choose two relationships featured in the novel and explain how pain inevitably rose from the couple's love.

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This section contains 924 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample