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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. With whom did Agamemnon's wife have an affair?

2. The Horn of Plenty, or the Cornucopia, was magically always full of what?

3. Agamemnon had sacrificed whom to Artemis in order to set sail for Troy?

4. Clytie was a mortal woman who loved the Sun-god and pined away while watching the sun. What did she do after she was turned into a sunflower?

5. The two sisters escaped, but Tereus pursued them. The gods turned them all into what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is this bad luck tied to the future of the city of Thebes?

2. Of these two families, which deserved their bad luck the least? Why?

3. Why might someone want a cornucopia?

4. Summarize two stories found in this section. How do they explain the qualities of a hero?

5. Why were there many plays written about this family?

6. How did the bad luck of the House of Atreus begin? Why did it continue?

7. Compare one of these stories to a fairly tale or tall tale with which you are familiar.

8. How is Aeneas like both Jason and Odysseus?

9. How are the lessons learned from these stories relevant today?

10. How did visiting the underworld mark Aeneas as a special hero? What does this say about the Greek's view of the afterlife?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are several love stories that are a part of Greek mythology.

Part 1) Summarize two of these love stories. What is the purpose of each of these love stories? What do these stories say about love? How does this reflect the ancient Greek's view of love?

Part 2) How are love stories an important part of other cultures? How is love a universal part of life? How does it differ from one culture to the next? Why is it such an important part of the spectrum of human emotion?

Part 3) To you, what does it mean to love? How important is love to one's quality of life? Explain. How have you witnessed love in your own life? How has this affected you? How might it influence your behavior towards others?

Essay Topic 2

There are two families discussed in this book who suffer greatly.

Part 1) Who are these two families? How did they become so unlucky? Were they deserving of this bad luck? Why or why not? Could this luck have been avoided? If so, how? If not, why not? Could anyone in these families have stopped the passing along of bad luck? If so, how? If not, why not?

Part 2) What do these stories say about those who act poorly and offend the gods? What do these stories also say about the gods themselves? In our own culture, do we believe that bad luck can be passed down through a family? Why or why not?

Part 3) Do you believe in luck? Why or why not? How did you come to have this belief? How does this belief influence your daily decisions and actions? Might your belief regarding luck ever change? If so, how? If not, why not?

Essay Topic 3

Greeks had a low opinion of women.

Part 1) Support the statement "Greeks had a low opinion of women" with information from this book. Why might the Greeks have had such a low opinion of women? How might this have affected the lives of women in ancient Greece?

Part 2) How do other world religions today view women? How does this view of women compare to that of the Greeks? What might be the reasons for any similarities and/or differences in this view of women?

Part 3) Has the view of women changed greatly over the centuries? If so, how? If not, why not? What can be done to continue to encourage equality between the sexes?

(see the answer keys)

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