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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. Why does Pharaoh boast of Taita's abilities as a physician?
(a) Taita cured Pharaoh's ringworm.
(b) Taita made Lostris more fertile to carry a male child.
(c) Taita cured Pharaoh's impotence.
(d) Taita healed Pharaoh of pneumonia.

2. How are Taita's animals killed?
(a) With a jar of poisoned honey.
(b) With a jar of poisoned goat's milk.
(c) By starvation.
(d) With arrows.

3. Why does Shufti take so long to retaliate against Tanus and his band of men?
(a) He is waiting for orders from his captain.
(b) He is waiting for Tanus's caravan to tire.
(c) He is gathering over a thousand of his own soldiers.
(d) He is waiting for nightfall.

4. Why is Taita able to persuade Pharaoh of Lostris's illness on their wedding night?
(a) Pharaoh does not like Lostris any more than she likes him.
(b) Pharaoh is older and has had many wives already.
(c) Pharaoh is weary and does not want to see anyone.
(d) Taita's reputation as a physician reinforces any story he gives of sickness.

5. In the pageant duel with Rasfer, why does Tanus not kill Rasfer?
(a) He thinks Rasfer is wounded to the point of death.
(b) He is afraid of shocking Pharaoh.
(c) Rasfer has already surrendered.
(d) He is afraid of Lord Intef's subsequent anger.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Pharaoh treat Lostris?

2. Where do Tanus and Lostris first sleep together?

3. Why is Taita called the Elder Brother in the slave quarters?

4. What gives Taita the right to speak sharply to Tanus when he and Lostris board the Breath of Horus?

5. To what army regiment does Tanus belong?

Short Essay Questions

1. What condition is Tanus in when Taita finally finds him? How is this condition similar to Lostris's desire for death on her wedding night? How is Taita able to save Tanus in much the same way he saved Lostris?

2. What account does Taita give of the girl he loved when he was sixteen? How does his telling of it, half his lifetime later, show the changes he has gone through? Is he more cynical or more understanding of what happened?

3. When Taita works the Mazes for Pharaoh, what does he see? Why does he lie to the king about what he sees? What might the effect have been if he didn't lie?

4. What is the significance in the fact that Tanus is nicknamed Akh-Horus? Is it important that Hui, a boy who defected from the Shrikes in exchange for his life, gives him this name?

5. What is the song that Tanus and his men sing during the thick of battle? What effect would this song have on the enemy?

6. What does Taita learn from his friend Tiamat about the Shrikes? How does this explain the destitution of Egypt and the weakness of Pharaoh?

7. When the people cry out to Pharaoh to give Tanus mercy from the death sentence, what does Pharaoh do? What leads to this decision? Does it show Pharaoh's mercy or his weakness?

8. What power does Pharaoh's seal have? Why must a man acknowledge it, as Tanus does when Neter comes to arrest him? Is this seal a sign of power or of weakness?

9. In the days leading up to Lostris's wedding, Taita is not allowed to go near her. Even during the wedding ceremony, he stands at the back of the crowd and cannot see much. What is the literary significance of Taita's inability to see Lostris? How does this relate to Smith's silence about Tanus's reaction?

10. What are Taita's emotions during and after the battle with the Shrikes? How do these emotions explain several facets of his personality? What does this say for Smith's ability to create a complex character?

(see the answer keys)

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