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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. How are Taita's animals killed?

2. How does Pharaoh treat Lostris?

3. Tanus is nicknamed Akh-Horus. What does this name mean?

4. How did Lostris first gain her knowledge of the outdoors?

5. What color does Lostris wear to prove she is a virgin bride?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens in the tombs during the three-day sandstorm? How does Taita reveal the deepest sadness that is in his heart? What does this say about his character?

2. After Taita is whipped because he dares to petition for Lostris and Tanus's marriage, Lostris cares for his wounds. How does she reveal that she is still a child? What hope does the reader have that her marriage to Tanus will occur?

3. What is Tanus's reaction to the news of Lostris's coming marriage? What does this reveal about his character? Is this an admirable reaction?

4. Why does Lostris want to die on her wedding night? Does Taita respond properly to her demands for poison? Why?

5. When Taita disguises himself as a priest so that he is not recognized in his native city Thebes, how is he treated? What does this say about the Egyptian people's attitude toward their religion? What does this say about the priests' ethics?

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

7. How does Lostris interact with Pharaoh during their first three months of marriage? Though Smith does not say this is so many words, how does Pharaoh reveal his true character during this time?

8. What will be the crowning moment of Pharaoh's life? What is Taita's reaction to this moment and how does the reaction seem contrary to Egyptian thought?

9. 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?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role do animals play in Egyptian culture? How are animals tied closely to the gods? How does this change when they encounter unknown animals? Do they continue to deify or vilify them?

Essay Topic 2

How much knowledge does Taita have of the inner workings of both Lord Intef's and Pharaoh's courts? Why is this so? In other words, is he given this knowledge only because of his lowly position in society?

Essay Topic 3

How does Taita spend his two years in Arkoun's prison? What does this reveal about his personality? Does the reader ever lose hope of his rescue? Given his conversations with Masara, what does the reader come to expect?

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