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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 does Hermes use to enable him to fly as he disguises his theft?
(a) Shoes.
(b) Leaves.
(c) Winds.
(d) Clouds.

2. According to the most recent study included in the Introduction, what period are the longer hymns from?
(a) Hellenistic.
(b) Classical.
(c) Roman.
(d) Archaic.

3. What type of armor does Ares have, according to the poet?
(a) Pewter.
(b) Bronze.
(c) Gold.
(d) Silver.

4. What is the length of the longest hymn?
(a) Two hundred and eighty lines.
(b) Twenty eight lines.
(c) Five hundred and eighty lines.
(d) Fifty eight lines.

5. Which one of the following is not a well known recurrent theme of Ancient Greek literature?
(a) Ignorance of the future.
(b) The uncertainty of life.
(c) The inevitable nature of old age.
(d) Ignorance of the past.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the Earth praised for in the first hymn?

2. Who is the other major composer of early Greek poetry that is mentioned in the Introduction?

3. Who is believed to be Herakles's father?

4. What does Hermes steal from Apollo?

5. How does the poet describe the laws of peace that he wishes to linger in at the end of The Hymn to Ares?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Hermes steal from Apollo and how does he do it?

2. Why do some historians think that Homer did not actually write his poems?

3. What is different about the way The Hymn to Ares begins and what is Ares known for?

4. As explained in the Introduction, what is the purpose of The Homeric Hymns?

5. What is Artemis's skill and how is it described?

6. How is Artemis's beauty portrayed in The Second Hymn to Artemis.

7. What are the varying lengths of the hymns?

8. Who assists the poet in The Hymn to the Mother of the Gods, and what does it refer to?

9. What is one of the theories for why some of the hymns are so short?

10. What are the circumstances surrounding Pan's birth and how is he described in The Hymn to Pan?

(see the answer keys)

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