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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What will Athena appoint to pass judgment on the case between Orestes and the Furies?
(a) A court of all spirits affected by Orestes' murder of Clytemnestra.
(b) A council of Athens' elders.
(c) A council of king.
(d) A council of gods.

2. What do the Furies claim about Orestes to Athena?
(a) He is cursed by his mother.
(b) He will kill all women if allowed to live.
(c) He will taint his sister's grace if allowed to live.
(d) He is unfit to speak for himself.

3. What do the Furies complain about when they awaken in the beginning of "The Eumenides"?
(a) The younger gods.
(b) The Ancients.
(c) The elder gods.
(d) Orestes.

4. To whom does Orestes pray when he arrives at the destination Apollo sent him to?
(a) Demeter.
(b) Aphrodite.
(c) Athena.
(d) Hera.

5. What does Orestes hold up as proof that his father has been avenged?
(a) His mother's bloody robes.
(b) The cloth that Agamemnon was trapped in before he was murdered.
(c) Aegisthus's bloody robes.
(d) The crown.

6. What does Orestes believe about the vision he is having at the end of "The Libation Bearers"?
(a) The Furies are going to take revenge upon him for his mother.
(b) His mother will haunt him for all his days.
(c) His father is cursing his son's actions.
(d) Aegisthus will try to avenge his death upon Electra.

7. Why should Apollo's claim about the nature of parenthood appeal to Athena?
(a) Athena was abandoned by her mother.
(b) Athena was abandoned by her father.
(c) Athena has no father and was born from Hera's head.
(d) Athena has no mother and was born from Zeus's head.

8. What does Orestes firmly reinforce while protesting his innocence to the council?
(a) He was acting on his father's will.
(b) He was acting on Zeus's will.
(c) He was acting on Apollo's will.
(d) He was acting on his own will.

9. What does Pylades advise Orestes to do?
(a) Orestes will be looked upon as weak if he does not kill Clytemnestra.
(b) The oracle said Orestes must kill his mother.
(c) Orestes will be murdered by Clytemnestra if he does not kill her first.
(d) Electra will be cursed if Orestes does not follow through with his revenge.

10. What does Athena name the judges who will vote on whether Orestes is guilty or not in the last part of the third play?
(a) The oracles.
(b) The Eumidagos.
(c) The Areopagus.
(d) The Colopagus.

11. In the last part of "The Eumenides", why does Apollo appear in the court?
(a) He is there to testify in Orestes' favor.
(b) He is there to protect Orestes during the trial.
(c) He is there to keep the Furies under control.
(d) He is there to testify against Orestes.

12. What has Electra been forced to do in the years since her father's death?
(a) Mourn him in secret.
(b) Disown her brother.
(c) Treat Aegisthus as her father.
(d) Disown her father.

13. What do the Furies turn into at Athena's behest at the very end of The Oresteia?
(a) They become agents of Athena's warriors.
(b) They allow themselves to dissolve into nothingness.
(c) They become agents aiming for the betterment of the world.
(d) They become messengers alongside Hermes.

14. How does Orestes convince Electra that he is her brother when they find each other at Agamemnon's tomb?
(a) He looks like their father.
(b) He is wearing the robe she made for him.
(c) He bears letters from her.
(d) He has the marks from their mother's abuse on him.

15. From where has Athena flown when she makes her entrance?
(a) Troy.
(b) Delphi.
(c) Rome.
(d) Mycenae.

Short Answer Questions

1. What question does Orestes ask Pylades while confronted by his mother?

2. Whom must Cilissa go fetch?

3. What does the chorus instruct Cilissa to do instead of following Clytemnestra's orders?

4. What does Apollo claim about mothers and fathers in the last part of "The Eumenides"?

5. According to the chorus, to what did Clytemnestra give birth in her dream?

(see the answer keys)

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