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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the chorus instruct Cilissa to do instead of following Clytemnestra's orders?
(a) Cilissa must bring Aegisthus alone.
(b) Cilissa must cut Aegisthus's throat.
(c) Cilissa must convince Aegisthus to cleanse himself.
(d) Cilissa must push Aegisthus into the bay.

2. What do the Eumenides claim about Orestes' travels in the second part of "The Eumenides"?
(a) Orestes is defying the will of the gods.
(b) Apollo has been granting him unfair advantages in his travels.
(c) His journey has been useless.
(d) The voyage should have killed him.

3. What is the result of the judges' vote after the trial?
(a) The vote is in favor of the Furies.
(b) The vote is in favor of Orestes.
(c) The judges did not vote as they wished to avoid the wrath of the Furies and of the gods.
(d) The vote is divided evenly.

4. Whose ghost is urging the Eumenides to chase Orestes?
(a) Hera.
(b) Clytemnestra.
(c) Electra.
(d) Agamemnon.

5. What does Orestes see when he cries out in terror after he has avenged his father's murder?
(a) Aegisthus.
(b) Agamemnon.
(c) Clytemnestra.
(d) Erinyes or Furies.

6. Where does the action of the third part of "The Libation Bearers" take place?
(a) Inside the temple to Zeus.
(b) At Agamemnon's tomb.
(c) In front of the palace.
(d) Inside the palace.

7. When the Furies do not awaken, what does the ghost urge them to dream about?
(a) Destroying Orestes.
(b) Avenging their souls on their murderers.
(c) Running in the fields.
(d) Hunting wild animals.

8. How does Clytemnestra plead for her life to Orestes?
(a) She tells Orestes she was ordered by Zeus to kill Agamemnon.
(b) She reminds Orestes that she is his mother.
(c) She reminds him that Electra will be motherless.
(d) She tells him Iphigenia pleaded for her life before being sacrificed.

9. What ends up freeing Orestes from the Furies at the end of "The Eumenides"?
(a) Athena's vote for Orestes breaks the tie in the Areopagus.
(b) Clytemnestra's spirit pleads for her son's freedom.
(c) The Areopagus votes for Orestes.
(d) Agamemnon's spirit asks the Furies to pursue him in Orestes' place.

10. Where does the second part of "The Eumenides" take place?
(a) Sparta.
(b) Mycenae.
(c) Delphi.
(d) Athens.

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

12. For whom do the disguised Orestes and Pylades cry out while outside the palace?
(a) Clytemnestra.
(b) Cilissa.
(c) Electra.
(d) Aegisthus.

13. Why does Clytemnestra grieve after the false news of her son's death?
(a) Orestes is the only hope of breaking the family curse.
(b) Orestes was the only child she loved.
(c) She regrets her treatment of Electra.
(d) She regrets banishing him..

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

15. What confuses Orestes about Clytemnestra's orders for the tomb?
(a) He does not know why she does not perform the ritual herself.
(b) He does not know why she cares.
(c) He does not know why she is desecrating the tomb.
(d) He does not know why libations must be poured over it.

Short Answer Questions

1. From where has Athena flown when she makes her entrance?

2. What does Athena decide about the case presented to her by Orestes and the Furies?

3. What is revealed with Orestes in the fourth part of "The Libation Bearers"?

4. Where was Orestes when he was told to avenge his father?

5. What do the Furies claim about Orestes to Athena?

(see the answer keys)

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