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

2. 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 Areopagus.
(c) The Eumidagos.
(d) The Colopagus.

3. According to the chorus, to what did Clytemnestra give birth in her dream?
(a) A snake.
(b) A goat.
(c) A gorgon.
(d) A lion.

4. According to Apollo, why should Orestes be left alone?
(a) Orestes was meant to kill his mother a long time ago.
(b) Apollo himself sent Orestes to kill his mother.
(c) Electra would have killed Clytemnestra and Orestes saved her from it.
(d) Clytemnestra deserved to die.

5. What does Orestes wonder about Aegisthus after he has murdered his mother?
(a) He wonders if Aegisthus was repenting his sins in the last moments of his life.
(b) He wonders if Aegisthus suffered during his death.
(c) He wonders if Aegisthus is receiving an adulterer's punishment.
(d) He wonders if Aegisthus was truly guilty.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Apollo claim that Clytemnestra needed to be killed?

2. What false news does the disguised Orestes give Clytemnestra?

3. Why does Clytemnestra grieve after the false news of her son's death?

4. Why does Orestes wish to return to the oracle at the end of "The Libation Bearers"?

5. What does Orestes realize about his mother's dream?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to their words in the second part of the third play, what do the Furies believe about their rights?

2. How does the chorus know that Aegisthus is being murdered?

3. What does Athena decide to do about judging the case between Orestes and the Furies?

4. How does Orestes defend himself in his trial?

5. What does Apollo say about the rights of parents during Orestes' trial?

6. Why do the Furies claim Orestes' journey to Athens has been useless when they catch up with him in the second part of "The Eumenides"?

7. Why is it important that Orestes tell Athena who his father was when the goddess comes to him?

8. After he is freed at the end of "The Oresteia", what does Orestes claim to want for the future?

9. What was Clytemnestra's dream?

10. Why is Clytemnestra's dream significant to Orestes?

(see the answer keys)

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