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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 Athena decide about the case presented to her by Orestes and the Furies?
(a) It is not part of her divine right to judge this case.
(b) She sides with the Furies.
(c) She sides with Orestes.
(d) She sides with Orestes, but refuses to grant him sanctuary.

2. In what state is Orestes' old nurse, Cilissa, upon hearing that Orestes was murdered?
(a) She is relieved.
(b) She is distraught.
(c) She is confused.
(d) She is happy.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Orestes remind his mother of when she pleads for her life?

2. To whom does the oracle pray after her vision in the beginning of The Eumenides?

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

4. What do the Furies celebrate in poem and dance in the second part of "The Eumenides"?

5. What do the Eumenides claim about Orestes' travels in the second part of "The Eumenides"?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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"?

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

3. What does Orestes find ironic about the deaths of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra?

4. Who is revealed to be encouraging the Furies to hunt Orestes and why?

5. Why does Apollo appear to Orestes while at Delphi?

6. What ends up being the fate of the Furies at the end of the play?

7. After receiving false news in the third part of the second play, what is Clytemnestra's reaction to news of Orestes' supposed death?

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

9. What is the conflict between the Furies and Apollo?

10. How does Clytemnestra attempt to defend herself against Orestes in the last part of "The Libation Bearers"?

(see the answer keys)

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