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

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

3. 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 is receiving an adulterer's punishment.
(c) He wonders if Aegisthus suffered during his death.
(d) He wonders if Aegisthus was truly guilty.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

4. What must Aegisthus bring with him to the palace?

5. What does Orestes firmly reinforce while protesting his innocence to the council?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does the chorus influence Cilissa when she enters?

3. What does Orestes mean when he cries out to Zeus in the second part of "The Libation Bearers"?

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

5. How does Orestes defend himself in his trial?

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

7. In the beginning of "The Eumenides", what is the oracle's vision and what does it mean?

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

9. How do Orestes and Pylades get inside the palace?

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

(see the answer keys)

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