View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Sinuhe get to the City of the Dead when he has no money?
(a) He stows away on a boat.
(b) He asks for a ride from a boat owner.
(c) He steals a reed boat.
(d) Kaptah steals a reed boat.

2. How is life different for a physician in Syria compared to Egypt?
(a) A physician get paid monthly.
(b) The physician must seek out patients instead of them coming to him.
(c) A physician must be documented by the king.
(d) A physician does not treat poor people.

3. What is significant about the slave that Sinuhe buys?
(a) He knows Sinuhe's father.
(b) He is quite bright.
(c) He has one eye.
(d) He speaks Greek.

4. What present does Ptahor send to Kipa the day after he leaves her house?
(a) A precious ring.
(b) A necklace of pearls.
(c) A sacred scarab carved from a precious stone.
(d) A thank-you note.

5. Who paints the paintings that decorate Sinuhe's office?
(a) Kipa.
(b) Ptahor.
(c) Thothmes.
(d) Kaptah.

Short Answer Questions

1. To get off the boat, what does Kaptah suggest he, Sinuhe, and Minea pretend to be?

2. What does Sinuhe do with the scarab that he finds?

3. What is ailing the king of Babylon?

4. When Sinuhe finds his old friend Thothmes, what is he doing for a living?

5. What happens to the false king at the end of the Day of the False King?

Short Essay Questions

1. What message do Sinuhe's parents leave behind for him? How does this make him feel? How do his parents die? Why do they do this?

2. Explain the process that Sinuhe is taught in school about life after death. Who is Osiris? Who is the Devourer? What does the Devourer look like? Who is the Backward-Gazer? Why is this important knowledge for the average Egyptian?

3. Sinuhe speaks of a remedy from the Hittites that cures the body of heat. What is this remedy called today? How do you think the Hittites created this drug?

4. How does Sinuhe defend the young prince to Horemheb? What does Sinuhe think of the young prince's beliefs? Do you think he is affected in this way because of his experiences in the House of Life? Why? Why not?

5. Why does Horemheb want Sinuhe to be his spy? What does Sinuhe have to offer that others cannot? What does Sinuhe have to gain from this experience? Will this affect Sinuhe's life if and when he returns to Egypt? Why? Why not?

6. When Ptahor is opening the skull of the pharaoh, the young prince steps forward and speaks of a blessing from the god Aton. How does Ptahor react to this? Why does he react as he does?

7. What is Ptahor's job? Is this a cure for any disease or is this a quick way to die? Why do you think Ptahor is called to the pharaoh?

8. When Minea, Kaptah and Sinuhe are traveling pretending to be performers, Sinuhe continues to cure the sick. Why does he do this? Cannot this lead to discovery of who they are? Is this dangerous? Why would he do this and put all their lives in danger?

9. Sinuhe meets a man in the City of Dead when he buries his parents. What is this man's story a moral for in the story? What lesson does this impart to Sinuhe or to the reader? What message is the author trying to tell?

10. When Sinuhe opens a skull and finds that the "disease had laid its egg" what does he mean by that? What is the egg inside the man's head? What does Sinuhe do with it? How does he repair the opening? What is significant about the fact that the man falls from a wall three days later and breaks his neck and dies? What is that supposed to symbolize?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,555 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample