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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is revealed with Orestes in the fourth part of "The Libation Bearers"?
(a) His father's armor.
(b) Aegisthus's body.
(c) Cilissa's body.
(d) Electra's body.

2. Who commanded Orestes to seek vengeance for his father's death?
(a) Hermes.
(b) Zeus.
(c) Hephaestus.
(d) Apollo.

3. 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) Agamemnon's spirit asks the Furies to pursue him in Orestes' place.
(d) The Areopagus votes for Orestes.

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

5. Why is it important that Athena know about Orestes' familial relations?
(a) Athena favored Clytemnestra above all other queens.
(b) Athena favors Electra as a priestess.
(c) Athena favored Agamemnon during the Trojan War.
(d) Athena cursed Atreus.

6. What will Athena appoint to pass judgment on the case between Orestes and the Furies?
(a) A court of all spirits affected by Orestes' murder of Clytemnestra.
(b) A council of gods.
(c) A council of Athens' elders.
(d) A council of king.

7. Whom must Cilissa go fetch?
(a) Clytemnestra.
(b) The leader of the chorus.
(c) Aegisthus.
(d) Electra.

8. What has Electra been forced to do in the years since her father's death?
(a) Treat Aegisthus as her father.
(b) Disown her brother.
(c) Mourn him in secret.
(d) Disown her father.

9. What will be the first action taken when Orestes and Pylades infiltrate the palace?
(a) Cilissa will be alerted.
(b) Aegisthus will be killed.
(c) Electra will be guided to safety.
(d) Clytemnestra will be killed.

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

11. Why does Apollo claim that Clytemnestra needed to be killed?
(a) Iphigenia was wrongly murdered.
(b) She killed her husband.
(c) She was an adulteress.
(d) She would have murdered her own children had she not been killed.

12. 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 Colopagus.
(b) The Eumidagos.
(c) The oracles.
(d) The Areopagus.

13. Who is the oracle?
(a) A woman who prophesizes from the gods.
(b) Orestes' sister.
(c) A priest who speaks to the gods.
(d) A priestess of Hera.

14. About whom was the oracle's vision?
(a) Orestes and the Furies.
(b) Electra.
(c) Clytemnestra.
(d) Agamemnon.

15. What would happen to Orestes if he did not take revenge upon his mother, according the oracle?
(a) Agamemnon would suffer in Hades.
(b) Aegisthus would murder Clytemnestra.
(c) Orestes' own life would be cursed.
(d) Electra would die.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. To whom does Orestes pray when he arrives at the destination Apollo sent him to?

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

4. What does Clytemnestra call out for when she hears the noise from inside the palace in the third part of "The Libation Bearers"?

5. What does Pylades advise Orestes to do?

(see the answer keys)

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