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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the Furies demand to know in court from Orestes?
(a) They demand to know why he was exiled for so many years.
(b) They demand to know how he keeps getting favored by the gods.
(c) They demand to know whether he loved his mother or not.
(d) They demand he explain what he did and why.

2. Why does Apollo appear at his altar?
(a) He appears at his altar daily.
(b) He is called down by the oracle.
(c) He wants to help Orestes.
(d) He senses the presence of the Furies.

3. What does Aegisthus claim after his entrance in "The Libation Bearers"?
(a) He cannot be fooled.
(b) He is the father of Orestes.
(c) He is thrice blessed by the gods.
(d) He is the wisest man in Mycenae.

4. What do the Furies claim about Orestes to Athena?
(a) He will taint his sister's grace if allowed to live.
(b) He will kill all women if allowed to live.
(c) He is unfit to speak for himself.
(d) He is cursed by his mother.

5. What does Apollo claim about mothers and fathers in the last part of "The Eumenides"?
(a) The mother is much more important than the father.
(b) The mother and father are equal.
(c) The mother and father are always equal, except in the case of Clytemnestra.
(d) The father is much more important than the mother.

6. What does Orestes see when he cries out in terror after he has avenged his father's murder?
(a) Aegisthus.
(b) Agamemnon.
(c) Clytemnestra.
(d) Erinyes or Furies.

7. How does Orestes convince Electra that he is her brother when they find each other at Agamemnon's tomb?
(a) He is wearing the robe she made for him.
(b) He looks like their father.
(c) He bears letters from her.
(d) He has the marks from their mother's abuse on him.

8. To whom does Orestes pray when he arrives at the destination Apollo sent him to?
(a) Athena.
(b) Aphrodite.
(c) Demeter.
(d) Hera.

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

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

11. What does Orestes remind his mother of when she pleads for her life?
(a) Her sins.
(b) His love for her.
(c) The gods' will.
(d) Electra's inability to mourn for her father.

12. For whom do the disguised Orestes and Pylades cry out while outside the palace?
(a) Clytemnestra.
(b) Cilissa.
(c) Electra.
(d) Aegisthus.

13. What does Orestes promise Zeus if he succeeds in his revenge?
(a) He will worship the gods as humbly as he can.
(b) He will restore the glory of their name.
(c) He will build a grand altar for Zeus.
(d) He will live anonymously and wisely.

14. Where was Orestes when he was told to avenge his father?
(a) Sparta.
(b) The oracle at Delphi.
(c) Athens.
(d) Ithaca.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened to Clytemnestra in her dream when she tried to nurse what she'd been birthed?

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

3. What do the Furies tell Apollo about their hunt for Orestes?

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

5. Whom must Cilissa go fetch?

(see the answer keys)

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