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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 Pylades advise Orestes to do?
(a) The oracle said Orestes must kill his mother.
(b) Orestes will be looked upon as weak if he does not kill Clytemnestra.
(c) Orestes will be murdered by Clytemnestra if he does not kill her first.
(d) Electra will be cursed if Orestes does not follow through with his revenge.

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

3. What do the Eumenides claim about Orestes' travels in the second part of "The Eumenides"?
(a) The voyage should have killed him.
(b) His journey has been useless.
(c) Orestes is defying the will of the gods.
(d) Apollo has been granting him unfair advantages in his travels.

4. Where does the action of the third part of "The Libation Bearers" take place?
(a) Inside the palace.
(b) Inside the temple to Zeus.
(c) At Agamemnon's tomb.
(d) In front of the palace.

5. What does Orestes claim has taken away the sin of his mother's murder away?
(a) The sins of the the mother.
(b) Grief.
(c) Time.
(d) The blessings of the gods.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the Furies do not awaken, what does the ghost urge them to dream about?

2. What does Orestes see when he cries out in terror after he has avenged his father's murder?

3. Whom must Cilissa go fetch?

4. What does Athena proclaim before the judges announce their vote at the end of "The Eumenides"?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What are the Furies and why are they tormenting Orestes at the end of "The Libation Bearers"?

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

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

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

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

8. What does Apollo say about the rights of parents during Orestes' trial?

9. 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"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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