Deck 18: Oedipus and the Myths of Thebes

Question 1

Thebes is the principal city in the plain of _______.

A) Attica
B) Thessaly
C) Boeotia
D) Aetolia

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What does Cadmus find when he goes in search of the comrades he sent to get water for a sacrifice?

A) The Sphinx
B) Twins abandoned at a spring
C) An entrance to the underworld
D) A huge serpent

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The Sparti are the "_______," and ancestors of the major aristocratic families of Thebes.

A) sown men
B) citizens of Sparta
C) lost tribe
D) found men

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Whom did Cadmus marry after his years of servitude to Ares?

A) Harmonia
B) Ino
C) Autonoë
D) Sidonia

Question 5

At the end of their life, Cadmus and his wife are changed into _______ and sent to the Elysian Fields.

A) doves
B) serpents
C) nightingales
D) hares

Question 6

Who are the children of Antiopê and Zeus?

A) Labdacus
B) Zethus
C) Lycus
D) Amphion

Question 7

Cadmus' name is Semitic in origin and means "_______."

A) builder of walls
B) city-founder
C) man from the East
D) bringer of civilization

Question 8

Which of the following early Greek terms for the alphabet are associatd with Cadmus?

A) phoinikeia grammata, "Phoenician scratchings"
B) kadmeia, "Cadmeian things"
C) sêmata kala, "beautiful signs"
D) Thêbaia sêmata, "Theban signs"

Question 9

The mighty walls of Thebes had _______ gates.

A) five
B) seven
C) four
D) ten

Question 10

What is meaning of Oedipus' name?

A) "ruler from afar"
B) "foundling"
C) "father-slayer"
D) "swollen foot"

Question 11

What is the answer to the Sphinx's riddle?

A) "Eternity"
B) "Birth"
C) "A human"
D) "Death"

Question 12

What is the name of Sophocles' play-the most famous play from antiquity-which treats story of Oedipus' shocking discovery about himself?

A) "Oedipus the King"
B) "Oedipus at Colonus"
C) "Antigone"
D) "Oedipus Undone"

Question 13

Whom does Oedipus think are his real parents?

A) Celeus and Metanira
B) Polybus and Meropê
C) Ino and Athamas
D) Amphion and Niobê

Question 14

What does Oedipus do when he learns the truth and sees the dead body of his wife/mother Jocasta?

A) He tries to throw himself off the edge of the Cadmeia
B) He stabs himself with the pins that were used to bind his feet as an infant
C) He orders a servant to chop off his hands
D) He stabs out his eyes with pins from Jocasta's robe

Question 15

Which of the Seven Against Thebes was a seer who argued vehemently against the war?

A) Hippomedon
B) Eriphylê
C) Parthenopeus
D) Amphiaraüs

Question 16

Where does Oedipus finally settle after he wanders out of Thebes?

A) The Acropolis in Athens
B) The Temple of Hera in Argos
C) The Grove of the Furies in Colonus
D) The Telesterion in Eleusis

Question 17

How does Capaneus die?

A) He boasts that not even Zeus can stop him and is then struck by lightning
B) The earth opens up and swallows his chariot
C) He is mortally wounded by Melanippus
D) Eteocles kills him in single combat

Question 18

Who alone of the Seven Against Thebes escapes the battle?

A) Amphiaraüs
B) Hippomedon
C) Parthenopeus
D) Adrastus

Question 19

Antionê is engaged to _______.

A) Creon
B) Laodamas
C) Thersander
D) Haemon

Question 20

Sophocles' play Antigone reflects a philosophical conflict between the laws of which two notions?

A) stasis
B) physis
C) nomos
D) logos

Question 21

Polynices is seen here bribing _______ with the necklace of Harmonia.

A) Antiopê
B) Dircê
C) Ismenê
D) Eriphylê