The Landmark Thucydides 6.1 To 6.105
A 12-question quiz on The History of the Peloponnesian War, based on The Landmark Thucydides and covering the seventeenth and eighteenth years of the war.
- 1.Where did the Athenians decide to attack next after the destruction of Melos?
- A.
Sparta
- B.
Thrace
- C.
Italy
- D.
Syracuse
- 2.What argument did the Egestaeans use to encourage Athens to attack Syracuse?
- A.
The Dorian Syracusans might eventually come to the aid of the Dorian Peloponnesians.
- B.
The Syracusans were planning to invade Attica.
- C.
The Syracusans were scheming to take over all of Sicily.
- D.
The Peloponnesians were actively seeking an alliance with Syracuse.
- 3.Why did the Athenian commander, Nicias, attempt to dissuade the Athenians from attacking Syracuse.
- A.
He was unwilling to serve as the expedition's commander.
- B.
He didn't think it was possible for the Athenian forces to defeat the Syracusans.
- C.
He thought it was foolish to start another war when the peace with Sparta was still fragile.
- D.
He sought an expedition against the Spartans.
- 4.What was the Athenian general Alcibiades charged with immediately prior to departing for Syracuse?
- A.
Blasphemy and plotting to overthrow Athenian democracy.
- B.
Homosexuality and plotting to set up a kingdom in Syracuse.
- C.
Pornography and improperly awarding military contracts.
- D.
Treason and plotting to betray Athens to the Spartans.
- 5.Why were both Hemocrates and Athenagoras confident that Syracuse would defeat an Athenian invasion.
- A.
Numbers.
- B.
Technology.
- C.
Artillery.
- D.
Logistics.
- 6.Why did the Athenian generals nearly decide to turn back and give up as soon as they reached Italy?
- A.
Their supplies were beginning to run out.
- B.
The allies they were counting on refused to join them.
- C.
They finally began to listen to Nicias's doubts.
- D.
They were frightened by the Syracusan fortifications.
- 7.Who deposed the Athenian tyrant Hippias?
- A.
The Athenian people.
- B.
Brutus.
- C.
Aristogiton and Harmodius
- D.
The Spartans.
- 8.What prevented Nicias from exploiting the Athenian victory at the Anapus River?
- A.
The lack of cavalry.
- B.
His forces were exhausted.
- C.
The defeated Syracusans retreated out of the range of his naval artillery.
- D.
The Syracusans fell back behind their walls.
- 9.How did the Athenians justify their hegemony to the Camarinaeans?
- A.
Their democratic government.
- B.
Their wealth.
- C.
Their war against Persia.
- D.
Their superiority of character.
- 10.Why did Alcibiades flee to Sparta?
- A.
He had decided the war against Syracuse would lead to an Athenian defeat.
- B.
He was summoned to Athens to face trial for plotting against the democracy.
- C.
He discovered a plot by Nicias to kill him.
- D.
He was a coward who couldn't face battle.
- 11.What strategy did Nicias adopt to defeat Syracuse in the second year of the Athenian invasion?
- A.
Penetration and pocket capture.
- B.
Buying off Syracuse's allies.
- C.
Circumvallation and blockade.
- D.
Building a large wooden badger and pretending to withdraw.
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