The Iliad

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What epithet is repeated to describe Achilles through The Iliad?

A) “the son of Thetis”

B) “the best of the Achaeans”

C) “the swiftest in battle”

D) “the destroyer of Troy”

2. What does it suggest about Priam that he does not blame Helen for the war?

A) That he is a kind and benevolent king

B) That he knows that it is his son’s fight

C) That he doesn’t see women as a factor in war

D) That he blames himself

3. Beyond being upset that Briseis was taken from home, why did Achilles stop fighting for Agamemnon?

A) Because he has been fighting for his whole life and is now tired of fighting

B) Because he is concerned that he may die, as according to legend he will only live a short life

C) Because he is such a strong fighter and does not wish to contribute to Greek victory and therefore Agamemnon’s honor

D) Because he is doing what Zeus has ordered him to do, and he defers to the king of the gods

4. What is implied by the fact that the war between the Trojans and the Achaeans is not portrayed as a battle between good and evil?

A) It implies that the speaker of the poem is split in their loyalty to either side.

B) It implies that the gods only care about themselves and not the individual human nations.

C) It implies that warriors who kill one another are not redeemable.

D) I implies that war is complicated and that it cannot be so evenly divided.

5. In Book 5, what best explains why the poet gives details about each Achaean and Trojan killed?

A) To heighten the excitement of the story’s battle scenes

B) To show their humanity

C) To illustrate that every soldier is a leader

D) To honor them

6. What does Hector’s reminder that “no one alive has ever escaped” their fate most accurately foreshadow (Book 6)?

A) That Hector himself will have to face fate in the form of Achilles

B) That Hector’s greatest fears will come true

C) That Paris will be the one remembered for the war, not Hector

D) That Hector’s son will have to avenge him

7. Why does Zeus tell Poseidon to stop complaining that the Trojan wall may become more famous than the Scaean Gates that he built with Apollo?

A) Zeus believes that the gods must always be the ones most worshipped.

B) Zeus sees it as blasphemy to suggest that human work could last longer than work of the gods, even in memory.

C) Zeus is tired of speaking of the war and wishes for it to end.

D) Zeus does not care for discussion of human work; rather, he only wants to gain humans’ favor.

8. What effect does Achilles’s continual refusal to fight have on the Greeks?

A) It makes them decide to leave for Greece since they can’t win without Achilles.

B) It reinforces the fact that Agamemnon is a strong and steadfast leader.

C) It escalates their sense of fear that they will not be able to defeat the Trojans.

D) It causes Nestor to regret encouraging Achilles to come to Troy.

9. Why does Achilles weep with Priam?

A) He fears his death and knows that, in giving up Hector, he brings his own death close.

B) He believes that giving up Hector’s body besmirches his honor.

C) He is tired of fighting and can see that Priam is too.

D) He knows that they both weep for someone dear to them.

10. What does Hector realize when he notices that Deiphobus has left him when he fights Achilles?

A) That he has been tricked by a god and that death has come for him

B) That he has been accompanied by a god and that they must be in his favor

C) That he has been tricked by a god but that his brothers will be okay

D) That he has been led here by fate and that this is his chance to save Troy

11. Why are the gods angry with Achilles after he kills Hector?

A) They are upset he killed Hector.

B) They are upset that he wishes to desecrate Hector’s body and that he is keeping it from Hector’s family.

C) They are upset that he did not continue to fight and finally end the war.

D) They are upset that he is putting his vengeance before the priorities of the Greeks.

12. What is significant about Thetis asking Hephaestus to craft new armor for Achilles?

A) She accepts that he is going to fight in the war, even though it will mean his certain death.

B) She will do anything to stop him from dying.

C) She wants Hephaestus to imbue the armor with enough power to make Achilles invincible.

D) She believes that his old armor is tainted with the blood of Patroclus.

13. Why are the Greek ships so significant in the battle with the Trojans?

A) They are a symbol of the Greeks’ wealth.

B) They are where the Greeks camp; without them, they will be vulnerable.

C) They are the Greeks’ only way home to Greece.

D) They are a representation of Greek shipbuilding and foreshadow the building of the Trojan horse.

14. What is different about Achilles’s response when Agamemnon first takes Briseis away and when Odysseus and two of the other kings later come to visit him to ask him to return to battle?

A) Achilles was rage-filled in the beginning, uncaring about those dying around him because his honor had been tarnished. Later, he is pensive and has given up hope of victory.

B) Achilles was rage-filled in the beginning, so focused on his honor. Later, he is more concerned with his own mortality and prophesy about living either a short or long life.

C) Achilles was pensive in the beginning, trying to show only that without his strength, the Greeks couldn’t win. Later, he is enraged that it has taken so long for others to beg him to rejoin the fray.

D) Achilles was pensive in the beginning. Later, he is more concerned with the likelihood of his death in battle, having chosen to live a long, quiet life.

15. What is the most compelling reason that phrases like “Hector breaker of horses,” or similar repetitions, occur throughout the Iliad?

A) Poets reciting The Iliad would have relied on repetition to improvise in their performance of the story.

B) Poets use repetitive phrases to encourage listeners to remember characters’ names.

C) Poets performing the epic would use such phrases to describe characters.

D) Poets retelling the story of Troy would use repetition to honor those who died in the Trojan war.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Identify two similarities between Zeus and Agamemnon and explain their narrative significance: how do the shared qualities or traits that you have identified shape the beliefs and behaviors of each character?

2. What is the role of mist in this story? How do the gods use it?

3. How do women shape the war, even if they aren’t acknowledged like male heroes?