Trojan War Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. The Greeks appear to sail away, leaving a wooden horse behind, while Sinon remains to explain it. What is Sinon’s role in the plan?
He secretly opens Troy’s gates before the horse enters
He warns Priam that Greek warriors are hidden inside
He challenges Hector to inspect the horse personally
He persuades the Trojans to accept the horse as a sacred offering
2. Someone says the Iliad narrates the entire war through the wooden horse and Troy’s destruction. Which correction is most accurate?
The Iliad focuses on a short period near the war’s end and concludes with Hector’s funeral
The Iliad ends when Paris first arrives in Sparta
The Iliad focuses mainly on Aeneas’s journey after Troy falls
The Iliad begins after the wooden horse has entered Troy
3. In the best-known later tradition about Achilles’ vulnerability, where is his one vulnerable spot?
His heel
His chest
His sword hand
His shoulder
4. An elderly Trojan king enters Achilles’ shelter and appeals to him as a grieving father. Who is he, and what does he request?
Laomedon, requesting the return of Troy’s sacred image
Priam, requesting Hector’s body for burial
Antenor, requesting safe passage for Helen
Anchises, requesting protection for Aeneas
5. Which Greek hero is most closely credited with devising the wooden-horse strategy?
Ajax
Menelaus
Odysseus
Diomedes
6. A Trojan priest warns his people not to trust the wooden horse, a warning later associated with the idea of fearing Greeks bearing gifts. Who is he?
Chryses
Calchas
Laocoön
Helenus
7. At Aulis, the Greek fleet is unable to sail because it lacks favorable winds. Whom does Agamemnon agree to sacrifice in the best-known version of the story?
Cassandra
Andromache
Clytemnestra
Iphigenia
8. Which pair belongs to the Trojan side of the conflict?
Agamemnon and Menelaus
Odysseus and Diomedes
Achilles and Patroclus
Priam and Hector
9. Which nineteenth-century archaeologist became famous for excavations at Hisarlik, a site associated with ancient Troy?
Arthur Evans
Heinrich Schliemann
Howard Carter
Flinders Petrie
10. Which Achaean hero fights Hector in a formal duel that ends without either warrior winning decisively?
Patroclus
Idomeneus
Phoenix
Ajax
11. A survivor leaves fallen Troy and becomes an ancestral hero of Rome in later Roman tradition. Who is he?
Aeneas
Sarpedon
Deiphobus
Troilus
12. Whose death while wearing Achilles’ armor finally drives Achilles back into battle?
Ajax’s
Patroclus’s
Nestor’s
Diomedes’
13. A reader opens the Iliad and finds Achilles refusing to fight. Which dispute caused his withdrawal?
Odysseus rejected his plan to build a wooden horse
Menelaus accused him of helping Paris escape
Agamemnon took Briseis from him, attacking his honor
Patroclus claimed command of the Myrmidons
14. Which sequence correctly orders these late events in the Iliad?
Hector dies → Patroclus dies → Achilles returns to battle
Patroclus dies → Achilles returns to battle → Hector dies
Achilles returns to battle → Patroclus dies → Hector dies
Achilles returns to battle → Hector dies → Patroclus dies
15. Who served as the leading commander of the Achaean coalition against Troy?
Agamemnon
Odysseus
Menelaus
Nestor
16. In the traditional mythic background to the war, what did Aphrodite promise Paris after he judged her the fairest goddess?
Command of the Achaean fleet
Invulnerability in battle
Helen, regarded as the most beautiful mortal woman
The throne of Mycenae