Classical Mythology Exam 2 Practice Questions

Who is the earliest human civilization (first cities, writing systems, laws, literature)?

a. Sumerians

b. Egyptians

c. Ancient Greeks

d. Akkadians

Sumerians

Who built the first empire in history?

a. Sumerians

b. Egyptians

c. Ancient Greeks

d. Akkadians

Akkadians

Which work contains the oldest flood myth?

a. Iliad

b. Atrahasis

c. The Hebrew Tanak

d. Odyssey

Atrahasis

What is Cuneiform?

a. A special hat

b. A writing system

c. A language

d. A writing stylus

A writing system

Anu is binaurally both a god and what?

a. ocean/water

b. sky

c. earth

d. wind

sky

The Atrahasis is a

a. Greek poem

b. Roman poem

c. Babylonian poem

d. British poem

Babylonian poem

Elli is the god who controls what?

a. earth

b. sky

c. water

d. love

earth

Anu is the god who controls what?

a. water

b. love

c. earth

d. sky

sky

Enki/Ea is the god who controls what?

a. water

b. love

c. earth

d. sky

water (technically the “bolt which bars the sea”)

Which two gods don’t take sides during the Trojan war in the Iliad?

a. Zeus and Hermes

b. Hephaestus and Poseidon

c. Athena and Ares

d. Apollo and Hephaestus

Zeus and Hermes

Who is the psychopomp in the Iliad?

a. Hades

b. Hermes

c. Ares

d. Zeus

Hermes (it means “soul escorted”!)

What is the approximate date of the Atrahasis?

a. 1700 BCE

b. 1000 BCE

c. 700 BCE

d. 17 CE

1700 BCE (Waaaay before the Greek myths…)

What is the approximate date of the Enuma Elish?

a. 1700 BCE

b. 1000 BCE

c. 700 BCE

d. 17 CE

1000 BCE

What does Enuma Elish mean?

a. “Rich Lands”

b. “King of the Gods”

c. “When on High”

d. Wealthy One”

“When on High” - the first few words of the poem…

Who is the patron god of Babylon and a storm god?

a. Marduk

b. Zeus

c. Apsu

d. Tiamat

Marduk (storm is is “sphere of influence”)

Anu is the god of what in Enuma Elish?

a. Fresh water

b. Salt water

c. Upper sky

d. Lower sky

Upper Sky

How long is the Enuma Elish?

a. 3 cuneiform tablets

b. 7 cuneiform tablets

c. 4 cuneiform tablets

d. 4 chapters

7 tablets (compared to Atrahasis’s 3!)

Where were the tablets of the Enuma Elish discovered?

a. Babylon

b. Nineveh

c. Athens

d. Rome

Nineveh, in the library of Ashurbanipal

Cosmogony means what?

a. The sky

b. The birth of the earth

c. The birth of the oceans

d. The birth of the universe

The birth of the universe

Which god in the Enuma Elish has severe sleeping problems because all the gods are so noisy, and begins plotting the destruction of his own descendants?

a. Anu

b. Enki

c. Marduk

d. Apsu

Apsu

Which trickster in the Enuma Elish is also credited with creating humans (akin to Prometheus)?

a. Enki/Ea

b. Mummu

c. Apsu

d. Marduk

Enki/Ea

True or false: Gods are immortal in Babylonian mythology

False (remember Enki kills Apsu and makes a temple of his body…)

Which god in the Enuma Elish has 4 eyes, 4 ears, and breathes fire?

a. Marduk

b. Anu

c. Enki/Ea

d. Ishtar

Marduk

Which Babylonian goddess is a combination of Aphrodite, Ares, and Athena?

a. Marduk

b. Anu

c. Enki/Ea

d. Ishtar

Ishtar

Why do gods implore Tiamat to create a monster army through parthenogenesis?

a. Winds are too noisy

b. She never avenged her murdered husband

c. To fight off unworthy suitors

d. A & B

The winds are too noisy and she never avenged her murdered husband…

What does Tiamat give her new spouse Qingu (after apsu dies)?

a. Wind

b. A mashushu dragon

c. Tablet of Destinies

d. A river

Tablet of Destinies

True or false: In the battle between Marduk and Tiamat, Marduk simply sends wind into Tiamat’s mouth, blowing her up as a balloon and then popping her with an arrow, splitting her in two.

True

What does Tiamat’s dead body become?

a. Nourishment for the other gods

b. A new goddess through reincarnation

c. Freshwater temple for Ea

d. Earth and sky

Earth and sky

The story of Tiamat’s repurposed dead body likely inspired what in Greek mythology?

a. Atlas holding the sky

b. Kronos castrating Ouranos

c. Aphrodite’s birth from the bloody, foamy sea

d. Athena’s birth from Zeus’ head

Kronos castrating Ouranos - the splitting of the sky!

To whom does Marduk give the Tablet of Destinies?

a. Ea/Enki

b. Anu

c. Keeps for himself

d. Apsu

Anu - his grandfather (apsu is now a temple…)

The Hurricane poem Song of Emergence features a succession myth about the rise and fall of what God?

a. Alalu

b. Anu

c. Kumarbi

d. Teshub

Kumarbi (cupbearer to Anu, Marduk’s grandfather, the sky - a Babylonian god incorporated into a Hurrian poem)

In the Song of Emergence, which god bites off Anu’s genitals and becomes pregnant with gods as a result?

a. Ea

b. Kumarbi

c. Teshub

d. Tashmishu

Kumarbi (Remember, Ea serves as his midwife)

Which of Kumarbi’s children does he plan to eat but is replaced with a stone in Song of Emergence?

a. Teshub

b. Tashmishu

c. Tigris River

d. Marduk

Teshub

Which Ancient Greek god from Hesiod’s Theogony corresponds to Alalu from Song of Emergence?

a. Ouranos

b. Chaos

c. Zeus

d. None correspond to Alalu

None of the Greek gods correspond

A flood myth is a subcategory of what kind of myth?

a. Divine council myth

b. Creation myth

c. Apocalyptic myth

d. Combat myth

Apocalyptic myth - though it still gets its own category because it follows its own special pattern

To which god do the worker gods (who had been digging tunnels in the earth for 3,600 years) complain in the Atrahasis?

1. Ellil

2. Anu

3. Marduk

4. Enki/Ea

Ellil

Which of the following gods is considered the god of cleverness/wisdom?

1. Elli

2. Anu

3. Marduk

4. Enki/Ea

Enki/Ea

In Atrahasis, what is used to create humans?

1. Wine and clay

2. Earth and water

3. Slain god Ilawella’s blood and clay

4. Slain god Quingu’s blood

Slain god Ilawella’s blood and clay

Whose idea is it to create humans in the Atrahasis?

1. Marduk

2. Enki/Ea

3. Elli

4. Anu

Enki/Ea

Whose idea is it to create humans in the Enuma Elish?

1. Marduk

2. Enki/Ea

3. Elli

4. Anu

Marduk (technically, because EE is a love song to him, though Enki is given some credit, too)

Which is NOT one of the ways that Ellil lashes out against humans?

1. Famine

2. Plague

3. Drought

4. Earthquakes

Earthquakes

What drives the god Ellil to send a plague against humans?

1. Humans are too noisy!

2. Humans are too hubristic!

3. Humans are too immoral!

4. To get revenge at Enki/Ea.

Humans are too noisy!

Atrahasis means what?

1. “Lover of humans”

2. “Trickster King”

3. “Extra wise”

4. “A strong branch”

“Extra Wise”

Which of the following does Nintu institute to prevent human overpopulation?

1. Widespread disease

2. Human hatred for one another that results in killing

3. Instills a human desire for danger

4. Infant mortality

Infant Mortality

True or false - The Epic of Gilgamesh was a Babylonian bestseller

True

The Epic of Gilgamesh found in Ashurbanibal's library was:

1. one story written all at once

2. a series of stories in separate places, found separately

3. a whole story made of collated mini-stories

a whole story made of collated mini-stories

How many tablets are in the EofG?

1. 12

2. 7

3. 3

4. 10

12

What is it that Gilgamesh really wants?

1. Friendship

2. Money

3. Food

4. Immortality

Immortality

Who does Gilgamesh find to tell him how to achieve immortality?

1. Enki

2. Utnapishtim

3. Ellil

4. Ishtar

Utnapishtim

Who narrates Utnapishtim's story?

1. Enki

2. Ishtar

3. Gilgamesh

4. Utnapishtim

Utnapishtim

Who warns Utnapishtim of the flood?

1. Ea

2. Ellil

3. Gilgamesh

4. Ishtar

Ea

What shape is the boat in E of G?

1. rectangle

2. diamond

3. circle

4. ark-shaped

circle

What is used to waterproof the boat-basket?

1. sap

2. bitumen

3. pitch

4. glue

bitumen

In E of G, who weeps over the flood?

1. Mami

2. Nintu

3. Utnapishtim

4. Ishtar

Ishtar

Ishtar is a cross between…

1. Cupid and Aphrodite

2. Athena and Ares

3. Aphrodite and Ares

4. Athena and Aphrodite

Aphrodite and Ares

The term for borrowing passages from earlier literature is

1. Classical reception

2. sphere of influence

3. critical economy

4. narrative economy

narrative economy

How is Ishtar similar to Nintu in the E of G?

1. She makes humans

2. She is a creator goddess

3. She weeps

4. She sends the flood

She weeps

What is the direct quote shared by both Atrahasis and E of G?

1. the boat "shall be in harmony"

2. the gods gathered "like flies"

3. the hero is "wise"

4. the flood is "six days and seven nights"

the gods gathered “like flies”

Who does Ishtar blame for the flood?

1. Ellil

2. Enki

3. Atrahasis

4. Mankind

Ellil

When Ea admits telling Utnapishtim about the flood, he convinces Ellil that a flood is "extra." What does he tell him to do instead?

1. Send a smaller flood

2. Localized attacks like plagues, a rogue lion

3. Flood the rivers only, not the oceans

4. Create a monster army

Localized attacks like plagues, a rogue lion

Who receives "eternal life" after the flood?

1. Gilgamesh

2. Ishtar

3. Ea

4. Utnapishtim and his wife

Utnapishtim and his wife

Where do Utnapishtim and his wife live after the flood?

1. The Elysian Fields

2. Heaven with the gods

3. In a mansion in town

4. "The far mouth of the rivers" = the ends of the earth

The far mouth of the rivers

Why can't Utnapishtim help Gilgamesh get eternal life?

1. Because he doesn't want to

2. Because Gilgamesh isn't worthy

3. Because there will be another flood, killing everyone on the earth anyway

4. Because there will never be another flood killing everyone on the earth

Because there will never be another flood killing everyone on the earth

Ancient Israel consisted of what two kingdoms?

1. North = Juday, South = Israel

2. North = Israel, South = Judah

3. North = Hittites, South = Sumerians

4. North = Tigris, South = Euphrates

North = Israel, South = Judah

What is the alternative name of the Israelite god Yahweh?

1. Zeus

2. Marduk

3. Teshub

4. 'elohim

‘elohim

Before 538, the Israelites practiced:

1. monotheism

2. polytheism

3. monolatry = they believed many gods exist, but they only worship one of them (Yahweh)

4. phenomenology

monolatry

What happened to make the Israelites change to become monotheistic?

1. They just changed their minds

2. The Babylonian captivity/exile

3. The return to Judah

4. A miracle

Babylonian captivity/exile

Who conquered the great Neo-Babylonian Empire?

1. Persian king Cyrus II

2. Persian king Darius I

3. Persian king Xerxes I

4. Persian King Darius II

Cyrus II

What are the first words of Genesis?

Bereshith (= "in the beginning")

Genesis was written when?

1. 950-550 BCE

2. 550 - 950 CE

3. 10 - 1 BCE

4. 9500 - 5500 BCE

950-550 BCE

When did the Israelites canonize their scriptures?

1. After they returned to Judah

2. Once all of the books had been written

3. When the temple was re-built

4. During the Babylonian Captivity/exile

During the Babylonian Captivity/exile

True or false: The Hebrew Bible is mostly poetry

False - mostly prose