Glorious Exploits Book Quiz

Quiz Questions

Plot and Sequence (8 questions)

1. What two plays by Euripides provide the epigraphs for Chapter 1?

• A. Medea and The Bacchae
• B. The Bacchae and The Trojan Women
• C. The Trojan Women and Hippolytus
• D. Medea and The Trojan Women

2. Where are the Athenian prisoners being held? (Short answer)

3. To make the Athenian armour look more authentic for the Collector, Gelon:

• A. Pours wine on it
• B. Cuts his own arm and lets blood drip onto it
• C. Buys old blood from a butcher
• D. Dips it in the harbour

4. Which prisoner is cast as Medea? (Short answer)

5. What does the Collector show Lampo and Gelon inside a large circular crate?

• A. A golden statue of Dionysus
• B. A glowing, pulsing creature in water (a "god")
• C. A scroll of Euripides' lost play
• D. A pile of Athenian shields

6. After performing Medea, which play do they stage immediately afterward? (Short answer)

7. Who leads the mob that storms the stage and beats Numa to death?

• A. Hermocrates' son
• B. Biton
• C. Dares
• D. A guard

8. Where does Lampo go to buy Lyra's freedom? (Short answer)

Character Motivation (5 questions)

9. What is Gelon's primary reason for staging Euripides' plays in the quarry?

• A. To make money from ticket sales
• B. To preserve the plays and give the prisoners hope
• C. To impress Hermocrates
• D. To compete with the theatre in Athens

10. Why does Lampo initially claim his limp is a war wound? (Short answer)

11. Why does Lampo decide not to rob the legless old man of his rope?

• A. The rope is too dirty to sell
• B. Gelon tells him you don't steal a man's suffering
• C. The old man offers him gold instead
• D. The children prevent him

12. What motivates Biton's violent hatred of the Athenian prisoners? (Short answer)

13. Why does Lampo refuse Tuireann's offer to sail away at the end?

• A. He is afraid of the sea
• B. He chooses to stay in Syracuse and tend Gelon's grave
• C. He wants to continue teaching with Strabo
• D. He hopes Lyra will return

Theme and Symbol (4 questions)

14. When Gelon picks a boy's mask at Alekto's workshop, whom does he whisper?

• A. "Jason"
• B. "Helios"
• C. "Medea"
• D. "Desma"

15. What object does Lampo take from the quarry after the attack, and what does it come to symbolize? (Short answer)

16. The two epigraphs establish which pair of themes?

• A. War and peace
• B. Madness and hope
• C. Love and betrayal
• D. Fate and free will

17. What does the funeral pyre for the Athenian skeletons represent? (Short answer)

Synthesis (3 questions)

18. How does the novel use the quarry setting to comment on the power of art?

• A. It shows that art can transform a space of death into a place of shared humanity
• B. It proves that only professional theatres can produce meaningful drama
• C. It suggests that performance is useless without expensive costumes
• D. It argues that art cannot compete with violence

19. In what way does the story challenge the idea that art is a passive or safe activity? (Short answer)

20. What does the final chapter (Chapter 32) suggest about the lasting power of storytelling?

• A. Stories are forgotten as soon as they are told
• B. Memory and narrative can preserve meaning and connection even after loss
• C. Only written texts survive; oral tales are worthless
• D. The past is best left unremembered

Answer Key

1. B. The Bacchae and The Trojan Women
The epigraphs come from these two tragedies, translated by Charles K. Williams and Gilbert Murray respectively.

2. Syracusan quarries (Laurium quarry / the stone quarries near Syracuse)
Chapter 1 establishes that the defeated Athenians are imprisoned in the quarries.

3. B. Cuts his own arm and lets blood drip onto it
In Chapter 6, Gelon cuts his arm to add fresh blood after learning the Collector prefers unpolished, blood-stained armour.

4. Numa
Numa is the Athenian prisoner who auditions with a fierce monologue and is cast as Medea (Chapter 4).

5. B. A glowing, pulsing creature in water (a "god")
In Chapter 12, the Collector stirs murky water in a crate, which begins to glow and pulse; Gelon later confirms it is a god.

6. The Trojan Women
Gelon announces immediately after Medea that they will perform Trojan Women (Chapter 23).

7. B. Biton
In Chapter 24, Biton leads Syracusan men who storm the stage and club Numa to death.

8. Dismas's brothel (or Dismas's tavern)
In Chapter 31, Lampo goes to Dismas's with 300 drachmae, only to learn Lyra has been sold to a foreigner.

9. B. To preserve the plays and give the prisoners hope
Gelon tells Alekto the prisoners are doomed and their plays must be preserved; throughout, the performances offer meaning and survival.

10. To claim it is a war wound (to gain status)
In Chapter 2, Lampo falsely says his limp is from a battle, but it is a congenital defect; the lie boosts his self-image among the aristocrats.

11. B. Gelon tells him you don't steal a man's suffering
In Chapter 9, Gelon rebukes Lampo's suggestion, saying "You don't rob a man of his suffering. That's his."

12. Grief for his son (who was killed by Athenians) / revenge
Biton is a grieving Syracusan who loses his son in the war and cannot tolerate feeding or aiding the enemy.

13. B. He chooses to stay in Syracuse and tend Gelon's grave
In Chapter 32, Lampo refuses to flee the Carthaginian siege because he wants to care for Gelon's grave on Epipolae.

14. B. "Helios"
Gelon whispers his dead son's name while holding the boy mask (Chapter 8).

15. Alcar's broken aulos; it symbolizes art, memory, and his bond with the performers who died.
Lampo takes the aulos after the massacre; in old age he plays it at Gelon's grave.

16. B. Madness and hope
The first epigraph refers to madness for the unattainably great; the second says life always has hope.

17. Reconciliation / mercy toward enemies / the possibility of honoring one's own dead while praying for strangers
Dares persuades the children that a prayer for the enemy can also honor their own dead, and they build the pyre.

18. A. It shows that art can transform a space of death into a place of shared humanity
The quarry, initially a prison and place of suffering, becomes a theatre where Syracusans and Athenians experience collective grief.

19. The performance provokes real violence (the mob kills Numa, blurring theatre and reality).
Chapter 24 shows that art is not safe: the audience's emotions turn into a murderous attack.

20. B. Memory and narrative can preserve meaning and connection even after loss
In old age, Lampo dictates his story to Strabo, and in his mind's eye he sees the quarry theatre and all the people, finding "a soft and delicate thing."