OEDIPUS REX EXAM QUESTIONS AND
COMPLETE ANSWERS
Theatron ANSW✅✅"seeing place"; entire open-air theater built into a slope or amphitheater
What is the Sphinx's riddle? ANSW✅✅What has 4 legs in morning, 2 legs at noon, and 3 legs at
night?
A man crawls on 4 legs as a baby, walks on 2 as a man, and uses a cane as an elderly man
Mechane ANSW✅✅the crane that lifted actors portraying gods from above onto the proscenium
What type of verse is used in Oedipus Rex? ANSW✅✅Iambic Pentameter
Orchestra ANSW✅✅originally meant "dancing place"; the circular area in front of the auditorium
where the
chorus performs
What does the motif of light and dark represent in Oedipus Rex? ANSW✅✅It represents
knowledge, because those sighted in light are blinded by ignorance and those who cannot see are
sighted in knowledge, as represented by Oedipus and Tiresias.
Ode ANSW✅✅a song of glory sung by the chorus or choragus
What are the Oracles of Delphi? ANSW✅✅Priestesses thought to be portals to speak to Apollo
Parados ANSW✅✅aisles where the chorus "paraded" into or out of the orchestra area
Proscenium ANSW✅✅the row of columns that decorated the skene
City Dionysia ANSW✅✅Greek festival in honor of the god Dionysus that included performances of
dramatic tragedies
, Skene ANSW✅✅the wooden hut where the actors changed masks and costumes; Sophocles
painted scenery
on its forward wall, hence the evolution of the word "scene"
Dithyramb ANSW✅✅ceremonious dance performed by the chorus
Choragus ANSW✅✅in ancient Greek theatre, any wealthy Athenian citizen who paid the costs of
theatrical
productions at festivals during the 4th and 5th centuries BC; it was a great honor; leader of the
Chorus
Antistrophe ANSW✅✅the response call by the chorus to the strophe
Aristotle ANSW✅✅Student of Plato; wrote treatise called Poetics that described traits of a perfect
Aristotelian tragic hero and tragedy
Plot (Mythos) ANSW✅✅"arrangement of incidents" and "imitation of the action"
What are the 5 tragic hero traits? ANSW✅✅Idealized, Hamartia, Peripeteia, catastrophe,
anagnorisis
Character (Ethos) ANSW✅✅that from which "we form our [opinion] of [actors'] actions"
What are the 6 traits of a tragedy? ANSW✅✅Plot (Mythos), Character (Ethos), Thought (Dianoia),
Song (Melos), Diction (Lexis), Spectacle (Opsis)
Thought (Dianoia) ANSW✅✅"needed whenever [actors] speak" words must reveal character
Verbal Irony ANSW✅✅when words are used to suggest an opposite meaning
Diction (Lexis) ANSW✅✅the expression of the meaning in words which are proper and
appropriate to
COMPLETE ANSWERS
Theatron ANSW✅✅"seeing place"; entire open-air theater built into a slope or amphitheater
What is the Sphinx's riddle? ANSW✅✅What has 4 legs in morning, 2 legs at noon, and 3 legs at
night?
A man crawls on 4 legs as a baby, walks on 2 as a man, and uses a cane as an elderly man
Mechane ANSW✅✅the crane that lifted actors portraying gods from above onto the proscenium
What type of verse is used in Oedipus Rex? ANSW✅✅Iambic Pentameter
Orchestra ANSW✅✅originally meant "dancing place"; the circular area in front of the auditorium
where the
chorus performs
What does the motif of light and dark represent in Oedipus Rex? ANSW✅✅It represents
knowledge, because those sighted in light are blinded by ignorance and those who cannot see are
sighted in knowledge, as represented by Oedipus and Tiresias.
Ode ANSW✅✅a song of glory sung by the chorus or choragus
What are the Oracles of Delphi? ANSW✅✅Priestesses thought to be portals to speak to Apollo
Parados ANSW✅✅aisles where the chorus "paraded" into or out of the orchestra area
Proscenium ANSW✅✅the row of columns that decorated the skene
City Dionysia ANSW✅✅Greek festival in honor of the god Dionysus that included performances of
dramatic tragedies
, Skene ANSW✅✅the wooden hut where the actors changed masks and costumes; Sophocles
painted scenery
on its forward wall, hence the evolution of the word "scene"
Dithyramb ANSW✅✅ceremonious dance performed by the chorus
Choragus ANSW✅✅in ancient Greek theatre, any wealthy Athenian citizen who paid the costs of
theatrical
productions at festivals during the 4th and 5th centuries BC; it was a great honor; leader of the
Chorus
Antistrophe ANSW✅✅the response call by the chorus to the strophe
Aristotle ANSW✅✅Student of Plato; wrote treatise called Poetics that described traits of a perfect
Aristotelian tragic hero and tragedy
Plot (Mythos) ANSW✅✅"arrangement of incidents" and "imitation of the action"
What are the 5 tragic hero traits? ANSW✅✅Idealized, Hamartia, Peripeteia, catastrophe,
anagnorisis
Character (Ethos) ANSW✅✅that from which "we form our [opinion] of [actors'] actions"
What are the 6 traits of a tragedy? ANSW✅✅Plot (Mythos), Character (Ethos), Thought (Dianoia),
Song (Melos), Diction (Lexis), Spectacle (Opsis)
Thought (Dianoia) ANSW✅✅"needed whenever [actors] speak" words must reveal character
Verbal Irony ANSW✅✅when words are used to suggest an opposite meaning
Diction (Lexis) ANSW✅✅the expression of the meaning in words which are proper and
appropriate to
