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150 multiple-choice questions and 45 flashcards, written to the AP English Literature blueprint. Every question carries a full rationale.
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AP English Literature, Common Core ELA 9-12 reading literature, IB English A: Literature world canon
CoStudy's The Iliad (Homer) bank holds 195 items. Every multiple-choice question carries a written rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is tempting but wrong.
A sample of 12 multiple-choice questions from the bank, with the full rationale shown.
The night before his final day, Hector overrules Polydamas's advice to:
Answer: D — Withdraw inside Troy now that Achilles has returned
A) Already done. D) Correct — and the Trojans pay for the decision. C/B) Not the advice.
Odysseus's chief contributions in the Iliad are:
Answer: D — Speech in council, the embassy, and the night raid
A) Wrong emphasis. D) Correct — his words save situations more than his sword. C) Not in the Iliad. B) Odyssey.
Agamemnon's strange test of the army in Book 2 is:
Answer: A — A pretend retreat order, which the soldiers nearly accept
A) Correct — Odysseus must rally them back. B/C/D) Not part of the test.
When Patroclus first sees the wounded healer Machaon, what does Achilles ask him to do?
Answer: C — Go to Nestor's tent to confirm whose healer the wounded man is
A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — and Nestor's plea there sets the chain of doom in motion.
Divine intervention as a literary device in the Iliad most often functions to:
Answer: B — Externalize and intensify mortal psychology and decisions
A) Wrong. B) Correct — Athena's restraint of Achilles in Book 1 is the model. C/D) Reductive.
Ajax the Greater is best described as:
Answer: C — The wall — a massive defensive fighter, second only to Achilles
A) Odysseus. C) Correct — his epithet 'bulwark of the Greeks' captures the role. B/D) Wrong.
Who brings the news of Patroclus's death to Achilles?
Answer: D — Antilochus, Nestor's son
D) Correct — and he must hold Achilles's hands to keep him from suicide. B/C/A) Wrong messengers.
Apollo sends his plague onto the Greeks via:
Answer: B — Silver-arrow shafts striking pack animals first, then men
A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — the iconic image of the angry archer god.
Helen in the Iliad is depicted as:
Answer: A — Self-blaming and aware of the destruction her presence causes
B) Wrong. A) Correct — her self-reproach gives her unusual psychological depth. C/D) Wrong.
The theme of 'menis' (wrath) in the Iliad is treated as:
Answer: B — Destructive to the wrathful man as well as his enemies
A) Wrong. B) Correct — Achilles loses Patroclus to his own withdrawal. C/D) Wrong.
Disguised as a young Greek warrior, Hermes leads Priam past:
Answer: A — The Greek sentries
A) Correct — and reveals his identity at Achilles's tent door. B/C/D) Wrong.
Hera's hatred of Troy traces back to:
Answer: A — The Judgement of Paris, in which he chose Aphrodite over her
B) Wrong. A) Correct — the same reason Athena hates Troy. C/D) Wrong.
6 sample cards from the 45 in the bank.
Who is Patroclus?
Achilles's dearest companion + close friend (read by many as lover). His death drives Achilles back to battle.
Who is Hecuba?
Queen of Troy. Mother of Hector + Paris. Pleads with Hector not to fight Achilles alone.
Who is Priam?
Aged king of Troy. Hector's father. Comes alone in the final book to ransom Hector's body.
Pro-Trojan gods?
Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares. Support Troy. Apollo most active — sends the plague + helps kill Patroclus.
The desecration of Hector's body?
Achilles drags Hector's corpse behind his chariot around Patroclus's tomb for days. The gods preserve the body.
Priam's ransom (Book 24)?
Old Priam comes alone to Achilles's tent, guided by Hermes. Kisses the hands that killed his sons. The two men weep together. Achilles releases the body.
These samples are a small slice. The full bank runs flashcards, multiple choice and timed mock exams with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
The The Iliad (Homer) bank holds 195 items: 150 multiple-choice questions, 45 flashcards. 18 of them are on this page to read free, with no signup.
Yes. Every multiple-choice item carries a written rationale that states the controlling principle behind the correct answer and then addresses each wrong option in turn — why it tempts and precisely where it fails. Knowing why the plausible answer was wrong is worth more than knowing which letter was right.
The samples on this page are free to read in full, rationales included, with no account. The complete 195-item bank, the timed mock exams and per-chapter progress tracking are part of CoStudy on the web and in the iOS app.
Last reviewed 2026-08-22. Banks are written against the certifying body's published exam outline and re-checked when that outline changes — exams get renumbered, retired and reweighted, and a bank written to a superseded outline teaches the wrong proportions. Figures that are re-indexed annually are deliberately not asserted as rules; the questions test the governing principle instead.