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NCEA Level 3 Classical Studies study materials
NCEA Level 3 Classical Studies study resources

NCEA Level 3 Classical Studies practice questions

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Question 1Ancient Greece

In Homer's Iliad, which Trojan prince is the principal warrior defending Troy and the killer of Patroclus?

  1. Paris
  2. Deiphobus
  3. Aeneas
  4. Hector Correct answer.

Explanation

Hector, son of Priam and Hecuba, is Troy's foremost defender in the Iliad and kills Patroclus while wearing Achilles' armour. His death at Achilles' hands and the ransoming of his body frame the epic's closing books.

Question 2Ancient Greece

Which Athenian tragic playwright wrote the Oresteia trilogy, comprising Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and Eumenides?

  1. Aeschylus Correct answer.
  2. Aristophanes
  3. Euripides
  4. Sophocles

Explanation

Aeschylus composed the Oresteia, the only complete surviving tragic trilogy, first performed in 458 BCE. It traces the murder of Agamemnon, Orestes' revenge and his eventual acquittal at Athens.

Question 3Ancient Greece

In Herodotus' Histories, which Persian king is said to have had the Hellespont whipped after a storm destroyed his bridge of boats?

  1. Xerxes Correct answer.
  2. Cyrus the Great
  3. Darius I
  4. Cambyses

Explanation

Herodotus reports that Xerxes, preparing his invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, ordered the Hellespont punished with three hundred lashes after a storm wrecked his pontoon bridge. The episode illustrates Herodotus' theme of hubris and the limits of human power.

Question 4Ancient Greece

Which battle of 490 BCE saw the Athenians and Plataeans defeat a Persian landing force on the plain of Marathon?

  1. Plataea
  2. Salamis
  3. Marathon Correct answer.
  4. Thermopylae

Explanation

The Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE ended Darius' first expedition against Greece, with the Athenian hoplite charge breaking the Persian line. It became a defining symbol of Greek resistance in Athenian self-image.

Question 5Ancient Greece

In Athenian democracy of the fifth century BCE, what was the role of the boule?

  1. A court of magistrates who judged cases of homicide
  2. A council of 500 citizens chosen by lot that prepared business for the assembly Correct answer.
  3. A board of nine annually elected generals commanding the army
  4. A hereditary council of former archons with veto power

Explanation

The boule was a council of 500, fifty from each tribe, selected by lot for a year to set the assembly's agenda and oversee administration. It embodied the democratic principle of rotation rather than election by wealth or birth.

Question 6Ancient Greece

Which Greek historian wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War and stated that he wrote it because he expected the conflict to be great and memorable?

  1. Thucydides Correct answer.
  2. Xenophon
  3. Polybius
  4. Herodotus

Explanation

Thucydides, an Athenian general, wrote his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, declaring at the outset his belief that it would be the greatest disturbance in Greek history. His method emphasises eyewitness accuracy and analysis of cause.

Question 7Ancient Greece

In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, what does Oedipus promise to do when he learns the cause of Thebes' plague?

  1. To consult the Delphic oracle before acting
  2. To find and punish the murderer of Laius Correct answer.
  3. To exile himself immediately
  4. To sacrifice his daughters to Apollo

Explanation

Oedipus vows to track down and punish whoever killed Laius, unaware that he himself is the killer. This vow drives the play's irony, since his pursuit of justice becomes self-condemnation.

Question 8Ancient Greece

Which Greek term describes the tragic flaw or error of judgement that contributes to a hero's downfall in Aristotle's Poetics?

  1. Peripeteia
  2. Catharsis
  3. Hubris
  4. Hamartia Correct answer.

Explanation

Aristotle uses hamartia for the error or misjudgement that brings about the tragic reversal in a otherwise noble character. It is often translated as 'tragic flaw', though it can mean an intellectual mistake rather than a moral vice.

Question 9Ancient Greece

In Euripides' Medea, how does Medea take revenge on Jason for abandoning her?

  1. She sets fire to the palace of Corinth
  2. She persuades Creon to exile Jason
  3. She kills their children and his new bride Correct answer.
  4. She curses him and returns to Colchis

Explanation

Medea sends a poisoned robe and crown that kill Glauce, Jason's new bride, and then murders her own sons to destroy Jason's line. Euripides uses this to explore the destructive collision of passion, honour and betrayal.

Question 10Ancient Greece

What was the function of the choregos in Athenian dramatic festivals?

  1. To manage the sacred treasury of Athena
  2. To finance and equip the chorus for a playwright's production Correct answer.
  3. To judge the competition and award the prize
  4. To play the leading role in each tragedy

Explanation

The choregos was a wealthy citizen who funded the training, costumes and musicians for a chorus as a form of public liturgy. This system tied dramatic performance to civic duty and elite competition for prestige.

Question 11Ancient Greece

Which Spartan institution was a council of elders, twenty-eight men over sixty plus the two kings, that prepared proposals for the assembly?

  1. Apella
  2. Krypteia
  3. Gerousia Correct answer.
  4. Ephorate

Explanation

The Gerousia was Sparta's council of elders, composed of twenty-eight elected men aged over sixty and the two kings. It set the agenda for the Apella and could try serious cases, giving Sparta its strongly oligarchic character.

Question 12Ancient Greece

In the Iliad, what is the immediate cause of Achilles' withdrawal from battle in Book 1?

  1. Agamemnon seizes his war prize Briseis Correct answer.
  2. Patroclus is killed by Hector
  3. He is wounded by a Trojan arrow
  4. The gods command him to stop fighting

Explanation

Achilles' quarrel with Agamemnon arises because Agamemnon takes Briseis to replace his own confiscated prize Chryseis. Achilles' resulting anger, or menis, sets the epic's plot in motion.

Question 13Ancient Greece

Which Greek concept, central to the Odyssey, refers to the guest-host relationship protected by Zeus?

  1. Nemesis
  2. Moira
  3. Kleos
  4. Xenia Correct answer.

Explanation

Xenia is the reciprocal duty of hospitality owed between host and guest, and its violation drives much of the Odyssey, from the suitors' abuse of Odysseus' house to Polyphemus' savagery. Zeus Xenios was believed to protect strangers.

Question 14Ancient Greece

Which Athenian leader is credited with reforming the constitution in 508/7 BCE by reorganising citizens into ten tribes and strengthening the assembly?

  1. Ephialtes
  2. Cleisthenes Correct answer.
  3. Solon
  4. Pericles

Explanation

Cleisthenes' reforms reorganised Attica into demes and ten new tribes, breaking the old clan-based power structures and widening political participation. This is often described as the foundation of Athenian democracy.

Question 15Ancient Greece

In the Odyssey, how does Odysseus finally escape the cave of Polyphemus?

  1. He prays to Poseidon for rescue
  2. He digs a tunnel through the cave wall
  3. He bribes the Cyclops with wine and walks out
  4. He blinds the Cyclops and clings beneath the belly of a ram Correct answer.

Explanation

Odysseus intoxicates Polyphemus, blinds his single eye with a heated stake, and then escapes with his men tied under the Cyclops' sheep as they leave the cave. The episode also explains Poseidon's lasting hostility toward Odysseus.

Question 16Ancient Greece

What does the term 'hoplite' refer to in Archaic and Classical Greek warfare?

  1. A mercenary archer hired from Crete
  2. A cavalryman drawn from the aristocratic class
  3. A lightly armed skirmisher who fought with javelins
  4. A heavily armed infantryman fighting in a phalanx Correct answer.

Explanation

Hoplites were heavily armed citizen-soldiers equipped with spear, shield and bronze armour, fighting in close formation as a phalanx. Their equipment and tactics shaped the political importance of the middling citizen body.

Question 17Ancient Greece

In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, how does Clytemnestra kill her husband on his return from Troy?

  1. She poisons his wine at a banquet
  2. She traps him in a net and strikes him in the bath Correct answer.
  3. She has him drowned at sea during the voyage
  4. She stabs him during a public assembly

Explanation

Clytemnestra and Aegisthus entangle Agamemnon in a robe or net while he bathes and kill him with an axe, a murder presented with vivid horror in the play. The act avenges Iphigenia and sets up the cycle of retribution in the trilogy.

Question 18Ancient Greece

Which Athenian festival, held annually in honour of Dionysus, was the main venue for the performance of tragedies and comedies?

  1. Eleusinian Mysteries
  2. Thesmophoria
  3. Panathenaea
  4. City Dionysia Correct answer.

Explanation

The City Dionysia was the great dramatic festival at Athens, at which playwrights competed with tetralogies of tragedies and satyr plays, and later comedies. It combined religious ritual with civic display of Athens' wealth and power.

Question 19Ancient Greece

In Thucydides' account, which Athenian maxim to the Melians describes what the strong and the weak do when their power is unequal?

  1. That the gods favour the stronger city
  2. That justice is determined by equal power
  3. That the strong rule where they can and the weak submit Correct answer.
  4. That the Melians owe Athens a religious debt

Explanation

In the Melian Dialogue, the Athenians assert that the powerful rule wherever they can and the weak must submit, setting aside appeals to justice. Thucydides uses the exchange to expose the harsh realities of imperial power.

Question 20Ancient Greece

Which feature of Aristotle's theory of tragedy describes the audience's purging of pity and fear?

  1. Catharsis Correct answer.
  2. Anagnorisis
  3. Peripeteia
  4. Mimesis

Explanation

Catharsis is the emotional purification or release that Aristotle says tragedy produces in spectators through pity and fear. Its precise meaning is debated, but it is central to his account of tragedy's effect.

Question 21Ancient Greece

What was the purpose of ostracism in Athenian democracy?

  1. To remove a politically dangerous citizen for ten years by popular vote Correct answer.
  2. To select generals for military campaigns
  3. To grant citizenship to loyal metics
  4. To punish criminals with permanent exile

Explanation

Ostracism allowed the assembly to exile a prominent citizen for ten years without loss of property or status, intended to defuse factional conflict. It required a quorum and was used rarely, most famously against Aristides and Themistocles.

Question 22Ancient Greece

Which character in Sophocles' Antigone defies Creon's edict by burying her brother Polyneices?

  1. Eurydice
  2. Antigone Correct answer.
  3. Haemon
  4. Ismene

Explanation

Antigone buries Polyneices despite Creon's order, claiming the unwritten laws of the gods over the decrees of the state. Her defiance sets up the play's conflict between family duty and civic authority.

Question 23Ancient Greece

In Herodotus' Histories, how does Croesus misinterpret the Delphic oracle's prophecy before attacking Persia?

  1. He assumes the oracle's warning about a great empire refers to Persia rather than his own Correct answer.
  2. He believes the oracle is lying and ignores it
  3. He thinks the oracle means he will be defeated immediately
  4. He takes the prophecy to promise him immortality

Explanation

Croesus is told that if he attacks he will destroy a great empire, and he assumes the empire is Persia's rather than his own. His downfall illustrates Herodotus' theme that human certainty is undermined by divine foreknowledge.

Question 24Ancient Greece

Which battle of 480 BCE was a naval engagement in which the allied Greek fleet defeated the Persians in the narrow strait near Athens?

  1. Artemisium
  2. Salamis Correct answer.
  3. Cape Ecnomus
  4. Mycale

Explanation

At Salamis the Greek fleet, led by Themistocles' strategy, lured the larger Persian navy into narrow waters and destroyed it. The victory forced Xerxes to withdraw much of his fleet and army from Greece.

Question 25Ancient Greece

What does the term 'polis' fundamentally mean in the study of ancient Greece?

  1. A citizen-state community with its own laws and institutions Correct answer.
  2. A military alliance led by a dominant city
  3. A rural estate worked by slaves
  4. A temple sanctuary dedicated to a patron god

Explanation

The polis was the Greek citizen-state, comprising an urban centre and its territory, with its own laws, cults and political institutions. Political identity and religious life were bound up with membership in the polis.

Question 26Ancient Greece

Which Athenian institution, established by Cleisthenes' reforms, was made up of 500 citizens chosen by lot to prepare the agenda for the Assembly?

  1. The Boule Correct answer.
  2. The Council of the Areopagus
  3. The Ecclesia
  4. The Heliaia

Explanation

The Boule of 500 was created by the Cleisthenic reforms to set the Assembly's agenda and prepare decrees; its members were selected by lot, fifty from each of the ten tribes, serving for one year. The Ecclesia was the sovereign assembly of all citizens, while the Areopagus was an older aristocratic council with judicial functions.

Question 27Ancient Greece

In Greek tragedy, which term refers to the moment of recognition in which a character moves from ignorance to knowledge, often about their own identity or situation?

  1. Catharsis
  2. Hubris
  3. Peripeteia
  4. Anagnorisis Correct answer.

Explanation

Aristotle in the Poetics uses anagnorisis for the change from ignorance to knowledge, as when Oedipus realises who he is. Peripeteia is a reversal of fortune, and the two are most powerful when they coincide, as in Oedipus Rex.

Question 28Ancient Greece

Which god was honoured at the City Dionysia, the Athenian festival at which tragic and comic playwrights competed?

  1. Dionysus Correct answer.
  2. Poseidon
  3. Apollo
  4. Athena

Explanation

The City Dionysia was held in honour of Dionysus, god of wine, ecstasy and theatre, whose cult was central to dramatic performance. Athena was the city's patron goddess but her major festival was the Panathenaia, not the dramatic competition.

Question 29Ancient Greece

Which Greek author wrote the Works and Days, a didactic poem offering moral and practical advice to his brother Perses?

  1. Sappho
  2. Hesiod Correct answer.
  3. Pindar
  4. Homer

Explanation

Hesiod composed the Works and Days, addressed to his brother Perses, combining farming advice with moral exhortation and the myth of the ages of humankind. Homer's epics are heroic narrative, while Sappho and Pindar wrote lyric poetry.

Question 30Ancient Greece

In the Iliad, which Trojan prince abducts Helen, thereby triggering the expedition of the Greek coalition against Troy?

  1. Priam
  2. Hector
  3. Paris Correct answer.
  4. Aeneas

Explanation

Paris, also called Alexander, took Helen from Sparta, breaking the guest-host bond with Menelaus and prompting the oath-bound Greek leaders to sail against Troy. Hector is his brother and Troy's chief defender, not the abductor.

Question 31Ancient Greece

Which Greek term describes the ideal of competitive excellence and public honour pursued by Homeric heroes?

  1. Timē
  2. Xenia
  3. Arete Correct answer.
  4. Kleos

Explanation

Arete denotes excellence or virtue, the quality of fulfilling one's potential and function, especially in Homeric aristocratic competition. Timē is the honour or material prize awarded, and kleos is the imperishable fame that results from great deeds.

Question 32Ancient Greece

Which Persian king led the invasion of Greece in 480 BCE that culminated in the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis?

  1. Cyrus the Great
  2. Darius I
  3. Artaxerxes
  4. Xerxes Correct answer.

Explanation

Xerxes, son of Darius, personally commanded the great expedition of 480 BCE, bridging the Hellespont and marching through northern Greece. Darius had led the earlier campaign of 490 BCE that ended at Marathon.

Question 33Ancient Greece

Which Greek term describes the citizen body of a polis meeting in assembly to vote on decisions?

  1. Genos
  2. Oikos
  3. Demos Correct answer.
  4. Kleros

Explanation

Demos refers to the citizen people or the popular assembly of a city-state, and it underlies terms such as democracy, rule by the people. Oikos is the household, genos a clan or kin group, and kleros an allotted plot of land.

Question 34Ancient Greece

In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, which character first reveals to Oedipus that the man he believes to be his father, Polybus, has died?

  1. Jocasta
  2. The Messenger from Corinth Correct answer.
  3. Teiresias
  4. Creon

Explanation

The Corinthian messenger brings news that Polybus has died, prompting a shift in Oedipus' fear that the oracle about killing his father has been avoided. This messenger later reveals that Oedipus was not Polybus' biological son, setting up the final recognition.

Question 35Ancient Greece

In Euripides' Medea, which city does Medea arrange for the exiled Jason to be offered refuge, a plan that ultimately destroys his new bride?

  1. Argos
  2. Athens Correct answer.
  3. Corinth
  4. Thebes

Explanation

Medea secures safe haven with Aegeus, king of Athens, before sending the poisoned robe and crown to Jason's new wife, the daughter of the Corinthian king. The Corinthian princess dies, and Medea then kills her own children to wound Jason.

Question 36Ancient Greece

In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, which character is Cassandra, brought home from Troy by Agamemnon?

  1. A Spartan queen and sister of Helen
  2. A Trojan princess who becomes Agamemnon's wife
  3. A Trojan prophetess and captive who foresees his murder Correct answer.
  4. An Argive priestess of Hera

Explanation

Cassandra, daughter of Priam, is a prophetess cursed by Apollo so that her true prophecies are never believed. Brought to Argos as Agamemnon's captive, she foretells his death and her own but cannot prevent them.

Question 37Ancient Greece

Which battle of 479 BCE, fought on Boeotian soil, ended the Persian land invasion of Greece under Mardonius?

  1. Mycale
  2. Thermopylae
  3. Plataea Correct answer.
  4. Marathon

Explanation

At Plataea in 479 BCE, the allied Greek army under Pausanias defeated and killed Mardonius, ending the Persian land threat. Mycale, fought on the same day, destroyed the Persian fleet and camp on the Ionian coast.

Question 38Ancient Greece

Which Athenian general and statesman led the Delian League's campaigns in the 470s and 460s BCE, including the conquest of Eion and the siege of Thasos?

  1. Aristides
  2. Pericles
  3. Themistocles
  4. Cimon Correct answer.

Explanation

Cimon, son of Miltiades, directed the League's offensive against Persia and rebellious allies in the 470s and 460s BCE, winning at the Eurymedon and taking Eion. He was later ostracised in the 460s as the democratic faction gained influence.

Question 39Ancient Greece

In Herodotus' Histories, which Egyptian practice does he describe as reversing conventional gender roles, with men weaving at home while women trade in the market?

  1. Persian customs he reports as opposite to Greek norms
  2. Spartan customs he reports as opposite to Greek norms
  3. Scythian customs he reports as opposite to Greek norms
  4. Egyptian customs he reports as opposite to Greek norms Correct answer.

Explanation

Herodotus presents Egypt as a land where customs are inverted relative to Greek practice, including his claim that men stay at home weaving while women trade abroad. This contrast serves his broader inquiry into how different peoples live, often testing Greek assumptions.

Question 40Ancient Greece

Which feature of Spartan society was designed to prevent the concentration of wealth and to foster equality among full citizens?

  1. The council of elders and the ephorate
  2. The perioikoi and the helots
  3. The agoge and the krypteia
  4. The common messes and the iron currency Correct answer.

Explanation

Spartan citizens ate in common messes, contributing produce from their allotments, and used cumbersome iron currency to discourage accumulation. Together these institutions aimed to maintain a body of equal, landholding citizen-soldiers.

Question 41Ancient Greece

In the Iliad, which event leads Patroclus to enter battle wearing Achilles' armour?

  1. The gods intervene to stop the fighting for a day
  2. The Trojans breach the Greek wall and threaten the ships Correct answer.
  3. Hector kills Achilles' horse and charioteer
  4. Agamemnon offers Achilles lavish gifts of reconciliation

Explanation

With the Greeks pushed back to their ships and the wall breached, Patroclus persuades Achilles to let him wear the armour and lead the Myrmidons to save the fleet. He drives the Trojans back but is killed by Hector, which brings Achilles back to the war.

Question 42Ancient Greece

Which Athenian reform of Solon in the early sixth century BCE cancelled debts and ended the practice of enslavement for debt?

  1. The seisachtheia Correct answer.
  2. The graphē paranomōn
  3. The liturgies
  4. The misthophoria

Explanation

Solon's seisachtheia, or 'shaking off of burdens', cancelled debts and abolished debt bondage, freeing Athenians enslaved for non-payment. Misthophoria was later jury pay, the graphē paranomōn a legal procedure against illegal decrees, and liturgies were wealthy citizens' public services.

Question 43Ancient Greece

Which Greek writer is the main source for the Athenian constitution and for the development of Old Comedy's political satire?

  1. Plutarch
  2. Aristophanes Correct answer.
  3. Xenophon
  4. Menander

Explanation

Aristophanes' surviving comedies, such as the Acharnians, Knights and Clouds, satirise Athenian politicians, generals and intellectuals and are a key source for fifth-century political culture. Menander wrote later New Comedy, which avoids direct political attack.

Question 44Ancient Greece

In Sophocles' Antigone, which argument does Creon use to justify punishing Antigone for burying Polyneices?

  1. The burial rites were performed incorrectly and offend ritual purity
  2. The gods demand that traitors be left unburied as a sign of pollution
  3. The city's laws must override family loyalty and the traitor deserves no burial Correct answer.
  4. Antigone's action endangers the marriage alliance with Haemon

Explanation

Creon insists that loyalty to the polis and its laws comes before kinship obligations, and that a traitor who attacked the city forfeits the right to burial. Antigone counters with the unwritten laws of the gods, which she holds superior to any human decree.

Question 45Ancient Greece

Which element of the Odyssey's structure does the term 'in medias res' describe?

  1. The poem interweaves the Trojan War narrative with the return of Agamemnon
  2. The poem begins with the fall of Troy and proceeds in strict chronological order
  3. The poem opens with an invocation and then narrates Odysseus' childhood
  4. The poem begins in the tenth year of Odysseus' wanderings, with earlier events told in flashback Correct answer.

Explanation

The Odyssey opens with Odysseus detained on Calypso's island in his tenth year of wandering; his earlier adventures are then recounted retrospectively in his own narration to the Phaeacians. This in medias res technique allows the poem to compress years of travel into a vivid first-person narrative.

Question 46Ancient Greece

In Thucydides' History, which claim does Pericles make in his Funeral Oration about Athenian openness to foreigners?

  1. Athens admits foreigners freely and does not expel them, trusting in its own courage rather than secrecy Correct answer.
  2. Athens restricts immigration to protect its military secrets from spies
  3. Athens requires all foreigners to serve in the fleet before gaining residence
  4. Athens expels foreigners in wartime to safeguard the city's food supply

Explanation

Pericles contrasts Athenian openness, including the free admission of foreigners and the absence of defensive secrecy, with Sparta's xenophobic expulsions and secretiveness. He argues that courage and institutions, not concealment, make Athens strong.

Question 47Ancient Greece

Which feature of the Athenian democracy most sharply limited the power of the Areopagus after 462/1 BCE?

  1. Cleisthenes' reforms abolished the Areopagus entirely
  2. Ephialtes' reforms transferred its judicial powers to the popular courts and the Boule Correct answer.
  3. Pericles' citizenship law excluded the Areopagus from the Assembly
  4. Solon's reforms made the Areopagus elect its members by lot

Explanation

Ephialtes, with Pericles' support, stripped the Areopagus of its supervisory and judicial functions and distributed them to the Boule, the Assembly and the jury courts. The council retained only jurisdiction over certain homicide and religious cases.

Question 48Ancient Greece

In Aeschylus' Oresteia, how does Athena resolve the trial of Orestes at the end of the Eumenides?

  1. She orders Orestes to be exiled for a year before purification
  2. She hands the decision to the Areopagus without participating in the vote
  3. She casts the deciding vote in favour of acquittal and transforms the Furies into benevolent guardians of Athens Correct answer.
  4. She refers the case back to the Delphic oracle for a final verdict

Explanation

The jury's vote is tied, and Athena casts her ballot for acquittal, declaring that mercy should prevail when votes are equal. She then persuades the Erinyes to accept a new cult role as the Semnai Theai, protectors of Athens, ending the cycle of blood vengeance.

Question 49Ancient Greece

Which interpretation best explains why Herodotus presents the Persian debate on constitutions in Book 3, in which speakers defend democracy, oligarchy and monarchy?

  1. It is a comic interlude intended to mock Persian political ignorance
  2. It is a later Christian interpolation inserted into the text
  3. It reflects Greek political theory projected onto Persians, allowing Herodotus to explore the merits of each regime Correct answer.
  4. It records a genuine Persian constitutional convention that Herodotus researched in Persepolis

Explanation

The debate is widely read as Herodotus' exploration of Greek constitutional theory, using Persian speakers as a vehicle for arguments familiar from fifth-century Greek political thought. It also sets up Darius' rise to monarchy, which the narrative then endorses as the outcome.

Question 50Ancient Greece

Which feature of Aristotle's analysis in the Poetics makes Oedipus Rex his preferred model tragedy?

  1. The presence of a deus ex machina resolving the plot
  2. The simultaneous recognition and reversal, with the hero's downfall arising from an error rather than deliberate vice Correct answer.
  3. The hero's equal balance of virtue and vice producing a wholly deserved punishment
  4. The use of a chorus that comments directly on the action and advises the hero

Explanation

Aristotle praises the coincidence of peripeteia and anagnorisis in Oedipus Rex and the hero's hamartia, an error rather than moral depravity, which makes the fall pitiable and fearful. This structure produces the tragic pleasure proper to the genre.