Modern Archaeological Finds can Still Contribute Much to the Study of Ancient Literature GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading passage question

Modern archaeological finds can still contribute much to the study of ancient literature. For example, forty years ago a survey of the early Greek dramatist Line Aeschylus' plays would have started with The Suppliant Women. Many factors internal to the play, but perhaps most especially the prominence of the chorus (which in this play has the main role), led scholars to consider it one of Aeschylus' earlier works. The consensus was that here was a drama truly reflecting an early stage in the evolution of tragedy out of the choral lyric. The play was dated as early as the 490's B.C., in any event, well before Aeschylus' play The Persians of 472 B.C. Then, in 1952, a fragment of papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus was published stating the official circumstances and results of a dramatic contest. The fragment announced that Aeschylus won first prize with his Danaid tetralogy, of which The Suppliant Women is the opening play, and defeated Sophocles in the process. Sophocles did not compete in any dramatic contest before 468 B.C., when he won his first victory. Hence, except by special pleading (e.g., that the tetralogy was composed early in Aeschylus' career but not produced until the 460's B.C.), the Danaid tetralogy must be put after 468 B.C. In addition, a few letters in the fragment suggest the name Archedemides, archon in 463 B.C., thus perhaps tying the plays to that precise date, almost exactly halfway between Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes of 467 B.C. and his Oresteia.

The implication of the papyrus administered 'a severe shock to the vast majority of classical scholars, who had confidently asserted that not only the role of the chorus but also language, metrics, and characterization all pointed to an early date. The discovery has resulted in no less than a total reevaluation of every-chronological criterion that has been applied to or derived from Aeschylus' plays. The activity has been brisk, and a new creed has now spread. The prominence of the chorus in the Suppliant Women now is seen not as a sign of primitivism but as analogous to the massive choral songs of the Oresteia. Statistics have been formulated or reformulated, to show that stylistically The Suppliant Women does actually occupy a position after The Persians and Seven Against Thebes, which now become the "primitive plays, and before the Oresteia. While the new doctrine seems almost certainly correct, the one papyrus fragment raises the specter that another may be unearthed, showing, for instance, that it was a posthumous production of the Danaid tetralogy which bested Sophocles and throwing the date once more into utter confusion. This is unlikely to happen, but it warns us that perhaps the most salutary feature of the papyrus scrap is its message of the extreme difficulty of classifying and categorizing rigidly the development of a creative artist.

“Modern Archaeological Finds can Still Contribute Much to the Study of Ancient Literature”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates must have a solid grip in English GMAT reading comprehension.

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Solution and Explanation

1. The author of the passage focuses primarily on

(A) discussing a series of modern archaeological finds and their impact on the study of Greek literature
(B) recounting the effect of one archaeological find on modern ideas concerning a particular author's work
(C) giving a definitive and coherent account of the chronology of a particular author's work
(D) illustrating the many varieties of difficulties involved in establishing facts concerning ancient literature
(E) determining the exact value of archaeological finds in relation to the history of ancient literature

2. With respect to the study of ancient literature, which of the following statements best expresses the' author's main point concerning modern archaeological finds?

(A) They can profoundly alter accepted views of ancient literary works, and can encourage flexibility in the way scholars look at the creative development of any artist.
(B) They can be severely shocking and can have a revivifying effect on the study of ancient literature, which has recently suffered from a lack of interest on the part of scholars.
(C) They can raise more questions than they answer and can be unreliable sources of information.
(D) They generally confirm scholars' ideas about ancient literary works and allow them to dispense with inferences drawn from the works' internal structure.
(E) They often undermine scholarly consensus in certain areas and create utter confusion concerning an author's work.

3. According to the passage, in the absence of definite knowledge concerning the dates of composition of ancient literary works, literary historians do which of the following when trying to establish the chronology of an author's work?

(A) Make assumptions about a single work's date of composition if such assumptions would, not seriously affect interpretations of other works by the same author.
(B) Draw inferences concerning the date of a work's composition based on evidence internal to that work and on the author's other works.
(C) Ignore the date of a work's composition which is supplied by archaeological research when literary factors internal to the work contradict that date.
(D) Refrain from speculation concerning a work's date of composition unless archaeological finds produce information concerning it.
(E) Estimate the date of a work's composition without attempting to relate it to the author's development as an artist.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following plays or groups of plays is considered the latest in the date of its composition?

(A) The Persians
(B) The Danaid tetralogy
(C) The Oresteia
(D) Seven Against Thebes
(E) The Suppliant Women

5. With which of the following statements regarding the chronological criteria mentioned in lines 29-30 would the author be most likely to agree?

(A) Such criteria, whether applied to or derived from the plays, should only be used to confirm already existing knowledge.
(B) Such criteria, although derived from reliable external and internal evidence, should be changed continually to avoid rigidity in. thinking.
(C) Such criteria, based on statistical analysis, are inherently more reliable than those of forty years ago .
(D) Such criteria, even when unsupported by external evidence, can resolve most questions.
(E) Such criteria, based on often ambiguous internal evidence, can lead to erroneous reconstructions of the chronology of an author's work.

6. The author's attitude toward the "activity" mentioned and its consequences can best be described as one of

(A) amused tolerance
(B) mocking envy
(C) grave doubt
(D) angry disapproval
(E) unrestrained enthusiasm

7. The allusion to the hypothetical papyrus fragment in lines 39-43 does which of the following?

(A) Supports an argument concerning the date of The Suppliant Women.
(B) Refutes the views of the majority of scholars concerning the Oxyrhynchus papyrus finds.
(C) Predicts the future results of archaeological research proposed in the passage.
(D) Undermines the validity of the currently accepted chronology of Aeschylus' works.
(E) Qualifies the author's agreement with the "new creed" developed since the Oxyrhynchus papyrus find.

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