Lebanese History for Kids Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alphabet

The Phoenician alphabet was written right to left and contained 22 distinct symbols. This great civilization organized itself into city states, similarly to the Greek civilization. Some of these city states, such as Sidon, Byblos, and Tyr, are still cities in Lebanon to this day.

Answer: Persian

Even though Cyrus took over the cities that the Phoenicians had established, the citizens were not completely loyal to him as his empire taxed them heavily. Eventually, he would force many of the Phoenicians to emigrate to friendly city-states in North Africa, such as Carthage.

Answer: Alexander the Great

Alexander was at war with the Persian Empire and after defeating the Persian army in Tyr, he burned the entire city and eventually managed to take over all of modern day Lebanon. However, after his death, his influence waned and the region became part of the Seleucid Empire.

Answer: Roman

Pompey played a great role in transforming the great Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. As a general, he was able to expand the land area of the Empire into the Middle East, where he took over modern-day Lebanon, as well as the land of other modern-day countries, such as Syria and Egypt.

Answer: Christianity

To this day, there are still many Lebanese Christians living in the country. A hermit called Maron, who is now venerated as a Catholic saint, established the Maronite sect of Christianity, a branch that still has followers in Lebanon and Syria to this day.

Answer: Muhammad

Muhammad was born in the Arabian peninsula and established Islam, which was a monotheistic religion (belief in one God). After his death, his followers conquered most of North Africa and the Middle East, as well as certain areas in Europe. Lebanon was one of the countries conquered, and that's the reason there are still many Muslims living there to this day.

Answer: Ottoman

The Ottoman sultan Selim I expanded the empire into Lebanon and Syria among many other modern-day countries, and the regime ruled Lebanon for about 400 years, all the way until they were defeated in the first World War in the early 1900s. At the peak of its power, the Ottoman Empire had territories in the Middle East, Eastern Asia, North Africa, and Europe.

Answer: France

The French were responsible for mandating Syria and Lebanon after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. They would stay in Lebanon until Lebanese independence in 1943. To this day, many Lebanese schools teach major subjects in French because of France's influence in the country.

Answer: Arabic

The influence of the Ottomans helped create many words that are still used to this day in "Lebanese Arabic". The French had a similar influence - for example, in Lebanese Arabic, we often use the French "Merci" for "Thank you", instead of the official Arabic word.

However, the pride that the Lebanese people had in their Arabic language was clear because it was the mother tongue of the majority of the population. Because of this, Lebanon adopted it as its only official language after independence from France in 1943.

Answer: Civil War

The Lebanese Civil War was a result of fighting between Muslim and Christian Lebanese over politics and involved many other countries, such as Syria, Israel, and Palestine. After 15 years of bitter fighting, where over 100,000 people died, the war was declared over and some changes were made to the country's constitution and laws.