Dance on a Volcano Trivia Quiz

Answer: Genesis

Genesis' seventh studio album, "A Trick of the Tail" was also the first album recorded by the band after the departure of original vocalist Peter Gabriel - with drummer Phil Collins (whose voice is remarkably similar to Gabriel's) taking on lead vocal duties. Released on 13 February 1976, the album was a commercial and critical success, and reached number three of the UK Album Chart and number 31 of the US Billboard 200.

"A Trick of the Tail" includes eight songs. "Dance on a Volcano" was written for the album by all four members of the band (Collins, guitarist Steve Hackett, bassist Mike Rutherford, and keyboardist Tony Banks). As the first song written for the album, it is a kind of statement of intent, illustrating how the band was going to move forward after losing Gabriel. Opening with a distinctive, guitar-drum riff, the song (composed in 7/8 time) uses vivid volcano-related imagery to describe a situation of pressure and danger - maybe a metaphor for life itself, though band members have never provided a definitive explanation for the lyrics. The intro and main theme of "Dance on a Volcano" are reprised in the album's closing track, the instrumental "Los Endos".

The painting of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder is a reference to the Book of Genesis, after which the band is named.

Answer: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Since its publication in 1864, Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" ("Voyage au centre de la Terre") has become a classic of early science fiction. A second, revised and expanded edition was published in 1867; the first English edition (with major changes) dates from 1871. Blending scientific and fantastic elements, the novel is regarded as one of the initiators of the "lost world" and "subterranean fiction" subgenres of speculative fiction - the latter based on the Hollow Earth theory.

The novel's protagonist, German geologist Otto Lindenbrock, finds a note written in runic script in an ancient Icelandic manuscript, which instructs the reader to descend into the crater of the volcano Snaefellsjökull (shown in the photo) to reach the centre of the Earth. With his nephew Axel and their guide Hans Bjelke, Professor Lindenbrock sets off on a dangerous journey into the bowels of the Earth, where they find a mysterious underground world on the shores of a vast sea. After many adventures, they eventually return above ground by being ejected from Stromboli, a volcano located on the island of the same name off the coast of Sicily.

"Journey to the Centre of the Earth" has been adapted multiple times in various media - as have the novels by Jules Verne listed as wrong answers.

Answer: Galápagos Islands

The genus Microlophus belongs to the family Tropiduridae of the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes. This genus counts about 20 species, all native to western South America: of these, ten are endemic to the Galápagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that straddles the Equator. The common name "lava lizards" comes from the volcanic nature of their habitat: much of the archipelago is covered in black lava rocks, as volcanic activity is constant, in particular on the youngest islands of the chain.

The lizard in the photo is a specimen of Galápagos lava lizard (Microlophus albemarlensis), the most common of these reptiles, and the one with the widest distribution, while the other species occur on single islands. These lizards are small and slender-bodied, with very long tails that can be shed for protection from predators and subsequently regenerated. Males have yellow and gold stripes and a dark throat patch, while females (like the one in the photo) have red markings on throat and head. Lava lizards thrive in the mostly dry environment of the islands, which also provides plenty of spots to sunbathe, as well as dry leaf litter or loose soil where they can hide at night.

Extensively explored by Charles Darwin in the 1830s, the Galápagos Islands are a province of Ecuador. The Aleutian Islands (in the northern Pacific Ocean) and the Canary Islands (in the northern Atlantic Ocean) are also volcanic, while the Falkland Islands (in the southern Atlantic Ocean) are not.

Answer: lava cake

Also known as molten chocolate cake, lava cake is a popular dessert often found on restaurant menus; cake mixes are also marketed by various companies. The cake was invented in the 1980s, with two renowned French chefs (Michel Bras and Jean-Georges Vongerichten) laying claim to the invention. Vongerichten's creation involved taking a chocolate cake out of the oven before it was completely baked, finding out that the runny centre had a good taste and texture. The flowing "lava" effect when the cake is cut is obtained by baking the batter in a very hot oven for a short time - explaining the French name that means "chocolate half-baked". Bras's recipe, inspired by hot chocolate, is more complicated and harder to reproduce.

Lava cakes usually contain just five ingredients (chocolate, flour, sugar, butter and eggs), with the frequent addition of flavourings such as vanilla or coffee. They are often baked in individual moulds, or even in tea or coffee mugs, and accompanied by a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream, or a drizzle of chocolate sauce. The cake in the photo is simply garnished by sliced strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Answer: Pinocchio

In Carlo Collodi's fantasy novel "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (1883), Mangiafuoco ("fire-eater") is the director and puppet-master of the Great Marionette Theatre. He is described as a man of imposing size, with a long, black beard, red-tinged eyes and a mouth as wide as an oven, holding a whip made of snakes and fox tails in one hand (as shown in the illustration). In spite of his fearsome appearance, he is easily moved to compassion (which he expresses by sneezing). When Pinocchio ruins one of his puppet shows, he initially means to burn him as firewood, but then spares him and sets him free, giving him five gold coins.

In Walt Disney's adaptation of Collodi's novel, Mangiafuoco is renamed Stromboli, after the active volcano located on the island of the same name, off the coast of Sicily. The character (whose beard is shorter than described in the book) is portrayed as a reversal of his written counterpart, coming across as kind and helpful at first, and then revealing his full-blown villainous nature when he swindles Pinocchio by giving him a metal washer instead of a coin, and then locks him into a cage. Stromboli is often cited as one of Disney's most memorable villains - even more remarkable for the fact that he does not immediately reveal his true nature.

In the Italian version of the Disney movie, both names are used: Stromboli is presented as the puppet-master's true name (which appears on a poster), and Mangiafuoco as his stage name.

Answer: Mount Etna

Mount Etna (whose name has been interpreted as "burning" or "furnace", according to various etymologies), the imposing active volcano located on the east coast of Sicily, has been associated with many myths and legends since antiquity. The Ancient Greeks, who colonized Sicily and Southern Italy in the 8th century BC, believed that Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, had his forge under the mountain, where he was assisted in his work by the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants born of Uranus and Gaea. In some sources, Hephaestus' forge was located on one of the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily: in particular, Virgil's "Aeneid" calls the island Vulcania (now Vulcano), from the name of Vulcan, the Roman version of Hephaestus. The god was also believed to have fathered the twin gods known as the Palikoi (Palici in Latin), associated with geysers and volcanic springs, on the nymph Aetna, after whom the volcano was named.

In earlier myths (as detailed in Hesiod's "Theogony"), Mount Aetna was the prison of the monstrous giants Typhon and Enceladus, whose cries and sighs were believed to be the cause of eruptions and earthquakes.

The three wrong choices are all active or dormant volcanoes located in Europe: Mount Teide on the island of Tenerife, which is part of the Canary Islands (Spain); Mount Pico on the island of the same name in the Azores (Portugal); Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus range (Russia). Elbrus is also Europe's highest mountain.

Answer: J.M.W. Turner

In early April 1815, the volcano Mount Tambora (located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa) erupted violently, spewing ash and gases and causing the death of over 70,000 people. The amount of sulphur gases released by the volcano was such as to impact the global climate, bringing about extreme weather conditions for much of 1815 and 1816. In particular, 1816 came to be known as "year without a summer" in the Northern Hemisphere, as the sunlight was dimmed by the sulphur aerosol in the atmosphere. Because of that average temperatures decreased with devastating effects on people's health and livelihood.

In western Europe, the climatic changes caused by the eruption also had a less negative side: the huge amount of gases in the atmosphere intensified the red and golden hues of the sky at sunsets, creating visually unique effects. A keen observer of natural phenomena, J.M.W. Turner could not fail to be inspired by the unusual colours caused by the aerosols shot into the air by Mount Tambora. Painted in 1817, "The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire" (in the photo) features a striking sunset permeated by reddish-yellow volcanic haze. Turner's "Skies" sketchbook contains 65 paintings of the sky executed between 1816 and 1818, most of which show the same hazy effects. German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, a contemporary of Turner's, also depicted some stunning "volcanic" sunsets in his work.

Nearly seventy years later, in 1883, the eruption of Krakatoa (also in Indonesia) dispersed huge amounts of gases and ash into the atmosphere, with similar effects to those seen in the years following the Tambora eruption. The red sky in Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream" (1893) is believed to have been inspired by those effects.

Answer: Pliny the Elder

Probably born in Como in 23 or 24 AD, Gaius Plinius Secundus (known in English as Pliny the Elder) was a military officer as well as a renowned author, and a good friend of Emperor Vespasian - who, like Pliny, came from an equestrian family. Pliny wrote extensively about subjects such as history, grammar and rhetoric. However, he is best known for his encyclopedic "Naturalis Historia" (Natural History), a work in 37 books covering a wide range of topics mainly (but not exclusively) related to the natural world, which is the only one his works that has survived. The first ten books of this monumental work - regarded as the model for modern encyclopedias - were published in 77 AD; the rest were published posthumously in 79 AD by Pliny the Younger, the author's nephew.

It is to Pliny the Younger that we owe the account of his uncle's death in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that, in the late summer or autumn of 79 AD, destroyed the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, as well as other smaller settlements in the area. The detailed account of the disaster is contained in two letters written by the younger Pliny to historian Tacitus about 25 years after the event. When the eruption happened, Pliny the Elder was sailing towards Stabiae to rescue a friend and her family who were stranded in the town - and possibly also to observe the eruption, in spite of the obvious dangers. While the group was fleeing, Pliny died from inhaling toxic gases (and not from walking too close to the lava flow, as the image in the photo suggests). His body was found three days later without any external injuries.

To honour what has been regarded by many as a sacrifice for the sake of scientific knowledge, volcanic eruptions similar to the one who claimed Pliny the Elder's life have been named Plinian eruptions.

Answer: Mesoamerica

Obsidian is an igneous rock formed by the quick cooling of lava rich in feldspar and silicon (felsic). As it has no crystalline structure, it is considered a mineraloid rather than a true mineral. Hard, brittle and nearly black in colour, it was used by many civilizations for a variety of purposes - in particular for manufacturing blades or arrowheads, which exploited the extreme sharpness of the material when broken into shards. Obsidian artifacts have been found in those parts of the world where volcanoes are present - most remarkably in Mesoamerica, the historical region that comprises Mexico and Central America.

The Aztecs, who ruled large parts of Mexico from the 14th to the 16th century, made extensive use of obsidian, as they did not possess the technology to smelt iron. Common household items, agricultural tools and hunting weapons were manufactured from obsidian, as well as objects used in warfare (like the fearsome weapon known as "macuahuitl") and religious rituals (like the knives used in human sacrifices). Such was the importance of obsidian in Aztec society that one of the major Aztec gods, Tezcatlipoca (depicted in the page of the 16th-century Codex Borgia in the photo) was associated with it. The god's name, meaning "Smoking Mirror", refers to the obsidian mirrors used for divination and shamanic rituals.

Answer: Naples

According to Catholic tradition, Saint Januarius (Gennaro in Italian) was born around 272 AD in the town of Benevento, located northeast of Naples, in the region of Campania. He became bishop of Benevento at a young age, but in 305, during the fierce persecution of Diocletian, he was arrested and executed by beheading. His feast day is celebrated on the traditionally accepted date of his death, 19 September. A number of legends are attached to the saint's arrest and martyrdom: one of them narrates how a pious woman saved some of Januarius' blood after his death, preserving it in two glass ampoules. These vessels, held in Naples Cathedral (where the saint's body is also housed), are brought out three times a year, and thousands of faithful gather in the cathedral in the hope of witnessing the miracle of the liquefaction of the saint's blood.

Saint Januarius' association with volcanic eruptions comes from a historically-documented event - the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius that took place between 16 December 1631 and 3 January, causing widespread destruction and loss of life. It is said that the intensity of the eruption decreased when, during a procession organized by the Archbishop of Naples, a statue of the saint (as depicted in the painting in the photo) was turned towards the volcano.

Saint Agatha, the patron saint of the Sicilian city of Catania, is also invoked against fires, earthquakes and eruptions of Mount Etna.