Every Purpose Under Heaven Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dionysius Exiguus

Dionysius Exiguus (470-544) was a member of the monastic community of the "Scythian Monks", so-called because of their residence in Scythia Minor (modern-day Dobrudja). Not only did he develop the Anno Domini dating system, which eclipsed the previous Ab Urbe Condita (counting from the year of Rome's foundation), he was also an accomplished mathematician, as well as a Bible scholar.

Answer: Isidore of Miletus

Isidore of Miletus, alongside Anthemius of Tralleis, were given the task of designing the church of Hagia Sophia ("Divine Wisdom" in Greek) by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Construction began in 346 AD and concluded in 360 AD. Both men were accomplished scientists and were connected with the Neoplatonic philosophical school and it is quite possible that they conceived their work as a bridge between the classical and the Christian, combining the two vectors of Hellenism in a single opus.

Answer: Callinicus of Heliopolis

Callinicus was a Byzantine (Medieval Greek) inventor, born in the city of Heliopolis (modern-day Baalbek in Lebanon). When the Arabs overran the province of Syria where his hometown belonged, he fled to Egypt and acquired education in Alexandria. His invention in c. 672 AD attracted attention in the imperial capital, Constantinople, and helped save the city when the Arabs besieged it in the late seventh century.

The precise chemical composition of the Greek Fire remains unknown, although many attempts have been made to replicate it, including one in 1864 by Confederate conspirators during the American Civil War.

Answer: Leo III

Although Leo III was a Roman pontiff, it is quite possible that he had Greek descent. His election to Papal office was largely due to Frankish support, however. Three years after his election, in 799, relatives of his predecessor attacked him, attempting to mutilate him and temporarily driving him out of Rome. Leo, however, fled to the Franks, being received by Charlemagne and being restored to his seat.

As a token of gratitude, the Pope crowned the Frankish king Roman Emperor, inaugurating the claim of Frankish succession to the long-fallen Western Roman Empire.

Answer: Rollo

Rollo was a Viking leader of the early tenth century. Initially the chief of a raiding band that attacked Northern France, Rollo opted to join the system of the French nobility, being rewarded by King Charles III "the Simple" with lands in Rouen. Rollo's fief holdings became the Duchy of Normandy, which produced pivotal figures in European history, like William the Conqueror and Robert Guiscard.

Answer: Svyatoslav I

Svyatoslav I was a tenth-century ruler of Kyiv, hailing from the House of the (semi-mythical) Rurik the Varangian. His mother, Helga (Olha in the medieval chronciles and in modern Ukrainian) had converted to Christianity, something her son is said to have refused to do, out of the concern that his retinue would scoff at him. Svyatoslav's campaigns against the Khazars were undertaken with the consent and approval of Byzantium, whose relations with the Khazars had turned sour beause of Khazar trade and friendship with Constantinople's Islamic foes.

Answer: Peter Abelard

Peter Abelard (1079-1142) was of French origin. He has variously been described as the Descartes of his age, the forerunner of philosophical empiricism and the most prominent of scholastic philosophers. Medievalist Donald Ostrowski had argued that, because of Abelard's approach to philosophy, it was the Catholic West that eventually advanced to the Renaissance.

However, Abelard is more known to the wider audience because of his relationship with Heloise.

Answer: Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was of French origin and the intellectual counterweight to Peter Abelard. Apart from his sermons, which led to some Catholice viewing him as the latest of the Church Fathers, he was also the main ideological supporter of the Second Crusade and the one who insisted that the crusading ideal must be applied not only to the Islamic conquerors of the Holy Land, but also to the non-Christian peoples of the Baltic Sea and its hinterland.

Answer: Hermann von Salza

Hermann von Salza (1165-1239) was from Thuringia, a region of Germany. Being a lesser noble (ministerialis) with little hope of either enrichment or political prominence in the secular court, he became a Crusader and perhaps was among the founding members of the Teutonic Knights.

He became High Master of his Order 1210. It was his choice to accept the pleas of the Polish duke Conrad of Masovia that led the Teutonic Knights into the hitherto little-known land of Old Prussia.

Answer: Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg (c.1393-1468) was born and spent most of his life in the German city of Mainz. Believing that every Christian should be able to personally read Scripture, Gutenberg strove to make production of more copies an easier process that manual scribal work, inventing movable-type printing.

His invention meant that information of any kind could reach people much easier, thus helping tremendously to inaugurate the Renaissance and spread Humanist teachings.