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My Fourth Falco Quiz

This quiz covers the three Falco novels with a countdown in their titles: "Three Hands In the Fountain", "Two For the Lions", and "One Virgin Too Many".

A multiple-choice quiz by bingleyausten. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
bingleyausten

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
288,489

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
9 / 15

Plays
211

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. At the end of "A Dying Light in Corduba", Helena Justina gave birth to a baby girl. We don't find out her name till the beginning of "Three Hands in the Fountain". What was the baby called? Hint

Junilla Tacita

Helena Didia Falco

Julia Junilla Laeitana

Julia Justa

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. Why had Petronius been suspended from the vigiles before the beginning of "Three Hands in the Fountain"? Hint

He had been caught embezzling firefighting funds.

He had insulted the emperor.

He had seriously injured some suspects, beating them up.

He was sleeping with a gangster's daughter.

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. Which Roman writer, some of whose works still survive, does Falco work with in "Three Hands in the Fountain"? Hint

Vitruvius

Frontinus

Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Younger

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Question 4 of 15

4. Bolanus, the engineer's assistant who acts as Falco's technical adviser on the water system in "Three Hands in the Fountain", estimated the output of one of the aqueducts in Rome at how many cubic feet per day? Hint

700,000

7,000,000

4,900,000

49,000,000

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Question 5 of 15

5. The serial killer in "Three Hands in the Fountain" abducted a woman near the end of the book and would have killed her if he hadn't been caught. Who? Hint

Helena Justina

Claudia Rufina

Cornella Flacida

Marina

NEXT>

Question 6 of 15

6. How was Leonidas killed in "Two For the Lions"? Hint

He was poisoned.

He was caught in a fire.

He was eaten by a lion.

He was speared.

NEXT>

Question 7 of 15

7. Who saved Falco from the leopardess in "Two For the Lions"? Hint

Geminus

Saturninus

Famia

Thalia

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Question 8 of 15

8. Justinus, Helena Justina's brother, eloped with Claudia Rufina at the end of "Three Hands in the Fountain". In "Two For the Lions" we find out that they went to North Africa. What was Justinus hoping to find there? Hint

A lost city

Souvenirs of Hannibal

Buried treasure

A plant

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. The jebel is often mentioned as a feature of the landscape in "Two For the Lions", but what is it? Hint

Sand dunes

An oasis

Hilly or mountainous land

A river channel

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Question 10 of 15

10. In "Two For the Lions", how did Falco's brother-in-law die ? Hint

He got lost in the desert.

He drank himself to death.

He was killed in the arena.

He fell overboard from a ship.

NEXT>

Question 11 of 15

11. The Flamen Pomonalis was uncle to Gaia Laelia, the little girl who tried to hire Falco at the beginning of "One Virgin Too Many". What relationship was he to her more precisely? Hint

Father's sister's husband

Father's brother

Mother's sister's husband

Mother's brother

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. In "One Virgin Too Many", Helena Justina's brother Aulus Camillus Aelianus wants to join the Arval Brethren. The Arval Brethren wear special wreaths made of what? Hint

Laurel leaves

Cherry blossom

Olive leaves

Ears of corn

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. Although Falco's niece Cloelia's name had been put forward to become a Vestal Virgin in "One Virgin Too Many", she was ineligible. Why? Hint

She wasn't a virgin.

She had a club foot.

Her father was dead.

She was too old.

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. In "One Virgin Too Many" Falco breaks into the house of the Vestal Virgins by night to question one of them. Highly illegal, of course. What is the penalty if he gets caught? Hint

Being sewn into a sack with a dog, a cock, a monkey, and a snake and thrown into the Tiber.

Castration

Death by stoning

Being sold into slavery

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. At the end of "One Virgin Too Many", Falco was suspended upside down on ropes and lowered down into a disused well in a rescue attempt. Who were the three people holding on to the ropes? Hint

Aelianus, Petronius, an unnamed member of the vigiles

Camillus Verus, Petronius, Anacrites

Helena Justina, Aelianus, Anacrites

Anacrites, Petronius, Aelianus

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. At the end of "A Dying Light in Corduba", Helena Justina gave birth to a baby girl. We don't find out her name till the beginning of "Three Hands in the Fountain". What was the baby called?

Answer: Julia Junilla Laeitana

She was called Julia Junilla Laeitana after her maternal grandmother (Julia Justa), her paternal grandmother (Junilla Tacita), and the wine produced around Barcino (Laeitana), where she was born.

2. Why had Petronius been suspended from the vigiles before the beginning of "Three Hands in the Fountain"?

Answer: He was sleeping with a gangster's daughter.

He was sleeping with Balbina Milvia, the daughter of the gangster featured in "Time to Depart". When Petronius's wife found out she reported him to his superiors.

3. Which Roman writer, some of whose works still survive, does Falco work with in "Three Hands in the Fountain"?

Answer: Frontinus

Two of Sextus Julius Frontinus's works, one on military strategy and one on aqueducts, survive, as do fragments of a work on surveying. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio wrote a work on architecture which still survives. Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder) wrote a book on natural history which still survives, as does a collection of letters to and from his nephew Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Pliny the Younger).

Answer: 7,000,000

This was from the Aqua Claudia, one of the big four aqueducts in Rome. There were another five smaller aqueducts as well.

5. The serial killer in "Three Hands in the Fountain" abducted a woman near the end of the book and would have killed her if he hadn't been caught. Who?

Answer: Cornella Flacida

Falco thought Claudia Rufina had been kidnapped but in fact she had eloped with Helena Justina's brother Justinus. Marina, Falco's late brother's girlfriend, lived in the area where the killer's victims were abducted. Helena Justina and Falco's sister Maia had toyed with the idea of acting as decoys at one point.

6. How was Leonidas killed in "Two For the Lions"?

Answer: He was speared.

Leonidas was Calliopus's lion used for the execution of criminals in the arena. He was speared after being taken to a private show in mistake for Draco, a lion that was going to be used for beast fights. Falco assumes that Leonidas will be recycled by being fed to Draco. One of Calliopus's ostriches was poisoned.

7. Who saved Falco from the leopardess in "Two For the Lions"?

Answer: Thalia

The leopardess belonged to Saturninus, and had been let out by the henchmen of Calliopus, a rival of Saturninus's in the wild animal importing and training business.

Falco was getting information from Famia, his brother-in-law, when they were told that the leopardess was loose.

Geminus, Falco's father, got in the way and spoiled the attempt to herd the leopardess into the Saepta Julia where it would be easier to trap her.

Thalia saved Falco after the leopardess swiped him in the Augustan baths, knocking him against a hot water pipe and burning his arm. Thalia is one of my favourite characters. It's always good to see her again.

Answer: A plant

He was looking for silphium, a plant used as a flavouring which the wealthy would pay huge sums for, but which was believed by most people to be now extinct.

9. The jebel is often mentioned as a feature of the landscape in "Two For the Lions", but what is it?

Answer: Hilly or mountainous land

Jebel (also transliterated as gebel or jabal) is part of the etymon of Gibraltar -- Jebel el-Tariq, the mountain of Tariq.

10. In "Two For the Lions", how did Falco's brother-in-law die ?

Answer: He was killed in the arena.

He drank himself into a stupor in the forum in Lepcis Magna and when he woke up started ranting and raving, insulting the local gods and Hannibal. To save local sensibilities, he was condemned to die in the arena, and was fed to a lion.

11. The Flamen Pomonalis was uncle to Gaia Laelia, the little girl who tried to hire Falco at the beginning of "One Virgin Too Many". What relationship was he to her more precisely?

Answer: Father's sister's husband

His name was Ariminius Modullus and he was the husband of her father's sister, Statilia Laelia. Until Gaia's paternal grandmother, Statilia Paulla, died, her paternal grandfather was the Flamen Dialis.

12. In "One Virgin Too Many", Helena Justina's brother Aulus Camillus Aelianus wants to join the Arval Brethren. The Arval Brethren wear special wreaths made of what?

Answer: Ears of corn

Note for N. American readers: corn here does not mean maize, it means wheat. Our author has a rant on this subject at http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/rants.htm#corn and I would not dare change it.

13. Although Falco's niece Cloelia's name had been put forward to become a Vestal Virgin in "One Virgin Too Many", she was ineligible. Why?

Answer: Her father was dead.

Although at eight years old, she was the right age and was physically healthy she was ineligible because her father had been killed in the previous book, "Two For the Lions". Both of a girl's parents had to be alive when she became a Vestal Virgin.

14. In "One Virgin Too Many" Falco breaks into the house of the Vestal Virgins by night to question one of them. Highly illegal, of course. What is the penalty if he gets caught?

Answer: Death by stoning

Being sewn into a sack with a dog, a cock, a monkey, and a snake and thrown into the Tiber was the penalty for parricide.

15. At the end of "One Virgin Too Many", Falco was suspended upside down on ropes and lowered down into a disused well in a rescue attempt. Who were the three people holding on to the ropes?

Answer: Anacrites, Petronius, Aelianus

The rescue was successful and little Gaia was restored to the care of the saner members of her family.

Source: Author bingleyausten

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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