Ancient Mythology Trivia Quiz

Answer: Atlas

When Atlas refused hospitality to Perseus, he turned him to stone and his body became the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa. Bound collections of medieval maps often featured the image of Atlas, which gave rise to the modern use of his name.

Answer: Apollo

Cassandra, the daughter of Priam (King of Troy) was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, on the condition that she would accept him as her lover. She refused after being given the gift, but he was unable to retract it; he then got even with her by ordaining that her predictions would always be ignored, no matter how accurate they were.

Answer: Medusa's blood

Medusa was killed and beheaded by Perseus, who avoided looking at her directly in battle by using his polished shield as a mirror. Her blood gave birth to Pegasus, her son by the Greek sea god Poseidon.

Answer: Hermes

The serpent-entwined staff of Hermes, known as a caduceus, is the emblem of the medical profession.

Answer: Search for the Golden Fleece

As penance after Hercules killed his wife and children, his rival (Eurystheus) gave him 12 impossible tasks to complete, hoping that the tasks would destroy Hercules. AFTER he completed all the tasks and was released from Eurystheus' servitude, Hercules took part in the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to find the Golden Fleece; it was not one of the 12 original tasks.

Answer: Tantalus

Tantalus, the mythical Greek king of Phrygia, prepared the horrific meal of his son, Pelops, to the gods and was condemned to an eternity of suffering in the lower depths of the underworld reserved for those who defied the gods. Racked by endless hunger and thirst, Tantalus was forced to stand up to his neck in water surrounded by luscious fruit trees. Every time he stooped to drink, the water level dropped, and every time he reached for fruit, the trees drew away, keeping both water and fruit perpetually out of his reach.

Answer: Pandora

Zeus created Pandora and sent her on a mission of vengeance against the rebellious Titans and their allies, men. She was given a box to take with her, with orders not to open it. Because she was curious, Pandora disobeyed and opened the box and released all the evils of the world; only Hope was left.

Answer: Uranus and Gaea

Before Mt. Olympus became the home of the gods, the ancient Greeks believed the Titans ruled over a golden age on earth. The 12 Titans were offspring to Uranus (god of the heavens) and Gaea (goddess of earth). Cronus, the youngest of the 12, became their leader when he overthrew his father. Cronus, in turn, was later overthrown by his own son, Zeus.

Answer: Anubis

Anubis was the jackal-headed god of embalming, son of Nephthys and Osiris. He would weigh the heart--symbolizing the conscience of a dead person--against a feather, the symbol of truth.

Answer: Crocodiles

The Nile crocodile god, Sebek, was worshiped in his own city, appropriately named Crocodilopolis.

Answer: She got drunk drinking red beer

Hathor-Sekhmet was Egypt's goddess of beauty, fertility, love and marriage. In one tale about her from early mythology, she was ordered by her father, Ra, to destroy the human race and was depicted wading in blood. However, she was tricked into drinking a mixture of beer and red ochre resembling blood, became drunk, and failed to complete the slaughter.

Answer: Two medieval books called 'Edda'

Two medieval books, both called 'Edda' (the Poetic 'Edda' and the Prose 'Edda') were written in the 13th century. The Poetic 'Edda', written in Iceland in the 1270s, was a collection of mythological and heroic poems written by anonymous poets. The collector is also anonymous.

The Prose 'Edda' was written around 1220 by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson as a handbook for aspiring poets.

Answer: Kvasir

According to Norse myth, Odin (the Vikings' supreme god) tells how he brought poetic inspiration to mortals by stealing a magic potion of mead from the blood of the wisest of all creatures, the giant Kvasir.

Answer: A mistletoe javelin through the heart

Odin, Baldur's father, knew his son would die. He sought to prevent Baldur's fate by making almost every conceivable object promise not to harm Baldur; he ignored mistletoe thinking it was too feeble a plant to do harm. Since Baldur then thought he was impervious to injury, he entertained the other gods by letting them try to hurt him. Loki, the god of mischief, noticed that Baldur's blind brother, Hodur, wasn't playing the game, so he fashioned a javelin out of mistletoe and made the blind brother throw it towards Baldur.

The mistletoe pierced Baldur to the heart, killing him.

Answer: They were whittled out of two pieces of driftwood

Odin and his two brothers set out to slay Ymir and created the world out of his carcass. The first men and women were whittled out of two pieces of driftwood by Odin and were given a home in the Middle Enclave, called Midgarth.