It's as Easy as Alpha, Beta, Gamma Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The following scenarios are probably not what you've come to know about ancient Greece, but they do go a long way to explaining why the Greeks were so passionate about word games. Three questions follow each scenario, (let's call them Alpha, Beta and Gamma), in the form of the word puzzle type mentioned in the scenario. The three answers to these questions are what you must enter in the answer box. Please be sure to do so in the same order as they appear, that is Alpha, Beta, Gamma and do not use any punctuation. Presentations of gold, silver and bronze medals were not possible at the Olympics in the year 256 B.C. Striking miners refused any materials to be taken past picket lines so alternative arrangements had to be made. Christos Elementopolous was commissioned to create awards for the athletes with whatever materials he could find. Organisers never knew what Christos made however as his love of missing letters games interfered with his workmanship. Can you identify the elements by returning their vowels? Alpha) mngns Beta) hlm Gamma) rsnc

Answer: Manganese helium arsenic

The origins of the Ancient Olympics of Greece have been traced back to the eighth century B.C. The dress code for athletes competing in these games was a liberal coating of olive oil. Those who soared to the heights of victory were rewarded with an olive wreath and the adoration of the spectators.

Unverified information: Successful athletes in the Modern Olympics are rewarded with multi-million dollar contracts from Nike, the Greek goddess of clothing manufacturers.

2. Pythagoras was famous for his theorem of Alpha squared plus Beta squared equals Gamma squared which determined the length of the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle. But Pythagoras was actually bored by this and much preferred turning triangles into other shapes via the chain words method. Can you repeat the same process that he used for one of his triangular transformations? Alpha) Beginning with the last two letters of triangle, what word means to rise or float in mid-air? Beta) Beginning with the last two letters of the previous answer, what word is used to describe the hotness or coldness of something? Gamma) Beginning with the last two letters of the previous answer, what four sided parallelogram has all of its angles at 90 degrees?

Answer: Levitate temperature rectangle

Pythagoras was a mathematician and philosopher who lived in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. He founded the religious movement which he named after himself, Pythagoreanism. Whether or not Pythagoras proved the theorem named in his honour is not known for sure. Evidence has been found of the theorem being used by other civilisations such as the Sumerians, Babylonians and Indians.

Unverified information: Pythagoras was eventually dismissed from the movement he founded. His followers became fed up with triangles and thought he was too square to be a part of their circle.

3. Medusa was so amused to learn that her name was an anagram of amused that she decided to stop turning people to stone and devoted her life to anagrams. From that time on, any person who did happen to look Medusa in the eyes was rewarded with a gemstone that she created herself by anagramming another word. What gems did Medusa create from the following words? Alpha) Bury Beta) Bream Gamma) Argent

Answer: Ruby amber garnet

Medusa was one of three sisters known as the Gorgons, her siblings being Stheno and Euryale. While some versions of the Greek myths paint the Gorgons as all being of outstanding beauty, it is the image of a grotesque serpent headed woman that has become synonomous with Medusa. Medusa was beheaded by Perseus who avoided her gaze, which would turn a person to stone, by looking at her in his mirrored shield.

Unverified information: Medusa's decapitated body was banished to the underground where she anagrammed HADES into HEADS, now she has a different one for each day of the week.

4. Eureka! cried Archimedes when he was taking a bath. He had written his name on a fogged up piece of mirror and discovered that there were many hidden words contained within his name. Can you find the same words that Archimedes found? Alpha) Using the letters in Archimedes, spell a month of the year. Beta) Using the letters in Archimedes, spell a synonym for a yearning or wish. Gamma) Using the letters in Archimedes, spell another word for wept.

Answer: march desire cried

Archimedes was a veritable Jack-of-all-trades who lived in third century B.C. Syracuse. Well versed in mathematics, science, astronomy and invention, it was his principal of buoyancy that inspired him to leap out of his bath and run through the streets shouting "Eureka". He believed he had discovered a method for determining the volume of an object by submerging it in water. The water that was displaced by the object should be equal in volume to the object itself.

Unverified information: When not using his mirror for the purpose of hidden word games, Archimedes would take it to the coastline of Syracuse and use it to reflect the rays of the sun onto enemy ships in order to set them on fire.

5. For many centuries the island of Crete was home to the annual Hellenic Rhyming Championship. The three sisters known as Toula, Voula and Zoula had an unbroken streak of thirty-five wins in this tournament in the third century A.D. Can you repeat the performance which gave them their final victory before retirement? Alpha) Rhyming with Crete, what name is given to a post on Twitter? Beta) Rhyming with Crete, what is a remarkable act of strength or courage? Gamma) Rhyming with Crete, what word means to distribute or apportion by measure?

Answer: Tweet feat mete

With an area of just over 8,300 square kilometres, Crete is the largest of all the Greek islands. Its history dates back at least 130,000 years and it is believed to be the home of the first European civilisation, namely the Minoans.

Throughout history Crete has been ruled by many different empires, most notably the Roman, the Byzantine and the Ottoman empires. During World War II it was occupied by German forces following the Battle of Crete in 1941.

Unverified information: The Greek island of Mykonos tried its own version of Crete's Rhyming Championship. This was soon abandoned when none of the competitors were able to find rhymes for Mykonos.

6. Socrates was the founder of the school of philosophers known as the subtractionists. Members of this school would spend their days dropping a letter from their names and rearranging the remaining letters to spell a new word. Socrates was very fortunate to be able to do this in many different ways with the letters in his name, but his favourite achievement was the one that follows. Alpha) Drop a letter from Socrates and rearrange the remaining letters to spell the common title for a female thespian. Beta) Drop a letter from the previous answer to spell a word that means touch or stroke affectionately. Gamma) Drop a letter from the previous answer to find a synonym of frighten.

Answer: Actress caress scare

Socrates was a member of the Classical Greek school of philosophy who lived between 469-399 B.C. He was the son of a stonemason/sculptor and a veteran of the Pelopennesian War. Because he never wrote down any of his philosophical ideas, what is known of the life of Socrates and his teachings has come from other sources such as Aristophanes, Xenophon and Plato. Socrates has been quoted in many different contexts as professing that his wisdom came from not knowing anything.
"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."

Unverified information: Socrates was a very distant relative of Sergeant Schultz from the television show 'Hogan's Heroes'. This is evident when taking into account Schultz's fondness for telling people that he also knew nothing.

7. Zeno founded a school of philosophy that was the exact opposite of the subtractionists. They were known as the additionalists and preferred adding a letter to their names to form new words. Even though he had an annoying 'Z' in his name, Zeno still relished the challenge and, amongst others, produced the following example. Alpha) Add a letter to Zeno and rearrange them to spell a word that refers to areas of land with a distinct appearance or feature. (plural please) Beta) Add a letter to the previous answer to find an alternative term for groups of twelve. (plural please) Gamma) Add a letter to the previous answer to find a word that means slept lightly and briefly.

Answer: Zones dozens snoozed

Zeno of Citium lived between the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. and was the founding father of the school of philosophy known as Stoicism. Unlike Socrates, Zeno did record his teachings as written works but none of these survive except for what has been quoted by other authors.

Unverified information: Zeno started his philosophical life with the Subtractionists but left in embarrassment and humiliation when his first attempt at letter dropping left him with the effeminate name of Zoe.

8. When Homer first sent a final copy of his 'Iliad' to his publisher, they rejected it because it was written entirely in the form of fractured words. Homer spent many painstaking months editing and amending his text and it was eventually accepted by his publisher and subsequently featured in the quarterly 'Athens Book Review' magazine. But Homer very craftily left three character names in their original fractured form. Can you mend these fractures and discover the names of the characters? Alpha) Pair us Beta) Ark keel lease Gamma) Dire mead his

Answer: Paris Achilles Diomedes

Homer was a Greek poet, believed to have been blind, who is most famous for his two epics 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey'. The 'Iliad' follows the final weeks of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans in the city of Troy. The 'Odyssey' is commonly viewed as a sequel to the 'Iliad' and follows the hero of that tale, Odysseus, as he makes a long and oft interrupted journey home from Troy.

Unverified information: An item described as an 'ancient copy of the 'Iliad' in its original fractured form' was put up for auction on eBay. The winning bidder was disappointed upon discovering that the only fracturing to be found was the cracks along the spine.

9. During an exploratory dig at the site of the Labyrinth of Minos, world renowned archaeologists, Professors Bucket and Spade, unearthed an ancient version of the popular change a letter word game. It is believed that the imprisoned Minotaur carved these words into the stone walls to find his way from being held in the MAZE to being FREE. This speculation has been dismissed as mere romanticism however as only four words were found intact. Without the need for anagrams, can you recreate the words that were discovered? Alpha) Change one letter in Maze to find a word used for a misty or cloudy vapour. Beta) Change one letter in the previous answer to find a word meaning despise. Gamma) Change one letter in the previous answer to find the dried fruit of a species of palm tree.

Answer: Haze hate date

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth of Minos was designed and built by Daedalus at the request of King Minos of Crete and was used as a prison for the half-man half-bull Minotaur. The Minotaur was killed by Theseus with the aid of Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos. She tied a ball of thread to the entrance of the labyrinth which Theseus unwound as he travelled within. Upon killing the Minotaur, he followed the thread back to the maze entrance.

Unverified information: The Minotaur has spawned many generations of bullheaded offspring; they are more commonly known by the term politician.

10. At the end of a long day tending to the affairs of the lovelorn, lovesick and loveless, Aphrodite liked nothing more than relaxing with the challenge of telescope words. These are similar to add a letter games but a bit trickier as you are not allowed to anagram and each letter must be added to either the beginning of the word or the end of the word, thus extending it like a telescope. This particular example of Aphrodite's has letters added to the beginning of ICE. Alpha) Add a letter to ICE to find the plural of a particular parasite. Beta) Add a letter to the previous answer to find the name of the girl who fell down a rabbit hole. Gamma) Add a letter to the previous answer to find a desire to be evil or harmful.

Answer: Lice Alice malice

Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty who, according to myth, came forth from the foam of the sea on the shell of a scallop. This may be one possible explanation for various seafoods being considered aphrodisiacs.

Unverified information: Aphrodite once used her charms on Pythagoras as he was working on his famous theorem. This resulted in the only known case of a love triangle involving just one person.

Source: Author Aussiedrongo

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The ancient Greeks are well known for being pioneers in the fields of philosophy, mathematics, science and medicine but did you know they also had a passion for word games? Test your wits against the Greeks with ten of their favourite puzzles.

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