Are You a Genius? III Trivia Quiz

Answer: Partisans

They are the partisans of Ali, fourth caliph of Islam. The Shi'ite Muslims, who primarily reside in Iran, believe that Ali was the true successor to Muhammad and that a special place should be held for Ali by Muhammad's side. The Sunni Muslims believe that Ali is simply the fourth in a long line of Muslim Caliphs.

Answer: Pakistan

The name Pakistan is made up of the following: P (Punjab), A (Afghan), K (Kashmir), the three of which were combined with Sind and Baluchistan to form the country, and the name. The name was coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali.

Answer: Mustang

The name Mustang comes from the Tibetan word Monthang, meaning 'Plain of Aspiration'. It is not related in any way to the horse named mustang, that word is of Spanish origin. In the kingdom of Mustang, ancient Tibetan cultural practices are still observed.

Answer: Chariot races

Scorpus was perhaps the winningest of all the charioteers, called aurigae in Latin. He raced to 2,048 victories in his career, which was cut short when he died at 26 years of age. Diocles 'only' had 1,462 victories in his 24 year career, but is more well known than Scorpus for his having lived to a ripe old age and writing about his career in detail. Most of the charioteers were considered infamis, much like the gladiators, and were not public personalities.

However, the very successful few, of whom Diocles and Scorpus were members, achieved the great approbation of the Roman masses.

Answer: Mammals and Birds

An ectotherm (also called a poikilotherm) is a cold-blooded animal, while an endotherm (homoiotherm) is warm-blooded. Warm-blooded creatures are the only ones that generate and maintain heat within their bodies...which is rather advantageous in cold weather I must say!

Answer: Medici Stars

Galileo made his discovery of Jupiter's 4 large inner moons in 1610 and promptly called them the 'Medici stars' in honor of his patron Cosimo de Medici, who had made Galileo a professorial appointment at the University of Pisa. Later they became known as the Galilean moons, in honor of their discoverer.

Answer: 'What's my name?'

Terrell made the mistake of calling Muhammad Ali by his former name, Cassius Clay, prior to the fight, refusing to accept Ali's name change. Ali made Terrell pay for his disrespectful manner by defeating him handily, and at the same time he won the undisputed heavyweight championship (Terrell had been the holder of the WBA title belt.) Would the outcome have been different if Terrell had said "Ali" rather than "Clay"? Probably not...

Answer: Antoine Galland

Galland's version of these tales was rather different than what he had discovered in Arabic, he made a number of embellishments and in fact greatly added to the tales. His first edition came out in 1704 in French, and soon gained widespread popularity. Ironically, 'The Arabian Nights' was a relatively obscure set of stories in the Arab world, and was certainly not considered 'great literature'. In fact, these tales were originally translated into Arabic from the Persian, so they are practically not Arabian at all!

Answer: John Wyclif

Wyclif was probably best known for his involvement in the first full translation of the Bible into (Middle) English. Though he was condemned by the Pope, he continued to propagate his various ideas (which included criticism of church corruption) until his death.

The Lollards continued to promote Wyclif's ideas after his death, and they helped develop a wide-based popular movement based on Wyclif's tenets. The disastrous Peasant's Revolt of 1381 in England was inspired by the Lollards.

Answer: Jan Ingenhousz

Ingenhousz was a Dutch scientist who lived from 1730 to 1799. In 1779 he published his 'Experiments upon Vegetables, Discovering their Great Power of Purifying the Common Air in the Sunshine and of Injuring it in the Shade and at Night' (have to love that title!) which detailed his experimentation.

His very significant discoveries established the idea of an economy of balance among the world of living things, and laid the groundwork for the future study of photosynthesis.