Following the Blood in the Mediterranean Quiz

Answer: Ionian Sea

The Ionian Sea lies between the 'boot' of Italy and western Greece. Ithaca is one of the five main Ionian islands, which are all Greek. The Balearic Sea, also called the Iberian Sea, lies off Spain's south-eastern coast near the island group of the same name.

The Levantine Sea is the eastern portion of the Mediterranean which includes Cyprus. The Sahara Sea was an unrealised 19th century engineering project to flood part of the Sahara Desert lying below sea level.

Answer: Naples

Naples in the Campania region of Italy gained its name from the ancient Greek city of Neopolis (meaning 'new city') established there in the sixth century BC. It lies about nine kilometres from Mount Vesuvius. Although towns like Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried by pyroclastic flows from the eruption in 79 AD, Neapolis avoided this. Naples has now expanded onto some of the areas affected by the pyroclastic flows. Since 79 AD there have been some forty eruptions with those killed running into the thousands.

Answer: Gozo

The nymph Calypso appears in Homer's 'Odyssey', holding Odysseus captive for a number of years after falling in love with him. Various ancient Greeks, including the mythographer Euhemerus (giving rise to the term 'euhemerism') and the poet Callimachus, identify Gozo as the island in question. The blue hole is a underwater dive site at Dwerja Point on Gozo.

Answer: Greece

Overlooked by Mount Kronos, Olympia is famed as the site of the Olympic Games in ancient times, being held every four years for over a millennium from the eighth century BC. It also held one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. Made of ivory and gold panels on a wooden frame in 435 BC by Phidias, a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, it survived around 900 years. His workshop at Olympia was discovered during the 1950s; amongst the tools and other sculpture-related finds was a cup marked 'I belong to Phidias'.

Answer: Portugal

Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula took around 200 years from the third century BC. The local Lusitanians, under their leader Viriathus, defeated everything the Roman threw at them until the Romans paid three of Viriathus' ambassadors to assassinate him. Roman rule lasted until the fourth century AD.

The temple at Évora was destroyed in the fifth century AD by invading Germanic tribes. What remained was incorporated into the walls of a castle tower in the Middle Ages then served as a butchery for five centuries before being restored to its present form.

Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of the Bones) in Évora was built by a 16th century Franciscan monk and is noted for its interior walls which feature human skulls and bones. The entrance to the chapel greets people with the words: "We bones that are here, await yours."

Answer: Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is bordered by Italy and the Balkan peninsula. It extends as far south as the heel on the boot of Italy and is separated from the Ionian Sea by the Strait of Otranto. Greece is not one of the bordering countries. The Aegean Sea lies between Greece and Turkey. The Ligurian Sea is tucked in between the Italian Riviera and Corsica whilst the Alboran Sea is at the western end of the Mediterranean and leads up to the Straits of Gibraltar.

There are three sites named Pylos in antiquity and there was much debate over which one was King Nestor's capital. Nestor gets several mentions in Homer's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey'. A Mycenaean palace discovered in 1939 near this Pylos appears to support this location's claim.

Nestor's Cave is where the god Hermes is said to have hid cattle from the god Apollo. This overlooks the scenic Voidokilia beach north of Pylos. The beach is assumed to be the 'sandy Pylos' referred to in the 'Odyssey'.

Answer: Laconia

The Spartans, known for their prowess in battle, were also known for their brevity of speech. Perhaps the two go together. The word derived from the name of the region is 'laconic'.

The Spartans worshipped Ares and Apollo because of their war-like attributes. Aphrodite was seen as a warrior goddess by the Spartans rather than goddess of love. In the book, Piper and Annabeth end up in the Temple of Fear, dedicated to Phobos and Deimos, twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite, representing fear and terror respectively. Phobos and Deimos are also the names of the moons of the planet Mars, Mars being the Roman god of war.

Answer: Delos

Also known as the 'Doubling the Cube' problem, the Delian problem is impossible to solve using a compass and straight-edge construction. It was solved mechanically at the time.

Delos is one of the more important archaeological sites in Greece and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Its religious significance pre-dates its designation as birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis by a thousand years. In the fifth century BC, all dead bodies were removed from the island on the instructions of the Delphic oracle and a rule introduced that no-one could be born or die there because of its sacred significance.

Answer: Asclepeion

Asclepius (or Asklepios) was the ancient Greek god of medicine. He had several sanctuaries across Greece, the most famous being at Epidaurus. Epidaurus became known as a celebrated healing centre in both ancient Greek and Roman times.

The rod of Asclepius is often confused with the caduceus, the staff with two entwined snakes associated with the god Hermes. Modern use of the caduceus as a medical symbol is generally blamed on the US military. It was adopted by the Medical Department of the US Army in 1902, although apparently not as a medical symbol. Most medical organisations use the rod of Asclepius rather than the caduceus as their symbol.

The mouseion was a place or temple dedicated to the Muses and finds its modern form as a museum. The lykeion was the name of a gymnasium in Athens and is now a lyceum or educational institute. The synedrion meant a sitting together, hence an assembly or council - the modern-day synod has a similar derivation.

Answer: Athens

The Acropolis is the ancient citadel of Athens. The word means 'upper city' and the one in Athens is probably the best known one. Piraeus, some 12 kilometres from the centre of Athens, took over from Phalerum as the city's port. Phalerum is probably the one with the Troy connection - Menestheus, King of Athens, is said to have set sail for Troy from Phalerum.

Piraeus and Athens were connected in the fifth century BC by the Long Walls. These were walls built to surround the city and port in order to provide the city with a supply route by sea in the event of a siege.