A Hodgepodge of Ancient History Quiz

Answer: Cleopatra

Marcus Antonius is rumored to have given the 200,000 scrolls to Cleopatra as a wedding present.

Pergamon is now known as the city of Bergama in Turkey and is believed to have been the birthplace of parchment.

Answer: A battleground between two mountain passes

One of Rome's worst defeats happened when they were trapped by the Samnites between the Capua and Beneventum mountains in 321 BC, known as the "Caudine Forks".

Answer: Stonehenge

Although pretty ancient and one of the most visited sites in the world, Stonehenge, situated in Wiltshire, United Kingdom is NOT one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.

In 1986, Stonehenge was awarded World Heritage Status and is owned by the British Crown.

Answer: Archimedes

Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, amongst other things.

Many people think that this quote is philosophical, but it is also thought that he was speaking literally about the force of a lever being able to be used against an object to move it.

Answer: One of the earliest known law codes

The "Code of Hammurabi" is thought to be one of the earliest known law codes and was thought to have been writen by the king of Babylon, king Hammurabi who reigned from 1792-1750 BC.

The laws written thereon covered a whole range of subjects: marriage, inheritance, criminal law, to name just a few. It is well known for the principle of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth".

Answer: It burnt down

The Great Library of Alexander was built by Ptolemy I Soter, a general of Alexandria in approximately 300BC and housed an amazing collection of books from all over the known world.

Nobody knows for sure who eventually was responsible for the final burning of the library. Julius Caesar, Caliph Omar and Hypatia were the most commonly suspected.

Answer: Slaughtered a pig

In 167 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek king of the Seleucid Empire, slaughtered a pig on an altar in a Temple in Jerusalem following a Jewish revolt.

He persecuted the Jewish people and executed many of them if they did not conform to the customs of the Greek people.

Matthew 24:15 (KJV) believes that this event was "the abomination of desolation" foretold by Daniel.

Answer: Battle of Watling Street

The "Battle of Watling Street" took place in AD60 between Boudicca and the Roman army who were occupying Britain at the time.

The Iceni King Prasutagus, husband of Boudicca thought that if he left his land jointly to the Roman emporer, Nero and to his two daughters his kingdom would be safe after his death.

Unfortunately, human greed knows no bounds and after his death his wife was whipped and his two daughters raped by the Romans.

Boudicca and her army swore revenge but were defeated at the Battle of Watling Street.

Answer: Two

There are two languages and three scripts on this ancient Egyptian stone which are found in three columns. They are Ancient Egyptian in hieroglyphic and Demotic script, and ancient Greek.

These writings on the stone were issued by a decree issued on for King Ptolemy V in 196 BC.

The stone was found during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and was taken back to France.

Following a dispute as to who owned the Egyptian artifacts, the stone came into the hands of the British.

Answer: 3

All in all there were three Punic Wars.

The first Punic War was fought between Rome and Carthage between 264-241 BC.

The second Punic War, 218-201 BC, was when Hannibal tried to defeat Rome but failed hopelessly at the end.

The final Punic War in 146 BC led to the complete destruction of the city of Carthage and the genocide of the Carthaginians.