Ancient Wars and Warriors Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Iliad

"The Iliad" is an epic traditionally attributed to Homer. It concerns a period of 51 days from the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, although it also contains many references to previous battles and other incidents. Another epic attributed to Homer is "The Odyssey".

Answer: Battle of Mantineia

The Battle of Mantineia was fought more than one century after the Persian Wars. The Persian Wars were fought between 490 and 479 BC and resulted in victory for the Greek city-states, with the Persian expansionism being checked.
The Battle of Mantineia was fought in 362 BC between Thebes and an anti-Thebes coalition, led by Sparta. The battle was a stalemate.

Answer: Thucydides and Xenophon

Thucydides told us about the first two phases of the Peloponnesian War, the Archidamian War and the Sicilian expedition, which lasted from 431 to 421 BC and 415 to 413 BC accordingly, as well as providing information about the causes of the war and what happened between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War. Xenophon told us about the third phase of the war, the Deceleian-Ionian War, which lasted from 411 to 404 BC and ended with the defeat of Athens by Sparta.

Answer: Miltiades

Miltiades was much earlier than Alexander. He was the general who devised the very first battle plan in European history and he is to be credited for the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon, in 490 BC, which checked the first Persian invasion of Greece.

Answer: Epirus

All the answer choices given are regions of Greece.
Pyrrhus is notable for defeating his opponents, but only at a terrible cost to his own army. The term "Pyrrhic victory" derives from him. Pyrrhus was finally unsuccessful in his efforts to destroy the rising power of Rome and he was finally expelled from Italy. He was killed in a battle against the rival Greek city of Argos in 272 BC, from a brick an old woman threw from her window to save the life of her son.

Answer: 146 BC

The first Punic War lasted from 264 to 241 BC and was fought for the control of Sicily, which was finally ceded to Rome. The second Punic War began in 219 BC when the Carthaginian general and king Hannibal Barca attempted to invade Italy and conquer Rome and ended in 202 BC with a Roman victory and a crippling defeat for Carthage.

The third Punic War lasted from 149 to 146 BC and was mainly a siege of Carthage by the Romans.

Answer: Lucius Mummius

The extent of the atrocities Mummius committed against Corinth is disputed, since there is a minority of ancient accounts suggesting that Corinth was not fully destroyed. Mommsen interprets Mummius' attitude against Corinth as orders by the Senate to eliminate a rival trading city.

Answer: Julius Caesar

The insurrection of Spartacus, aka the Third Servile War, was crushed mainly due to Crassus' actions. Glaber had been unsuccessful against Spartacus in a battle near Mount Vesuvius. As for Varinius, he was also unsuccessful, although we do not have many information concerning his involvement in the war.

Answer: Decebalus

Prior to Trajan's Dacian War, Decebalus had thwarted an attempt by Emperor Domitian to conquer Dacia (in present day Romania). The first war between Trajan and Decebalus resulted in Decebalus becoming a client king for Rome, but the latter continued to undermine the Roman efforts to annex Dacia and there was a third war fought, resulting in full victory for Rome and the suicide of Decebalus.

Answer: Constantine

Constantine defeated Maxetius and gained control of the western areas of the Roman Empire. He now had one opponent, Licinius, in the east, with Valerius Valens being one of Licinius' helpers. The war between them ended with a victory for Constantine at the Battle of Chrysopolis in 324 AD.
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Constantine adopted the Christian emblem Chi-Ro and used it on the shields of the soldiers under his command, while he was baptized as a Christian shortly before the end of his days.