Counting to Ten Trivia Quiz

Answer: Confucius

Confucius lived about 2,500 years ago, towards the end of the Spring and Autumn period of China. He rose to prominence as society declined around him, becoming a philosopher and politician. Most of his ideas were preserved through the work known as the Analects.

He has accumulated numerous titles in the centuries since his death and is most commonly referred to as Kongzi in modern-day China.

Answer: China

China was apparently always a populous place. Their oldest-known census gave a population of almost 60 million people in China, which was about the same as the population of the Roman Empire at the time. It took place during the middle of the Han dynasty. The next surviving census took place in 144. China's population remained relatively stable during the 1st millennium.

Answer: his son

Wang Mang founded the Xin dynasty in China, which lasted from 9-23. Before becoming emperor, he was an official of the Han dynasty and prominently involved in the politics of the time. In 3, he put down an attempt to overthrow him by his son (Wang Yu), son's teacher (Wu Zhang), brother-in-law (Lü Kuan), and the Wei family, who feared his dictatorial ruling style.

Their lack of success resulted in their deaths.

Answer: Tiberius

Augustus, first emperor of the Roman empire, found it quite difficult to maintain a line of succession. Two of his grandsons died at young ages, and a third ended in exile for uncertain reasons. Tiberius was his step-son and although granted political power in 6 BCE, he decided to retire to Rhodes.

The death of Augustus' second grandson in 4 forced Augustus to adopt Tiberius as a full son, and he became emperor after his death in 14.

Answer: Saul

Many sources suggest 5 as the birth year of Saul of Tarsus (which is in southern Turkey). He went from persecutor of Christians to Saint Paul after his sight was taken from him and subsequently restored. Saint Paul wrote many of the books in the New Testament, and most of his known background comes from those writings.

In these writings, he says he was a Roman citizen by birth, a tent-maker by profession, and very attached to Pharisaic traditions.

Answer: Judea

The founding of Israel and Judah occurred during biblical times. Roman influence in the region dates to the first century BCE, after the Third Mithridatic War. Herod was appointed ruler of the region, which was ruled as a tetrarchy by his four sons after his death. Herod Archelaus ruled Judea, but was so despised that an appeal to Augustus resulted in Judea becoming a Roman province.

Answer: England

There were around 27 major Celtic tribes that lived in Britain before it came under Roman influence. Cunobelin became king of his tribe upon the death of his father and subsequently merged the two kingdoms as one. He established his capital at modern-day Colchester and maintained good relations with the Roman empire. Soon after his death, Colchester became the target for the Roman invasion of the British isles, in 43.

Answer: Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso, or Ovid, was one of Rome's most famous poets. He came from an aristocratic family and was educated in rhetoric. Originally looking to pursue law, he settled on poetry around 25 BCE. His most famous work was the Metamorphoses, a creation myth of the world that was written from 1-8. Soon after finishing that, he was banished by Augustus to Tomis (in Romania, by the Black Sea) for reasons that are not clear.

Answer: Teutoburg Forest

Having had success in the area before, Publius Quinctilius Varus took three legions to the Teutoburg Forest area of western Germany to subjugate the Germanic tribes in the area. The Germanic tribes were led by Arminius, who had received Roman military training.

He was able to anticipate their tactics, and the Romans were disastrously defeated. Afterwards, they never again tried to conquer Germany east of the Rhine river. Romans thereafter knew this battle as the Varian disaster.

Answer: Bactria

The Indo-Greek Kingdom was a kingdom established in Bactria (Afghanistan/Pakistan) when the king Demetrius invaded the Indian subcontinent. It became the easternmost establishment of the Hellenistic world and was ruled by thirty six kings over a period of about two hundred years.

The coins issued in this kingdom are noteworthy for being bilingual. Father and son Strato II and Strato III co-ruled the kingdom until 10 CE; after Strato II's death, the nearby Northern Satrap dynasty took over the kingdom.