Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In one of the pivotal battles of the ancient world, 300 Spartans held a mountain pass against a Persian army of thousands. At the end, every Spartan lay dead, but precious time had been gained for the rest of the Greek army. Name the battle.
2. What king led the Spartans in their famous suicidal stand against Xerxes' Persian army?
3. According to legend, the kidnapping of what woman led to the Trojan War?
4. Name the poet who immortalized the Trojan War and its effects in 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey'.
5. Speaking of Troy: in the nineteenth century, which of these archeologists defied scientific opinion and dug near the Hellespont, discovering the remains of a great city believed to have been Troy?
6. It seems like the Greeks were always fighting the Persians and winning, but once, the Persians almost won. What desperate naval battle saved the people of Athens and of Greece?
7. What Athenian politician suggested the strategy that enabled the most celebrated naval battle of the Persian Wars, a smashing Greek victory?
8. Who devised the laws that would later govern Sparta?
9. Despite the power of their army, the Spartans lived in constant terror of an uprising of their slaves, who outnumbered them 8 to 1. What were these slaves called?
10. Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, was king of ____ .
11. Alexander the Great had a famous horse after whom he named a city in India. What was the horse's name?
12. Through what defensive alliance of Greek city-states, established just after the Persian wars, did the Athenian statesmen Pericles divert funds for the beautification of Athens?
13. Once Athens's embezzlement from its Greek allies became apparent, Sparta led other city-states in what successful war against Athens?
14. What historian told the story of the inter-Greek wars that lasted from approximately 431 to 404 BC?
15. What Athenian philosopher, who pioneered the technique of teaching by asking questions, was put to death with a poison made of hemlock?
16. What playwright wrote the first great Greek comedies, such as 'Lysistrata'?
17. Who wrote the 'Oedipus' trilogy, about a man doomed by fate who killed his father and married his mother?
18. Who wrote 'The Republic' and 'The Apology'?
19. A Greek mathematician was killed by a Roman soldier when the Greek's city was conquered. Hard at work on a problem, the mathematician would not get up, and said to the soldier, 'Don't disturb my circles.' In a rage, the soldier ended the life of what brilliant man who calculated pi and first realized the uses of a lever?
20. In an event familiar to all high school math students (who repeat the calculations, again and again), what Greek scholar calculated the circumference of the Earth with amazing accuracy?
Source: Author
CellarDoor
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bloomsby before going online.
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