Lost Ancient Cities Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pompeii and Herculaneum

The ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum are without doubt the most famous cities that suffered from a volcanic eruption. There was no warning of the eruption and it was two days until the volcano settled. At some points during its eruption, Vesuvius spat out around 1.5 million tonnes of pumice per second (which reached a height of 33 kilometres) and, written in 'The Dynamics of Volcanism' released more thermal energy than 100,000 Hiroshima bombs.

The region around Pompeii was famous for its fine wine and its great aqueduct, Augusta.

Answer: Petra

Cleopatra VII asked for this great city as a wedding gift from Mark Antony, and got it. Petra is breath-taking to this day, carved and hidden in valleys of rock. This was the centre of Asian trade during Roman times but declined after the Byzantine era. Petra was then used as a strategic stronghold during the Crusades and then lay hidden from outsiders, in the desert, until the 19th century.

Answer: Troy

Homer's epic 'The Illiad' told of the greatest city ever to have existed. Troy was strategically placed near the Hellespont (a sea trade route) and rich deposits of silver. Archaeology has revealed that, if Homer's Troy had existed, it burned to the ground around 3200 years ago and was the seventh version of the city on the same site. Rubble from the ruins and foundations were noted to have been scorched by fire.

The city was rebuilt and sacked several times more but sadly fell from power during the Roman occupation.

Answer: Sparta

A fascinating thing about Sparta is that it had no walls! Not because they did not have the technology to build them, but because they believed themselves to be so strong that they didn't need them! Here was where the most respected and feared units of the army were trained.

In the 5th century BC, the famous king of Sparta, Leonidas, led three hundred Spartan warriors to Thermopylae where they fought against the invading Persian king Xerxes in a narrow pass. Leonidas held off the Persians for several days and were finally defeated by treachery when one of their men, Ephialtes, told Xerxes of a goat trail that led around the narrow valley and would emerge behind the Spartans. Xerxes used Ephialtes advice and Leonidas and his Spartans were killed as a result. To this day, the name Ephialtes is a word used in Greece as a term for a bad nightmare.

Answer: Carthage

I thought that if I mentioned Hannibal's name it would be too easy. Marhabal urged Hannibal to attack Rome shortly after destroying the Roman army at Cannae, but his efforts were in vain. Carthage refused to give more men to Hannibal and his army began to collapse. Hannibal returned to Carthage and fled to northern Asia Minor several years later.

It was there that he poisoned himself upon knowing that the Romans were coming to take him prisoner. Carthage was burnt to the ground in 146 BC and, with such dire hate for the Carthagians, the Romans were ordered by their general, Scipio, that Carthage was to be razed to the ground, no stone was to be left upon another and the soil was to be ploughed and strewn with salt so that no one would ever find the site of the great city to found another in its name.

Answer: Pella

Sacked by the Romans in 168 BC (shame), Pella is nothing more than ruins in northern Greece. Back in Alexander's time, Pella was the capital of Macedon and a thriving city. The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle was brought to Pella from Athens under Phillip II and made Alexander his pupil.

It was in Pella, with Aristotle and Phillip II, that Alexander learnt the ways of war, of the Persian's greed and of the lands east of Greece where only the gods had travelled.

Answer: Worms

Worms reached its greatest height of power during this time (around 400-450 AD), as many great Germanic heroes were involved in the surrounding lands, for example, Siegfried the Dragonslayer and Theodoric the Great. This was a time when Christianity was being introduced to the Germanic tribes by the Romans.

A great majority of the population believed in Germanic mythology and were very warlike. Yet, after a while, the luxuries of the Roman hot baths, stone houses and military might converted the people and their old ways. Worms was abandonned by the Burgundians after a feud with Attila the Hun when he held Gunther and his brother Hagan and killed them.

It is rumoured by Norse myth that Gunther and Hagan knew where a secret treasure was hidden (See "The Rhinegold" by Stephan Grundy and based on Richard Wagner's "The Ring". Look it up as its a great book). Attila never got the treasure and found Worms deserted in 437 AD.

The Burgundians travelled west into modern day France. There, they took a great deal of land from the Romans and called it Burgundy which, at its height, covered SE France and reached as far south as Arles and east into parts of what became Switzerland. Burgundy is still a province of France today, though not as big.

Answer: York

The capital of 'lower Britain' in its time. Founded just eight years before Vesuvius erupted, the Romans settled this strategically placed settlement in 71 AD, naming it Eboracum. Several Emperors visited Eboracum, with Severus holding his Imperial Court there until he died in AD211. Also, Emperor Constantius Chlorus died in Eboracum in 306 AD and was succeeded by his son, Constantine the Great, who was the first Christian Emperor and the founder of Constantinople. It is also believed that Constantine had his proclamation in Eboracum where the present minister now stands.
In the Anglo-Saxon times, Eoferwic was the main city of learning in Britain, but it was in Viking times that York had its share of bloody spoils.
Jorvik, as it was soon to be named, was captured in 866 AD. Vikings settled in Northumbria and Mercia in peace with Jorvik as its capital city. In 1066, a Scandinavian named Harald Hardrada came to England to claim the throne. He set up his army in Jorvik and began preparing his invasion. Instead of Hardrada invading the wealthy lands of Wessex, the English army came to him under the command of King Harold II. There was a bloody battle nearby at Stamford Bridge where Hardrada was killed. Harold II then marched over 200 miles south to Hastings to meet William of Normandy. Of course, William beat Harold and claimed the English throne and became known as William the Conqueror.

Answer: Babylon

One of the most noted and important sites in the world are the ruins of Babylon, now in Iraq, just south of Baghdad. Saddam Hussein built a palace on the modern ruins for it was his intention to restore it to its former glory. The palace still stands today, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. If you're adventurous and fancy a bit of exploring, try to find the site on Google Maps using the satelite. It's there!
The much used saying 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' was first said in Babylonia as it was one of Hammubari's 'Code Of Laws' (code numbers 196 and 200). There were 282 laws that were written on a large stone. Sadly, many are missing.
It was also in Babylon that one of the seven great wonders was constructed, The Hanging Gardens. Nebuchadnezzar II had this great structure built after he captured Jerusalem for his homesick wife, Amyitis. Nebuchadnezzar also rebuilt the Tower of Babel so that it rose to a collosal 265 feet (half the Height of Khufu's Pyramid in Giza). Another saying that came from Babylon is a common reply you would say to someone when they don't make any sense - 'what are you babbling on about?'. This was because, in Genesis, God was so angry that there was a tower so close to his territory (Heaven) that he sent down a curse upon the Babylonians which made them unable to understand each other through speech. Thus the phrase 'to babble'.

Answer: Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is considered one of the most marvelled cities because of its location and its construction. The Incas had no metal tools (even in the 14th century when most of Europe was discovering new countries, continents and sea trade routes) so every block of stone of Machu Picchu was shaped with stone! They used rocks from rivers to shape blocks as it was harder that ordinary stone found in the cliffs and quarries.
In Machu Picchu, there is a small stone sitting amongst the houses called The Intihuatana. The Incas who lived in Machu Picchu believed that when the nights drew in, after summer, the sun was losing its way every night. To make sure that the sun would rise again, the priests performed a ceremony near the Intihuatana that tied the sun to the mountain that Machu Picchu stood upon. And so, with a bit of luck and hard work from the Incas through the Autumn and Winter, the sun never got lost.
The Incas also had around 14,000 miles of roads that reached heights of 16,500 feet above sea level. Truly a great race of people who perished before their glory years began. Sadly, after a vicious civil war, a Spanish conquistador named Pizarro invaded the Incan lands which ended their civilization.