The Boys From Syracuse Online Quiz | Ancient History

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1. Syracuse was described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all". On which Mediterranean island was it founded?

Answer: Sicily

The main city of "Magna Graecia" ("Greater Greece"), the Italian areas colonised by Greeks, Syracuse was sited on the east coast of Sicily. The colonists originally settled the small island of Ortygia, but by the fifth century BC it had grown to rival Athens in size.

2. The colony of Syracuse was first settled in the eighth century BC. From which Greek city state did the original settlers come?

Answer: Corinth

Syracuse was first settled in 734 or 733 BC by Greeks from Corinth and nearby Tenea. The southern Italian cities of Naples and Bari were also founded by Greek colonists, as was the French city of Marseille.

3. The Greeks did not have the island to themselves. Which rival power held territory to the west of Syracuse, fighting three separate wars against the Greeks in the fourth and fifth centuries BC?

Answer: Carthaginians

The Phoenicians had founded trading posts along the Sicilian coast before the Greeks arrived. The first war between Greeks and Carthaginians was fought in 480 BC, the second lasted from 410 BC to 340 BC and the third from 315 BC to 307 BC.

4. The Syracusan tyrant Gelo won a decisive victory over the Carthaginians, led by Hamilcar, at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC. This was said to have taken place on the same day as a more famous battle, in which an alliance of Greek states led by the Athenians defeated the Persian navy. Which battle was this?

Answer: Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis, in which the Greek alliance under Themistocles defeated Xerxes' navy, was also fought in 480 BC, but modern scholars think it unlikely that the two battles were fought simultaneously. The Battle of Himera brought the first Sicilian War to an end. Booty from the war was used to finance a public building programme.

5. A tale of mistaken identity, which Shakespearean comedy tells the story of, among others, Antipholus of Syracuse and his bondman, Dromio?

Answer: "The Comedy of Errors"

This farce, Shakespeare's shortest play, concerns two sets of twins separated as babies, one pair brought up in Syracuse and the other in Ephesus. The play has undergone many adaptations, one version being the musical "The Boys From Syracuse" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

"As You Like It" is set mostly in the Forest of Arden, "Much Ado About Nothing" in Messina, on Sicily, and "Twelfth Night" in Illyria.

6. The present day cathedral in Syracuse is built around a Greek temple. This was dedicated to the goddess of war. Who was she?

Answer: Athena

The temple of Athena was erected to commemorate victory in the Battle of Himera. The temple's Doric columns were incorporated into the first Christian church, built in the seventh century. The church in turn was converted into a mosque after Syracuse fell to the Muslim Aghlabids in 878. Christianity returned after the Normans took the city in 1085.

The present cathedral was rebuilt in 1700 following a devastating earthquake in 1693.

7. Likened by the Ancients to a tenth Muse, this poet, born on the island of Lesbos, is reputed to have been exiled to Syracuse in the sixth century BC. Who was she?

Answer: Sappho

Sappho was one of the nine lyric poets whom later Greeks considered worthy of study. Few details of her life survive and most of her poetry has been lost. Cicero records the presence of a statue to her in the town hall in Syracuse.

8. Syracuse is mentioned in the Old Testament.

Answer: False

The city is mentioned in the Bible, but not in the Old Testament. St Paul visited Syracuse and stayed there for three days while on his way to Rome. This visit is mentioned in Chapter 28 of the Acts of the Apostles.

9. Probably the most famous Syracusan, this mathematician, scientist and engineer was killed when the city fell to the Romans. Who was he? (You may be tempted to shout "Eureka!" when you think of the answer.)

Answer: Archimedes

One of the greatest mathematicians ever to have lived, Archimedes was born in Syracuse in 287 BC. Among his mathematical accomplishments was his proof that the sphere has two-thirds of the volume of the cylinder. He defined the principle of the lever and is credited with the invention of the compound pulley and the hydraulic screw.

He is supposed to have discovered the law of hydrostatics - that the amount of weight lost by an object immersed in fluid equals the weight of the fluid displaced - on stepping into his bath, causing him to shout "Eureka!"

10. The Romans finally captured Syracuse in 212 BC, during the Second Punic War. Who was the Roman Emperor at that time?

Answer: Nobody - Rome was a republic at that time

Augustus became the first Roman Emperor in 27 BC. Five-times consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus took the city on behalf of the Roman republic after a three-year siege.

Syracuse remained capital of the Roman province of Sicily. The island subsequently changed hands a number of times, eventually becoming part of Italy in 1860. Together with the necropolis of Pantalica, the city of Syracuse was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

Source: Author dellastreet

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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The Boys From Syracuse Trivia Quiz

In the eighth and seventh centuries BC a number of Greek colonies were established along the coast of Sicily and Southern Italy. The greatest of these was Syracuse.

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