The Fifties Through the Ages Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus

Three of these four options sound familiar: Galba, Otho and Vitellius have their usual imperial name included in their official birth name. But Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus is not known under any of his three birth names.
So, who is this Lucius fellow? Well, after adoption by Claudius he took the name with which we are more familiar: Nero Claudius Germanicus (38-68).
Claudius married for the fourth time in 49, marrying Agrippina (Nero's mother). In 50 he adopted Nero as his stepson, which was a quite common procedure in the upper classes.
Nero succeeded Claudius in 54 and ruled for fourteen years. During his reign, Nero emphasised the arts and made peace with the Parthians.
In 64 AD, there was a major fire in Rome. Popular history accuses Nero of having ordered the fire to inspire him for a song and/or to rebuild Rome more magnificently. Nero himself accused the Christians and started persecution. However, the exact cause of the fire was most likely pure accident.
Nero was helped to commit suicide in June 68. He was succeeded by Galba (3 BC - 69 AD), who ruled only for seven months.
Galba was assassinated in January 69 and was succeeded by Otho (32-69). Otho was soon confronted with mutiny of the German legions and killed himself in April 69, whereupon Vitellius (15 AD - 69 AD) was appointed Emperor.
Vitellius also had a very short reign: in December 69 he succumbed to an uprising of the Dalmatian legions led by Vespasian (9 AD - 79 AD), the first Emperor in the Flavian dynasty.

Answer: Teotihuacan

Potosí (Bolivia) is a mining city which was founded in 1546 by the Spanish. So this is not the pre-Columbian UNESCO World Heritage Site we're looking for.
Machu Picchu (Peru) was constructed around 1430 AD by the Incas. This is not the UNESCO World Heritage Site we're looking for, either.
Monticello is a residence near Charlottesville, Virginia (USA), and was inhabited by Thomas Jefferson. This UNESCO World Heritage Site doesn't include any temple.
So the Temple of the Sun completed in 150 AD has to be in Teotihuacan (Mexico). There is not very detailed information about this civilisation. While some sources state that the city of Teotihuacan was a centre of the Maya, the Toltec, the Olmecs, the Zapotecs, or the Totonac, others maintain that the Teotihuacanos were a separate people. The date is disputed as well, but fact is that this temple was finished between 100 AD and 200 AD, and that the city Teotihuacan prospered from about 150 AD.
Teotihuacan was one of the most populous cities in the world of the Second Century, with more than 150,000 inhabitants. The Temple of the Sun was the principal place of worship: a pyramid of 225m wide and 75m high, which makes it one of the greatest pyramids worldwide.

Answer: Japan

Unimak Island is part of the US state Alaska, and thus does not belong to Asia. It is one of the Aleutian Islands.
Turkey has a very long history. First written sources go back to the time of the Trojan War, somewhere between 1300 and 1100 BC.
Korea may boost a long history as well, but the division between North Korea and South Korea stems only from 1948. The origin of the split goes back to the end of WWII: the USSR accepted the surrender of all Japanese forces situated north of the 38th parallel, which line became the frontier between the two Koreas.
The Kofun period in Japan (traditionally set at 250 AD - 538 AD) was named after the kofun, large burial mounds (frequently in a form that resembles a keyhole). Yamato clans tried and established a centralized authority, and Japan had intensive contacts with Korea and China. The written history of Japan during the Kofun period can only be found in Korean or Chinese sources. As the languages started to differ, some historic sources can be interpreted in several, contradictory ways.

Answer: Nepotianus

The famous Emperor Constantine the Great (born about 272, Emperor since 306) was succeeded in 337 by his sons Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans I.
Constantine II, who controlled the western provinces (Gaul, Hispania and Britannica) died in 340. Constantius II was appointed the supreme ruler of the eastern provinces (Asia and Egypt), and Constans governed Italy, Africa and Pannonia (now the western half of Hungary).
Magnentius was born in Gaul in 303. He usurped power from Constans in January 350 and briefly held the western provinces (Gaul, Brittanica and Hispania) as well as Italy and Africa. However, in 353 he was defeated by Constantius II, who reunited the Roman Empire in this way.
Marcellinus was one of the chief officers of Constans, and later switched sides to join the army led by Magnentius. Marcellinus suppressed the revolt by Nepotianus.
The correct answer to this question is Nepotianus, the son of one of Constantine I's half-sisters. Nepotianus occupied Rome with a number of gladiators, but was soon defeated and killed by Magnentius' envoy, Marcellinus.
This information section might give you the impression that Roman history is utterly confusing. I want to stress that civil wars are always very confusing, not only the Roman civil wars.
By the way, Nepotianus was not the Roman Emperor with the shortest reign. That distinction goes to Gordian I and Gordian II, who both ruled from March 22nd until April 12th, 238 (so for 22 days).

Answer: Shakuntala

All these were major literary works by Indian authors.
The Kama Sutra is perhaps the least obscure of these works. Vyatsyana wrote this book, of which the illustrations might be of more interest to the readers than the text itself, although the readers dare not admit such a "guilty pleasure".
The "Panchatantra", a collection of fables and animal tales used to educate royal princes in Hindu ethics, was written by Vishnu Sarma. Some of the fairy tales have come to us via the stories of "Thousand and One Nights".
The greatest Indian epic, the Mahabharata, contains a verse in which this poem is ascribed to Veda Vyasa. This name can indicate one single human author, a group of human authors, or even one or more superhuman beings. The Mahabharata counts in all over 100,000 verses and exceeds in length many times other epic stories as the Iliad, the Odyssey, Dante's Divina Commedia and the Indian Ramayana.
The "Abijnanashakuntala" (translated into English as "Shakuntala") is a rather notorious love story. Main characters are Shakuntala, daughter of a sage, and the King Dushyanta. Dushyanta marries Shakuntala and gives her a ring as a token to recognise her. Unfortunately, Shakuntala loses the ring in a river. Dushyanta only recognises Shakuntala again when a fisherman presents Dushyanta with a fish having swallowed the magic ring.
Other love stories ascribed to Kalidasa are the "Malavikagnimitram", about a King falling in love with a servant girl (who eventually turns out to be a real princess), and the Vikramorvyasam, relating the love story of a mortal king and an immortal nymph.

Answer: Tuam

Wellington is not in Ireland, but in New Zealand. So Wellington is obviously a red herring.
To ascertain the correct answer to this question, try and picture a map of Ireland in your head. Dublin is on the east coast and Armagh is in the North.
Galway, one of the dioceses mentioned in the question, is situated in the West, so Dublin and Armagh aren't the correct answers.
Tuam is the western Archdiocese. There is also a fourth archdiocese in the South: Cachel-Emly, including (among others) the dioceses of Cork and Limerick.

Answer: Abu Sufyan ibn Harb

Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) was the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which was branded many years as a terrorist organisation. Arafat proclaimed the founding of an independent Palestinian State in 1988, the goal he had set throughout his lifetime. As the Palestine State and Israel recognised each other's rights to exist in peace and security, this led to intense negotiations. In 1994 Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shared the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yusuf Islam was born in 1948 as Steven Demetre Georgiou, a British citizen of Greek-Cypriot descent. He started a musical career in 1965 under the stage name Cat Stevens. In 1977 he converted to the Islamic religion, adopting the Islamic name of Yusuf Islam. He found the musical world not consistent with religious devotion, and so abandoned the pop stage for a while. In 2006 he published a new record, this time with music and lyrics fitting for Islamic thoughts.
Harun al-Rashid (763-809) was the fifth Caliph of Bagdad in the Abbasid Dynasty. He ascended the throne in 786. His reign was marked by encouraging poetry, music, art and sciences. Harun had intense diplomatic contacts with Charlemagne.
Abu Sufyan (560-650) commanded the Quraish tribe, the main tribe in Mecca, when Muhammad started preaching. The monotheist religion proclaimed by Muhammad was a breach with the former polytheistic practices in Mecca, so Abu Sufyan came in conflict with Muhammad. Muhammad fled to Medina in 622 and assembled a fierce army. Abu Sufyan tried to negotiate with Muhammad, and finally joined his forces. So it happened that Muhammad could retake Mecca without bloodshed.

Answer: Ghana Empire

The Orange Free State was proclaimed by Dutch settlers in 1854. It was governed by a President, not by an Emperor. The Orange Free State lost its independence after the Second Boer War in 1902 and was incorporated into South Africa as a province.
The Central African Empire is the most recent of these Empires. Jean-Bedel Bokassa (1921-1996), ousted David Dacko in 1965 and took the title of President of the Central African Republic, a title he usurped for life in 1972. In 1976 Bokassa proclaimed himself Emperor and changed the name of his country accordingly. In 1979, Dacko (in his turn) dethroned Bokassa and restored the name of Central African Republic.
The Mali Empire was a quite wealthy civilisation in Western Africa from about 1230 until about 1600. At its height, the Empire stretched over the twenty-first century countries of Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauretania, Senegal, and part of Niger. The region was rich in salt, copper and gold.
The Ghana Empire was founded somewhere in the Eighth Century. Sources cite 750 or 790. Ghana ("Great Warrior") was in fact the honorary title for the Emperor, while the people living under the reign of a Ghana called their region the Wagadou, which translates to "The Land of Herds". The Ghana Empire profited from trans-Saharan trade routes, especially for highly valued commodities as gold, ivory and salt. Indeed, as salt was scarce in the South of the Ghana Empire, salt was at least as expensive as gold.

Answer: Utrecht

Out of these options, Hoogland is certainly the most obscure. When consulting an atlas in search of a Dutch sounding city in Indonesia, I stumbled upon this name of a village in Malaysia, close to Ipoh - a city roughly 100 miles (160 km) north of Kuala Lumpur. The name can be translated as "Highland". As far as I know, there is no information in English on the internet concerning this village.
Oranjestad is the name of several settlements in the Caribbean islands. The capital of the island Aruba is called Oranjestad, as well as the capital of the island St. Eustatius. Both of these islands are part of the Dutch Antilles and were named after the Dutch royal family (van Oranje-Nassau).
Windhoek is perhaps the best known of the three red herrings offered in this question. It is the capital of Namibia, one of the neighbours of South Africa. This city was founded about 1840 near some hot springs. The origin of the present name (which can be translated into "Windy Corner") is not clear.
The Vikings were formidable sailors, but there are no records of them reaching places in southern Africa, in the Caribbean or in Malaysia. So the correct answer has to be Utrecht.
Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands founded around 650 AD. It is the centre of the Roman Catholic Church in its country.
The date of birth of Rorik of Dorestad is not ascertained, presumably between 810 and 820. In 841, Rorik became vassal of Lothaire I and was given several rural areas in Frisia. In 850 AD, he conquered the two most important cities in and around Frisia: Dorestad (hence his moniker) and Utrecht. In 857 Rorik tried in vain to obtain lands in Denmark, but his home cities Dorestad and Utrecht were sacked by the Danes. Rorik died in about 882.

Answer: Erik the Red

Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) was captain on the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-1806. He and his company were sent out to gather information on the newly acquired lands west of the Mississippi.
Zheng He (1371-1435, although these dates are not certain) was a Chinese admiral who led seven expeditions into the Indian Ocean. On one occasion, he reached Mogadishu (Somalia), at the eastern coasts of Africa. The fleets Zheng commanded were far more populated than later European expeditions: some accounts state Zheng sailed with about 28,000 people on 190 ships.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) is the best known of these four explorers. He insisted that by sailing west he would arrive in the east - something most contemporary sailors did in fact know in principle, but none dared to set out to prove this. In 1492 Columbus found the Spanish King willing to sponsor such a challenging expedition, and off he went. Of course he couldn't know that he would find another continent lying in the way of the route to India. The rest is history.
Erik the Red (950-1003) is the explorer we're looking for in this question. He was born in Iceland of parents that had to flee Norway as they were facing murder trials. Young Erik in his turn had to leave Iceland because of alleged murders. So Erik set out with some compatriots for Greenland, a place that Icelandic Vikings had visited before - but no one had settled there. Erik the Red headed the first permanent European settlement in Greenland and went on some exploration expeditions over there. When Erik's son Leif started his expedition to Vinland (a place on the Canadian west coast), Leif invited Erik to go with him. But Erik refused after a fall from his horse.

Answer: Macbeth

Falstaff is a fictional character that pops up in "Henry IV" (Part I and Part II) and in "The Merry Wives of Windsor". As one of Henry V's knights, we would expect Falstaff to be valiant and lean. But no: this figment of Shakespeare's imagination is too fat to move swiftly, and too cowardly to engage in single combat.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) became King of England in 1509. He married, divorced, married a second wife, had her executed, had a third wife and lost her when she gave birth. Henry then married for the fourth time, divorced a second time, married for the fifth time, had another wife executed, married for the sixth time, and finally died. No wonder Shakespeare could write a tragedy on Henry's life: even the soap operas from the twenty-first century don't usually mess up things like this. However, Henry VIII never went on pilgrimage to Rome.
Julius Caesar (born 100 BC) was a Roman general. After conquering Gaul, Caesar returned to Rome and usurped the power. Caesar was murdered in 44 BC.
In 1050 AD, the only living one of those mentioned was Macbeth of Scotland. His birthday is uncertain. Macbeth (the real one, we'll discuss the literary one further on) became Mormaer of Moray (a title comparable to the Dukes we know elsewhere in Europe) in 1032, while Duncan became King of Alba (nowadays Scotland) in 1034. In 1040, Duncan's and Macbeth's armies clashed, and Duncan was killed. Macbeth took over the Scottish throne. Macbeth died in 1057 in a battle with Malcolm III of Scotland, the King of Scotland favoured by the English.
Shakespeare's drama differs on several points of the actual history. The historical Duncan died very young, and the historical Macbeth was probably no bloodthirsty tyrant. Finally, Shakespeare mentions Malcolm (perhaps the future Malcolm III) but indicates Macduff, a fictional character, as the one who kills Macbeth - not on a battlefield, but in a duel.

Answer: Paris

Bologna (Italy) has probably the oldest university in the world. A specific date for its foundation is uncertain. Most sources cite 1088.

The University of Oxford has also an uncertain date of establishment. Historians have proved that "advanced teaching" was given there already in 1096 AD. Nowadays, there are 38 colleges. No future Pope graduated in Oxford.
The University of Heidelberg, Germany was founded in 1386. Pope Pius II (1405-1464) is mentioned as one of the famous Heidelberg alumni, but I haven't found the year in which he graduated.

Pope Innocent III (born Lotario de' Conti di Segni, probably in 1161) studied in Rome, Paris (theology) and Bologna (jurisprudence). He became Pope in 1198 and died in 1216.
The University of Paris got his second name, the Sorbonne, after Robert de Sorbon established a new college in 1257. Nowadays the "University of Paris" consists of thirteen different universities, three of them still carrying the name "Sorbonne" or "New Sorbonne".

Answer: Villard de Honnecourt

All these French people are of significance for architecture and art.
Charles le Brun (1619-1690) was a painter and art theorist. He was one of the first directors of "Les Gobelins", a manufacture of tapestries, furniture and other interior decorations.
André le Nôtre (1613-1700) was a famous landscape architect. He designed the gardens belonging to the Palace of Versailles.
Louis le Vau (1612-1670) was a classical architect. Together with le Brun and le Nôtre, he started reconstructing the castle at Vaux-le-Vicomte, at that time the private estate of the French Minister of Finance, Nicolas Fouquet. (By the way: Nicolas' title is far more elaborate, but we remember him best in his function of Minister of Finance).
The collaboration of le Vau, le Brun and le Nôtre at Vaux-le-Vicomte was the starting point of the "style Louis XIV" (named after the French King in this period).
Villard de Honnecourt was a thirteenth century French architect. He left us some 250 drawings of different buildings, including a plan for the first sawing factory powered by water.
For those of you who wonder why André le Nôtre is listed with accents in the interesting info and without accents in the answer: this is to avoid confused rendering of the diacritical marks (such as accents) in Flash mode. I've experienced quite frequently that in Flash mode the computer sometimes replaces the diacritics by their ASCII code.

Answer: Dmitri Donskoy

All these Russians gained fame in different occupations.
Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) is perhaps the best known of these four. He was a movie director, and left us (among other films) "Battleship Potemkin", "Alexander Nevsky" and a trilogy on "Ivan Grozny". (By the way, English speaking people know this Ivan as "the Terrible").
Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) was a novelist and playwright. His masterpiece is the novel "Fathers and Sons", and he also authored a Russian version of the "Faust" legend.
Andrei Roublev (probably 1360-1430, these dates are not certain) was one of the finest icon painters ever. His oeuvre includes portraits of the apostles Andrew and Paul, the archangels Michael and Gabriel, St. John the Baptist and Our Saviour in Glory. He also painted the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Ascension.
Dmitir Donskoy (1350-1389) is the Prince of Moscow we were looking for. He doubled the territory governed by Moscow, won several battles against Mongols and Tartars, and found even time to conceive at least twelve children. He also started construction of the Kremlin.

Answer: English Army

In 1450 Norway had no army of its own. From 1397 until 1523 Norway was one of the three parts of the Union of Kalmar (including Denmark, Norway and Sweden, with the Norse dependencies Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney Islands, and the Swedish province now named Finland). Sweden left the Union of Kalmar in 1523, and Norway and Denmark continued with joint rule until 1814.
'Italian' armies did occupy Normandy, but that was long before 1450. The Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar conquered France (then called Gaul) around 50 BC, and Gaul remained a Roman province until about 475 AD. In 1450, Italy was subdivided in several duchies, republics and other city states, which quarrelled a lot.
The most famous occupation of Normandy by the German army dates from the Second World War. In 1940, Hitler's troops conquered a large part of France, including almost all of the Atlantic Coast. The Allied Forces landed in Normandy in 1944 and drove back the German occupants.
1450 was one of the last years of the Hundred Year's War between France and England (1337-1453). The French finally drove the English out of their country in the 1450's, with the exception of the town of Calais. This last city stayed in English hands until 1558.

Answer: Jesuits

The Premonstratensians are members of a monastic order founded in 1120 by St. Norbert (1080-1134). This order was approved by Pope Honorius II in 1126. Premonstratensians usually wear white habits.
The Franciscans were named after their founder, St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). This group, officially known as the Order of the Friars Minor, was founded in 1209 and obtained official approbation from Pope Honorius III in 1223. The Order of the Friars Minor Conventual and the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin are separate orders which also find their origin in the monastic rule set out by St. Francis.
The Benedictines follow the rule for monastic life designed by their founder, St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547). The first Benedictine abbey was founded around 529 in Monte Cassino, Italy. Other monastic orders deriving from the Benedictines are the Cistercians, the Trappists (Cistercians of Strict Observance) and the Congregation of Cluny.
The Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus (as is its official name). This society was founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556).

Answer: Dating and job advertising services

Surely you didn't pick internet if you have noticed the year. The Internet came into being in the twentieth century, not in 1650.
Biographies have a long history. Something named "The Office of Addresses" might refer to a catalogue of famous people or of land, such as the "Domesday Book" (first version completed in 1086 and containing nobility and their real estate). Other well known biographical collections dating from before 1650 are Giorgio Vasari's "Lives of the Artists" (1550) and John Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" (1563). Even the Ancient Greeks had biographies, but mostly focusing on one person per book. You could still find Isocrates' "Life of Evagoras" and Xenophon's "Life of Agesilaos".
The "yellow pages" are closely related to the telephone network. Indeed: "yellow pages" list commercial addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers, grouped by profession. When you need for example a plumber, search the yellow pages (and hope one of these plumbers can come soon). Prior to the invention of the telephone, there was no need for "yellow pages": one would contact someone from one's own village or district, and probably the nearest.
So the "Office of Addresses and Encounters", based in Threadneedle Street, was the first dating service ever recorded. It didn't always focus on romantic dates: there were also job offers.
Henry Robinson (1604-1664), the founder of the "Office of Addresses and Encounters", is best known as an author of essays. A list of his books includes "England's Safety, in Trade's Encrease" (1641), "Liberty of Conscience" (1644) and "A Short Discourse between Monarchical and Aristocratical Government" (1649).

Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751) was no German, but a Venetian composer. In his time, he was best known for his operas. He composed at least 50 operas, but most of the music has been lost with the passage of time. Albinoni is nowadays most famous for his concerto for oboe.
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) was a German organist and composer. The masterpiece we know best of him is the Canon in D major. After having been performed before 1700, this Canon was forgotten for two centuries. Only in 1919 was it rediscovered.
Georg Philip Telemann (1681-1767) had to become a lawyer. His mother banned all musical instruments from his life. But music proved too strong to resist: in 1705 he became Kapellmeister in Sorau (nowadays Zary, Poland). Telemann was a prolific composer, and most of his work has been preserved - unlike other composers of the Baroque era. For example, Telemann composed at least 40 Passions, of which 22 have survived.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is perhaps the best known of these four Baroque composers. Bach was member of a very musical family: at least four of his children continued the musical tradition that Johann Sebastian's uncle had started.
Johann Sebastian Bach probably thought his greatest masterpiece was "Das Wohltemperierte Klavier", a collection of 24 preludes and fugues for keyboard, one in each suitable key. Today's musical connoisseurs greatly admire Bach's "Matthäus-Passion" and "Johannes Passion", as well as the Brandenburg Concerto's and the Goldberg Variations. My personal favourite is the "Toccata and Fugue in D minor", an organ work you best can enjoy in a Baroque Cathedral. Incidentally: some scholars doubt whether Bach composed this work, for it has several features that are at least uncommon to his other compositions. Maybe some Bach connoisseur composed this music and faked Bach's name, or perhaps there were errors in copying the music score. But then again, Bach might have felt the need to compose something completely different.

Answer: California

The "Hotel" as hint refers to "Hotel California" - an album and title song by the rock band "The Eagles". I haven't found any other US state which would aptly combine with the word hotel.
In the mid of the Nineteenth Century, the history of California was quite disturbed. California rebelled against the Mexican government and claimed its independence in 1846. In 1848, gold was found near Sutter's Mill and vast numbers of people moved to California with the hope of getting rich. California joined the USA in 1850. The state capital was moved twice, to find its definitive spot at Sacramento in 1850.
I don't think that I should digress on the economic, cultural or sporting influence of California. Let's just mention that these influences are very important.

Answer: Astronomy

Comrie was born in 1893. He graduated at Auckland University (chemistry) and Cambridge (astronomy). Comrie's career was focused on using Hollerith machines (with punch cards) to calculate astronomical tables.
A lunar crater and an asteroid were name after Comrie.
Neurology and linguistics are mentioned here as red herrings to try and lead you to the concept of "neuro - linguistic programming". This concept is not related to computer sciences, but is a critical approach to organisational change.
I'm aware that this interesting info section is rather meagre, but there is not much other information to find. All the main websites seem to have the same information as that for the university where Comrie taught numerical analysis ... Someone somewhere seems to have copied.