The Parthenon Quiz / Test | Ancient History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Parthenon is found in Athens, but what is the name of the site on which it stands?

Answer: The Acropolis

The Acropolis tops a hill in Athens. Artifacts dating beck to the Neolithic Era have been found there. The remains of the floors of a Mycenaen megaron or great hall dating back to the Bronze Age have been found on the Acropolis. The etymology of the term "acropolis" is "high city".

2. There are three main styles of architecture used in the building of Classical Greek structures. The Parthenon is largely an example of which style?

Answer: Doric

The Doric style (or order) is the simplest of the three Greek styles. The top of a column of the Doric order is a circle within a square. The Doric column has no base. The Ionian order is somewhat more ornate. The tops are scrolls and the bases are stacked circles.

The columns of the Corinthian order are the most ornate of the three. The tops of Corinthian columns have a small scroll topped by leaves. The base has the stacked circles like the Ionian order.

3. The city of Athens is replete with ancient temples honoring various Olympian deities. The temple in the Parthenon honors which Greek deity?

Answer: Athena

The Parthenon was dedicated to the Goddess Athena, who, legend has it, sprang full grown from the head of Zeus. She was Parthenos Athena, ever-virgin, although she raised Erichtheius, who was born out of the earth where the semen Haephestus spilled while trying to rape Athena was cast onto the ground. Athena is the Goddess of the polis, the ideal of the Greek city-state, and is complementary to Artemis, the virgin goddess of the hunt, the woodlands and mistress of animals.

4. In ancient times, architectural structures of great size and import were often aligned with celestial objects or groups. With which of the following is the Parthenon aligned?

Answer: The Hyades

The Hyades and the Pleiades make up the constellation of Taurus which is a feature of the winter sky, therefore an important element of the agricultural calendar for the Greeks. The Hyades were the daughters of Erichtheius, who Athena placed in the night sky and proclaimed that they were to be considered goddesses.

5. Mounted high on the exterior walls of the Parthenon was a series of 92 metopes, marble panels carved in high relief. Fifteen of these were removed from the east wall and taken from Greece by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, who sold them to the British Museum. An English Romantic poet wrote a sonnet in their praise. Who was that poet?

Answer: John Keats

Keats' poem deals with the realization of his own mortality when he sees the decay and ruin of these seemingly eternal works of art. What Keats ultimately sees is his own mortality as well as that of the marbles themselves. It is the gods depicted on them who are truly immortal.

6. The Parthenon was converted to a Christian church in the 6th century C.E. To whom was it dedicated?

Answer: The Virgin Mary

For almost a thousand years, the Parthenon housed a temple dedicated to Parthenos Athena or Virgin Athena. The Christian Emperor Theodosius issued a decree in 389 C.E. banning paganism upon pain of death. Pagan temples were razed and their rites banned. All Christians who were not Catholic were declared to be heretics and were ruthlessly persecuted. Theodosius was most intolerant.

7. The Greeks have been negotiating for the return of the Elgin Marbles and other artifacts looted from the Parthenon in the 18th and 19th centuries. This initiative was promoted by the Greek well-known Minister of Culture. Who was she?

Answer: Melina Mercouri

Melina Mercouri was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1977 and was later appointed to the cabinet post of Minister of Culture. She fought tirelessly for the return of the Elgin Marbles and other statuary and artifacts stolen from the Parthenon and removed from Greece.

She died in 1994 and was honored with a huge State Funeral which filled the streets of Athens with her followers. Her work continues even now through her foundation which has received both financial and technical support.

8. The Ottoman Turks invaded Athens and, in 1458, captured the Acropolis. Before the end of the 15th century the Parthenon had become a mosque. Throughout all this the structure had remained essentially intact. However, in 1687, the Parthenon was devastated when the building was attacked by the forces of which city-state?

Answer: The Republic of Venice

The Turks had made a fortress of the Acropolis and stored gunpowder in the Parthenon. A Venetian mortar shell was fired from a nearby hill and struck the central area of the Parthenon. The roof was almost completely destroyed and the majority of the sculptures mounted on the frieze at the top of the walls fell. Over the next two centuries the remains of the building were looted, much of the material carried away to be used simply as building materials.

9. Reconstruction of the Parthenon is a huge undertaking that is a long term commitment. Which of the following organizations has been a major source of funding?

Answer: The European Union

The reconstruction is a massive ongoing project. Many of the fragile pieces and very important statues have been removed to the the Acropolis Museum. In order to reconstruct the building as authentically as possible, archaeologists are providing technical assistance and have removed some prior efforts at reconstruction that were obviously anachronisms.

10. It is widely believed that the design of the Parthenon and production of the interior statuary was directed by the sculptor Phidias. Most archaeologists believe that he was the sculptor of the massive statue Athena Parthenos, or Athena the Virgin. Who do most classical scholars believe provided the political leadership actually to build the Parthenon?

Answer: Pericles

As a young man Pericles ambitiously pursued an eduction which prepared him well for a leadership role in the Athenian state. He was often in the company of Zeno of Elea, Protagoras and, especially, Anaxagoras, who was probably his greatest influence. Anaxagoras taught Pericles a habit of mind, or "nous", that encouraged in Pericles a calm and deliberate style and allowed his rhetorical gifts to flourish. Thucydides called him the "first citizen of Athens" and preserved Pericles' famous Funeral Oration which not only honored the dead of the first year of the Peloponnesian War, but also extolled the virtues of the polis of Athens.

The speech is a masterful work of Classical Rhetoric, in the best (and original) sense of the word.

Source: Author jeristep656

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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The Parthenon Trivia Quiz

Enough of the Parthenon stands today to give us a view of the architecture of the Classical period of Greece. The Parthenon is emblematic of the civilization that planted the seed of democratic ideals.

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