Triumphal March Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ramses II

Ramses II, also known by the Greek name of Ozymandias (the title of a well-known sonnet by English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley) was the third Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, and reigned between 1279 and 1213 BC. He is renowned for having promoted the building of cities, temples and monuments, such as the majestic complex of Abu Simbel; in entertainment and media he has been often identified with the Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus.

Ramses II was also a military leader, engaged in campaigns aimed at expanding Egyptian influence in the Near East. Fought in 1274 BC between the Egyptians and the Hittites (led by King Muwatalli II), the Battle of Kadesh (on the border between Syria and Lebanon) is one of the oldest recorded battles in history. It was probably also the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving as many as 6,000 chariots. Though the outcome of the battle has been long debated among historians, the general view is that the Egyptians won the day, at least in a moral sense, as the Hittites were routed in spite of their superior numbers, and were forced to retreat across the Orontes River.

Answer: Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of Persia (c. 600 or 567-530 BC) was the founder of the Achemenid Empire, which under his rule extended from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River in South Asia, and expanded even further under his successors. His reign lasted about 30 years, during which he conquered the Median, the Lydian and the Neo-Babylonian Empires; he died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya river, in present-day Uzbekistan.

Unlike other conquerors before and after him, Cyrus respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered, and established a centralized form of government that worked to the advantage of his subjects. He is mentioned in the Jewish Bible on account of his Edict of Restoration, which allowed the Jews to be freed from the Babylonian captivity and return to Palestine. Cyrus is also credited for the oldest declaration of human rights, written in cuneiform script on a barrel-shaped cylinder of baked clay known as the Cyrus Cylinder. This object was found in the ruins of Babylon, and is currently held at London's British Museum.

Answer: Pericles

Besides being a political and military leader, Pericles (c. 495-429 BC) promoted literature and the arts, and the time in which he led Athens is widely regarded as the zenith of ancient Greek culture. Among his greatest achievements was the building of the Parthenon complex on Athens' Acropolis; the great sculptor Phidias was his personal friend. He also introduced some important political reforms, fostering the development of democracy. His Funeral Oration, delivered at the end of 431 BC, praised the city-state's many achievements, and its citizens' bravery and commitment to those values.

Pericles held the office of "strategos" (general) for 29 years. When the Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 BC against Sparta and its allies, Pericles' strategy focused on avoiding open battle on land, relying instead on Athens's naval strength. The following year, a devastating plague broke out in Athens. Pericles lost two sons to the disease, before himself succumbing in the autumn of 429 BC.

Answer: Alexander the Great

Alexander III of Macedon, the son of Philip II, was one of the greatest military leaders of history. In his short lifespan he managed to achieve more than most rulers do in much longer periods of time. By winning the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC (when he was just 25 years old), he brought down the Persian Empire, whose capital, Persepolis, was looted and burned. Alexander's invasion of India, a few years later, ended when his otherwise staunchly loyal troops, exhausted by the long campaign, refused to march further east. Alexander went back to Persia, and was planning new military campaigns to expand his reach even further.

However, he died in Babylon in June 323, at the age of 32 - probably of natural causes, though poison has been often put forward as the cause of his demise.

Answer: Hannibal Barca

Hannibal was the son of general Hamilcar Barca, who had vowed to avenge Carthage's defeat in the first Punic War. After his father's death in 228 BC, Hannibal became the leader of the Carthaginian forces, and in 218 started the Second Punic War by attacking Saguntum, in present-day Spain. Later in the same year he started his legendary march towards Rome, in which he led his armies (including a number of war elephants) over the Alps. After having invaded the Roman territory, he stationed his troops in southern Italy, instead of trying to attack Rome. The battle of Cannae (216 BC) ended in a catastrophic defeat for the Roman army, which - in spite of vastly superior numbers - was annihilated by Hannibal's use of the pincer movement.

However, things went quickly downhill after that, and the Carthaginians' defeat in the Battle of Zama (202 BC) forced him to sue for peace. Hannibal's career as a statesman ended abruptly when he went into voluntary exile, eventually becoming advisor to king Antiochus III of Syria and King Prusias I of Bithynia in their campaigns against Rome and its allies. Refusing to surrender to the Romans, Hannibal committed suicide by drinking poison some time between 181 and 183.

Answer: Gaius Marius

Though he was probably born into a family of relatively important status (he was Julius Caesar's uncle by marriage), Gaius Marius (157-86 BC) harboured a lifelong hostility towards the nobility - which led to his struggle with Sulla, a bloody civil war that caused the death of many Roman citizens. However, his indisputable prowess as a military commander and his reforms left a lasting legacy as regards the development and consolidation of Rome's power. When Rome was threatened by barbarian invasion, Marius allowed every male citizen to join the army, removing the previous requirement to own land. This led to a dramatic increase in the size of the army, whose organization Marius also reformed by introducing a cohort-based system.

Marius' greatest military achievement was the war against the Cimbri and the Teutones, two Germanic tribes that had migrated south from the Jutland peninsula, eventually settling in Roman-controlled territory. Rome's defeat in the Battle of Arausio (105 BC) caused widespread panic in the Republic, but Marius took charge of things, building a professional army that managed to defeat the would-be invaders at Aquae Sextiae (102 BC) and Vercellae (101 BC). A few years later, the First Civil War broke out, pitting Marius against the patrician-born Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Marius went into exile in Africa, then returned to Rome with an army, taking his revenge on Sulla's supporters. He died in 86 BC, just a few days after having been elected consul for the seventh time.

Answer: Octavian Augustus

Gaius Octavius (later known as Octavian) was Julius Caesar's nephew, and his adoptive son and heir. After the dictator's assassination in 44 BC, he formed the Second Triumvirate with Mark Antony and Lepidus, which ruled Rome for about 6 years. However, things fell apart when Antony became involved with the notorious Egyptian queen Cleopatra. The final confrontation between Octavian's fleet (commanded by Agrippa, his trusted lieutenant and right-hand man) and Antony's happened in September of 31 BC in the bay of Actium, on the western coast of Greece. After Antony and Cleopatra's defeat and subsequent suicide, Octavian found himself the sole ruler of Rome, though he avoided seizing power as a dictator.

The transition from Republic to Empire happened incrementally, and culminated in the Senate granting Octavian the titles of "Princeps" and "Augustus" on 16th January, 27 BC. His reign as Emperor ("Imperator") is considered to have begun on 1st July, 23 BC. Though he had ruled harshly during the triumvirate years, Augustus became known as a benign ruler who maintained a modest lifestyle - especially if compared with many of his successors - and inaugurated a long period of relative peace (over 200 years) known as "Pax Romana". He died in 14 AD at the age of 78, and was succeeded by his stepson, Tiberius.

Answer: Trajan

Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Trajanus) was born in AD 53 in the province of Hispania Baetica (present-day Andalusia), and as a young man embarked on a successful military career. In AD 97 he was adopted by the aged and childless emperor Nerva, who with this move sought to gain the support of the military in order to avoid being ousted. When Nerva died the following year, Trajan became emperor. He introduced important social welfare reforms, and promoted the building of structures of public utility such as the Trajan Forum in Rome and various bridges in the provinces.

However, Trajan's greatest successes came from his military campaigns, especially the two that led to the Roman conquest of Dacia (present-day Romania) between 101 and 106 - celebrated by the bas-reliefs decorating Trajan's Column in Rome. He also annexed the Nabataean kingdom in the Middle East, and waged war against the Parthians (113-116), conquering Armenia and Mesopotamia. These major campaigns expanded the Empire's borders and increased its wealth, further boosting the emperor's reputation. Unfortunately, Trajan fell ill in early 117, and died in the summer of the same year. He was succeeded by his adoptive son Hadrian, another of Rome's greatest emperors.

Answer: Constantine the Great

Born in c. AD 272 in present-day Serbia, Constantine I was educated at the court of Diocletian (who had first introduced a separation between the Western and the Eastern part of the Empire), and became emperor in AD 306, after his father Constantius' death. When his co-emperor, Maxentius, declared war against him, Constantine (who had been stationed in Gaul) crossed the Alps into Italy, and defeated his rival in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in October 312. According to a popular legend, on the night before the battle Constantine (whose mother, Helena, was a Christian) had a dream in which the True Cross appeared to him, accompanied by the words "In hoc signo vinces" (with this sign you will win). The emperor went into battle bearing the sign of the Chi-Rho (as symbol of Christ) on his standard, and won the day.

In February AD 313 Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which established religious freedom in the whole empire, and gave legitimacy to the Christian religion after decades of persecution. Under Constantine's rule, the first basilicas were built (including the earliest version of St Peter's in Rome), as well as the Arch in the Roman Forum celebrating his victory against Maxentius. In 324, on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium, he founded the city that would bear his name - Constantinople - and become the empire's Eastern capital. Constantine died in 337, and is revered as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Answer: Attila

Known in Western Europe as the Scourge of God, Attila, king of the Huns (c. 406-453) is a polarizing figure in history. The Huns were Eurasian nomads, probably of Turkic and Mongolian stock, whose skills as mounted archers proved very effective on the battlefield. Attila managed to unite a motley array of peoples (often at odds with each other) into a powerful empire, which included large portions of Central and Eastern Europe. His personality alone held the empire together, allowing him to threaten both of the capitals of the Roman Empire, Constantinople and Rome, though he was unable to take either of them. Pope Leo I persuaded him to turn away from Rome, while his planned strike against Constantinople never materialized, as in 453 Attila died at the age of 47, probably of internal bleeding, during the celebrations for his marriage with the young Ildico. After his death, the Hunnic Empire quickly fell apart.

In spite of his fearful reputation for wholesale devastation and slaughter, Attila is revered in Hungary and Turkey, where his name (possibly meaning "little father") is commonly used as a male name. He is also depicted as a great king in the German medieval epic "Nibelungenlied", where he is named Etzel.