World History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sparta and Athens

Sparta eventually defeated Athens in 404 B.C.

Answer: Pompey

Pompey's wife, Julia, who was Caesar's daughter, kept peace between her husband and father, but after her death (54 B.C.) Pompey became Caesar's jealous enemy. He went over to the Senate and became Consul (52 B.C.). Breaking with the Senate, Caesar crossed (49 B.C.) the Rubicon, and the Civil War began. Pompey was defeated at Pharsala (48 B.C.) and fled to Egypt, where he was killed.

Answer: 3100 B.C.

Stonehenge is believed to have begun being built right around the time that the Bronze Age was overtaking the Stone Age. According to excavation results, the megalith was built over a series of periods between 3100 B.C. - 1550 B.C.

Answer: Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) was tutored by Aristotle and ruled from 336-323 B.C.

Answer: The Great Wall of China

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are: The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Colossus of Rhodes, The Hanging Gardens of Babylonia, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and The Lighthouse at Alexandria.

Answer: Cuneiform

The earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds. The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called cuneiform.

Answer: Sakkarah Step Pyramid

Sakkarah (Saqqarah) is located just south of Cairo and west of Memphis. It is named after Soker of the Dead, and is in fact the greatest necropolis (city of dead) in all of Egypt. It is called a step pyramid as it is composed of six steps, all made of stone rather than brick and is considered the oldest man made building still standing.

It was constructed for King Zoser of the Old Kingdom (2660 B.C. - 2180 B.C.).

Answer: Cyrus the Great

He conquered Media between 559 and 549 B.C., Lydia in 546, and Babylonia in 538. In Egypt he laid the basis for future Persian victories. Because he placed Jews in power in Palestine, creating a buffer state between Persia and Egypt, he is spoken of approvingly in the Old Testament, e.g., Dan. 6.28. He respected the religion and customs of each part of his empire.

Answer: Etruscans

It is hard to determine exactly when the history of the Etruscans started, but most historians now agree on the period between the tenth-eleventh century B.C. as the time of the rise of their civilization.

Answer: 3

There were three distinct conflicts between the cities. (264-241 B.C.) (218-201 B.C.) (149-146 B.C.)

Answer: Plato

Socrates himself left no writings, and most of our knowledge of him and his teachings comes from the dialogues of his most famous pupil, Plato.

Answer: Hammurabi's code

It contains 282 clauses regulating a vast array of obligations, professions and {rights;} including commerce, slavery, marriage, theft and debts. The punishments are, by modern standards, barbaric. The punishment for theft was the cutting off of a finger or a hand.

A man's lower lip was cut off if he kissed a married woman. Defamation was punished by cutting out the tongue. If a house collapses because the builder did not make it strong enough, killing the owner, the builder was put to death. If the owner's son died, then the builder's son was executed.

Answer: The first network of paved roads

Rome developed the world's first system of paved roads, which greatly aided the expansion of the empire. The Romans were able to move men and equipment easier and faster than ever before.

Answer: Khufu (Cheops)

The monument was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) of the Fourth Dynasty to serve as a tomb when he died.

Answer: Syria

Syria has always been an object of foreign conquest. It fell to the Hittites (15th-13th cent B.C.), the Assyrians and Babylonians (11th-6th cent. B.C.), the Persians (6th-4th cent. B.C.), and the Greeks (333 B.C.). Syria was Hellenized by the Seleucids and had fallen to Rome by 63 B.C.

Answer: Ramses III

Ramses III reigned from 1197 - 1167 B.C. and was the second king of the XX dynasty.

Answer: 3rd

Japan does not appear in history until 57 A.D. when it is first mentioned in Chinese histories, where it is referred to as 'Wa.' Japanese culture derives from the immigrants from the Korean peninsula of the third century B.C.

Answer: Han

Among its accomplishments, much of The Great Wall of China was built during the Ch'in Dynasty. The Han Dynasty based government on Confucianist theories. Buddhism originated during this period as well.

Answer: Ithaca

'The Odyssey', beginning ten years after the fall of Troy, tells of Odysseus' wanderings on his way home to Ithaca, of his wife and son's plight, and of their reunion.

Answer: Herod the Great

The son of the second Antipater was Herod the Great. He was friendly with Marc Antony, and was(37 B.C.-4 B.C.) the title king of Judaea. His son Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, was the Herod who executed John The Baptist and who was ruling at Jesus' death.

Answer: Ramses II

Although it is uncertain, many scholars believe that Seti I oppressed the Jews, and that his son Ramses II was Pharaoh during the Hebrew exodus.

Answer: Gaul

In 58 B.C., Julius Caesar became Governor and military commander of the Roman province of Gaul, which included modern France, Belgium, and portions of Switzerland, Holland, and Germany west of the Rhine.

Answer: The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Two strong earthquakes in 1303 and 1323 A.D. all but completely destroyed the lighthouse. Egyptian Mamelouk Sultan, Qaitbay, used the stones and marble to build a medieval fort on the same spot the lighthouse stood.

Answer: 55 B.C.

Both the 55 and 54 B.C. Roman expeditions left from Boulogne (Portus Itius), and landed at Deal, a few miles northeast of Dover. In 55 B.C., the Roman cavalry ships were forced back to Gaul by a storm, and Caesar's troops were confined to the shore. In 54 BC, a larger Roman expedition landed at Deal and penetrated inland along the River Thames.

Answer: Philistines

Two different groups formed the Phoenician civilization. The first was the Canaanites, who came from the desert south and east of Canaan. The Caananites were nomadic herders who wandered from pasture to pasture. The other group was the Philistines, who came from the eastern Mediterranean Sea area, near Greece. The Philistines were traders and shipbuilders.