Love, Generally Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great)

Ramesses II (ruled 1279-1213 BCE) waged many campaigns throughout his reign, re-establishing Egypt's control of its territory. He also organized massive building projects, including his own mortuary temple, known as the Ramesseum. The tomb of Nefertari, discovered in the Valley of the Queens in 1904 by Ernesto Schiaparelli, is a significant source of current knowledge about Egyptian views of the afterlife, and has been referred to as 'The Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt'. Ramesses's deep affection for his wife is reflected in poems on the tomb walls: "My love is unique - no one can rival her, for she is the most beautiful woman alive. Just by passing, she has stolen away my heart."

Cheops (ruled 2589-2566), also known as Khufu, was responsible for building the Great Pyramid at Giza; his son Djedefra is believed to be responsible for building the Sphinx as a memorial for his father; Tutankhamen's tomb, discovered in 1922, is legendary due to its intact state.

Information about Nefertari's tomb is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QV66.

Answer: David

According to the Books of Samuel, David fell in love with Bathsheba while her husband was away fighting. When she became pregnant, he tried to cover the paternity by recalling Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba. Uriah refused to abandon his comrades in battle, and David sent him back with a message to Joab that Uriah was to be abandoned on the field of fighting.

While Joab did not obey this order, Uriah was killed in combat anyway. The child of adultery died in infancy, but Solomon, another son, succeeded David as King.

Answer: Philip II

Philip II of Macedon (382-336 BCE) led a series of military campaigns to restore Macedonian dominance in the Aegean after years of struggles with Greek states. He is, however, better known as the father of Alexander the Great, who capitalized on his father's work to create an empire stretching throughout the Middle East. According to the chronology of Athenaeus, Olympias was Philip's fourth wife, although this is not certain. Their marriage was stormy, and she is suspected of being behind Philip's assassination while he attended the wedding of their daughter Cleopatra to Olympias's brother, Alexander I of Epirus. Ah, family ties!

Karanus is reputed to have been the first king of Macedon; Perseus was its last king before Roman occupation in 167 BCE.

Answer: Xiang Yu

Xiang Yu was one of the most prominent generals in Chinese history, considered a great military strategist but a poor diplomat and administrator. Just before his final defeat in the battle of Gaixia, he is supposed to have sung a song to Yuji, who was in camp with him, after which she danced and sang a response before killing herself with his sword while he was distracted. Their story provides the plot for the Chinese opera "Farewell My Concubine"; Lilian Lee's novel and the 1993 movie of the same name use this play as a part of the story.

The other three names were generals of a Chinese army in the 19th or 20th century.

Answer: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony

If you're up on your plays, you would recognize "Caesar and Cleopatra" as George Bernard Shaw's account of the relationship between Pharaoh Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar (although the play suggests that she was infatuated with Mark Antony when she met Caesar; her long relationship with Caesar, and her time in residence at one of his country houses, which scandalized Rome, are ignored). "Antony and Cleopatra" was Shakespeare's take on the subsequent love affair between Cleopatra and Mark Antony, which eventually led to a marriage 'according to the Egyptian rite' and his full-time residence in Alexandria rather than Rome.

The 1963 film "Cleopatra", starring Elizabeth Taylor, with Richard Burton as Mark Antony and Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar, is (in)famous for the off-screen romance between Taylor and Burton, and brought these love stories to a new audience.

Answer: Mohammed

Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah, also known as Mohammed or Muhammed, is the founder of the religion of Islam, and is regarded by Muslims as a prophet of God. He is also remembered as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, and military general.

When he was 25, he married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid; the marriage lasted for 25 years, and appears to have been a happy relationship; she was his only wife during that time. They are said to have had four daughters and two sons, although Shi'a scholars only acknowledge one daughter, Fatima.

After Khadijah's death, Mohammed had up to 13 wives and concubines, mostly formed as political alliances or to provide protection for widows of his followers.

Answer: Brian Boru

Gormflaith ingen Murchada, the daughter of the king of Leinster, was born in Naas, County Kildare around 960. She was married to the Viking king of Dublin and York, Olaf Cuaran; following his death she married Mael Sechnaill mac Domnaill, but she is best known as being the third wife of King Brian Boru (also called Boruma). She was said to have been his most beautiful wife, and his true love. But the course of true love does not always run smoothly, and she challenged his authority one time too many. After their divorce, she is said to have caused his death in battle, because the fight arose out of a conflict which she had engineered. Nevertheless, she is also said to have mourned him more keenly than any of his other wives.

The other three names are those of traditional legendary high kings, from the fifth century BCE.

Answer: William the Conqueror

Following the death of Edward the Confessor, the kingdom of England was disputed by Duke William II of Normandy (also already known as William the Conqueror from his victories in Brittany), Harald Hardrada (King Harald III of Norway) and Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex. William's success at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was in large part due to the fact that Harold had just been busy fighting Harald in the north of the country before marching south to meet William's challenge.

After a reputedly tempestuous start to the relationship (Matilda is thought to have considered herself, as a descendant of Alfred the Great, too highly-born to contemplate wedding an illegitimate man), the marriage between William and Matilda lasted for 30 years, until her death in 1083. They had 11 children, and the marriage is said to have been happy until she sided with their oldest son Robert in his rebellion against William during the years 1079-1080.

Answer: El Cid

While 'The Captain', 'The Horseman' and 'The Bullfighter' might all be suitable names for a military leader, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was nicknamed 'The Lord' (Cid coming from an Arabic word for lord). His full title is sometimes given as 'El Cid Campeador', which translates to 'The Lord, master of military arts' or, more simply, 'The Champion'.

Tradition says that El Cid fell in love with Jimena Diaz, a kinswoman of King Alfonso VI, the moment he saw her, and they were married in 1075. In the 1961 film "El Cid", starring Charlton Heston, she was played by Sophia Loren.

Answer: King Louis IX of France

Louis IX led two of the 'minor' crusades; the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254) was a spectacular failure, leading to the capture of Louis along with most of his army, and the payment of a massive ransom collected by his wife while he was held captive; the Eighth Crusade (1270) was even less successful, with Louis dying shortly after arriving in Africa.

Marguerite of Provence, whose sister Eleanor was the wife of Henry III of England, married Louis in 1234, when she was 13 and he was 20. It was while in Damietta during the negotiations for the release of Louis that she gave birth to their son Jean Tristan, the sixth of their eleven children. After Louis's death (she stayed in France for that crusade), she returned to Provence and stayed there for the last 25 years of her life.

Answer: Suleiman I (the Magnificent)

All great (and real) nicknames, but it was Suleiman I, His Imperial Majesty Grand Sultan, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe, also known as Suleiman the Magnificent and Suleiman the Lawmaker, who became infatuated with Hurrem Sultan, a harem girl whose nickname of Roxelana refers to her Slavic origin, as a daughter of a Ukrainian priest. She became Suleiman's favorite concubine, and he broke with tradition by freeing and marrying her, then letting her stay at court for the rest of her life (instead of being forced to leave when the heir came of age).

Using the pen name of Muhibbi (which means lover), Suleiman wrote a poem for Roxelana:

"Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful...
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf...
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this world...
My Istanbul, my Caraman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of mischief...
I'll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy."

Source of poem extract is http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/sample-10.html

Answer: Sir Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh came to royal attention through his successful campaigns to put down Irish rebellions. His star rose high in the court of Elizabeth I during the 1580s, but his secret marriage in 1591 to Elizabeth 'Bess' Throckmorton caused a serious setback to his political fortunes.

The child with whom she was pregnant at the time of their marriage died in infancy, and the secret marriage was discovered a year later, leading to disgrace and banishment. The couple remained devoted to each other through adversity, and Bess managed family affairs during her husband's absences (both on voyages of exploration and due to imprisonment).

She had Raleigh's head embalmed after his execution in 1618, and carried it with her for the rest of her life.

Answer: Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson

Wellesley and Nelson were both significant leaders during the Napoleonic Wars, but it was Horatio Nelson (1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte, KB), winner of the Battle of Trafalgar, whose adulterous relationship with Emma, Lady Hamilton scandalized society.

He was married to Fanny, and she to Sir William Hamilton, when she took on the task of nursing him after his injuries in the Battle of the Nile. Neither of them felt able to divorce their spouse, so they remained an infamous couple, even setting up a ménage a trois after the breakdown of Nelson's marriage, providing plenty of cause for gossip!

Answer: Robert E. Lee

Mary Custis had known Robert Lee from childhood prior to their wedding at her parents' house, Arlington House, in 1831. The couple often stayed in the house, and Mary inherited it after her father's death in 1857; the grounds of the estate were turned into the Arlington National Cemetery during the Civil War, and the Custis-Lee house is now the National Robert E. Lee Memorial.

The couple spent most of the war separated, as Robert was leading the Confederate Army of North Virginia and Mary moved around to seek safety for her children.

After the war Robert and Mary moved to Lexington, Virginia, where he became president of the Washington College, which was later renamed Washington and Lee University. Mary died three years after Robert, and is buried beside him in the Lee family crypt.

Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Mamie met 'Ike' in October of 1915, soon after she had completed her finishing school education. Engaged in February of 1916, they were married in July and remained together for 53 years of marriage, until his death in 1969. Traveling with him to many of his postings, she lived in around 30 different houses, including the White House and their retirement home adjacent to the battlefield in Gettysburg, PA. Eisenhower had a small golf course installed at the Presidential retreat, Camp David, named after their grandson.