Mirror, Mirror On the Wall Trivia Quiz

Answer: Venus of Willendorf

The Venus of Willendorf, nowadays called just The Woman of Willendorf, is a 10,5 cm (4,25 inch) limestone statuette of a female figure, discovered in Willendorf, Austria.
It is the best known example of the "venus" statuettes of obese paleolithic women. Its purpose is not clear but the prevailing explanation is that it is a fertility figurine used in a ritual. The basis for this theory is the well defined pubic area, the fact that it lacks a face and that it shows an obese woman, which in a hunter-gatherer society would probably have no reason to exist.

Answer: Helen of Troy

There isn't much left unsaid about "the face that launched a thousand ships". Even today, "La Belle Helene" is used to describe a beautiful woman.
Rather prosaically, though, this femme fatale returned to Sparta and King Menelaus, after all the drama she caused.

Answer: Nefertiti

Nefertiti's 3,300 year old painted limestone bust by sculptor Tutmose, was discovered in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt and it is housed in the Egyptian collection of the Neus Museum in Berlin. Her beauty is breathtaking, even though she lacks the iris of her left eye.

This fact has caused intriguing hypotheses of her suffering from an eye disease or being one-eyed. Most probably, the quartz iris was destroyed at some point in time.

Answer: Xi Shi

During Xi Shi's time (6th century BC) China was a war-torn land, split among seven major powers. One of the kings found and trained Xi Shi and sent her as a gift and a spy to one of his rivals. Xi Shi lived in the Palace of Beautiful Women and influenced King Fuchai of Wu on decisions and state affairs.
Eventually, the king weakened and committed suicide and no one saw Xi Shi again, or so the legend says. The other three Beauties were Wang Zhaojun, Diaochan and Yang Guifei.

Answer: Venus from Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"

The use of expensive alabaster powder mixed in Botticelli's colours is what gives Venus' skin its transparent paleness. The contrapposto figure is rumored to be modeled after Botticelli's alleged love interest, Simonetta Vespucci, a great beauty of Florence who died at age 22. Any affair between them is historically unsupported.

However, an it is an interesting and romantic fact that Botticelli asked to be buried at her feet and his wish was respected when he died, 34 years after Simonetta Vespucci's death.

Answer: Roxelana

Paintings depict Roxelana (1500-1558) as a fair-skinned raven-haired beauty who was captured and sold as a slave in Suleiman the Magnificent's harem where she quickly became his favorite consort and eventually his wife and mother to his heirs. She was a woman of great influence in the Saray who saw one of her son's become Sultan Selim II. She is buried next to Suleiman the Magnificent in the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. (She is not to be confused with the wife of Alexander the Great, Roxanne).

Answer: Sophia Afentaki

Sophia Afentaki, the daughter of a very prominent family, died of tuberculosis in 1878. Her family commissioned Giannoulis Halepas, a famous sculptor at the time, to sculpt her reclining sleeping figure out of the whitest marble. The sculpture is considered the most beautiful funerary sculpture in the cemetery and it is often adorned with fresh flowers by anonymous people.

Answer: Grace Kelly

This exquisite beauty was already famous when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco and fitted very easily into true royalty. While pregnant with her first child, Princess Grace often clutched a hand-made leather bag by Hermes to hide her pregnancy from photographers. The paparazzi photos with the bag became legendary and so the bag was named the Kelly bag.

Answer: Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari

Soraya (1932-2001) was the daughter of a Bakhtiari nobleman and a German wife. She married the Shah of Iran at age 18 years old and divorced him 7 years later because of her apparent inability to produce an heir.
Soraya considered her divorce a "sacrifice of her own happiness" for her country and its people. She lived in Paris after the divorce and tried to have a movie career. She was granted the title Princess of Iran.
The story of her divorce inspired French song writer Francoise Mallet-Jorris to write a pop song that became a hit "Je veux pleurer comme Soraya" ("I want to cry like Soraya").
The Shah of Iran had four children with Empress Farah Diba-Pahlavi but he was ousted from Iran with the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Answer: Iman

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid is the daughter of a Somali diplomat and she pursued a career in modelling in the 70s and 80s. Her striking posture, long slender neck and chiseled facial features have led to comparisons with Cleopatra, Nefertiti and the Queen of Sheba.

She was a muse for Yves St Laurent, Gianni Versace and Calvin Klein, among other designers. Iman was the wife of musician David Bowie.