Party Like an Egyptian Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cleopatra

Cleopatra, or Cleopatra VII as she was technically known, was born to Ptolemy XII in 69 BC. She was the last Egyptian ruler to be known as pharaoh; and she was given joint rulership of Egypt with her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, despite not actually having pure Egyptian blood within her.

However, she did not want joint rulership, and sought the help of Julius Caesar in order to obtain sole power; he helped to kill Ptolemy XIII, whom she had married due to custom. Whilst Caesar and Cleopatra had a romance thereafter, it did not stand the test of time, and she became infatuated instead with Mark Antony.

However, he committed suicide after losing the Naval Battle of Actium, defeated by Octavian, and Cleopatra followed suit soon after with the famous asp bite...

Despite her short reign, Cleopatra's story has been used in many forms of entertainment media, including a 1963 film and a Shakespearean play ("Antony and Cleopatra"), and an English band was, most likely, named after her.

Malik24 handled Cleopatra's invitation personally.

Answer: Secretary-General of the United Nations

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is that body's chief administrator, and unofficially serves as a leader, spokesman, and mediator. For Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a lawyer born in Cairo in 1922, the role was a natural step: he had already helped make peace between his homeland and Israel, and had led his country's delegates to the U.N. several times. Boutros-Ghali's term saw a shift in the nature of world crises, from inter-state conflicts to internal struggles (like the collapse of the Somalian state or the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi).

Later in life, Boutros-Ghali devoted his efforts to increasing democratic participation at the UN; one proposal would allow ordinary people to directly elect delegates to a global assembly! It's natural for him to celebrate democracy now with some coffee and apple cake, although his family's long involvement in Egyptian government makes democracy a mixed blessing for them. His nephew, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, was a finance minister under President Hosni Mubarak. In 2011, he was convicted in absentia of corruption and sentenced to thirty years in prison.

CellarDoor is only complicating matters by pointing out that both cinnamon- and nutmeg-flavored apple cakes are available.

Answer: Imhotep

The link to the Bangles song is tenuous at best, but hey, it sounds good. Imhotep was actually a very important man who served as chancellor under Pharaoh Djoser and was the high priest of the sun god Ra. He was one of the few commoners who was believed to have become a god after his death and he even had a cult following based in Memphis. He was famous as an architect, engineer, and doctor. He designed Djoser's Step Pyramid and has been credited as the first to use columns in architecture. He was considered the father of Egyptian medicine.

With all those accomplishments, it's time for Imhotep to kick back a little. You can find tazman6619 teaching him all the 1980s dance moves he needs to truly appreciate that Bangles tune.

Answer: Naguib Mahfouz

When Mahfouz (1911-2006) received his Nobel Prize, the committee admired the way that he had "formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind" through his rich, densely layered prose. Despite his incredibly prolific writing - including some fifty novels and three hundred and fifty short stories - he continued working his day job at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture until a normal retirement age. He was much beloved in Egypt, but sadly not by everyone; his support of Salman Rushdie, as well as the controversial religious allegories of "Children of Gebelawi", inspired an assassin to stab him in the neck in 1995, when he was 84 years old. Luckily, Mahfouz survived for another dozen years.

The incorrect answer choices are also modern writers from the Arab world, but only Mahfouz was Egyptian.

CellarDoor brought Mahfouz to the party, where no bodyguards are needed and there are plenty of Umm Ali raisin cakes to go around.

Answer: Mathematics

"Elements" consists of 13 books, all about mathematical proofs, definitions, theorems, and geometry; and some refer to Euclid as the father of geometry. Much of "Elements" was based on existing and refined work at the time (and a lot of it!) and Euclid is also known for his 'Number Theory', which studies the properties of integers (or whole numbers). Part of this branch includes the study of prime numbers, which only divide by themselves and 1. In addition, Euclid pushed the method of deductive reasoning, which is a method used in logic - and, whilst his method eventually was discontinued, it heavily influenced how people approached geometry and mathematics itself. Some believe Euclid's "Elements" was one of the most influential works of all time.

It is said that Ptolemy, the ruler of the times, asked him if there was a shorter way to study geometry than detailed in "Elements", and Euclid is said to have responded "There is no royal road to geometry". Elements of "Elements" are also said to have been based on Plato's writings and work; however, Euclid is only really solidly known for writing "Elements" - and no other facts about him, not even his exact dates of existence, can be truly ascertained.

Malik24 is the one who deduced that Euclid would be a prime party guest.

Answer: Mohamed ElBaradei

The man has earned his baklava! ElBaradei was born on June 17, 1942 in Cairo, Egypt. As head of the IAEA he was part of the inspections regime prior to the Iraq War in 2003 and disputed the US claim that Iraq had attempted to obtain uranium from Niger. He won the Nobel Peace Prize along with the agency in 2005 for their efforts to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons.

During the Arab Spring uprising in January of 2011, ElBaradei joined with protestors in seeking the ouster of then-President Hosni Mubarak. Although his name was circulated as early as 2009 as a possible presidential candidate, he stated on January 14, 2012 that he would not run for president.

When tazman6619 invited ElBaradei to our bash, he discovered that the Nobel laureate was in fact fully in favor of the proliferation of fun.

Answer: Origen

Origen was born in Alexandria, around the year 184 AD. His name seems to mean something like "son of Horus," despite the fact that his parents were Christians too; his Egyptian heritage ran deep! He taught, wrote, and preached, and made a special project of compiling and commenting on the writings of the very early Christians; this ultimately laid the foundations for today's New Testament, which collects the writings that early Christians like Origen regarded as divinely inspired. In other areas, his influence has been less profound, since some of his ideas - like the existence of souls at the beginning of time, the superiority of God the Father to Jesus Christ, and the possibility that God and Satan might reconcile - became more and more controversial over time, and eventually were declared heretical by the Christian leadership. Origen is therefore one of only a few men recognized as a father of the Christian Church, but not revered as a saint.

Origen died around 253 as a result of torture: it was not a good time to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. While he was not renowned as a party animal in his lifetime, he would surely have found new political and civil freedoms something to cheer.

CellarDoor figured that Origen would be able to analyze our party forwards and backwards. He's already helped us identify a serious problem: we've almost run out of sugar-cane juice!

Answer: Anwar Sadat

Sadat's full name was Muhammad Anwar El Sadat. He was born on December 25, 1918 in Mit Abu al-Kum, al-Minufiyah. He was a senior member of the officers who overthrew the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in 1952. He was a close confidant of Egypt's second president, Nasser, and succeeded him as president.

He led Egypt during the 1973 October War, known better as the Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel to try to regain territory lost in the Six-Day War. Israel was able to rally but the war was halted by US and USSR intervention, so it ended in a stalemate.

In 1978, US President Jimmy Carter held the Camp David meeting which led to the Camp David Accords that brought peace between Israel and Egypt. On March 26, 1979 Sadat joined Menachem Begin in signing the peace treaty at the White House. Both Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. On October 6, 1981, Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists for making peace with Israel.

Tazman6619 made plenty of kahk -- a shortbread biscuit with date or walnut stuffing and plenty of sugary icing -- in order to entice Sadat to come.

Answer: Omar Sharif

"Lawrence of Arabia" was Omar Sharif's first English film, and for his portrayal of that role, he won an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award for 'Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture'.

In addition, Omar Sharif has a degree in mathematics and physics, which he earned at the University of Cairo, and met his first wife, Faten Hamama, after his graduation; notably, Faten agreed to kiss Omar on screen, which was an act she had refused to do with other actors, and this was what led their romance to blossom. They appeared in several other Egyptian films as co-stars.

He has also been known for his skill in the card game bridge, playing at the competitive level for many years, although he gave this up in 2006 when he decided to give priority to other life events.

Although he has played roles in many films, some of the most notable (other than "Lawrence of Arabia") include "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), "Genghis Khan" (1965), and "Funny Girl" (1968).

Malik24 laid out the red carpet for Sharif's appearance here. And what an appearance!

Answer: Tutankhamen

Prince Tutankhaten ascended the throne in 1333 BC at the tender age of nine years. At the age of thirteen he made several changes that effectively reversed policies set in place by his predecessor. One of these was to restore the privileges to the priests of the god Amun. It was at this point that he changed his own name to Tutankhamen, which means "in the image of Amun". He also moved the capital city to Thebes and began a policy of restoring relations with neighbouring kingdoms in an effort to reduce the turmoil that defined his father's reign and to shore up the economy of his country which, at the time, was fairly fragile.

Tutankhamen died at the age of eighteen and his death remains the subject of conjecture. It is acknowledged that he was slight of build and needed a cane to assist mobility which would indicate that he was not robust of health; however, it has been argued that he may have been assassinated.

His tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and George Herbert. DC Comics created the character King Tut as one of Batman's arch-villains.

Luckily, pollucci19 is at hand to prevent any Batman from disturbing the boy king.