Wicked Women in History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thais

Thais, an Athenian, is said to have wanted to avenge the Persians' burning of Athens in 480 BC. She later married Alexander's general, Ptolemy, and had three children by him. The burning of Persepolis was a senseless act, one that Alexander's advisors cautioned him against.

Answer: Jezebel

Jezebel not only introduced idol worship into Israel, she got her husband to worship them along with her. She also killed Jewish priests and replaced them with priests of Baal. When her husband wanted to get his hands on a vineyard owned by one of his subjects, she counseled him to accuse the owner of blasphemy and have him stoned to death.

After her husband's death, the new King, Jehu, ordered her thrown to her death from a high tower. As the Prophet Elijah had predicted, dogs ate all of her body except her skull, feet, and hands.

Answer: Hatshepsut

Sometimes touted by feminists as the "first great woman in history," there is really very little to admire about this woman. She did build some magnificent monuments, and extended Egypt's trade routes, but she also allowed Egypt's military power to decline.

When Thutmosis became king, he had her monuments systematically destroyed. This could be attributed to his personal animosity, but no future ruler ever acknowledged her reign to be legitimate, and she is not included in any of the ancient "King lists". One thing that is certain is that Thutmosis III was a much more important and successful ruler than she was.

Answer: Tarpeia

During one of the many wars between the Romans and the Sabines, Tarpeia, whose father was the keeper of the outer gate of the citadel of Rome, agreed to secretly open the gate and let the Sabines enter, in exchange "for that which they wore on their left arms," (i.e., their gold and silver bracelets).

After she had done so, and came to claim her reward, the Sabines, disgusted with her act of treachery, buried her under their shields -- which they also wore on their left arms -- until she was crushed to death.

Afterwards, the rock from which condemned Roman criminals and traitors were thrown to their deaths was known as the Tarpeian Rock.

Answer: Messalina

Despite her aristocratic background, Valeria Messalina was no lady. Her affairs were innumerable. During Claudius' absence from Rome, she actually went through a marriage ceremony with one of her lovers, Caius Silius, and plotted to kill Claudius and place him on the Imperial throne. The plot was foiled, and Messalina was executed.

Answer: Elisabeth Bathory

Countess Elisabeth (or Erzebet) Bathory was born in 1560. She seems to have been a bad one from the beginning, although while her husband was alive she confined her amusements to lesbian orgies and a little good-natured torturing of her servants. She is said to have acquired her taste for blood when she slapped a servant, and thought the girl's blood made her hand look younger.

She and her friends kidnapped hundreds of girls whom they first tortured, then killed and drained. Even a Countess can get away with such doings for so long; in December 1610 she was arrested.

The following year she was found guilty of murder. Being of noble blood, she was not executed; instead, she was walled up in a small room inside her castle, with only a small opening through which food and drink could be passed to her.

She died there in 1614.

Answer: Lucrezia Borgia

Many people who dined with Lucrezia died shortly thereafter. She is said to have worn a ring with a secret compartment containing poison, which she would slip into her companion's drink. She died at age 39 due to complications from childbirth. The wrong choices are all saints in the Roman Catholic church.

Answer: Mary I

She was known to history as "Bloody Mary". She was neurotic in many ways,and her brief reign (1553-58) was a turbulent time in English history. She was the first female English monarch since Matilda in the 12th century.

Upon their marriage, Philip was styled King of England. An act of parliament was required to ensure he could only ever act jointly with Queen Mary I.

Answer: Ranavalona I

She started off by murdering her husband to gain the throne, and followed up by having almost all of her relatives slaughtered. In 1837 she expelled all foreigners from her kingdom, shut all Christian churches and forbade baptisms. Those Christians who refused to worship idols, she had thrown off cliffs to their deaths.

She also forbade her subjects to learn to read and write. There is a very good book about her called "Flashman's Lady," by George McDonald Fraser, but be forewarned: once you read one Flashman novel, you'll want to read them all!

Answer: Lady Katherine Ferrers

The movie was remade in 1983, this time starring Faye Dunaway (the characters in the movies have different names, but the stories are based on Katherine's legend). According to the myth, Katherine Ferres, daughter of an ancient and noble family, was married to a man named Thomas Fanshawe at age 14. The Fanshawes backed the losing side in the English Civil War, and lost their fortune, along with Katherine's. She then took to the roads as a highwayman, robbing travelers and coaches in her native Hertfordshire. She was supposedly shot and killed at the tender age of 18, and her ghost is supposed to haunt a house called Markyate Cell.

There was a real Lady Katherine Ferrers, born May 4, 1634, who married Thomas Fanshawe, but there is no historical evidence that she was ever linked to highway robbery and she didn't die until 1660. A bad reputation is hard to live down.

Answer: Anne Bonny

Little is known of Anne Bonny's early life; she is said to have been born in Ireland, the illegitimate daughter of a lawyer named William Cormac and his wife's serving maid. Cormac, the maid and Anne moved to South Carolina to escape the scandal surrounding her birth. At a young age Anne married a rather worthless character named James Bonny who took her to the Bahamas. She quickly tired of her husband and deserted him to become the mistress of "Calico Jack" Rackham, a dashing pirate. They took several ships, but in 1720 were captured. Anne fought bravely, but her husband locked himself below decks and refused to offer battle.

They were taken to Jamaica where both were sentenced to hang. Anne "pled her belly," (i.e., claimed to be pregnant and escaped the noose), but Calico Jack was hanged on November 19, 1720. He asked to see Anne before he died. It is said that at their last meeting Anne scornfully told him: "If you had fought like a man, you needn't hang like a dog." Mary Read was another woman pirate who sailed with Anne Bonny and Calico Jack.

Answer: Typhoid Mary

Born in Ireland in 1869, Mary Mallon came to America in 1883, and found employment as a domestic servant. She seldom stayed employed by the same family for long periods of time, moving from household to household. Everywhere she went, people came down with typhoid fever, an often fatal disease. Eventually the health authorities became suspicious and had her tested for the disease. They found that she was a carrier -- a person who does not become ill, but who can, nevertheless, pass the disease on to others.

She was confined to a cottage in the Bronx until 1910, when she was released upon the condition that she no longer work as a cook. She promptly took an assumed name and began working as a cook. It took authorities five years to track her down. Because she refused to cooperate with health officials, we'll never know how many people Typhoid Mary killed; there were at least 50 cases of typhoid fever and three deaths directly attributed to her, but the total is probably much higher. She was locked up in a sanitarium for the rest of her life, where she died in 1938.

Answer: Ilsa Koch

Her hobby was collecting lampshades, book covers and gloves made from human skin. After World War II she was tried by an American military tribunal, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment. But her sentenced was reduced to four years, and she was released after a very short time in jail.

She was arrested again in 1949, and tried before a German court for killing German nationals. She was again sentenced to life; she committed suicide in a Bavarian prison on September 1, 1967.

In all, 19 Nazi women were executed for war crimes after World War II. The notorious cult film, "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS," was supposedly based on Frau Koch's exploits.

Answer: Georgia Tann

Georgia Tann would sometimes persuade young mothers to turn over their children to her with the promise that they would be well cared for; when one came to reclaim the child she would be told that it had died. Other times she would rely on a corrupt judge (also female) to have children taken from their families on charges of neglect or abuse.

Some say she may have stolen as many as 5000 children. Her story was made into a 1993 TV movie called "Stolen Babies," starring Mary Tyler Moore. She was never punished for her crimes.

Answer: Axis Sally

Also known as Mildred Gillers, she moved to Germany in 1935 and became an instructor at the Berlitz School of Languages in Berlin. Unlike her Japanese counterpart, Tokyo Rose, who was coerced into broadcasting anti-American propaganda, Axis Sally was an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazi regime. From December 11, 1941, through May 6, 1945, she made radio broadcasts designed to undermine the morale of allied troops.

She was convicted of treason in 1949. She was released in 1962, returned to America and became a music instructor. Axis Sally died in 1988.