Writers of the Ancient World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Homer

The "Iliad" is an epic poem set during the war between Troy (Ilium) and several Greek states. The core of the story is a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, but there are many other events in the epic. The "Odyssey" tells us about Ulysses, one of the Greeks in the Trojan War and his adventures during his trip back home, which lasted ten years. Homer is said to have been blind.

His poems originated eight centuries before Christ and are the first works of Western Literature.

Answer: Plato

The "Dialogues" by Plato tell us about Socrates' teachings. Two of them are of special interest: "Crito" is a conversation between Socrates and his rich friend Crito about "justice" and why Socrates should face death and not try to escape. In "Phaedo", Plato describes Socrates' death and his beliefs in a spiritual world.

After Socrates died, Plato traveled for 12 years and finally went back to Athens and founded the Academy. One of his most famous students was Aristotle.

Answer: Virgil

Virgil lived during the reign of Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. He was a peasant who later became educated. In the "Aeneid", Prince Aeneas abandons the city of Troy because of the destruction caused by the Greeks, after the Trojans brought inside the city walls the gigantic horse left by the Greeks.

The Trojans thought it was an offering, but instead, there were many soldiers inside the horse and these surprised the Trojans who were celebrating what seemed to be their enemy's departure. Aeneas is told by the gods to escape with his father and his son and some Trojans to found the city of Rome.

Answer: Pliny the Younger

We know today about the eruption of the Vesuvius thanks to Pliny the Younger's description of this disaster. Vesuvius is a volcano by the city of Pompey. When it erupted, it destroyed three cities, Pompey, Herculaneum and Stibia. Pliny the Younger was in Naples, located across the Bay of same name and was able to see the different stages of the eruption. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, another writer and a very gallant man, had gone to rescue a lady stranded across the bay, but died upon his arrival on the beach.

Answer: Sophocles

Besides the above mentioned tragedy, he also wrote "Electra", "Antigone", "Ajax" and many others but only seven complete ones have survived today. The importance of Sophocles in Greek literature is that he introduced a third actor, reducing the importance of the chorus present in tragedies until then. The other two great writers of tragedies were Aeschylus and Euripides.

Answer: Aristophanes

Aristophanes' comedies often criticized the politics of those days. A good example of this was the comedy "Lysistrata", in which the women of Athens have the mission of ending the Peloponnesian War by refusing their husbands' sexual advances until a peace treaty was signed by the two enemies.

Answer: Herodotus

Herodotus traveled to many areas of the ancient world, like Egypt, Syria, Tyre and Babylon. He is best known for his account of the Greco-Persian Wars, which he called "The Histories". He also wrote "An Account of Egypt", which tells us about his travels in this country. Although Herodotus was Persian by birth, he eventually moved to Athens and was contemporary to Socrates.

Answer: Plutarch

Plutarch's "Parallel Lives" is a collection of four individual biographies and twenty three pairs of biographies comparing the lives of a Greek and a Roman soldier, statesman or notable. For example, he writes comparisons between Alexander and Julius Caesar, Demosthenes and Cicero and Theseus and Romulus. Plutarch is also known because of his critique of the Stoic and Epicurean philosophies and for his admiration for Plato and his works.

Answer: Aristotle

Aristotle was not only a philosopher, but also a scientist, a politician, a zoologist, a biologist, a musician, a poet, a physicist and a master of rhetoric. He joined Plato's Academy when he was eighteen and remained in Athens until his late thirties. When Plato died, he then accepted the job of tutor to Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedon.

Answer: Saul of Tarsus

Saul or Paul, the Apostle, never knew Jesus Christ. It is said that he converted to Christianity when Jesus Christ appeared to him surrounded by blinding light. He lost his eyesight for three days and when he was able to see again, he began his apostolic work, writing his Epistles, seven of which are definitely written by him.

These are the Epistles to Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon and 1 Thessalonians. The other Epistles were, scholars think, the work of Paul's disciples and followers. Paul was educated, he could speak Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, which is another Semitic language, the language of Christ and close to Hebrew.