Veni Vidi Vici Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mercury

Interest in Qin Shi Huang was revived in 1974 when a vast army of terracotta warriors was discovered near what is believed to be his tomb near Xi'an, China. Qin Shi Huang was a cruel and merciless ruler, and seems to have had a particular dislike for scholars; he had many of them executed and buried alive. Ancient writings tell us that as he grew older, Qin developed a morbid fear of death, and started a desperate quest to find the fabled "elixir of life" that would make him immortal. Unfortunately, many of the potions he drank in an attempt to prolong his life contained poisonous mercury compounds, and it is likely that he died of mercury poisoning at 49.

He died in a remote province of his empire, and it took a long time to return his body to Xi'an. Fearing news of his death would spark a civil war, officials pretended he was still alive, and ordered that cartloads of rotting fish be placed around Qin's carriage to disguise the stench of his decomposing corpse on the journey home.

Answer: Killed by a hippopotamus

Most archeologists believe Menes was another name for the Pharaoh Narmer, the King of Upper Egypt, who conquered Lower Egypt and unified the country around 3150 BC. The historian Manetho, writing around 230 BC, tells us that the Menes died while he was out hunting, and was mauled to death by a hippopotamus.

This isn't as strange as it sounds. Hippos may look cute, but they kill almost 3,000 people a year in Africa.

Answer: True

We know a lot about Alexander's death, but we don't know where he is buried. After a brief illness, he died in Babylon on June 10 or June 11, 323 BC. The exact cause of death isn't known, but typhoid fever seems likely. After his death, there was a lot of argument over where he would be buried. Legends say his body was placed in a vat of honey to prevent decomposition, while his generals argued over where his resting place would be.

Eventually it was decided to return his body to his native Macedonia, but Ptolemy 1, the ruler of Egypt, kidnapped the corpse and had it buried in Memphis. A short time later it was moved to Alexandria. We know from the descriptions of visitors that Alexander was placed in a magnificent sarcophagus made of transparent rock crystal, and was buried wearing his armor. The Roman Emperor, Caracalla, is supposed to have stolen some of the armor in 215 AD, and sealed up the tomb.

What happened next is unclear, but within a couple of hundred years the location of the tomb seems to have been lost, because around 400 AD the Christian writer, John Chrysostom, wrote: "For, tell me, where is the tomb of Alexander? Show it me and tell me the day on which he died... his tomb even his own people know not." So today, no one knows where Alexander the Great is buried. His tomb may have been destroyed during one of the numerous invasions of Egypt, his body may have been moved somewhere else, or his tomb may lie beneath a church or mosque in modern Alexandria.

Answer: Caesar had had an affair with his mother

Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His mother was one Caesar's many mistresses. Whether this influenced Brutus to participate in Caesar's assassination is open to question. The rumors that Caesar was Brutus' real father are almost certainly false, if for no other reason than the fact that Caesar was only 15 when Brutus was born, and his mother's relationship with Caesar did not begin until much later.

Answer: He killed a sacred bull

Cambyses II was the son of Cyrus the Great of Persia. He became king when his father died in 530 BC, and five years later he invaded and conquered Egypt. He adopted the traditional titles and style of Pharaoh, but seems to have been contemptuous of Egyptian traditions and beliefs, which he regarded as the worst kind of superstitions.

He had the mummy of his predecessor, Amasis II, dragged from its tomb, beaten, and set on fire. He poisoned Amasis' son, Psamtik III, by forcing him to drink bull's blood (the ancient sources are a little unclear how this would kill a person). But the thing that really shocked the Egyptians was that he killed an Apis bull, which was sacred to the god Ptah. An Apis bull was identified by its special markings, and the birth of an Apis bull was the cause of great rejoicing among the Egyptians. One happened to be born while Cambyses was on the throne, and he stabbed it in the thigh with his dagger, mocking the Egyptians who revered it as a god.

Not long after this, Cambyses had to return to Persia to deal with a rebellion. Herodotus says that as he was mounting his horse, his scabbard broke and the tip of his sword pierced his thigh - in the same spot he had stabbed the sacred bull. The wound became infected, and Cambyses died an agonizing death. Coincidence?

Answer: Struck by lightning

Carus, whose short reign lasted only from 282 to 283 AD, became emperor after his predecessor, Probus, had been killed by his own troops. A competent general, Carus won several victories against the Germanic tribes threatening Rome's borders, and then launched a campaign against the Persians.

He won several victories and had advanced far into Persian territory, when several ancient sources say that a freak thunderstorm arose and Carus was struck and killed by lightning while lying in his tent. Of course, not everyone believes this; some historians believe that he was murdered, or died of the plague, but death by lightning remains the most popular theory for his untimely demise.

Answer: Nose bleed

Attila was the leader of the Huns, a fierce Eurasian tribe who ravaged the Roman Empire in the 5th Century AD. The Huns did so much damage that the Romans called Attila "the scourge of God". The Huns seemed unstoppable until they were defeated by the Roman general Aetius in 451 at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Even after this reversal, Attila continued to attack and plunder northern Italy.

In 453, he married a woman named Ildico, who seems to have been a Gothic princess. After a night of feasting and drinking, Attila retired to celebrate his latest marriage. The next morning he was found dead and covered in blood. He appears to have suffered a severe nosebleed, and choked to death on his own blood. His grave has never been found. The so-called Hunnic Empire disintegrated soon after his death.

Answer: Germany invaded the Soviet Union in WWII

Tamerlane, also known as Timur, Tamerlaine, and Tamburlaine, was born in Uzbekistan in 1336. When he was very young, he suffered a wound in his right side; Tamerlane is an Anglicized version of "Timur the Lame". Through 35 years of almost constant warfare, he carved out an empire that reached from Russia to India. He is said to have died, probably of pneumonia, in 1405.

Tamerlane was buried in a magnificent tomb in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. On June 20, 1941, the Russian archeologist, Mikhail M. Gerasimov, opened Tamerlane's tomb and exhumed his body. The tomb had an inscription that read, "Whoever opens my tomb, shall unleash an invader more terrible than I". Two days later, Hitler launched his invasion of the Soviet Union. Stalin supposedly ordered Tamerlane's bones to be reinterred in his tomb with all appropriate honors. Shortly afterwards, the Soviets defeated the Germans at Stalingrad. Coincidence?

Answer: His body exploded

William was campaigning in France in 1087 when his horse shied and he was pitched forward onto the pommel of his saddle, rupturing his internal organs. It took over three weeks for him to die, which he did on September 9, 1087. Those in attendance immediately left the dead king's side, and scurried off to make sure their possessions were secure.

His servants stripped the body of everything of value, and left William's corpse lying almost naked on the floor of the chamber where he died. But it gets worse.

It was decided that William would be buried in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes in Caen. Just before the funeral service, a fire broke out that destroyed most of the town. Then it was discovered that the stone sarcophagus built to receive his body was too short (William was a big guy).

As the monks attempted to cram him into it, his body exploded. According to one of the monks, "the swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd." Needless to say, the funeral was hastily concluded. William II built his father a magnificent tomb, but it was destroyed by pillaging Huguenots in 1522; a new tomb was built in 1642, but it was destroyed during the French Revolution. Today, all that survives of William's remains is a single thighbone, which is buried under a simple stone slab.

Answer: A red-hot poker was inserted in his anus

Edward II, who ruled from 1307 to 1327 was a bad king. In "Braveheart", he was the rather effeminate young man who was always being slapped around by his father, Longshanks. He undid his father's conquest of Scotland by being disastrously defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and also lost many of his possessions in France.

He managed to sire at least five children, but contemporaries all agree that he much preferred the company of men (not that there's anything wrong with that). His constant showering of titles and favors upon his many male favorites angered many powerful members of the nobility. In 1326, his estranged wife, Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, launched an invasion of England, defeated Edward, and forced him to abdicate in January, 1327. Edward was imprisoned in Berkeley Castle, and was murdered in September or October, 1327. According to an account by Sir Thomas More: "On the night of October 11 (1327 AD) while lying in on a bed (the king) was suddenly seized and, while a great mattress... weighed him down and suffocated him, a plumber's iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his secret parts (into his anus) so that it burned the inner portions beyond the intestines".

Many historians deny this account; some say he was strangled, others that he died of natural causes, and a few even claim that he did not die at all, but escaped and lived out his life in exile on the continent. It is known, however, that Edward II was given a public funeral; if he had been murdered, a method had to be found that would leave no marks upon his body, so who knows?