Greeks: From Troy to Rome

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. In one of the pivotal battles of the ancient world, 300 Spartans held a mountain pass against a Persian army of thousands. At the end, every Spartan lay dead, but precious time had been gained for the rest of the Greek army. Name the battle. Zama Marathon Thermopylae Salamis

2. What king led the Spartans in the battle described in Question 1, a famous suicidal stand against the Persians? Pericles Alexander the Great Lycurgus Leonidas

3. According to legend, the kidnapping of what woman led to the Trojan War? Answer: (One Word)

4. Name the poet who immortalized the Trojan War and its effects in 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey'. Answer: (One Word)

5. Speaking of Troy: in the nineteenth century, what archeologist defied scientific opinion and dug near the Hellespont, discovering the remains of a great city believed to have been Troy? Lord Curzon Leakey Schliemann Carver

6. It seems like the Greeks were always fighting the Persians and winning, but once, the Persians almost won. What desperate naval battle saved the people of Athens and of Greece? Marathon Thermopylae Trafalgar Salamis

7. What Athenian politician suggested the strategy that enabled the battle in Question 6, the most celebrated naval battle of the Persian Wars? Pericles Aegeus Theseus Themistocles

8. Who devised the laws that would later govern Sparta? Leonidas Lycurgus Menelaos Odysseus

9. Despite the power of their army, the Spartans lived in constant terror of an uprising of their slaves, who outnumbered them 8 to 1. What were these slaves called? Answer: (One Word)

10. Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, was king of what nation? Corinth Greece Macedon Mycenae

11. Alexander the Great had a famous horse after whom he named a city in India. What was the horse's name? King of the Wind Incitatus Bucephalus Pegasus

12. Through what defensive alliance of Greek city-states, established just after the Persian wars, did the Athenian statesmen Pericles divert funds for the beautification of Athens? Delian League Peloponnesian League League of Corinth Athenian Alliance

13. Once Athens's embezzlement from the above league became apparent, Sparta led other city-states in what successful war against Athens? Peloponnesian War Persian War Alexander's conquests Roman War

14. What historian told the story of the war in Question 13? Herodotus Thucydides Hippolytus Plato

15. What Athenian philosopher, who pioneered the technique of teaching by asking questions, was put to death with a poison made of hemlock? Aristotle Socrates Plato Sophocles

16. What playwright wrote the first great Greek comedies, such as 'Lysistrata'? Sophocles Socrates Aeschylus Aristophanes

17. Who wrote the 'Oedipus' trilogy, about a man doomed by fate who killed his father and married his mother? Answer: (One Word)

18. Who wrote 'The Republic' and 'The Apology'? Aristotle Socrates Plato Sophocles

19. A Greek mathematician was killed by a Roman soldier when the Greek's city was conquered. Hard at work on a problem, the mathematician would not get up, and said to the soldier, 'Don't disturb my circles.' In a rage, the soldier ended the life of what brilliant man who calculated pi and first realized the uses of a lever? Pythagoras Archimedes Euclid Leonard Euler

20. In an event familiar to all high school math students (who repeat the calculations, again and again), what Greek scholar calculated the circumference of the Earth with amazing accuracy? Eratosthenes Aristarchus Archimedes Pythagoras