Art of the Ancients Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the best known sculptures from pre-historic times is a small figurine of a very voluptuous female. Sculptures of this sort have been found in Central Europe. This famous lady has been given what name?

Answer: Venus of Willendorf

This figure seems to be a collection of balls arranged, in the round, in a female figure. It is believed to be not any particular woman, but, instead, a symbol of fertility. She is 4 1/8 inches high, made of limestone, and dates from about 28,000-25,000 B.C. (Her hair looks like it's curled or braided, and wrapped around her head).

2. Prehistoric cave art of Europe, usually known as cave paintings, usually depict animals. What animal would you probably not see in a cave painting?

Answer: Pterodactyl

All three of the wrong answers are known in cave paintings, even the spotted horse. The Pterodactyl lived in a time before humans. Cave art can be seen in several locations in France, and in rock shelters in Spain. Other areas of the world also have prehistoric rock art that can still be seen.

3. The art of the ancient Near East (roughly, Mesopotamia) is well known and admired today. The ancient Greek, Herodotus, tells of a great temple in Babylon, with an ornate gate of dark blue glazed brick decorated with snarling lions, the dragon of Marduk, and the bull of Adad. What is the name of this gate, dedicated to an important goddess?

Answer: The Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate has rarely been surpassed in beauty and durability, in the history of architecture. It was restored to its former glory, which was in c. 575 B.C., to be viewed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.

4. Ancient Egypt had, and still has, many important works of art. One important landmark had stood over 2,000 years, but was threatened by the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. What ancient colossus, about 60 feet high, was carved into the surrounding rock, yet saved by modern technology?

Answer: Temple of Ramses II

The temple of Ramses II, far up the Nile River at Abu Simbel, was completed in 1257 B.C. A huge project was able to move the whole complex, in 1968, far above the waters of the dam which would soon have inundated it.

5. This sculpture is a beautiful image of a woman from long ago, perhaps the most beautiful in all art history. The sculpture, from Ancient Egypt, is usually seen in profile, and some say it resembles a flower on a long stalk. The woman was the queen of the pharaoh Akhenaton. Who was this never-to-be-forgotten beauty?

Answer: Queen Nefertiti

Queen Nefertiti is seen as a painted limestone bust, with a musing expression and carved in a delicate contour. The feeling expresses to the viewer that they must know her, know more about her, but they never will. It is enough just to view the beauty from around 1360 B.C., and 20 inches high. She was seen in the Neues Museum in Berlin.

6. A death mask made of beaten gold was found at Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876. It was given the name of the king of Mycenae during the time of Homer's "The Iliad". What is the name of this mask?

Answer: The Mask of Agamemnon

"The Mask of Agamemnon" is dated c. 1500 B.C., which is several hundred years before Agamemnon, according to Homer. But the name remains the same. In recent years, some scholars have cast doubt on the authenticity of the find, saying that Schliemann was less than truthful. This charge has not been proven.

Several other beaten gold masks were found at the same time, attached to the mummified faces of Mycenaean princes.

7. Greek art was at its peak of perfection about 450-430 B.C., a time of lifelike perfection in sculpture especially. This period is known as the High Classical Period, or more commonly as what?

Answer: The Golden Age of Greece

In this period the human figure was idealized to represent the Gods and Goddesses, and the figures were to be perfect, as no real human could be.

As Bruno Snell wrote in "The Discovery of the Mind", "If we want to describe the statues of the fifth century in the words of their age, we should say that they represent beautiful or perfect men...or 'godlike' men." (And women, of course).

It was a period of glory for Athens under the leadership of Pericles. At this time the Acropolis was rebuilt after being destroyed in a war.

8. Many of the sculptures from the Classical Period Parthenon, and other buildings, were taken to the British Museum between 1801 and 1803. These sculptures were known by what name?

Answer: the Elgin Marbles

Between 1801 and 1803, Greece was under Turkish rule. Lord Elgin was the British ambassador to the Ottoman court at Constantinople, and he was given permission to dismantle some of the Acropolis sculptures and ship the best-preserved ones to London.

The British government eventually purchased the sculptures from Elgin at a great monetary loss to him. These sculptures have known a lot of controversy, some calling Elgin a thief, but there is no doubt that by removing them from Greece he saved many from destruction; destruction not only from weathering and earthquakes, but destruction by the ruling Turks.

9. On the Italian Penninsula, before the Romans, the Etruscans ruled. What is known about this culture has resulted mainly from scholars studying the art and other remains of their elaborate burial grounds. Is that statement true or false?

Answer: True

Little is known about Etruscan architecture, because, when the Romans came to power, they destroyed or rebuilt Etruscan structures. Also, they were not politically united.

Etruscan burial grounds have revealed much about their culture. They decorated the interior of their tombs with rich wall paintings and painted reliefs which told of their lives including banquets and dancing. They had athletic events and wars and, as the culture declined, the subjects of their paintings grew ever more bloodthirsty.

Their tombs varied by location, some areas built them above ground while others were excavated from live rock, or built of tufa-brick. Cemeteries were far from cities and could contain hundreds of tombs along streets.

10. Much of Roman art and architecture seems to have derived from the Greeks. However one major aspect of Roman art was uniquely their own. What did the Ancient Romans excel in?

Answer: Portraits

Early in Roman history, portraitists began making portrait sculpture and painting as, unlike Greeks, they were interested in showing what real people looked like. This type of sculpture probably came from the custom of making wax death masks and keeping them in their homes. An example is "Head of a Roman", a marble bust c.80 B.C. The character of the subject is shown in this life size sculpture, that seems alive and masklike at the same time. The sculptor did not try to idealize the subject, as the Greeks did.

Wall painting was popular in Rome perhaps because the houses had a small number of windows and doors, which left plenty of space to paint landscapes or people, Gods and Goddesses, scenes from myths etc. Unlike the Greeks, the Roman deities looked like real people.

Source: Author mpkitty

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

If you read ancient books, or view ancient art, one thing becomes clear - people then really weren't so different from us, enlightened people of today.

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