Egyptology Trivia Quiz

Answer: French soldiers

The Rosetta Stone is a black granite stele, discovered in 1799 at the village of el-Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta by some French soldiers of Napoleon who were strengthening the wall of a fort.

The Rosetta Stone was critical in deciphering the hieroglyphs because it contained a text in three different scripts, hieroglyphic, demotic (a form of popular, commonly used script), and finally Greek. It was this last one, which being known, permitted the deciphering of the text.

The Rosetta Stone is now in the British Museum in London, as the French had to give it up to the British as spoils of war.

Answer: Anubis

Anubis, the canine god of the dead, is usually represented as a seated or standing black dog's head on a human body. In Eygptian religion or mythology Anubis also acted a guide to the dead in the afterlife.

Answer: A female pharaoh

Hatshepsut was acting as regent for her young stepson Thutmose III, but had herself crowned as king, and reigned for a long time.
It is not clear whether or not she was finally forcibly removed from power.

Answer: Rome

The Romans removed many obelisks from Egypt, including the tallest, the so-called Lateran Obelisk. The most famous is the one in St.Peter's Square.

Answer: the temples of Ramses II

Abu Simbel is the site of two rock-cut temples of Ramses II.
They were moved to higher ground to preserve them from the waters of Lake Nasser, when the Aswan Dam was built.

Answer: A rattling musical instrument

The sistrum was played mostly by women (princesses and priestesses) during ritual ceremonies.

Answer: Jean-François Champollion

Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832), with a knowledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, Arabic, Syriac and Chaldean, was able to decipher the hieroglyphs with the help of the Rosetta Stone.

Answer: A tool used for irrigation

A shapduf consists of a long pole holding a container balancing at one end, and a weight at the other end, so that water can be pulled out of a river or canal and used for irrigating vegetable or flower gardens.

It is still used today in modern Egypt.

Answer: An oval outline containing the name of pharaohs

The cartouche is an oval outline which represents a length of rope containing the names of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Napoleon's soldiers gave these ovals the name "cartouche", which in French means gun cartridge because of its cartridge like shape.

Answer: A potsherd

Ostraka (plural of ostrakon) are sherds of pottery or limestone, inscribed with drawings, sketches or texts.
They were cheaper for writing than papyrus, and hundreds of them have been excavated.