Heroic Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: Turandot

Turandot is a Persian word meaning 'daughter of Turan', which refers to Central Asia. In the opera, Turandot sets three riddles which her prospective suitors had to solve.

Marco Polo wrote that she was a formidable warrior who fought alongside her father in battle. He also wrote about her battle prowess, describing her as 'snatching people as easily as if they were chickens'. She was famous for declaring that she would not marry anybody who could not best her in a wrestling match, and it was said that she won up to 10,000 horses through various wagers and wins in the wrestling ring.

It is believed that she did marry, but whether her husband defeated her at wrestling was not recorded. Khutulun is thought to be the basis for the character of Turandot, who has been featured in a number of Western productions. She lived between c. 1236-1406.

Answer: Joan of Arc

Mai Bhago was disappointed when she learned that a group of men from her village had deserted Guru Gobind Singh after he was besieged in battle. She led them back to the Guru to apologise for their actions. En route, they came across a force of around 10,000 Mughals, and fought well enough that the troops had to withdraw. The forty Sikhs with Mai Bhago were killed, and she was the only survivor.

The Guru honoured the warriors by proclaiming them the '40 Exalted Ones', and, after recovering from her injuries, Mai Bhago became one of Guru Gobind Singh's bodyguards. The remainder of her story is unclear, as are the dates of her birth and death.

Answer: King

Tamar (1169-1212) was the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right, and, during her reign, Georgia expanded considerably with Tiflis, the capital, having an estimated population of 100,000. This was the Golden Age of the Georgian Kingdom.

Tamar has been canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as the Holy Righteous Queen Tamar with her feast day commemorated on 1 May of the Julian Calendar, or 14 May on the Gregorian Calendar. The Antiochian Orthodox observe her feast, naming her as St. Tamara on 22 April.

She also is featured in "Civilisation 6" in a expansion pack as a playable character.

Answer: Egypt

The Pamyrene Empire was a multi-ethnic one, and it is likely that Zenobia spoke several languages. Her court is described as a tolerant one, and she valued learning. However, her time in power was short lived, as in 272, the Romans claimed back the territory seized by Zenobia, and she was captured in 274. There are several accounts of what happened next, but it is likely she was taken to Antioch as an example to others who might rebel. After her humiliation some historians say she retired and lived out her days near Hadrian's villa.

She is believed to have lived c. 240-274, but her date of death unclear.

Answer: Artemisia

Herodotus, who wrote about Artemis and the Battle of Salamis, recounts that Artemisia counseled against the battle, instead encouraging Xerxes to continue his land battle. During the battle itself, in order to escape from a Greek ship, Artemisia deliberately rammed and sank one of her allies vessels leaving no survivors. While this was ultimately a defeat for the Persian alliance, Xerxes, the Persian ruler, commended Artemisia for her bravery and gifted her a suit of armour.

There is no clear evidence of what happened to Artemisia after the battle. One version has her being sent to Ephesus to care for Xerxes' illegitimate children. In another legend she is said to have fallen in love with Dardanus from Greece, but when he ignored her, she blinded him. An oracle then advised her her that in order to cure herself of the obsession, she should jump from the top of the rock of Leucas.

Amestris was the wife of Xerxes and Atossa was his mother. Cassandra was of the Trojann era.

Answer: Elephant

Lady Trieu is believed to have committed suicide rather than be captured by the Chinese. She is immortalised in song, and has a temple dedicated in her honour. Several versions of a quote are attributed to her:

'I want to ride the storm, tread the dangerous waves,
Kill fierce sharks in the open sea, drive out the Ngo aggressors,
Reclaim our country, break the yoke of slavery.
I will not bow my head and be a concubine of man.'

Interestingly, a bronze sword featuring a female warrior was found on the mountain where tradition states she committed suicide.

In the sixth century, she was awarded the title of Truest and Bravest First Lady by King Name De. She is believed to have lived from 225-248.

Answer: Paris

Speculation still remains today about the circumstances leading up to Noor's capture - it appears likely that the 'circuit' to which she was posted was compromised. Noor was held for several months of interrogation before being sent to Germany as a 'Night and Fog' prisoner destined to disappear. She was held initially at Pforzheim before being transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where she was executed with fellow SOE operatives, Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment, and Eliane Plewman at dawn on 13 September 1944.

There is a memorial plaque to them near their execution spot and it is this plaque which sparked my interest in learning more about Noor.

Answer: Hidden Figures

Katherine had a number of challenges in her career - not only was she a woman, but at the time she joined NASA there was still a colour bar in place. She and her fellow 'computers' had separate lunch rooms and toilet facilities from their white colleagues. She was the first female computer to have a published report with her name on it.

Katherine was responsible for calculating the trajectories for the Gemini program, and it was her calculations that enabled the capsule to be located. She also calculated the trajectories for the Apollo 11, 12, and 13 launches, and it was her work in developing emergency calculation charts that enabled Apollo 13 to navigate their way home.

John Glenn did not trust the mechanical calculators that NASA had started using and insisted that Katherine check these calculations. She was so accurate that she was used to help check the accuracy of the mechanical computers.

Katherine went on to receive many awards, and a building at NASA was named in her honour. She lived to be 101, dying in February 2020.

Answer: Samurai

Nakano Takeko (1847-1868) was one of the last Onna-Musha, or women samurai, who practised offensive warfare. (dDefensive female warriors were known as Onna-buheisha).

After killing at least five Imperial soldiers, Nakano Takeko was shot in the chest. Concerned that her head may be claimed as a war trophy, she asked her younger sister, Yūko, to cut it off. Yuko did so and buried her head underneath a pine tree near the Hōkai temple of her family, in the prefecture of Fukushima. A memorial stone commemorates her nearby.

Answer: Removed her veil

Within 10 years, women across Egypt followed her actions and also stopped wearing the veil. Huda had long had an interest in the education of women, founding a school in 1910, and in 1923, she founded the Egyptian Feminist union. She led picketers to Parliament in 1924, presenting a list of demands and she continued to be an active feminist representing Egypt at various international conferences.

She was subsequently awarded the Order of the Virtues, an Egyptian form of knighthood for women in 1945, two years before her death in 1947.