World (Ancient)

Question 1

Hannibal fought for what ancient city-state located on the Lake of Tunis?

Answer 1

Carthage (Tunisia)

Question 2

Within the Paleozoic era of the geologic timescale, two Periods sit between the Devonian and Permian Periods and are sometimes categorized as subperiods within a single Carboniferous Period. These two Periods, which span 359 to 299 million years ago, have names that reference U.S. states. Name either state.

Answer 2

Pennsylvania, Mississippi

Question 3

What would an ancient Sumerian do with cuneiform?

Answer 3

Read or write it. Cuneiform was that wedge-shaped script that the Sumerians just couldn’t get enough of.

Question 4

What name is that of an Arian Christian Germanic people who maintained a North African kingdom in the 5th and 6th centuries and who, under their king Gaiseric, sacked Rome in 455?

Answer 4

Vandal

Question 5

What society was divided into three distinct classes: jarls, karls, and thralls?

Answer 5

If you were a Viking, you were either a jarl (a chief or noble), a karl (landowners, freeman and merchants), or a thrall (a serf or slave).

Question 6

What nation entered its “Warring States” period between 475 and 221 BC?

Answer 6

China

Question 7

This is the earliest known civilization to take root in southern Mesopotamia.

Answer 7

Sumer

Question 8

This ancient civilization has its roots in Northern Mesopotamia, but eventually came to conquer the entire region and beyond.

Answer 8

Akkadian

Question 9

This first ruler of the Akkadian empire led to its conquering of Mesopotamia.

Answer 9

Sargon

Question 10

Name the seven ancient wonders of the world.

Answer 10

1. Great Pyramid of Giza 2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon 3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia 4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus 5. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus 6. Colossus of Rhodes 7. Lighthouse of Alexandria

Question 11

According to Plutarch, what historical figure sliced apart the Gordian Knot?

Answer 11

Alexander the Great

Question 12

Her temple at Ephesus was destroyed by invading Goths in 262.

Answer 12

Artemis

Question 13

Of this battle in 31 B.C., Virgil wrote, “Neptune’s fields grow red with fresh slaughter.”

Answer 13

Battle of Actium

Question 14

Put “A-S” in front of the name of a current country to get this ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia.

Answer 14

Assyria

Question 15

In the 600s Muslim forces captured Jerusalem & by century’s end, they had built this gold-topped shrine.

Answer 15

Dome of the Rock

Question 16

In 568 A.D. King Alboin led this nomadic people over the Alps in an invasion and settlement of northern Italy.

Answer 16

Lombards

Question 17

What is the historical name of the empire known natively and contemporaneously as Tawantinsuyu (“Empire of the Four Regions”)? This better-known name comes from Quechua for “king.”

Answer 17

Inca

Question 18

This monarch had the longest and most powerful reign (605 BC - 562 BC) of any ruler of the Neo-Babylonian empire.

Answer 18

Nebuchadnezzar II

Question 19

Killing thousands, the Nika Revolt of 532 A.D. began as a fight involving different groups of fans of these races.

Answer 19

Chariot Races

Question 20

This Byzantine emperor reigned for 38 years, built the Hagia Sofia cathedral and married Theodora.

Answer 20

Justinian The Great (Justinian I)

Question 21

Legend says this, weighing 336 lbs., came from the Holy Land and Kenneth MacAlpin brought it to Perthshire c. 840.

Answer 21

Stone of Scone

Question 22

Halloween is a modern derivation of what ancient tradition?

Answer 22

Samhain (Ireland)

Question 23

This empire lasted from its proclamation by Mithrades I in 281 BCE until its conquest by the Roman Empire in 63 BCE during the Mithradic Wars. It was centered around the coastal areas of the Black Sea and Anatolia.

Answer 23

Pontus

Question 24

This “Venerable” monk and author who died in 735 is known as “The Father of English History.”

Answer 24

The Venerable Bede

Question 25

It’s believed that up to three-fourths of the Avesta, the key text of what religion, may have burned when Alexander the Great conquered Persepolis in 330 BCE?

Answer 25

Zoroastrianism

Question 26

This is the name bestowed by Mayanists on their 260-day Mesoamerican calendar, which is comprised of 20 periods of 13 days.

Answer 26

Tzolk’in

Question 27

The Egyptian pillar called the name of this “Great” foe of Julius Caesar was built 300 years after he lived.

Answer 27

Pompey

Question 28

Which Mughal emperor of India is often called “the Great,” and had a name that literally means “great” in Arabic?

Answer 28

“Akbar Akbar akbar” probably doesn’t mean “Akbar I is great!” in Arabic, but wouldn’t be a lot of fun if it did?

Question 29

The Celts, as they existed before their brutal conquest at the hands of the Roman Empire prior to the first century BCE, were primarily a tribal people, with tribes led by a chief who was supported by a warrior elite and priestly class. What is the most common name used today for this latter class, who served as religious and ceremonial leaders, judges, and teachers?

Answer 29

Druids

Question 30

This ancient Mesopotamian city of 3500 B.C. – the ruins of which can be found in modern-day Iraq – is also known as Tell el-Muqayyar.

Answer 30

Ur

Ziggurat of Ur