Has your classical knowledge stood the test of time?

Telegraph UK ^ | 20 Aug 2009

[Lorianne]

Take our quiz, and see if you can tell your Tantalus from your Tacitus...

1 Why did George Bernard Shaw call his play Pygmalion?

2 What is a ziggurat?

3 Name three Latin phrases beginning with "ad" that are in common currency.

4 Boris Johnson used the phrase res ipsa loquitur as a justification for learning Latin in school. What does it mean?

5 Zeus (Jupiter or Jove), lord of the skies, was prone to throwing thunderbolts at anyone who displeased him and to changing himself into a variety of forms in order to have sex with anything that moved. Name two of the creatures he inhabited in the interests of seduction.

6 Poseidon (Neptune), god of the sea, is always depicted with what threatening accessory?

7 In the Underworld, Tantalus was doomed to perpetual hunger and thirst in because the water he stood in receded whenever he bent down to drink and the fruit above his head remained out of reach. What adverb denoting frustration is taken from his name?

8 To get into the Underworld, classical mortals had to be rowed across the River Styx by the boatman, Charon, who charged a fee, which explains why corpses were buried with a coin in their mouths. They then had to get past a monstrous three-headed dog. What was the dog's name and how was it tamed?

9 Orpheus, musical son of Apollo, was grief-stricken by the death of his wife, Eurydice, and successfully blagged his way into the Underworld to beg for her return. He was granted his request but still managed to lose her. How?

10 The Vestal Virgins were priestesses whose virtue was inviolable. They were buried alive if they were caught with a man in their room. What was their main duty?

.... more

[JoeProBono]

I stopped smoking ziggurats years ago.

[SolidWood]

Easy questions. I didn’t read all 44 questions, but from the 20 or so I read, I could easily answer them. Would it be spoiling to post the answers? Hehe.

[aliquando]

I know my history, classical or not. This is mythology. Kind of like studying Voodoo.

[kalee]

ping

[AnotherUnixGeek]

9 Orpheus, musical son of Apollo, was grief-stricken by the death of his wife, Eurydice, and successfully blagged his way into the Underworld to beg for her return.

And after that didn't work out, he got his head torn off by a bunch of angry women. Some guys just have no luck with women.

[RegulatorCountry]

These really aren’t that difficult. Has the subject matter taught changed that much, since my K-12 education concluded in the early eighties?

[thefrankbaum]

GGG-esque ping...could be fun.

[RegulatorCountry]

And Cerberus Capital took over Chrysler from Daimler-Benz.

Why on Earth would a firm want to name itself after the three-headed dog that guarded entrance to, essentially, Hell?

[KarlInOhio]

19 The first woman in mythology, Pandora, was given a mysterious box by Zeus and told never to open it. Tempation was too much for her and when she did open it she released all the evils that have since afflicted the world – from rheumatism to jealousy. But there was one thing left in the box to comfort us. What was it?

Considering what that one comfort was supposed to be, I guess Obama must have been one of the evils Pandora released.

[Prodigal Son]

At least 68% of the questions were not about mythology.

[Bean Counter]

Without Googling anything...

1. Pygmalion fell in love with a statue of a girl that he had carved himself.

2. A ziggurat is a tower from which the Muslim call to prayer is sung.

3. ad hoc, as infinitum, ad nauseum

4. The above is just about the extent of my Latin...

5. A satyr and a...

6. a trident

7. tantalize

8. Cerebus, snausages

9. His viagra prescription expired.

10. uhhhhhhhh.......making hot wings and serving beer at NFL games....??

Sorry....I really tried...5 1/2 by my count...

[SunkenCiv]

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[wildbill]

I got 37 and a half right.

[colorado tanker]

This is great fun. Reminded me what a horny dude Zeus was . . . .

[SunkenCiv]

Well done. I’ll take it later. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

I never met the guy in person, but I’ve heard that. ;’)

[SES1066]

When my dad was assigned to Venezuela when I was in 2nd Grade, the only school open for new students was a Brit school. I flunked because the students were already taught script over block printing and I couldn't learn in the 2 months remaining of that school year. The headmaster was most vexed with me.

I am pleased to see that I am breaking that record since I appear to have only missed 16,24-26,33 & 43. Given the 24-26 were very Brit-centric or missing info, I am satisfied that I have vanquished Albion here.

[SES1066]

I object to the answer to #3 - I have ‘ad hoc’ and (especially in this political environment) ‘ad hominem’, especially since ‘ad lib’ is an abbreviation of ‘ad libitum’. Oxford and the OED would not be amused!

[Tax-chick]

Same here - I know all this stuff. It’s not really classical “history,” as another poster mentioned: it’s classical literature. Many of the stories we “all knew,” back in our day, are from the Athenian tragic dramas or Ovid’s poems, among other sources.