Posted on 08/20/2009 3:39:36 PM PDT by 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
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
ping
I got over half right. Some I knew the answer after I read it, but couldn’t come up with beforehand (mental block).
Wow, that was hard. I only got 30 right.
Heck if you want to test knowledge of Classical history, here are a few questions off the top of my head:
1) How many parts is Gaul divided into? Name them.
2) Who said (translated) ‘Extremism in defense of Liberty is No Vice, Moderation in Pursuit of Justice is No Virtue’?
3) What particular Extreme Thing did he want to do?
4) What was the signifigance of the Rubicon River?
5) Who said ‘Cartago Delenda Est’? When did he say it?
6) Who were the two sides in The Pellopennesian War?
7) What was the battle formation of Greek Infantry? Of Roman Infantry?
8) What was the ethnicity of Pharaoh Cleopatra of Egypt?
9) Who was Julius Caesar’s Rival for control of the Roman Republic? (Hint Caesar was killed at the feet of his statue)
10) What modern countries were within the bounds of the Roman Empire?
11) What modern countries were within the bounds of the Empire of Alexander the Great?
Good Luck and Have Fun!
I’d love to see these on college entrance exams.
I like your questions better. More challenging. I can still answer most of ‘em though.
Here's one: Which Roman Emperor is actually referenced in Dante's Divine Comedy as residing in Paradise? (Hint: he was a pagan. One of the very few whose morals were good enough to be considered for that location.)
Who wrote: "Everywhere they create desolation, they call it peace? What was it in reference to?
Who wrote: "Suited for office if only he had not had to hold it?" To whom was he referring?
ping
Yeah????
Who won the Super Bowl last year?
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