CLASSICAL HISTORY QUESTIONS
Do you know everything about History?
Play the Classical History Quiz with your friends and give yourself a great advantage by selecting your starting question from different Classical History Questions!
Play the Classical History Quiz with your friends and give yourself a great advantage by selecting your starting question from different Classical History Questions!
SELECT YOUR CLASSICAL HISTORY QUESTION
After beating Carthage, the Romans called the northern part of this country Mauretania Tingitana. This territory was conquered by the Vandals in AD 429, by the Byzantine in AD 533 and by the Arabs in AD 682. Where is it today?
According to the satirist Juvenal, the Roman population "longs eagerly for just two things." What are they?
The Flavian Amphitheatre was nicknamed the Colosseum for whose colossus, which once stood next door?
Just as Quintilis was renamed July for Julius Caesar and Sextilis was renamed August for Augustus, May was once called Claudius and April was once named for what successor to Claudius?
Herostratic fame is named for Herostratus, who decided that the best way to be remembered forever was to burn down a Wonder of the World. Which one?
Jeopardy writer Kathy Easterling was known for writing questions about which "darn" people from the area around Florence, Italy?
Operating from his capital at Caesarea, who was the Roman governor of Judea, Samaria and Idumaea from AD 26 to AD 36?
Found on an Indonesian island, Homo floresiensis (or Flores Man) was likened by the media in 2004 to what fictional race?
Who converted to Christianity shortly after he beat a rival named Maxentius at the Battle of Milvan Bridge?
Solon revised the legal code left behind by Draco, whose codes were so severe that they left us the word "draconian." Solon and Draco were officials in what part of the world?
What world leader's body was encased in honey and sent home, only for the funeral procession to be hijacked by Ptolemy Soter?
Blaise Pascal once speculated that if Cleopatra had not been so pretty, what Roman general might not have lost the Battle of Actium?
Where did the Romans build the Servian Wall?
Also the name of a series of mystery novels set in ancient Rome, "SPQR" is a Latin acronym. What does it mean?
Honoria helped destroy Rome when, to get back at her little brother the emperor, she offered half the empire as a dowry if somebody would marry her. Who?
We didn't lose many battles, but when we lost, we lost big, getting our butts handed to us at Cannae, Teuteborg and Adrianople. Who are we?
The original pandect was the Pandectae, a 50-volume digest. What did it contain?
Peter O'Toole played Priam, who was king on the losing side of what war?
Which ancient civilization built pyramids to house the bodies of their dead pharaohs?
What geometric shape is most associated with the Egyptian desert?
Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC, but although he was Chaldean, the Bible identifies him with a civilization that fallen years before. What does the Old Testament call him?
In 280 BCE, the king of Epirus beat the Romans at the Battle at Ausculum, but at a horrible cost in men. What kind of victory is now named for that king?
Who rode a horse named Bucephalus, for whom he named the city of Bucephala?
What Roman emperor supposedly had his horse Incitatus made a consul and a member of the college of priests?
According to the Book of the Dead, people of what ancient civilization could look forward to an afterlife of bliss in the Field of Reeds?
What ancient people called themselves Remetch, meaning "the people"?
Aubrey holes, which contain ancient human remains, are named for John Aubrey, who found them. Where?
Babylon got its name from the Akkadian "Bab-ilim." What did this mean?
Now the site of a park called Sultan Ahmed Square, the hippodrome was Constantinople's version of the Circus Maximus. For what type of sporting event was the hippodrome designed?
This Roman orator fled Rome after Mark Anthony took over, but he was caught and his head and hands ended up impaled in the Roman Forum. Adding insult to really serious injury, Mark Anthony's wife stuck pins in the dead head's tongue. Who?
This dangerous element was once used in Roman water pipes, and some say that it poisoned the water, causing a mass dementia that led to the fall of Rome. What is it?
These hominids were discovered by an Australian named Raymond Dart. They're a bridge genus between apes and Homo. And their name means "southern ape." Who are they?
Found in 1974 in the Willandra Lakes Region, Mungo Man is the oldest anatomically modern human remains (as of 2005) found in what part of the world?
In 390 BC, what city was saved from a sneak attack by the Gauls when the sacred geese on Capitoline Hill started squawking?
Okay, it technically wasn't a concept until centuries later, but when the calendar flipped from BC to AD, who was running Rome?
Darius I had his butt kicked at the Battle of Marathon. What country was he in charge of?
Arguing that Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, who divorced his wife after she became involved in a scandal over violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea?
Because of a solar eclipse, one of the earliest historical events that we can date precisely was a battle between the Lydians and the Medes. When was it?
Persia and Rome signed a Treaty of Endless Peace in 533 AD. How long did it last before the two were at each other's throats again?
Fort Schuyler, New York, was renamed for Utica, an ancient city in what part of the world?
According to the satirist Juvenal, the Roman population "longs eagerly for just two things." What are they?
The Flavian Amphitheatre was nicknamed the Colosseum for whose colossus, which once stood next door?
Just as Quintilis was renamed July for Julius Caesar and Sextilis was renamed August for Augustus, May was once called Claudius and April was once named for what successor to Claudius?
Herostratic fame is named for Herostratus, who decided that the best way to be remembered forever was to burn down a Wonder of the World. Which one?
Jeopardy writer Kathy Easterling was known for writing questions about which "darn" people from the area around Florence, Italy?
Operating from his capital at Caesarea, who was the Roman governor of Judea, Samaria and Idumaea from AD 26 to AD 36?
Found on an Indonesian island, Homo floresiensis (or Flores Man) was likened by the media in 2004 to what fictional race?
Who converted to Christianity shortly after he beat a rival named Maxentius at the Battle of Milvan Bridge?
Solon revised the legal code left behind by Draco, whose codes were so severe that they left us the word "draconian." Solon and Draco were officials in what part of the world?
What world leader's body was encased in honey and sent home, only for the funeral procession to be hijacked by Ptolemy Soter?
Blaise Pascal once speculated that if Cleopatra had not been so pretty, what Roman general might not have lost the Battle of Actium?
Where did the Romans build the Servian Wall?
Also the name of a series of mystery novels set in ancient Rome, "SPQR" is a Latin acronym. What does it mean?
Honoria helped destroy Rome when, to get back at her little brother the emperor, she offered half the empire as a dowry if somebody would marry her. Who?
We didn't lose many battles, but when we lost, we lost big, getting our butts handed to us at Cannae, Teuteborg and Adrianople. Who are we?
The original pandect was the Pandectae, a 50-volume digest. What did it contain?
Peter O'Toole played Priam, who was king on the losing side of what war?
Which ancient civilization built pyramids to house the bodies of their dead pharaohs?
What geometric shape is most associated with the Egyptian desert?
Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC, but although he was Chaldean, the Bible identifies him with a civilization that fallen years before. What does the Old Testament call him?
In 280 BCE, the king of Epirus beat the Romans at the Battle at Ausculum, but at a horrible cost in men. What kind of victory is now named for that king?
Who rode a horse named Bucephalus, for whom he named the city of Bucephala?
What Roman emperor supposedly had his horse Incitatus made a consul and a member of the college of priests?
According to the Book of the Dead, people of what ancient civilization could look forward to an afterlife of bliss in the Field of Reeds?
What ancient people called themselves Remetch, meaning "the people"?
Aubrey holes, which contain ancient human remains, are named for John Aubrey, who found them. Where?
Babylon got its name from the Akkadian "Bab-ilim." What did this mean?
Now the site of a park called Sultan Ahmed Square, the hippodrome was Constantinople's version of the Circus Maximus. For what type of sporting event was the hippodrome designed?
This Roman orator fled Rome after Mark Anthony took over, but he was caught and his head and hands ended up impaled in the Roman Forum. Adding insult to really serious injury, Mark Anthony's wife stuck pins in the dead head's tongue. Who?
This dangerous element was once used in Roman water pipes, and some say that it poisoned the water, causing a mass dementia that led to the fall of Rome. What is it?
These hominids were discovered by an Australian named Raymond Dart. They're a bridge genus between apes and Homo. And their name means "southern ape." Who are they?
Found in 1974 in the Willandra Lakes Region, Mungo Man is the oldest anatomically modern human remains (as of 2005) found in what part of the world?
In 390 BC, what city was saved from a sneak attack by the Gauls when the sacred geese on Capitoline Hill started squawking?
Okay, it technically wasn't a concept until centuries later, but when the calendar flipped from BC to AD, who was running Rome?
Darius I had his butt kicked at the Battle of Marathon. What country was he in charge of?
Arguing that Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, who divorced his wife after she became involved in a scandal over violating the mysteries of the Bona Dea?
Because of a solar eclipse, one of the earliest historical events that we can date precisely was a battle between the Lydians and the Medes. When was it?
Persia and Rome signed a Treaty of Endless Peace in 533 AD. How long did it last before the two were at each other's throats again?
Fort Schuyler, New York, was renamed for Utica, an ancient city in what part of the world?