50 Fun Facts About Western Civilization

Which Babylonian king's law code, carved on a basalt stele, now stands in the Louvre in Paris?

Hammurabi had his laws inscribed on a stone more than two metres tall. Raiders carried it off to Susa, in present-day Iran, as plunder 600 years later, and it was rediscovered there in 1901.

Which Athenian philosopher was sentenced to die by drinking hemlock in 399 BC for corrupting the youth?

Socrates authored no texts of his own, so nearly everything known about him comes from accounts his students wrote after his death. The jurors at his trial for impiety voted for the death penalty.

Which general crossed the Alps with war elephants to invade Italy during the Second Punic War?

Hannibal left Iberia with 37 elephants, and most of them reached Italy to fight at the Trebia. He went on to beat the Romans at Lake Trasimene and at Cannae.

Which Frankish king did Pope Leo III crown emperor in Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800?

Charlemagne is often called the father of Europe for uniting most of its western and central lands. He was the first emperor to rule from the West in about three centuries.

Which document did rebel barons force King John of England to seal at Runnymede in 1215?

Magna Carta was annulled by Pope Innocent III soon afterwards, and the First Barons' War followed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, had drafted it to make peace.

Which German goldsmith from Mainz introduced a movable-type printing press to Europe in the 1450s?

Johannes Gutenberg borrowed 800 guilders from a wealthy moneylender to get started. Movable type was already in use in East Asia, but his press made printing far faster.

Which professor at the University of Wittenberg wrote the Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences in 1517?

Martin Luther grew alarmed when parishioners came back from buying Johann Tetzel's indulgences saying they no longer needed to repent. His protest set off the Protestant Reformation.

Which Italian astronomer did the Roman Inquisition try in 1633 and confine to house arrest for life?

Galileo Galilei was found vehemently suspect of heresy and forced to recant. While confined to his villa he wrote Two New Sciences, one of his finest works.

Which Paris fortress-prison, holding only seven inmates, did a crowd storm on 14 July 1789?

The Bastille was already scheduled for demolition, but revolutionaries saw it as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power. France still keeps the anniversary as its national holiday.

At which 1815 battle in present-day Belgium did Wellington and Blücher end Napoleon's rule for good?

Waterloo sent the defeated emperor into exile on Saint Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821. Prussian troops breaking through on the French flank sealed the rout.

Which ancient script, pressed into clay tablets with a stylus, had been deciphered by scholars by 1857?

Cuneiform is named from the Latin cuneus, for the wedge-shaped impressions that form its signs. Sumerian scribes first drew pictographs, then switched to a wedge-tipped tool pushed into the clay.

Which ancient land of seafaring city-states, including Tyre and Sidon, gave the Greeks the basis of their alphabet?

Phoenicia grew rich selling fine textiles dyed with Tyrian purple, and the Greek word for its people also meant that colour. The Latin and Cyrillic scripts both descend from its letters.

Which Greek philosopher founded the Academy near Athens and wrote the dialogue known as the Republic?

Plato set up his school near the sacred olive grove of Hecademus in roughly 383 BC. His brothers Glaucon and Adeimantus both appear as characters in his most famous work.

Which Macedonian king, undefeated in battle, conquered the Persian Empire and died in Babylon aged 32?

Alexander the Great rode a horse named Bucephalas, meaning ox-head, as far as what is now Pakistan. When the animal died there he named a city after it.

At which battle in 490 BC did outnumbered Athenians defeat a Persian invasion force sent by King Darius?

Marathon gave its name to the long-distance race that Michel Bréal proposed for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, after the legend of a messenger running to Athens with news of victory.

Which Athenian statesman launched the building of the Parthenon and died in the plague of 429 BC?

Pericles drew the money for his building plan from the treasury of the alliance Athens led. The historian Thucydides acclaimed him as the first citizen of the city.

Which Greek writer from Halicarnassus did the Roman orator Cicero call the Father of History?

Herodotus was also branded the Father of Lies by critics, on account of the many strange stories and folk-tales he reported. His birthplace is now Bodrum in Turkey.

Which Roman general ignited a civil war in 49 BC by leading a single legion across the Rubicon?

Julius Caesar was proclaimed dictator in perpetuity in early 44 BC. Fearing he might make himself king, senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated him on the Ides of March.

Which Roman, born Gaius Octavius, became the first emperor in 27 BC and ruled until AD 14?

Augustus also became the first Roman pharaoh of Egypt, though he never visited the country again after 30 BC. To avoid the look of monarchy he took the title princeps.

Which Roman emperor legalised Christianity through the Edict of Milan and summoned the Council of Nicaea in 325?

Constantine I was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He also built a new imperial residence in the Greek city of Byzantium, which was officially renamed New Rome.

Which Germanic people, led by their king Alaric, sacked the city of Rome in August 410?

The Visigoths took a city that had not fallen to a foreign enemy in almost 800 years. The shock revealed how vulnerable the Western Roman Empire had become.

Which Byzantine emperor had Roman law rewritten as the Corpus Juris Civilis and rebuilt the Hagia Sophia?

Justinian I caused a scandal by marrying his mistress Theodora, who became very influential in imperial politics. His legal code is still the basis of civil law in many modern states.

Which early Roman law code, said to have been posted publicly on bronze, followed agitation by the plebeians?

The Twelve Tables stated the rights and duties of the Roman citizen in public, so that all could read and know them. One ancient writer says they were inscribed on ivory instead.

At which battle of 1066 did Duke William defeat King Harold Godwinson to begin the conquest of England?

Hastings was fought just 19 days after Harold had rushed north and defeated a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge. That earlier victory left the duke as his only serious opponent.

Which pandemic, carried into Europe in 1347 on Genoese ships, killed perhaps half of the continent's people?

The Black Death was not called black in any European language at the time. It most likely travelled from Crimea with fleas living on the black rats aboard merchant vessels.

Which French peasant girl helped raise the siege of Orléans in 1429 and was burned at the stake?

Joan of Arc was about nineteen when she died, and she was canonized as a saint in 1920. She had vowed to lead Charles VII to Reims for his coronation.

What name was given to the land a medieval lord granted to a vassal in return for service?

A fief stayed the lord's property: he kept ultimate ownership and could recover the land for disloyalty. Feudalism takes its name from feudum, the medieval Latin word for such a grant.

Which Dominican friar wrote the Summa Theologica, blending the philosophy of Aristotle with Christian teaching?

Thomas Aquinas was nicknamed the dumb ox by fellow students, but his teacher Albertus predicted that his bellowing would one day be heard throughout the world. He left his best-known work unfinished.

Which city did the armies of the First Crusade storm and capture in July 1099?

Jerusalem fell fourteen days before the death of Pope Urban II, who had urged the armed pilgrimage at the Council of Clermont. News of the capture had not yet reached him.

Which sixth-century abbot of Monte Cassino wrote the monastic rule that shaped monasteries across Western Christendom?

Benedict of Nursia was declared a patron saint of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964. He had founded a dozen communities for monks at Subiaco before moving to his mountain abbey.

Which family, owners of the largest bank in 15th-century Europe, ruled Florence and produced four popes?

The Medici also produced two queens of France, and their patronage supported Donatello, Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci. Three successive generations ran the city through most of the 1400s.

Which Renaissance diplomat wrote The Prince around 1513, though it was not published until after his death?

Niccolò Machiavelli had been tortured with the strappado on suspicion of conspiracy and released after three weeks. His name came to evoke the unscrupulous acts his book recommended.

Which English king became Supreme Head of the Church of England after failing to win a papal annulment?

Henry VIII had earlier been named Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X, for a book defending the seven sacraments. Parliament kept the title alive after Rome withdrew it.

Which French-born reformer led the church in Geneva and taught predestination in Institutes of the Christian Religion?

John Calvin fled violence against Protestants in France and published the first edition of his great work in Basel in 1536. The Swiss city invited him back to lead its church in 1541.

Which Catholic order did Ignatius of Loyola found in 1540 with six companions and the pope's approval?

The Jesuits were founded by a former soldier whose leg had been fractured by a cannonball at the Battle of Pamplona in 1521. Members are sometimes nicknamed God's soldiers.

Which 1648 settlement, signed in the German cities of Osnabrück and Münster, ended the Thirty Years' War?

The Peace of Westphalia closed a calamitous conflict that killed between 4.5 and 8 million people. Several scholars trace the modern principle of state sovereignty back to it.

Which Polish astronomer's book placing the Sun at the centre of the universe appeared in the year of his death, 1543?

Nicolaus Copernicus held a doctorate in canon law and also worked as a physician, diplomat and economist. The book's appearance is counted as a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution.

Which English scientist set out the laws of motion and universal gravitation in his 1687 book Principia?

Isaac Newton published the book with encouragement and financial help from Halley. He spent the last three decades of his life in London, running the Royal Mint.

Which French king reigned for 72 years and revoked the Edict of Nantes that had protected Protestant Huguenots?

Louis XIV cultivated his image as the Sun King, the centre of the universe without equal. His persecution forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert, virtually destroying their community in France.

Which English philosopher and physician argued for government by consent of the governed in Two Treatises of Government?

John Locke published the book anonymously. It is believed to have influenced the language Jefferson chose when drafting the American Declaration of Independence.

Which French thinker's 1748 book The Spirit of Law is the principal source of the separation of powers?

Montesquieu published the book anonymously, and the American founder Madison later described him as the oracle who is always consulted and cited. He first found fame with a satire told through two Persian visitors to Paris.

Which Jacobin leader joined the Committee of Public Safety in July 1793 and argued for the Reign of Terror?

Maximilien Robespierre was labelled one of the incorruptibles for his modest way of living and refusal to take bribes. In July 1794 he was arrested and executed without trial.

Which city hosted the 1814–15 congress, chaired by Metternich, that reshaped Europe after the Napoleonic Wars?

Vienna saw the first occasion in history when a whole continent's representatives gathered in one city to settle treaties. Talks carried on unaffected when Napoleon returned from exile.

Which Scottish engineer added a separate condenser to the Newcomen steam engine, radically improving its efficiency?

James Watt also developed the concept of horsepower, and the SI unit of power was later named after him. His engine of 1776 was fundamental to the changes of the Industrial Revolution.

Which German thinker co-wrote The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels in 1848 and is buried in London?

Karl Marx spent a great deal of time studying in the reading room of the British Museum. His grave lies in Highgate Cemetery, in an area reserved for agnostics and atheists.

Which Prussian statesman, nicknamed the Iron Chancellor, steered the founding of the German Empire in 1871?

Otto von Bismarck created the first welfare state, with the goal of undermining his socialist opponents. Dismissed from office by Wilhelm II, he retired to write his memoirs.

In which city did Gavrilo Princip shoot Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914?

Sarajevo had already seen one failed attempt that morning, when a thrown bomb bounced off the folded-back cover of the archduke's car. The killing set off the July Crisis and the First World War.

Which 1919 treaty, signed in the Hall of Mirrors, included the War Guilt clause blaming Germany for the war?

The Treaty of Versailles was signed in the very room where the German Empire had been proclaimed in 1871, a setting Clemenceau chose on purpose to mark its dismantling.

At which Soviet city on the Volga did the German 6th Army surrender in February 1943?

Stalingrad cost Hitler the first of his field armies ever to capitulate, its ammunition and food exhausted. The battle is commonly identified as the turning point of the Second World War in Europe.

Which city gave its name to the 1992 treaty, signed by twelve states, that founded the European Union?

Maastricht hosted the signing because the Netherlands had held the rotating presidency during the negotiations. Danish voters narrowly rejected the treaty in a first referendum.