Ancient Egypt
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This Egypt trivia quiz has 96 free questions with answers and starts where most people expect: pharaohs, pyramids, gods and mummies. You'll meet Khufu, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten and Cleopatra, work out what a canopic jar held and why the heart stayed in the body, and find out which stone finally unlocked hieroglyphs. If you can name the crocodile god or the board game buried with the dead, you'll do well. Then it keeps going into the Egypt of the last two centuries, which most trivia pages skip. Who dug the Suez Canal, who nationalised it, and which ship wedged itself across it in 2021? What did the Free Officers do in 1952, what happened in Tahrir Square in 2011, and which Alexandria-born actor was nominated for an Oscar? There are questions on Cairo, Coptic Christians, koshari, the flag, the Pharaohs' record run of Africa Cup of Nations titles and Mo Salah's move to Liverpool. Every one of the 82 answers has been checked against a reference page before publication, so what you get right is genuinely right. Play free, one question at a time, and share your score with the friend who thinks they know Egypt better.
30 of 96 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What formal writing system was used in ancient Egypt for monumental inscriptions and religious texts?
Hieroglyphs
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, meaning 'sacred carved letters,' were a complex system combining pictorial, ideographic, and phonetic elements. They were considered a divine gift and used for over 3,500 years.
Q 02Which major river was crucial to the development and sustenance of ancient Egyptian civilization?
Nile
The Nile River, one of the world's longest, flowed northward through Egypt, providing fertile soil, water for irrigation, and a primary transportation route, which allowed the civilization to flourish for millennia.
Q 03What was a central belief in ancient Egyptian religion regarding what happened after death?
A journey to an eternal afterlife
Ancient Egyptians viewed death as a transition, believing that proper moral conduct and funerary practices were crucial for the soul to navigate the underworld and achieve rebirth and eternal happiness in the afterlife.
Q 04Which pharaoh is traditionally credited with commissioning the Great Pyramid of Giza?
Khufu
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the largest Egyptian pyramid and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, served as the tomb for Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.
Q 05Which jackal-headed ancient Egyptian god oversaw mummification and guided souls to the underworld?
Anubis
Anubis presided at the 'Weighing of the Heart', where the dead person's heart was set against the feather of Maat; he protected graves and funerary rites too.
Q 06Which female New Kingdom pharaoh built a mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari?
Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was one of the most powerful and prolific female pharaohs of the New Kingdom. She undertook numerous construction projects, with her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari being a notable achievement.
Q 07Which French scholar announced the transliteration of the Egyptian scripts in Paris in 1822?
Jean-François Champollion
Champollion built on Thomas Young's work with the Demotic text and the phonetic spelling of royal names in cartouches; reading full inscriptions confidently still took scholars decades more.
Q 08Which Upper Egyptian city, home of the Karnak and Luxor temples, was long Egypt's capital after the pyramid age?
Thebes
Thebes, modern Luxor, sat across the river from the Valley of the Kings and was the cult centre of Amun; Homer called it the city of a hundred gates.
Q 09What specific royal regalia symbolized the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt?
Pschent
The Pschent, or Double Crown, was a combination of the White Crown (Hedjet) of Upper Egypt and the Red Crown (Deshret) of Lower Egypt, symbolizing the pharaoh's rule over both unified lands.
Q 10New Kingdom pharaohs and officials were buried in elaborate subterranean structures known by what term?
Rock-cut tombs
During the New Kingdom, pharaohs and nobles favored elaborate rock-cut tombs, such as those found in the Valley of the Kings, which were carved deep into limestone cliffs to protect their burial chambers and treasures.
Q 11Egypt's great river flows northward and empties into which sea?
Mediterranean Sea
The Nile empties into the Mediterranean Sea through its delta; because the river flows south to north, Egyptians called the delta 'Lower Egypt' and the southern valley 'Upper Egypt'.
Q 12Which natural salt did embalmers pack around a body to dry it during mummification?
Natron
Natron, a natural mix of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate gathered from the Wadi Natrun, was packed around and inside the corpse to draw out moisture before the body was wrapped.
Q 13Which pharaoh's tomb, discovered in 1922, was found largely intact with its vast treasures?
Tutankhamun
The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter provided an unprecedented look into the wealth and burial practices of ancient Egyptian royalty.
Q 21The 18th Dynasty woman who ruled as king sent a trading expedition for myrrh trees to which land?
Punt
The Punt expedition is carved in relief at Deir el-Bahari, complete with a famously realistic portrait of Punt's Queen Ati; the myrrh trees were planted in front of the temple.
Q 22What famous artifact, discovered in 1799, was key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs?
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone carries a single decree of 196 BC in hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek; the readable Greek text gave scholars the key that unlocked the hieroglyphs.
Q 23Ancient Egyptian bread was made almost exclusively from which variety of grain?
Emmer
Emmer was harder to mill than other wheats, and grit from the grinding stones wore down Egyptian teeth, as their mummies show.
Q 14Which Egyptian goddess was depicted with the head of a domestic cat?
Bastet
Bastet was an ancient Egyptian goddess, originally a fierce lioness warrior goddess, who later became associated with domestic cats, fertility, and protection.
Q 15What massive structures were primarily built as tombs for pharaohs and other high-ranking officials?
Pyramids
The pyramids, particularly those at Giza, are among the most iconic symbols of ancient Egypt, serving as monumental tombs designed to protect the pharaoh's remains.
Q 16What material, made from a river plant, was commonly used for writing surfaces in ancient Egypt?
Papyrus
Papyrus came from the pith of a wetland sedge, sliced, layered crosswise and pressed; the word gave us 'paper'.
Q 17During which historical period were the Great Pyramids of Giza primarily constructed?
Old Kingdom
The Old Kingdom, often referred to as the 'Age of the Pyramids,' was a period of significant architectural achievement, including the construction of the Great Pyramids.
Q 18Which god was revered as the ruler of the dead and the underworld?
Osiris
Osiris was a central deity in the ancient Egyptian pantheon, ruling the underworld and representing resurrection and fertility.
Q 19What process did Egyptians use to preserve bodies for the afterlife?
Mummification
Mummification mattered because Egyptians believed the dead could only be reborn if the body survived intact; the full process took about 70 days.
Q 20Which ancient Egyptian sun god, often shown with a falcon's head topped by a sun disk, sailed across the sky by day?
Ra
Ra was the creator and ruler of the heavens; in later periods he merged with Thebes' chief god as Amun-Ra.
Q 24What protective symbol, a rearing cobra, was frequently seen on the headdresses of pharaohs?
Uraeus
The uraeus stood for sovereignty and divine authority, and represents the goddess Wadjet, protector of Lower Egypt.
Q 25Which pharaoh abandoned Thebes for a new capital at Amarna and promoted a single sun-disk cult?
Akhenaten
Akhenaten initiated a religious revolution, shifting the focus of worship to the Aten (the sun disk) and establishing a new capital city, Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna).
Q 26What were the special containers used to hold the internal organs removed during mummification called?
Canopic jars
Canopic jars were ceremonial containers used by ancient Egyptians to store the viscera (lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines) removed from the body during mummification.
Q 27In ancient Egyptian art, what color was frequently used to symbolize life, growth, and resurrection?
Green
Green stood for new life, growth and resurrection because it was the colour of fresh vegetation after the Nile flood; Osiris, god of the dead and rebirth, is often painted with green skin.
Q 28In Egypt's central myth, which goddess resurrects her slain brother-husband and protects his young heir?
Isis
Her cult outlived pharaonic Egypt: temples to Isis stood across the Roman Empire, and the one at Philae stayed open into the sixth century AD.
Q 29What animal was sacred to the god Thoth, often depicted with its head?
Ibis
Thoth, the god of wisdom, writing, and magic, was frequently depicted with the head of an ibis or as a baboon.
Q 30The word 'pharaoh' only came into use as a royal title from which numbered dynasty onwards?
The Eighteenth
'Pharaoh' comes from per-aa, 'great house', originally the palace itself; earlier kings were simply called nesu, and the title was later applied to all of them retroactively.