John the Baptist Trivia
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49 free John the Baptist trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
John the Baptist is the voice crying in the wilderness, the man who baptised Jesus and lost his head to a dancing girl's request, and this quiz covers all of him. It starts with the birth story in Luke: the old priest Zechariah struck dumb by Gabriel, his wife Elizabeth, the traditional birthplace at Ein Karem, and why the feast falls exactly six months before Christmas. Then it moves to the desert: the camel-hair clothing, the locusts and wild honey, the brood of vipers, and the baptism of Jesus at Bethany beyond the Jordan. The second half is the death and the afterlife. Herod Antipas, Herodias, the unnamed daughter Josephus calls Salome, the hilltop fortress of Machaerus, and the head on a plate that three shrines still claim to hold. From there it ranges across who else honours John: Islam's prophet Yahya, the Mandaeans of Iraq who call him their last prophet, the Knights Hospitaller, the city of Florence, and the midsummer bonfires of St John's Eve. It ends with Leonardo's last painting, Caravaggio, Oscar Wilde's banned play and the Dance of the Seven Veils. Easy questions suit anyone who knows the Gospel story; the expert tier is for church historians. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on John, his family, his killers and his cult, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01According to the Gospel of Luke, who were John the Baptist's parents?
Zechariah and Elizabeth
Zechariah and Elizabeth both came from Aaron's priestly line and were too old to expect a child. Luke calls the mother a relative of Mary, which is why tradition makes John and Jesus cousins.
Q 02Which angel announced John the Baptist's birth to his father in the Temple?
Gabriel
Gabriel appeared beside the altar of incense while the old priest served alone in the sanctuary. Luke sends the same angel to Mary months later with news of her own son.
Q 03What happened to John the Baptist's father when he doubted the angel's message?
He was struck dumb
He was struck dumb until the baby's naming day, when he wrote 'His name is John' on a tablet. His speech returned at once, and his song of thanks is still sung as the Benedictus.
Q 04The Church fixed John the Baptist's birthday feast by counting back from which other feast?
Christmas
Christmas sets the date: Luke says John's mother was six months pregnant when Mary conceived, so his birthday feast was placed six months ahead of Jesus's, on 24 June.
Q 05Christian tradition places John's birthplace at Ein Karem, a village on the outskirts of which city?
Jerusalem
Jerusalem lies about five miles north-east of Ein Karem and has since absorbed it as a neighbourhood. Luke says only that John's parents lived in 'a city of Judah' in the hill country, so tradition supplied the village.
Q 06The Gospels describe John's clothing as made from the hair of which animal?
Camel
Camel hair made an austere garment, and that was the point: a hairy cloak with a leather belt was the traditional garb of a Hebrew prophet, so John's clothes announced his calling.
Q 07What did John the Baptist famously eat in the desert?
Locusts and wild honey
Locusts and wild honey became honey alone in the gospel of the Ebionite sect, which turned the Greek for locust, akris, into egkris, a cake. The bishop Epiphanius accused them of doctoring the text.
Q 08In Matthew's Gospel, John calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a 'brood of' what?
Vipers
Vipers was his greeting for the religious elite who came out to his baptism: he asked who had warned them to flee the coming wrath. Descent from Abraham would not save them, he added, since God could raise Abraham's children from stones.
Q 09When priests asked who he was, John the Baptist described himself as what?
A voice crying in the wilderness
A voice crying in the wilderness is a line from Isaiah, and John borrowed it to say he was only the announcer. He had just denied being the Messiah, and all four Gospels pin the same verse on him.
Q 10In which river did John baptise Jesus?
The Jordan
The Jordan is where, in Matthew's telling, John at first refused, protesting that Jesus ought to be baptising him. Jesus insisted, and the baptism is generally counted as the start of his ministry.
Q 11Al-Maghtas, the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus, lies in which modern country?
Jordan
Jordan could only open the site after its peace treaty with Israel: the riverbank had been a closed military frontier since the 1967 war, and once it was cleared archaeologists uncovered ancient churches and baptism pools.
Q 12At the baptism of Jesus, the Spirit is described as descending in the form of which bird?
A dove
A dove descends in all four Gospels, though only Luke says it came 'in bodily form'. A voice from the sky then calls Jesus 'my beloved Son'.
Q 13In Eastern Christianity, the baptism of Jesus is commemorated on 6 January under which feast name?
Theophany
Q 21In the Antiquities of the Jews, why does the tetrarch have John the Baptist killed?
Fear of a popular revolt
Fear of a popular revolt: the crowds seemed ready to do anything John advised, the Antiquities says, so the tetrarch struck first. The Gospels instead blame a rash banquet oath and a wife's grudge.
Q 22The tetrarch who killed John was exiled to Gaul after being accused of conspiracy against which emperor?
Caligula
Caligula heard the charge from the tetrarch's own nephew Agrippa, then handed Agrippa the exile's money and lands. The tetrarch had sailed to Rome, at his wife's urging, to ask for the title of king.
Q 23According to the historian who names her, what did Salome go on to be?
Theophany keeps 6 January for the baptism in the river, while Western churches call the day Epiphany and keep it mainly for the visit of the Magi. Both names mean a showing-forth of who Jesus was.
Q 14According to Matthew, Jesus explicitly identified John as the return of which Old Testament prophet?
Elijah
Elijah was expected back before the day of the Lord, on Malachi's promise, and Jesus said John had filled the role. In John's Gospel the Baptist himself, asked the same thing, flatly answers 'I am not'.
Q 15In Eastern Orthodoxy, John is most commonly given which title?
The Forerunner
The Forerunner often wears angel's wings in Orthodox icons, because Mark's Gospel applies to him the prophecy of a messenger sent ahead to prepare the way.
Q 16Which ruler ordered John's execution after John condemned his marriage?
Herod Antipas
Herod Antipas had divorced a Nabataean princess to marry his brother's wife. When her father, King Aretas, later destroyed his army, some Jews called it God's punishment for killing John.
Q 17What was the name of the woman whose marriage to the tetrarch John denounced, and who demanded his death?
Herodias
Herodias had left the tetrarch's half-brother to marry him, and John's objection was a legal one: 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife', a ban that goes back to Leviticus.
Q 18Which historian supplies the name Salome for the unnamed girl who danced for Herod?
Josephus
Josephus names Salome only in passing, while listing the dynasty's marriages. The Gospels tell the banquet story but leave the girl nameless, so the Salome of legend is stitched together from the two.
Q 19On what was John's severed head delivered to the dancing girl, at her request?
A plate
A plate carried the head into the banquet, and the girl passed it straight to her mother. The king was sorry, the Gospels say, but would not break an oath sworn before his guests.
Q 20John was executed at which hilltop fortress east of the Dead Sea?
Machaerus
Machaerus is never named in the Gospels, which say only that John died 'in the prison'. The location comes from the Antiquities of the Jews, which has him sent there as a prisoner and put to death.
A queen in Armenia Minor
A queen in Armenia Minor: she married a cousin whom Nero set over the territory. Far from the doomed temptress of later legend, she is recorded as marrying twice and raising three sons.
Q 24How do Orthodox Christians traditionally keep the feast of John the Baptist's beheading?
With a strict fast
With a strict fast: though it is a feast day, the Orthodox mark John's violent death with grief, not celebration. In some cultures the pious also refuse to use a knife or eat anything round that day.
Q 25Which building in Damascus claims to hold John the Baptist's head?
The Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque replaced a church dedicated to John and kept his shrine, where Muslims still pray. In 2001 John Paul II came to see it, the first time any pope had set foot in a mosque.
Q 26Which Picardy cathedral claims to hold John the Baptist's head, brought after the Fourth Crusade?
Amiens
Amiens received the relic from a crusader home from the sack of Constantinople. Pilgrims poured in, and their offerings helped fund the great Gothic cathedral that rose soon afterwards.
Q 27The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul claims to hold which part of John the Baptist?
His forearm and hand
His forearm and hand are shown in a golden casing in the palace treasury. Islam, too, honours John as a prophet, so the relic sat comfortably among the sacred treasures the Ottoman sultans collected.
Q 28In Islam, John the Baptist is known by what name?
Yahya
Yahya is promised to his aged father in the Quran, which adds that no one had been given the name before. Tradition says Muhammad later met him in the second heaven, beside his cousin Jesus.
Q 29Which ancient religious group in Iraq and Iran regards John the Baptist as its final prophet?
The Mandaeans
The Mandaeans baptise again and again in flowing water, not once in a lifetime. European missionaries mistook them for a lost church and called them 'Christians of Saint John', though they regard Jesus as a false prophet.
Q 30Which crusading order of knights, later rulers of Rhodes and Malta, took John the Baptist as its patron?
The Knights Hospitaller
The Knights Hospitaller began by nursing sick pilgrims in a Holy Land hospice. Their armed escorts for travellers slowly grew into an army, and the brothers turned into a fighting order without ever giving up the wards.