Montezuma II Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
46 free Montezuma II trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Montezuma II trivia quiz covers the ninth tlatoani of the Aztecs, from his coronation around 1502 to his death in Spanish custody in 1520. The easy questions ask which empire he ruled, which conquistador he met on the causeway into his capital, what his capital was called, which drink he took from a golden goblet and what 'Montezuma's revenge' really means. From there it moves into his reign: the famine, the palace zoo, the aqueduct, the elitist reforms and the empire's greatest extent. The hard end is for people who read Bernal Díaz: what his name means in Nahuatl, the wife who made him king consort of another city, the windowless black room where he meditated, the omens his contemporaries recorded, the two very different accounts of how he died, the brother who ruled 80 days, the daughter widowed five times, the feather headdress Mexico wants back from Vienna, the operas that bear his name and the US Marines' Hymn line about his halls. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entries on Moctezuma II, Hernán Cortés, Tenochtitlan, La Noche Triste, the Massacre in the Great Temple, Cuitláhuac, Cuauhtémoc, La Malinche, Isabel Moctezuma and Montezuma's headdress before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our Aztecs, Mexico and Spanish conquistadors quizzes are natural next stops.
30 of 46 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Montezuma II was the ninth tlatoani, or ruler, of which Mesoamerican civilisation?
Aztec
Montezuma II ruled the Aztec Empire, the Triple Alliance of three cities on and around Lake Texcoco, which reached its greatest extent under him.
Q 02Which Spanish conquistador led the men who seized Montezuma's capital?
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés landed on the Gulf coast in 1519, marched inland, and in 1521, with a host of Tlaxcalan and other indigenous allies, took the city after a siege.
Q 03What was the name of the Aztec capital where Montezuma ruled?
Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan, founded on an island in Lake Texcoco in 1325, was linked to the shore by causeways and ranked among the world's largest cities when the Spanish arrived in 1519.
Q 04A Spanish soldier reported that when Montezuma dined he drank nothing but which beverage, served in a golden goblet?
Chocolate
The soldier-chronicler wrote that Montezuma took only chocolate, a frothed cacao drink served in fine gold cups, and that dozens of jugs of it were prepared at each meal.
Q 05'Montezuma's revenge' is a colloquial name for what?
Traveller's diarrhoea
Traveller's diarrhoea picked up in Mexico earned the nickname Montezuma's revenge, as if the emperor were punishing visiting foreigners; 'Delhi belly' is the Indian equivalent.
Q 06The opening line of the US Marines' Hymn, 'From the Halls of Montezuma', refers to which 1847 engagement?
The Battle of Chapultepec
Marines stormed Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City during the Mexican–American War of 1846–48.
Q 07Montezuma's name in the Aztec language combines a noun meaning 'lord' with a verb meaning what?
To frown in anger
It is usually rendered 'he frowns like a lord' or 'he who is angry in a noble manner'.
Q 08The Aztecs called him Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin. What does Xocoyotzin mean?
Honoured young one
It distinguished him from the first Moctezuma, called Ilhuicamina or 'Old Moctezuma'; the regnal numbers were added by later historians.
Q 09Montezuma II was the great-grandson of Moctezuma I and the son of which emperor?
Axayácatl
Axayácatl, who ruled from 1469 to 1481, was his father; Axayácatl's brothers Tízoc and Ahuitzotl reigned in turn before the throne passed to Montezuma.
Q 10Before his election, Montezuma was a priest at the temple of which god?
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli, the Mexica war and sun god: the chronicler Durán says the electors found Montezuma serving as a priest in his temple, and he was also a proven warrior.
Q 11Most historians date Montezuma's coronation to which year?
1502
1502 is the usual date; the Stone of the Five Suns in the Art Institute of Chicago carries the year 11 Reed (1503), which some take as his accession year instead.
Q 12Montezuma's reign opened with a natural disaster in 1505. What was it?
A drought and famine
It lasted three years, and some nobles sold their children as slaves for food until Montezuma ordered the children freed.
Q 13Montezuma widened the gap between nobles and commoners by banning commoners from doing what?
Serving in the royal palaces
Q 21Some Aztec sources say Montezuma feared the Spaniards because he believed Cortés might be which returning god?
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, was said to have sailed east and promised to return; scholars such as Anthony Pagden argue the story was elaborated after the conquest.
Q 22According to Cortés's own letters, Montezuma volunteered to cede his entire realm to which monarch?
Charles V of Spain
In his Second Letter of 1520, Cortés told Charles V of Spain that Montezuma had acknowledged him as rightful lord and handed over his realm, a claim historians treat with suspicion.
Q 23The Massacre in the Great Temple on 22 May 1520 took place during which Aztec festival?
Toxcatl
He barred commoners from serving in the royal palaces, reversing his predecessors' habit of promoting on merit, replaced much of the court with nobles and made them live in the capital.
Q 14Montezuma's palace included the Totocalli, a famous facility of what kind?
A zoo
Its name means House of Birds, but it also held jaguars, wolves and snakes; Cortés admitted enjoying it before burning it in 1521.
Q 15What was the windowless, all-black room in Montezuma's palace used for?
Meditation
The Casa Denegrida was Montezuma's room for meditation, where he reflected on the omens his seers reported; its remains were found in 2008 under central Mexico City.
Q 16Which modern Mexico City building stands on the site of Montezuma's palace?
The National Palace
The National Palace on the Zócalo stands where Montezuma's 'New Houses' stood; Cortés rebuilt the site as his own residence, and it later became the viceroys' palace.
Q 17Through marriage to Queen Tlapalizquixochtzin, Montezuma was also king consort of which city-state?
Ecatepec
Ecatepec, a city-state on the northern shore of Lake Texcoco, was ruled by his wife Tlapalizquixochtzin in her own right, which made Montezuma its king consort.
Q 18Under Montezuma the empire expanded as far south as Xoconosco in which modern Mexican state?
Chiapas
Xoconosco, today's Soconusco on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, was the empire's southernmost province, valued for its cacao tribute.
Q 19Montezuma received the first reports of Europeans landing on his coast in 1518, from the expedition of whom?
Juan de Grijalva
Grijalva landed at San Juan de Ulúa, in Totonac territory under Aztec sway, a year before Cortés arrived.
Q 20On what date in 1519 did Montezuma meet Cortés on the causeway into his capital and exchange gifts?
8 November
On 8 November 1519 Montezuma, borne in a litter, met Cortés on the Iztapalapa causeway, exchanged necklaces with him and lodged the Spaniards in his late father's palace.
Toxcatl, the late-spring festival of Tezcatlipoca and the war god, was being danced in the temple precinct when the Spanish garrison fell on the unarmed celebrants.
Q 24Which captain did Cortés leave in charge of the capital when he marched to confront Narváez?
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado, the red-haired captain the Mexica called Tonatiuh ('the Sun'), was left in command; his attack on the festival set off the revolt.
Q 25How do Spanish accounts say Montezuma was fatally injured while addressing his people from a rooftop?
Hit by three stones thrown by the crowd
Spanish chroniclers wrote that he was hit by three stones thrown by the crowd, one striking his head, and that he refused treatment and died within days.
Q 26After the Aztecs renounced Montezuma, which brother of his was named tlatoani in his place?
Cuitláhuac
Cuitláhuac, lord of Iztapalapa and Montezuma's brother, led the resistance, drove the Spaniards from the city in June 1520, and was formally installed as tlatoani later that year.
Q 27Who was the last Aztec emperor, ruling from 1520 until the city fell in 1521?
Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc, Montezuma's nephew and son-in-law, held out until the city fell; Cortés had his feet burned to find gold, then hanged him in 1525 on the march to Honduras.
Q 28What did Mexico City officially rename La Noche Triste, the Spaniards' 1520 flight, in 2021?
Victorious Night
Victorious Night (Noche Victoriosa) was the name Mexico City's government adopted in 2021, recasting the Spaniards' flight along the Tlacopan causeway on 30 June 1520 as a Mexica triumph.
Q 29The famous feather headdress attributed to Montezuma is held in a museum in which city, and Mexico wants it back?
Vienna
The headdress is in Vienna's Weltmuseum; first recorded in 1596 in Archduke Ferdinand's collection at Ambras Castle, it has been in Austrian hands ever since.
Q 30Montezuma's daughter Tecuichpoch, baptised Isabel, was married how many times, to Aztec emperors and Spaniards alike?
Six
Six: three Mexica lords, including two successive tlatoque, then the Spaniards Alonso de Grado, Pedro Gallego and Juan Cano; she was widowed five times and held the Tacuba encomienda.