Q 01/05

In which city, capital of Macedon, was Alexander born in 356 BC?

A) Amphipolis

B) Thessalonica

C) Pella

D) Dion

Answer · why

C) Pella

Pella: legend has it the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus burned down that same day because the goddess was away attending his birth.

Q 02/05

Which epic, annotated by Aristotle, did Alexander reportedly keep under his pillow with a dagger?

A) The Iliad

B) The Odyssey

C) The Theogony

D) Works and Days

Answer · why

A) The Iliad

The Iliad: he called it a portable treasure of military virtue, and took Aristotle's edition with him all the way to Asia.

Q 03/05

Who was Alexander's mother, a princess of Epirus?

A) Eurydice

B) Thessalonike

C) Cynane

D) Olympias

Answer · why

D) Olympias

Olympias: after Philip's murder she is said to have had his last wife and her baby killed, which angered Alexander.

Q 04/05

As a boy hosting Persian envoys in his father's absence, what did Alexander question them about?

A) Roads and armies

B) Gold and jewels

C) Gods and temples

D) Horses and hunting

Answer · why

A) Roads and armies

Roads and armies: he reportedly asked about the road into inner Asia and the Persian king's forces, years before he conquered that empire.

Q 05/05

Alexander's father rebuilt which razed town as payment for Aristotle's tutoring?

A) Methone

B) Stageira

C) Potidaea

D) Olynthus

Answer · why

B) Stageira

Stageira: it was Aristotle's hometown, and Philip also bought back and freed its citizens who had been sold into slavery.