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

Legend says the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus burned down the same day because the goddess was away attending the birth.

Q 02/05

Who was Alexander's father?

A) Perdiccas III

B) Philip II

C) Amyntas IV

D) Archelaus I

Answer · why

B) Philip II

He had seven or eight wives; Alexander's mother was his principal wife largely because she had produced the heir.

Q 03/05

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

A) Eurydice

B) Thessalonike

C) Cynane

D) Olympias

Answer · why

D) Olympias

Plutarch says she dreamed her womb was struck by a thunderbolt on the eve of her wedding, and she always insisted Alexander was a son of Zeus.

Q 04/05

Which philosopher tutored Alexander from the age of 13 until he was 16?

A) Isocrates

B) Aristotle

C) Plato

D) Speusippus

Answer · why

B) Aristotle

He gave his pupil an annotated copy of the Iliad, which Alexander carried on campaign.

Q 05/05

In return for the tutoring, Alexander's father agreed to rebuild the tutor's razed hometown, which was?

A) Methone

B) Stageira

C) Potidaea

D) Olynthus

Answer · why

B) Stageira

He also promised to repopulate it by buying back and freeing citizens who had been enslaved.