Q 01/05

Which ancient civilization developed cuneiform, the wedge-shaped script that is one of the earliest writing systems?

A) Ancient Egypt

B) Mesopotamia

C) Indus Valley Civilization

D) Ancient China

Answer · why

B) Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia's Sumerians pressed a stylus into wet clay, at first simply to record goods and transactions; the script was later adapted for other langu...

Q 02/05

Howard Carter found the nearly intact tomb of which pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings in November 1922?

A) Ramesses II

B) Tutankhamun

C) Akhenaten

D) Thutmose III

Answer · why

B) Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun was a minor king with a short reign, yet his small tomb held so many treasures that Howard Carter spent the next ten years supervising the...

Q 03/05

The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia in honour of which god?

A) Apollo

B) Ares

C) Zeus

D) Hermes

Answer · why

C) Zeus

Zeus was honoured there with the sacrifice of 100 oxen at his altar, and a sacred truce gave athletes and spectators safe passage to the games.

Q 04/05

Which power was Rome's primary adversary in the three Punic Wars?

A) Carthage

B) Greece

C) Persia

D) Egypt

Answer · why

A) Carthage

Carthage, a maritime power in modern Tunisia, lost all three wars; at the end of the last, in 146 BC, Rome destroyed the city and sold its 50,000 surv...

Q 05/05

Which dynasty is considered the first imperial dynasty of China, unifying the country in 221 BCE?

A) Han Dynasty

B) Shang Dynasty

C) Qin Dynasty

D) Zhou Dynasty

Answer · why

C) Qin Dynasty

Qin Dynasty, founded by Qin Shi Huang, ran only from 221 to 206 BCE, yet the word 'China' itself may derive from its name.