Q 01/05

In the founding myth, Athena won patronage of the city by giving Athenians what?

A) A spring of salt water on the rock

B) The first domesticated olive tree

C) The first horse ever tamed by man

D) The secret of fire from Olympus

Answer · why

B) The first domesticated olive tree

Poseidon offered a salt spring (or, in Virgil, a horse); the city's legendary founder-king judged the contest.

Q 02/05

How do modern scholars think Athens and Athena got their matching names?

A) The place was named after the deity

B) Coincidence; they are unrelated

C) Both come from a Phoenician root

D) The deity was named after the place

Answer · why

D) The deity was named after the place

The ending -ene is common in place names but rare in personal names; the root is probably pre-Greek.

Q 03/05

Ancient Athenians were nicknamed Tettigophoroi, meaning wearers of what?

A) Laurel wreaths

B) Purple sashes

C) Golden cicada pins

D) Owl brooches

Answer · why

C) Golden cicada pins

The insect symbolised being earth-born, like the legendary founder Erechtheus, and being musical.

Q 04/05

Who introduced democracy to Athens in 508 BC?

A) Solon the lawgiver

B) Pericles

C) Cleisthenes

D) Draco

Answer · why

C) Cleisthenes

Solon's reforms had paved the way a century earlier; Cleisthenes reorganised citizens into ten tribes by residence rather than wealth.

Q 05/05

Which Athenian general led the victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC?

A) Miltiades

B) Themistocles

C) Pericles

D) Alcibiades

Answer · why

A) Miltiades

Themistocles won the crucial sea battle at Salamis ten years later; the Persians still sacked Athens twice.