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

Athena struck the rock and produced the first domesticated olive tree, judged more useful than Poseidon's salt spring; the olive became the emblem of ...

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

Most scholars hold that the deity was named after the place: the ending -ene is common in Greek place names but rare in personal names, and the root i...

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

Thucydides notes older Athenians fastened their hair with golden cicada pins; the cicada, believed born from the earth, symbolised the Athenians' clai...

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

Miltiades persuaded his fellow generals to attack and led the hoplite charge that routed the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC; Themistocles' naval victo...