Q 01/05

Beard growth in men is driven by the stimulation of hair follicles by which hormone?

A) Dihydrotestosterone

B) Epitestosterone

C) Progesterone

D) Triiodothyronine

Answer · why

A) Dihydrotestosterone

Dihydrotestosterone is made from testosterone, and the same hormone that thickens the beard also shrinks scalp follicles, which drives male-pattern ba...

Q 02/05

Which naturalist argued that men's beards arose as an ornament to attract women?

A) Thomas Huxley

B) Charles Darwin

C) Gregor Mendel

D) Alfred Russel Wallace

Answer · why

B) Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin called it sexual selection: in The Descent of Man he argued that men's ape-like ancestors acquired beards to charm the opposite sex, an...

Q 03/05

Long before Cleopatra, which female pharaoh had her statues show her wearing a king's false beard?

A) Nefertiti

B) Nefertari

C) Ankhesenamun

D) Hatshepsut

Answer · why

D) Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut took on the full regalia of kingship in her portraits, false beard included, and after her death her statues were torn down and her name wa...

Q 04/05

How did the Spartans punish cowards, according to ancient sources?

A) By banning them from growing beards

B) By shaving off part of their beards

C) By dyeing their beards with henna

D) By cutting off their long hair

Answer · why

B) By shaving off part of their beards

By shaving off part of their beards: Plutarch says Sparta's 'runaways' went about with half the beard shaved and half grown, in patched cloaks, and an...

Q 05/05

Roman writers Varro and Pliny say the first barbers reached Italy around 300 BCE from which island?

A) Crete

B) Cyprus

C) Sardinia

D) Sicily

Answer · why

D) Sicily

Sicily supplied them, brought over by one Titinius Mena; before that, Varro notes, Romans went unshorn, as the long hair and big beards on their oldes...