Q 01/05

Which queen was the last active ruler of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty?

A) Nefertiti

B) Cleopatra

C) Hatshepsut

D) Nefertari

Answer · why

B) Cleopatra

Cleopatra: Octavian beat her and Mark Antony at Actium in 31 BC, and after her death Egypt became a province of Rome.

Q 02/05

Which river runs the length of Egypt into the Mediterranean?

A) Niger

B) Nile

C) Congo

D) Jordan

Answer · why

B) Nile

Nile: its yearly flood left fertile silt along its banks, turning dry land into farmland.

Q 03/05

Which animal, sacred to the goddess Bastet, did ancient Egyptians mummify in huge numbers?

A) Ibis

B) Crocodile

C) Cat

D) Jackal

Answer · why

C) Cat

Cat: Herodotus wrote that when a household cat died, everyone living in the house shaved off their eyebrows in mourning.

Q 04/05

Which scholar used the Rosetta Stone to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs?

A) Howard Carter

B) Jean-François Champollion

C) William Flinders Petrie

D) Karl Richard Lepsius

Answer · why

B) Jean-François Champollion

Jean-François Champollion: he worked out that many of the signs stood for sounds, not only for ideas.

Q 05/05

Which religion is Egypt's official state religion?

A) Islam

B) Coptic Christianity

C) Judaism

D) Baháʼí Faith

Answer · why

A) Islam

Islam: Egypt came under Muslim rule when Amr ibn al-As's Arab army took it from the Byzantine Empire between 639 and 642.