Q 01/05

According to the Roman architect Vitruvius, who built the first known elevator, probably in 236 BC?

A) Pythagoras

B) Ctesibius

C) Hero of Alexandria

D) Archimedes

Answer · why

D) Archimedes

Vitruvius wrote that Archimedes built the first known elevator, probably in 236 BC; his account is the earliest surviving reference to any elevator.

Q 02/05

Which Roman venue hoisted caged animals to its arena floor on lifts?

A) Circus Maximus

B) Colosseum

C) Theatre of Pompey

D) Theatre of Marcellus

Answer · why

B) Colosseum

The Colosseum's lifts rose from the hypogeum, a network of tunnels added under Emperor Domitian, where animals were kept before being hoisted into the...

Q 03/05

Which French king had a 'flying chair' built for one of his mistresses at Versailles in 1743?

A) Henry IV

B) Louis XIII

C) Louis XV

D) Louis XVI

Answer · why

C) Louis XV

Louis XV had it made for Madame de Châteauroux, whose apartments were upstairs; she rode it up and down by tugging a cord inside the chair.

Q 04/05

Which Disney ride, set in a Twilight Zone hotel, sends guests plunging down an elevator shaft?

A) Space Mountain

B) Haunted Mansion

C) Tower of Terror

D) Expedition Everest

Answer · why

C) Tower of Terror

Tower of Terror's backstory says a storm struck the Hollywood Tower Hotel one night in 1939, and the guests riding its elevator were never seen again.

Q 05/05

Otis's 1850s safety brake is credited with making what practical?

A) Coal mines

B) Subways

C) Skyscrapers

D) Suspension bridges

Answer · why

C) Skyscrapers

Skyscrapers needed riders who trusted lifts: if the rope broke, Otis's catch locked the platform onto toothed ratchet bars fixed along the shaft.