Q 01/05

The goat-legged Greek god Pan, whose shout terrified travellers in lonely places, gave English which word?

A) Panic

B) Pandemic

C) Panorama

D) Pantomime

Answer · why

A) Panic

Panic was the sudden terror that Pan's angry shout was said to cause when his afternoon nap was disturbed. He was also said to have spread it among th...

Q 02/05

Which Titan was condemned by Zeus to stand at the western edge of the world and hold up the sky forever?

A) Hyperion

B) Atlas

C) Epimetheus

D) Oceanus

Answer · why

B) Atlas

Atlas shoulders the heavens, not the Earth as is often imagined. Gerardus Mercator first used his name for a collection of maps in the 16th century.

Q 03/05

The word cereal comes from Ceres, the Roman name for which Greek goddess of grain and the harvest?

A) Hera

B) Harmonia

C) Athena

D) Demeter

Answer · why

D) Demeter

Demeter was also worshipped in the secret Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised initiates a happy afterlife. Latin cerealis meant 'of Ceres', her Roman...

Q 04/05

Which Greek god, a scheming uncle voiced by James Woods, is the villain of Disney's animated film Hercules?

A) Hades

B) Zeus

C) Thanatos

D) Poseidon

Answer · why

A) Hades

Hades plots against Olympus in the film. In Homer he is the god mortals hate most, and the reason given is that he is unyielding and cannot be swayed.

Q 05/05

Which Greek goddess, twin sister of Apollo, gave her name to NASA's program to return humans to the Moon?

A) Mnemosyne

B) Selene

C) Artemis

D) Athena

Answer · why

C) Artemis

Artemis was picked in 2019 because the program follows Apollo, the 1960s Moon landings that NASA named after her twin brother.