Q 01/05

Cleopatra was the last active ruler of which dynasty, founded by a general of Alexander the Great?

A) Seleucid

B) Antigonid

C) Attalid

D) Ptolemaic

Answer · why

D) Ptolemaic

Her first language was Greek, and she was the only ruler of her line known to have bothered learning Egyptian.

Q 02/05

Which river did Julius Caesar cross with a single legion in January 49 BC, starting a civil war?

A) Tiber River

B) Po Valley

C) Rubicon

D) Arno at Pisa

Answer · why

C) Rubicon

He was assassinated five years later on the Ides of March by senators led by Brutus and Cassius.

Q 03/05

Which philosopher tutored the young Alexander the Great until he was 16?

A) Aristotle

B) Plato

C) Socrates

D) Diogenes

Answer · why

A) Aristotle

Alexander died undefeated in battle at Babylon in 323 BC, the city he intended to make his capital.

Q 04/05

What was Genghis Khan's birth name?

A) Ögedei

B) Jochi

C) Subutai

D) Temüjin

Answer · why

D) Temüjin

His father, a Borjigin chieftain, died when he was eight and the family was abandoned by its tribe.

Q 05/05

How old was Joan of Arc when she was burned at the stake in 1431?

A) About sixteen

B) About nineteen

C) About twenty-three

D) About twenty-seven

Answer · why

B) About nineteen

She was canonised in 1920, almost five centuries later, and made a patron saint of France in 1922.

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