Q 01/05

Hammurabi, famous for his law code, was king of which ancient city?

A) Carthage

B) Athens

C) Babylon

D) Thebes

Answer · why

C) Babylon

He was the sixth Amorite king there and presented his laws as a revelation from Shamash, the god of justice.

Q 02/05

The Silk Road took its name from a luxury textile produced mainly in which country?

A) Persia

B) India

C) Egypt

D) China

Answer · why

D) China

The term itself was only popularised in 1877, by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen.

Q 03/05

Roughly what share of Europe's population is estimated to have died in the Black Death of 1346-1353?

A) 30% to 60%

B) 5% to 10%

C) 15% to 20%

D) 20% to 25%

Answer · why

A) 30% to 60%

The disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was mainly spread by flea bites.

Q 04/05

The Black Death is said to have reached Europe during the 1347 siege of which Crimean trading port?

A) Caffa

B) Odessa

C) Trebizond

D) Sevastopol

Answer · why

A) Caffa

The Golden Horde army of Jani Beg was besieging the Genoese port when the plague spread from the camp to the city.

Q 05/05

The Renaissance was first centred in which Italian city?

A) Florence

B) Milan

C) Venice

D) Rome

Answer · why

A) Florence

Its ruling Medici family paid for much of the art, and Greek scholars fleeing the fall of Constantinople brought ancient texts with them.