Q 01/05

The film 300 shows Leonidas kicking a Persian envoy into a pit; what did Sparta really do to Persian heralds?

A) Sent them home in chains

B) Threw them down a well

C) Sold them into slavery

D) Paid a token tribute

Answer · why

B) Threw them down a well

Threw them down a well: when the heralds of Darius came asking for earth and water, Sparta told them to fetch both from the bottom. Athens threw its P...

Q 02/05

A Persian scout sent to spy on Leonidas's Spartans at Thermopylae was amazed to find them doing what?

A) Roasting an ox

B) Playing dice

C) Combing their hair

D) Painting their shields

Answer · why

C) Combing their hair

Combing their hair was what Spartans did before risking their lives, an exiled Spartan king explained to Xerxes. The Persian ruler had found the scout...

Q 03/05

Told that Persian arrows would blot out the sun, a Spartan at Thermopylae joked his side would fight where?

A) In the shade

B) In the dark

C) Under the shields

D) Behind the wall

Answer · why

A) In the shade

In the shade, said the soldier Dienekes, who called the warning good news. Plutarch, writing centuries later, gave the same joke to Leonidas himself.

Q 04/05

A chocolate maker called Leonidas, with the Spartan king on its logo, was founded in 1913 in which country?

A) Greece

B) Switzerland

C) Belgium

D) France

Answer · why

C) Belgium

Belgium is home to the brand, started by a confectioner of Greek heritage named Leonidas Kestekides. His nephew later picked the warrior king's image ...

Q 05/05

The name of Leonidas, the Spartan king who fell at Thermopylae, can be read as 'son of' which animal?

A) A wolf

B) A lion

C) An eagle

D) A bull

Answer · why

B) A lion

A lion is what Leon means in Greek, and Leonidas was named after his grandfather Leon. Strictly, the name means 'descendant of Leon'.