Q 01/05

Which real animal did Marco Polo describe in his book as a unicorn?

A) An antelope

B) A rhinoceros

C) A narwhal

D) A mountain goat

Answer · why

B) A rhinoceros

A rhinoceros. Polo grumbled that the mud-loving beast was ugly and nothing like the unicorn of the old stories, which a maiden was supposed to be able...

Q 02/05

Which Mongol ruler's court received the Polos in China?

A) Kublai Khan

B) Ögedei Khan

C) Genghis Khan

D) Möngke Khan

Answer · why

A) Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan. Genghis Khan's grandson found the Polos so useful that he refused several times to let them go home.

Q 03/05

According to legend, what spilled out when the returning Polos ripped open the shabby clothes they had travelled in?

A) Gold coins

B) Spices

C) Jewels

D) Silkworm eggs

Answer · why

C) Jewels

Jewels. In the tale the Polos had turned their fortune into rubies, sapphires and emeralds and sewn them into the seams, because gold was too heavy to...

Q 04/05

Marco Polo first met his father at about 15, after Niccolò spent years doing what?

A) Fighting a Crusade

B) Living in exile

C) Rowing the galleys

D) Trading in Asia

Answer · why

D) Trading in Asia

Trading in Asia. Niccolò left before Marco was born and came home to learn that his wife had died and that he had a teenage son.

Q 05/05

In the Persian city of Saveh, Marco Polo said he was shown the tombs of which biblical figures?

A) The Three Wise Men

B) Adam and Eve

C) Cain and Abel

D) Noah's three sons

Answer · why

A) The Three Wise Men

The Three Wise Men. Polo wrote that their bodies lay in three fine tombs with hair and beards intact, yet the townspeople knew only that three kings w...