Q 01/05

La Marseillaise is named for volunteers from Marseille, but in which French city was the anthem written?

A) Paris

B) Strasbourg

C) Bordeaux

D) Montpellier

Answer · why

B) Strasbourg

Strasbourg is where army officer Rouget de Lisle wrote the song in 1792, as a war song for the Army of the Rhine. Marseille volunteers sang it on thei...

Q 02/05

Which Alexandre Dumas novel made the island prison of Château d'If, off Marseille, famous around the world?

A) The Three Musketeers

B) The Knight of Maison-Rouge

C) The Count of Monte Cristo

D) The Man in the Iron Mask

Answer · why

C) The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo locks its hero in the Château d'If for 14 years before a daring escape. The real fortress, built in the 1520s, never had to ...

Q 03/05

Which French footballer, scorer of two headers in the 1998 World Cup final, grew up in Marseille's La Castellane?

A) Zinedine Zidane

B) Thierry Henry

C) Didier Deschamps

D) Laurent Blanc

Answer · why

A) Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane was born in La Castellane in 1972, the youngest of five children of Algerian parents. Both of his goals against Brazil in the final ca...

Q 04/05

Which Marseille fish stew began as a fishermen's meal of bony rockfish they were unable to sell?

A) Cioppino

B) Cotriade

C) Moqueca baiana

D) Bouillabaisse

Answer · why

D) Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse takes its name from two Provençal verbs meaning to boil and to lower the heat. An authentic Marseille pot must include rascasse, a spiny...

Q 05/05

What name did Greek settlers give Marseille when they founded the trading colony around 600 BC?

A) Nikaia

B) Massalia

C) Antipolis

D) Emporion

Answer · why

B) Massalia

Massalia became Massilia to the Romans, and the modern name most likely descends from it. The port they founded is considered the oldest city in Franc...