Q 01/05

Which instrument did Orpheus play so sweetly that wild beasts, trees and even rocks were said to follow him?

A) Panpipes

B) Lyre

C) Flute

D) Drum

Answer · why

B) Lyre

Lyre in hand he could charm anything, and after his death the instrument was said to be placed in the sky as the constellation Lyra.

Q 02/05

What did Orpheus do on the climb out of the underworld that lost Eurydice to the dead forever?

A) Looked back at her

B) Spoke her name aloud

C) Let go of her hand

D) Stopped to rest

Answer · why

A) Looked back at her

Looked back at her is all it took: Hades had freed Eurydice on condition that Orpheus walk ahead and not turn until both had reached the upper world.

Q 03/05

What caused the death of Eurydice soon after her wedding to Orpheus, as she walked through a meadow?

A) A scorpion

B) A wild boar

C) A snake

D) A wolf pack

Answer · why

C) A snake

A snake bit her on the ankle as she walked with the naiads, in Ovid's telling; an earlier version has her stepping on it while fleeing an unwanted adm...

Q 04/05

Which monstrous guardian of the underworld's gates fell silent when Orpheus played and sang his way past?

A) The Hydra

B) The Chimera

C) The Minotaur

D) Cerberus

Answer · why

D) Cerberus

Cerberus stood with his three jaws hanging open and forgot to bark, one Roman poet wrote, and even the Furies stopped to listen.

Q 05/05

Sailing with the Argonauts, Orpheus played loudly enough to drown out which creatures and save the crew?

A) The Harpies

B) The Sirens

C) The Gorgons

D) The Furies

Answer · why

B) The Sirens

The Sirens still claimed one sailor: sharp-eared Butes heard them and leapt overboard, and the goddess Aphrodite had to carry him to safety.