Q 01/05

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of which Persian dynasty?

A) The Safavids

B) The Sasanians

C) The Achaemenids

D) The Parthians

Answer · why

C) The Achaemenids

The Achaemenids ran their empire day to day from other, older cities, which may be why the Greeks barely knew this one existed until an invading army ...

Q 02/05

In which modern country is Persepolis?

A) Turkey

B) Iran

C) Iraq

D) Afghanistan

Answer · why

B) Iran

Iran treats the ruins as a national emblem: their columns and carvings have been copied on stamps, carpets and bank buildings, and one of the country'...

Q 03/05

What do Persepolis's clay tablets mostly record?

A) Hymns to gods

B) Wages and rations

C) Royal battles

D) Kings' laws

Answer · why

B) Wages and rations

Wages and rations fill the tablets: grain, wine and silver handed out to craftsmen from across the empire, with new mothers given extra, twice as much...

Q 04/05

Which conqueror's army took Persepolis in 330 BC?

A) Genghis Khan

B) Alexander the Great

C) Julius Caesar

D) Cyrus the Great

Answer · why

B) Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, by one ancient account, called it 'the most hateful of the cities of Asia' and let his soldiers plunder everything but the palace...

Q 05/05

According to Plutarch and Diodorus, which courtesan urged the burning of Persepolis?

A) Thaïs

B) Aspasia

C) Lais

D) Phryne

Answer · why

A) Thaïs

Thaïs is said to have thrown her torch right after the king's own; she was the companion of his general Ptolemy, the future ruler of Egypt.