Q 01/05

Which sea borders Provence to the south?

A) The Adriatic

B) The Mediterranean

C) The Bay of Biscay

D) The Tyrrhenian Sea

Answer · why

B) The Mediterranean

The Mediterranean washes Provence's whole southern edge, and its eastern shore got the name Côte d'Azur from an 1887 travel book by the writer Stéphen...

Q 02/05

Marseille holds which distinction among French cities?

A) It is the largest city by area

B) It has France's oldest university

C) It is the oldest city in France

D) It opened France's first metro

Answer · why

C) It is the oldest city in France

It is the oldest city in France: Marseille began around 600 BC as the port of Massalia, and builders digging a shopping centre in 1967 unearthed remai...

Q 03/05

Provence owes its name to being Rome's first 'provincia' beyond which mountains?

A) The Pyrenees

B) The Alps

C) The Apennines

D) The Vosges

Answer · why

B) The Alps

The Alps were the barrier: Romans called their first province beyond them simply 'Provincia', or 'our province', and the nickname outlived the officia...

Q 04/05

Sailors from which ancient people founded Marseille as the trading post Massalia around 600 BC?

A) The Etruscans

B) The Greeks

C) The Carthaginians

D) The Romans

Answer · why

B) The Greeks

The Greeks came from Phocaea in Asia Minor, hence Marseille's nickname, the Phocaean City; when Persia besieged Phocaea, most of its people chose exil...

Q 05/05

Pytheas, a navigator from ancient Marseille, explored which island over 2,300 years ago and reported the midnight sun farther north?

A) Greenland

B) Newfoundland

C) Great Britain

D) Svalbard

Answer · why

C) Great Britain

Great Britain was the heart of his voyage: Pytheas estimated its coastline and tied the tides to the moon, yet the geographer Strabo later branded him...