Q 01/05

In Toltec legend, the priest-king Quetzalcoatl refused to offer his gods what?

A) Gold and jade

B) Human victims

C) Flowers and incense

D) Songs and dances

Answer · why

B) Human victims

Human victims: as priest-king of Tula he is said to have offered only snakes, birds and butterflies, a striking stand in a world where sacrifice was t...

Q 02/05

Aztec temples to Quetzalcoatl in his wind-god guise were built in what unusual shape?

A) Triangular

B) Star-shaped

C) Cross-shaped

D) Round

Answer · why

D) Round

Round: circular walls were thought to please the wind god because they gave the wind no sharp corners to strike, and his temple in Tenochtitlan was bu...

Q 03/05

Quetzalcoatl was the patron god of which Aztec group?

A) The hunters

B) The farmers

C) The priesthood

D) The warriors

Answer · why

C) The priesthood

The priesthood: as god of learning he was honoured in the calmecac, the temple schools where noble boys trained for the priesthood, and the school in ...

Q 04/05

Quetzalcoatl's 'wind jewel' pendant was a cross-section sliced from what?

A) A conch shell

B) A jaguar skull

C) A dried gourd

D) A turtle shell

Answer · why

A) A conch shell

A conch shell: sliced across to show its spiral, the pendant hangs on his chest in most images, and scholars have read it as a sign of whirling wind o...

Q 05/05

Aztec tradition credited Quetzalcoatl with inventing books and what else?

A) The bow

B) The calendar

C) The canoe

D) The ball game

Answer · why

B) The calendar

The calendar: he was the god of learning, and in the schools where he was honoured noble boys were drilled in reading, writing and the count of days.