Q 01/05

What nickname did Syracuse earn from its 19th-century brine-spring industry?

A) The Salt City

B) The Crystal City

C) The Brine City

D) The Canal City

Answer · why

A) The Salt City

Syracuse earned the name The Salt City from the brine springs around Onondaga Lake, whose salt water was boiled and sun-evaporated into salt that supp...

Q 02/05

The city was named in 1820 after a Greek-founded city on which Mediterranean island?

A) Sardinia

B) Cyprus

C) Sicily

D) Crete

Answer · why

C) Sicily

Sicily: the 1820 name was chosen after a poetic description of Siracusa, a city like this one with salt springs beside fresh water; the village became...

Q 03/05

Which famous mathematician was born in the original Syracuse and died during its Roman siege in 212 BC?

A) Archimedes

B) Eratosthenes

C) Euclid

D) Pythagoras

Answer · why

A) Archimedes

Archimedes, born in Syracuse about 287 BC, designed the war machines that defended the city; a Roman soldier killed him when the legions finally broke...

Q 04/05

Colonists from which Greek city founded the original Syracuse in 733 BC?

A) Corinth

B) Sparta

C) Athens

D) Thebes

Answer · why

A) Corinth

Corinth: its settlers under Archias founded the colony in 733 BC, displacing the native Sicels; it grew into the most powerful Greek city in the west.

Q 05/05

Which historic waterway, opened in 1825, runs through Syracuse's Clinton Square?

A) The Erie Canal

B) The Oswego Canal

C) The Champlain Canal

D) The Chenango Canal

Answer · why

A) The Erie Canal

At 363 miles it was the second-longest canal in the world when built, and its toll revenue repaid the state's construction debt in a year.