Q 01/05

Which dystopian series about child 'tributes' did its author base partly on the myth of Theseus?

A) The Maze Runner

B) The Hunger Games

C) The Darkest Minds

D) Divergent

Answer · why

B) The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games echoes the seven youths and seven maidens Athens had to send to the Minotaur. Suzanne Collins named the myth as her main classical in...

Q 02/05

The Ship of Theseus thought experiment asks if an object stays the same after what?

A) Every part is replaced

B) It is sold to strangers

C) It sinks and is raised

D) It is given a new name

Answer · why

A) Every part is replaced

Every part is replaced in the puzzle, one plank at a time. Athenians were said to keep the hero's ship for centuries by swapping rotten timbers for ne...

Q 03/05

What did Ariadne give Theseus so he could find his way back out of the Labyrinth on Crete?

A) A burning torch

B) A bronze mirror

C) A ball of thread

D) A trail of pebbles

Answer · why

C) A ball of thread

A ball of thread did the job: Theseus tied one end to the doorpost and unwound it on the way in. With the Minotaur dead, he simply followed it back ou...

Q 04/05

Theseus left for Crete under a black sail; in the usual telling, which colour meant he had lived?

A) Blue

B) Yellow

C) Green

D) White

Answer · why

D) White

White was the agreed signal, but Theseus forgot to change the sail. His father saw black on the horizon, took his son for dead and leapt to his death.

Q 05/05

Which master craftsman built the Labyrinth on Crete that Theseus had to enter to kill the Minotaur?

A) Daedalus

B) Icarus

C) Pygmalion

D) Prometheus

Answer · why

A) Daedalus

Daedalus built the maze so cunningly that he could barely find his own way out of it. He later escaped the island with his son on home-made wings.