Q 01/05

Which Babylonian king's law code, carved on a basalt stele, now stands in the Louvre in Paris?

A) Nebuchadnezzar II

B) Hammurabi

C) Sargon of Akkad

D) Ashurbanipal

Answer · why

B) Hammurabi

Hammurabi had his laws inscribed on a stone more than two metres tall. Raiders carried it off to Susa, in present-day Iran, as plunder 600 years later...

Q 02/05

Which Athenian philosopher was sentenced to die by drinking hemlock in 399 BC for corrupting the youth?

A) Pythagoras

B) Diogenes

C) Epicurus

D) Socrates

Answer · why

D) Socrates

Socrates authored no texts of his own, so nearly everything known about him comes from accounts his students wrote after his death. The jurors at his ...

Q 03/05

Which general crossed the Alps with war elephants to invade Italy during the Second Punic War?

A) Hannibal

B) Scipio

C) Pyrrhus

D) Hamilcar Barca

Answer · why

A) Hannibal

Hannibal left Iberia with 37 elephants, and most of them reached Italy to fight at the Trebia. He went on to beat the Romans at Lake Trasimene and at ...

Q 04/05

Which Frankish king did Pope Leo III crown emperor in Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800?

A) Clovis I

B) Pepin the Short

C) Charlemagne

D) Charles Martel

Answer · why

C) Charlemagne

Charlemagne is often called the father of Europe for uniting most of its western and central lands. He was the first emperor to rule from the West in ...

Q 05/05

Which document did rebel barons force King John of England to seal at Runnymede in 1215?

A) Petition of Right

B) Magna Carta

C) Charter of the Forest

D) Provisions of Oxford

Answer · why

B) Magna Carta

Magna Carta was annulled by Pope Innocent III soon afterwards, and the First Barons' War followed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, had ...