About a decade or so ago, I was watching something on TV about ancient Egypt and it struck me that I didn't really know the first thing about the ancient world. Okay, I knew the first thing, which is that Egypt was really big. But I didn't know the second thing or third thing or any of the rest of the things.
I went out that very weekend and bought an Atlas of the Ancient World and read it and studied the maps. What a journey, and what a great mystery unraveled, finally being able to attach all those place names one knows – from the Bible, from the many small towns of America named after them, from just going through life – to some kind of larger historical thread. And I thought to myself, this is a topic informed people ought to know a little something about. And ergo, friends, here we are.
I remain, obviously, several light years away from having anything you'd remotely call expertise. But I could probably bluff my way through a 12-question quiz and get eight or nine right. Can you? Let's have a look.
1. Let's start in Egypt, with possibly the most famous of all ancient kings, King Tut, or Tutankhamun. When did he rule?
a. 18th dynasty, 1300s BC, during the New Kingdom
b. 30th dynasty, 300s BC, during the Late Period
c. 7th dynasty, 2100s BC, during the First Intermediate Period
2. There is considerable debate about what settlement can claim the title as the world's oldest city, but this city seems to qualify as the best choice in the eyes of many experts, in part because some others that might have been settled earlier were sacked and abandoned at different points, while this city has been lived in continuously since about 5000 BC.
a. Xi'an, China
b. Byblos, Lebanon
c. Boeotia, Greece
3. During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries marked themselves out by wearing certain articles of clothing, one such being the Phrygian Cap, which, even if you don't know it's called that, you know the shape of. But what, and where, was ancient Phrygia?
a. A vassal state of Thebes, on the western half of Cyprus
b. A small suzerainty in modern-day Afghanistan
c. A kingdom in west-central Turkey
4. True or false: Ancient Assyria was based in modern-day Syria.
5. For which of these developments are the ancient Persians not responsible?
a. The domestication of the horse
b. The invention of the brick
c. The development of the first postal service
6. You may have read the Epic of Gilgamesh. He was a real person, a Sumerian king of Uruk. Where was Sumer (yep, Sumer, rhymes with Schumer, not Sumeria?)
a. Modern-day Israel
b. Modern-day Iraq
c. Modern-day Armenia
7. This circa 1400 BC battle is one of the most famous of ancient times, because of its place in the Bible, but many modern scholars don't think it really happened, based on evidence that the city was abandoned at the time. One archaeologist said: "Here's your miracle: Joshua destroyed a city that wasn't even there."
a. The Battle of Marathon
b. The Battle of Pisgah
c. The Battle of Jericho
8. From what ancient culture do we get the phrase "Mandate of Heaven"? In this culture's earlier dynasties, a ruler was considered to have the mandate of heaven until a large natural disaster occurred, or until he appeared to lose his concern for the well-being of the people.
9. All three of the below were among the seven wonders of the ancient world. All were known for their great height, but one towered over the others: about 400 feet tall, whereas the other two were just more than 100 feet tall. Which one was the tallest?
a. The Colossus of Rhodes
b. The Lighthouse of Alexandria
c. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
10. This battle of September 480 BC is sometimes called (especially by Western historians) the most important in ancient history, because it is where the Greeks, under Themistocles, finally stopped the westward advances of the Persians under Xerxes.
a. The Battle of Thermopylae
b. The Battle of Ephesus
c. The Battle of Salamis
11. Last two questions, closer to our own necks of the woods. About when was Stonehenge built?
a. 2400 BC
b. 50 BC
c. 6500 BC
12. Which was the first Mesoamerican culture?
Okay. I think I made some of these easy with little clues, like Joshua. But even if you feel you didn't do well, I hope you feel you learned a couple of interesting things. Let's check the answers.
1-a; 2-b; 3-c; 4-false; 5-a; 6-b; 7-c; 8-a; 9-b; 10-c; 11-a; 12-b.
1. Given those three choices, some distant bell in my brain would probably have rung 18th. And anyway, when in doubt, choose the middle option.
2. Learned this while researching. I hope to go back to Lebanon someday. Loved it.
3. I love the word suzerainty. You can see a Phrygian cap here, and you'll see what I mean.
4. Modern-day Iraq. It did extend into Syria, but it was based in northern Iraq. I guess it's "A" Syria in the way that amoral isn't moral, know what I mean?
5. Surprisingly, it seems that the horse was domesticated in what is present-day Ukraine, in Dereivka, in 4000 to 35000 BC.
6. Uruk should have been the hint.
7. You know the gospel song, right? Made famous by Paul Robeson among others.
8. I thought this was maybe the easiest one.
9. I might have gone Colossus here, but it was actually the smallest, around 110 feet. Mausoleum, about 135 feet. Amazing how they know these things.
10. I'd never heard of this battle until this morning, I admit. But it was huge. Apparently it's kind of a "we'd all be speaking Farsi today" kind of thing. So they did have conquest on their minds, the dirty sneaks. Wait till Glenn Beck finds out about this one.
11. I'd think the Brits would know. For the Yanks I'd hope you could do a basic process of elimination here. And again: when in doubt, go middle.
12. Ah, the little appreciated Olmecs. The Mayans were second, the Aztecs much, much later.
Are any of you specialists on the ancient world, or autodidacts on any aspect of it? Learn the rest of us something, then, as we say in West Virginia. All kinds of fascinating things to know.