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Ancient History Trivia Questions
Egypt, Greece, Rome and the empires that came before them. 20 questions with answers, and a game you can play now.
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Ancient history is the most evergreen subject on the site, for the obvious reason. Nothing that happened in the second millennium BC is going to be revised by next season, and the dates that are disputed have been disputed for two centuries.
The round covers Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, with the emphasis on the things a general reader would meet: the wonders, the wars, the rulers whose names survived, and the inventions that outlived the civilisations that produced them.
All 20 ancient history trivia questions with answers
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in which country?
Answer: EgyptEasyIt was raised as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.
Which Roman city was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79?
Answer: PompeiiEasyFalling ash sealed its streets and buildings for centuries.Why?
The Great Wall was built to defend which country?
Answer: ChinaEasyIt is a chain of walls raised and rebuilt across many dynasties.
Julius Caesar was a leader of which ancient civilisation?
Answer: RomeEasyHe was assassinated by fellow senators in 44 BC.
The ancient Olympic Games were held in which country?
Answer: GreeceEasyThey ran at Olympia from roughly 776 BC for over a thousand years.
Who was the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt?
Answer: Cleopatra VIIMediumShe was the final ruler of the Greek-descended Ptolemaic dynasty.Why?
By legend, Rome was founded by which pair of brothers?
Answer: Romulus and RemusMediumThe story says a she-wolf raised the abandoned twins.
The Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering which writing system?
Answer: Egyptian hieroglyphsHardChampollion cracked it by working from the stone's Greek text.
Which Chinese dynasty produced the Terracotta Army?
Answer: The QinHardThe buried figures guard the tomb of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.Why?
Which city did Rome destroy at the end of the Third Punic War?
Answer: CarthageHardRome razed the North African rival in 146 BC.Why?
The Parthenon in Athens was built by which ancient people?
Answer: The GreeksEasyIt was completed in the fifth century BC as a temple to the goddess Athena.
Alexander the Great was king of which ancient kingdom?
Answer: MacedonEasyHe conquered the Persian Empire and reached India before dying at Babylon aged 32.
Whose tomb, packed with gold treasures, was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922?
Answer: TutankhamunEasyHoward Carter found it almost intact, which is why the boy king is so famous today.
In Greek legend, the Trojan War was fought over which city?
Answer: TroyEasyIts ruins are usually identified with a site at Hisarlik in north-west Turkey.
Who was the first emperor of Rome?
Answer: AugustusMediumBorn Octavian, he took the title in 27 BC after defeating Antony and Cleopatra.
Hannibal, who crossed the Alps with war elephants, fought for which city?
Answer: CarthageMediumHe invaded Italy in 218 BC during the Second Punic War.
Cyrus the Great founded which empire in the sixth century BC?
Answer: The Persian EmpireMediumHis Achaemenid state stretched from the Aegean to the Indus.
The Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest written law codes, came from which civilisation?
Answer: BabylonHardIt was carved on a stone stele around 1750 BC and is now in the Louvre.
Which Greek city-state defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War?
Answer: SpartaHardThe war ended in 404 BC with the destruction of the Athenian fleet.
Which Mauryan emperor of India embraced Buddhism after the bloody Kalinga war?
Answer: AshokaHardHis edicts, carved on pillars and rocks, are among the earliest Indian inscriptions.
Answer key
- Egypt
- Pompeii
- China
- Rome
- Greece
- Cleopatra VII
- Romulus and Remus
- Egyptian hieroglyphs
- The Qin
- Carthage
- The Greeks
- Macedon
- Tutankhamun
- Troy
- Augustus
- Carthage
- The Persian Empire
- Babylon
- Sparta
- Ashoka
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full ancient history trivia questions list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
The wider round
These come from the history set, which has 100 questions across 6 themes, plus tiebreakers and host notes. History trivia