Ancient History Quiz

[Knight-Dragon]

Well, since quizzes are back in vogue, will post the 5th one in the SKM Know Your History Quiz Series. Here goes : -

Who were the : -

1) Ligurians
2) Kushans
3) Medes
4) Amorites
5) Sassanids
6) Mauryans
7) Akuma
8) Galatians
9) Helvetii
10) Akkadians

Just for added fun, one of the above is a red herring. Try to answer the other nine real questions.

 

[polymath]

1) Ligurians -- lived in Tuscany, the first settlers of Venetia.
2) Kushans – Afghan, e.g. the Hindu Kush
3) Medes – Persians, e.g. Darius the Mede
4) Amorites -- Dunno
5) Sassanids -- Dunno
6) Mauryans -- Indians, based in Bangladesh, Maury was a great Indian leader
7) Akuma -- Something to do with Street Fighter, as I remember.
8) Galatians -- A bunch of guys that Saint Paul wrote to a lot.
9) Helvetii -- Celts who lived in Switzerland
10) Akkadians -- Dunno.

 

[Kublai-Khan]

sassanids-the new persian empire, after the parthians
the akkadians were a semitic group of people that went to mesopotamia and established in the lower vallley (akkad)
the amorites also were a semitic group that went to mesopotamia
and established the first babilonias empire.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by polymath
1) Ligurians -- lived in Tuscany, the first settlers of Venetia.
2) Kushans – Afghan, e.g. the Hindu Kush
3) Medes – Persians, e.g. Darius the Mede
4) Amorites -- Dunno
5) Sassanids -- Dunno
6) Mauryans -- Indians, based in Bangladesh, Maury was a great Indian leader
7) Akuma -- Something to do with Street Fighter, as I remember.
8) Galatians -- A bunch of guys that Saint Paul wrote to a lot.
9) Helvetii -- Celts who lived in Switzerland
10) Akkadians -- Dunno.

1) Er, tell me something more .... You're right I think.
2) Nope although you got the general area right ....
3) Not quite although they're closely related to the Persians.
6) Yep, they're Indians (but not in Bangladesh). Something more. BTW, who's Maury?
7) This is the red herring ...... Means demon in Jap.
8) As a people, who were they?
9) Yep, it was the name of the Celtic tribe which inhabited modern Switzerland.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Kublai-Khan
sassanids-the new persian empire, after the parthians
the akkadians were a semitic group of people that went to mesopotamia and established in the lower vallley (akkad)
the amorites also were a semitic group that went to mesopotamia
and established the first babilonias empire.

4) You got the Amorites right I think.
5) And the Sassanids.
10) And the Akkadians.

Boy, you're good.

The Sassanids were originally vassals of the Parthians who overthrew them and set up a new empire which would contend with the Romans and later Byzantines for centuries. Eventually weakening both so much that the Arabs would walk all over them when they launched their holy war cum expansion.

The Akkadians would control much of Sumeria under Sargon. Akkadian, a Semitic language would eventually become the lingua franca of non-Semitic Sumeria for centuries.

The Amorites were a Semitic people who settled along northern Mesopotamia IIRC. Later their language too became the lingua france of the Mid-east.

 

[Kublai-Khan]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
1) Er, tell me something more .... You're right I think.
2) Nope although you got the general area right ....
3) Not quite although they're closely related to the Persians.
6) Yep, they're Indians (but not in Bangladesh). Something more. BTW, who's Maury?
7) This is the red herring ...... Means demon in Jap.
8) As a people, who were they?
9) Yep, it was the name of the Celtic tribe which inhabited modern Switzerland.

all i know about the kushan is their location.

I have no idea about akuma, and what´s the meaning of red herring?

medes were an iranian tribe, first it was the more important tribe i think
it was located in the norht of iran near the caspian sea.
Later they were conquered by the persians that reunified all the iranian tribes.

the mauryans were an indian empire
but it was in the north od the subcontinent and pakistan, not bangladesh i think.

galatians i am not sure i think they were the celts from the center-north of turkey.

I know much for my age about ancient history-becouse i like it- but i have a hole between 17 century and the industrial revolution.

and i have a really hard time to remembering chinese names.

 

[Sodak]

What's left to answer? ...

The Galatians were indeed a Celtic people in central Anatolia.

The Celtic Helvetii lived in present day Confederatica Helvetica, a.k.a. Switzerland.

 

[Kublai-Khan]

If they werent semitic people
what were they?
indo-Aryan like the persians?

 

[King of England]

The sumerians were around before the Indo-Europeans started migrating, right?

I think nobody really knows, but I read a book on Mesopotamia that says they may have come from somewhere near the Caucasus..or is it near the Caspian..?

Anyone know more?

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Kublai-Khan
If they werent semitic people
what were they?
indo-Aryan like the persians?

The Sumerians weren't Semitic, nor were they Indo-European. And as King0fEngland had said, they were probably fr around the Caucasian region i.e. near Armenia, Azerbajian, Georgia etc. Farming was developed in the highlands around there and some of the ppl there then brought it to the fertile lowlands and became the Sumerians .... IIRC.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Sodak
What's left to answer? ...

The Galatians were indeed a Celtic people in central Anatolia.

The Celtic Helvetii lived in present day Confederatica Helvetica, a.k.a. Switzerland.

Correct on both counts. The Galatians were indeed Celts who had settled down in Anatolia (i.e. modern Turkey). They migrated eastwards fr the original Celtic homeland somewhere in Central Europe, whilst other migrated westwards and southwards to become the Gauls etc.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Kublai-Khan
all i know about the kushan is their location.

I have no idea about akuma, and what´s the meaning of red herring?

medes were an iranian tribe, first it was the more important tribe i think
it was located in the norht of iran near the caspian sea.
Later they were conquered by the persians that reunified all the iranian tribes.

the mauryans were an indian empire
but it was in the north od the subcontinent and pakistan, not bangladesh i think.

galatians i am not sure i think they were the celts from the center-north of turkey.

Akuma is not one of the questions. It's a joke I put in to throw some of you guys offtrack .... Red herring is an English expression, meaning a false trail or something.

Yep, the Medes were an Indo-European ppl as well, like the Persians. They were the original rulers of Iran, until Cyrus overthrew them. Like Persians, the Medes would be part of the elite within the Persian Empire.

You're right on the Mauryans as well. They were the first Indian empire. Formed after Alexander and the Greeks invaded India (and after the death of Alexander). Seleucus, Alexander's successor who took over most of the old Persian empire, tried to bring them back under Greek control but failed. Later established a long good relationship with the Indians.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Alright, remaining questions on the Ligurians and Kushans. Anyone want to give a more detailed reply?

 

[Kublai-Khan]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
Alright, remaining questions on the Ligurians and Kushans. Anyone want to give a more detailed reply?

Answer you,
i really don´t know a thing about ligurians
i think that the kushan empire was created by some barbarians from the steppes,but the history is full of invaders from the asian steppes.
I know that the sassanians conquered the kushan empire but nothing else.
It was in the indus valley and the eastern provinces of persia and probably-i don´t know-
in Bactria or afganistan but i am no sure really

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Kublai-Khan
Answer you,
i really don´t know a thing about ligurians
i think that the kushan empire was created by some barbarians from the steppes,but the history is full of invaders from the asian steppes.
I know that the sassanians conquered the kushan empire but nothing else.
It was in the indus valley and the eastern provinces of persia and probably-i don´t know-
in Bactria or afganistan but i am no sure really

Alright, I'll give the Kushans to you. They were originally nomads fr the borders of China. Known to the Chinese as the Yueh-chih, the Kushans were driven to the west by the Hsiung-nu (Huns) who became very powerful. It was said the Hsiung-nu Khan made a drinking vessel out of the skull of the defeated chieftain of the Yueh-chih.
In the west, they established their empire which stretched fr Turkestan into Northern India across the Hindu Kush and Afghanistan. And became known as the Kushans. I don't know what eventually happenned to them but I think they were assimilated into the Indian civ.
Note - the Han once sent an envoy to them to seek an alliance against the powerful Hsiung-nu but got rejected. However not all was lost for the knowledge gained in journeying this far west would eventually establish the Silk Road and the beginning of some exchange with the West.

 

[Kublai-Khan]

This is my favourite history link,
if you are interested in rome, persia, greece and early judaism and christianism you will find it very interesting.

www.livius.org

 

[Kublai-Khan]

I will post ten more questions.
-excuse me, i know my english sucks-

1-Write the names of the 4 capital cities of the persians.
2-Harappa is one of the 2 big capitals of the indus civilization,wich one is the other?
3-What was the name of the road that stretched from Sardes to Babylon in the persian empire?
4-Ancient name of Armenia - It starts with U-
5-Name of the first mesopotamian empire in conquering Egypt and the name of the conqueror.
6-The united kingdom of the Jews divided into two kingdoms when Salomon died, Israel in the north and Juda in the south.
Wich one was conquered by the Assyrians and wich one by the Babylonians?.
7-How many wonders of the world were greek, write them.
8-Who were the Scythians.
9-Name of the last Babylonian king.
10-Hannibal besieged this city, this act represents the beginning of the second punic war.-Name of the city-

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Ooo, here comes a new challenger.

"1-Write the names of the 4 capital cities of the persians."

Persepolis, Ctesiphon, Susa (?), Tehran (?), Tabriz (?). Only sure bout first two.

"2-Harappa is one of the 2 big capitals of the indus civilization,wich one is the other?"

Mohenjodaro (spelling?).

"3-What was the name of the road that stretched from Sardes to Babylon in the persian empire?"

The Golden Road or the Imperial Road?

"4-Ancient name of Armenia - It starts with U-"

Urartu?

"5-Name of the first mesopotamian empire in conquering Egypt and the name of the conqueror."

The Assyrians. I knew the conqueror's name but ..... can't recall right now. He also got a great library IIRC.

"6-The united kingdom of the Jews divided into two kingdoms when Salomon died, Israel in the north and Juda in the south.
Wich one was conquered by the Assyrians and wich one by the Babylonians?."

Israel by the Assyrians, Judah by the Babs? Those captured by the Babs were forcibly transported to captivity in Babylonia and only allowed to return by the Persian king, Cyrus. The ten tribes captured by the Assyrians were 'lost'.

"7-How many wonders of the world were greek, write them."

The Temple of Zeus, the Statue of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Oracle of Delphi (?).

"8-Who were the Scythians."

Nomads of the Ukraine, area north of the Black Sea. They traded wheat heavily with the Greeks and other Mediterranean ppl (and grew rich on it).

"9-Name of the last Babylonian king."

The one who lost to the Persians? Eh .....

"10-Hannibal besieged this city, this act represents the beginning of the second punic war.-Name of the city- "

Marseilles? (Massilia in Latin IIRC).

 

[Knight-Dragon]

5) I think it's Ashurbanipal? Or Tigresh-Pileth? Not sure about spelling ....

 

[Kublai-Khan]

1-Persepolis and Susa are right, Ctesiphon, Tehran, Tabriz no.
2-Mohenjo-Daro, you are right.
3-Imperial road, you are right.
4-Urartu- you are right.I was hoping that no-one was going to answer that question -
5-Assyrians, you are right, but we need the name of the guy.
6-It is right.
7-The temple of Zeus, and the statue or Rodes are ok.
I don´t think that the lighthouse was greek, and the oracle wasn´t a wonder of the world.
There is one left.
8-Is right.
9-no one has answered this one yet.
10-It is wrong.

You are really really good,
you almost answered most of them right.