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Test your basic knowledge |
Classical Literacy
Start Test
Study First
Subject
:
literacy
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Figuratively 'secretly.' Aphrodite gave her son Eros a rose. Eros gave it to Harpocrates & the god of silence & to ensure that his mother's love affairs remained a secret.
Pandora
sub rosa
Helen
Hermes/Mercury
2. Queen of Sparta Who was promised to Paris by Aphrodite for choosing her (Aphrodite) as the fairest goddess; Helen was already married to Menelaus and her kidnapping began the Trojan War
Penelope
Helen
rostra
Achilles' heel
3. 'A slip of the tongue'
in toto
fasces
sine qua non
lapsus linguae
4. 'To the point of sickness' - doing/saying something over and over until everyone is sick and tired of it
ad nauseam
p.o./ per os
semper paratus
Cerberus
5. The arena for gladiatorial games in Rome (also known as the Flavian Amphitheater)
Hannibal
Pandora
Colosseum
sic transit gloria mundi
6. The wife of Odysseus; a model of faithfulness to one's husband
Penelope
sedentary
Hermes/Mercury
etc./et cetera
7. Kingdom in Asia Minor which fought against Greece in Homer's Iliad
A.D./anno Domini
Etruscans
Troy
Palatine Hill
8. Kingdom in Asia Minor which fought against Greece in Homer's Iliad
P.S./post scriptum
D (Roman numeral)
marathon
Troy
9. 'Always faithful' - motto of the US Marines
sic transit gloria mundi
semper fidelis
per capita
Pax Romana
10. Prince of Troy Who was killed by Achilles in the Iliad; Achilles tied Hector's dead body to the back of his chariot and dragged it around the city walls three times
Hector
Elysian Fields/Elysium
Apollo/Apollo
sub poena
11. Good-humored & jolly (ancient astrologers thought that the planet Jupiter fostered cheerfulness)
toga
Prometheus
jovial
sub rosa
12. One-eyed children of Ouranos/Uranus and Gaea (Mother Earth); sided with Zeus during the war with the Titans; were helpers of the smith-god Hephaestus
Mt. Olympus
Etruscans
rostra
Cyclops
13. The norms or values of a society
Daedalus
SPQR
mores
jovial
14. A system created by the Romans which carried water over long distances
Palatine Hill
Pan
aqueduct
V (Roman numeral)
15. One-eyed children of Ouranos/Uranus and Gaea (Mother Earth); sided with Zeus during the war with the Titans; were helpers of the smith-god Hephaestus
semper fidelis
Eros/Cupid
Atlas
Cyclops
16. 'from the library of' used as an inscription on a bookplate to show the name of the book's owner: ex libris Mark Twain.
ex libris
patrician
Helen
mosaic
17. God of metallurgy (metal working); married to Aphrodite
Hephaestus/Vulcan
aqueduct
sub rosa
cave canem
18. The king of the gods; god of thunder and lightning
Zeus/Jupiter
in toto
labyrinth
Penelope
19. 'To err is human' - in other words & it's normal to mess up
omniscient
Demeter/Ceres
per diem
errare humanum est
20. One of the seven hills of Rome & south of the forum; the site of the imperial palace
Palatine Hill
terra firma
Poseidon/Neptune
Tiber
21. 'one out of many' - found on most US minted coins and the back of the dollar bill
Etruscans
papyrus
e pluribus unum
pax vobiscum
22. Temple in Rome dedicated to all the Roman gods
Ares/Mars
magnanimous
Pantheon
Etruscans
23. A mural painted directly onto wet plaster (fresco means 'fresh' in Italian)
labyrinth
Minotaur
fresco
fasces
24. A picture made from small bits of glass or pottery
mosaic
vice versa
consul
mea culpa
25. 'Higher!' -- the state motto of New York
Mt. Olympus
tempus fugit
Excelsior!
Hephaestus/Vulcan
26. 'The one who says farewell' -- the student with the highest grade point average & Who is chosen to give a speech at the end of graduation
magnanimous
Prometheus
etc./et cetera
valedictorian
27. Goddess of childbirth; married to Zeus; queen of the gods
Hera/Juno
Jason
Sicily
Chaos
28. One of the 12 Titans & father of Zeus/Jupiter & who swallowed his children in an attempt to keep from being overthrown
Hera/Juno
Trojan Horse
Cronus/Saturn
Mt. Parnassus
29. Female monsters who had snakes for hair and whose horrifying gaze could turn a man to stone if he looked at them (Medusa was one of the Gorgons)
Hestia/Vesta
Gorgons
Orpheus & Eurydice
ambrosia and nectar
30. Blind poet Who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
Homer
etc./et cetera
jovial
via
31. Spirits who carry out curses and torture for wrongdoing toward one's family member (s)
Odysseus/Ulysses
mosaic
consul
the furies
32. Refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the responsibilities of a parent
in loco parentis
persona non grata
the Odyssey
Ge/Gaea
33. Gladiator who led an uprising of slaves against the Romans in the 1st c. BC
Spartacus
Parthenon
verbatim
Dionysus/Bacchus
34. 'After death'
post mortem
mea culpa
status quo
Cronus/Saturn
35. 5
in memoriam
V (Roman numeral)
Colosseum
veni & vidi & vici
36. The 9 goddesses who looked after the arts and inspired men in those arts
muses
persona non grata
A.D./anno Domini
Prometheus
37. Titan who had to hold up the heavens on his shoulders as punishment for rebelling against Zeus
Atlas
Orpheus & Eurydice
satyr
Sicily
38. The food of the gods; some believe it kept them immortal
agenda
Poseidon/Neptune
ambrosia and nectar
homo sapiens- 'wise man'
39. After midday/noon
P.M./post meridiem
patrician
A.D./anno Domini
M (Roman numeral)
40. Epic poem written by Home chronicling the Trojan War
papyrus
N.B./nota bene
sub poena
Iliad
41. Homer's epic poem about Odysseus & kind of Ithaca & trying to find his way home from the Trojan War
mosaic
the Odyssey
P.M./post meridiem
Sparta
42. Sea to the west of Greece; named after King Aegeus after he drowned himself in the sea thinking his son Theseus was dead
cornucopia
Pax Romana
Aegean Sea
semper paratus
43. 'Thus always & to tyrants.' Allegedly said by Brutus during the assassination of Caesar. John Wilkes Booth also shouted it after shooting President Lincoln. It is now the motto of Virginia.
Artemis/Diana
sine qua non
sic semper tyrannis
Spartacus
44. 'boyish &' 'childlike' (from puer- boy)
Homer
P.S./post scriptum
labyrinth
puerile
45. 'my fault' ; tua culpa -'your fault'
Mt. Parnassus
atrium
status quo
mea culpa
46. A bundle of wooden sticks and an axe blade that the attendants of Roman magistrates carried; symbolized the magistrates' power to inflict capital punishment
terra firma
rostra
fasces
ego
47. Reception hall (like the living room) in a Roman house
Styx
fresco
atrium
cave canem
48. 'per day'
marathon
per diem
muses
semper fidelis
49. Titan best known for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humans; He was punished by being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten by a bird everyday
terra incognita
Excelsior!
Prometheus
Nike/Victoria
50. 'And others'
Mt. Parnassus
Achilles' heel
Mt. Vesuvius
et al./ et alii