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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. Daughter of Demeter; kidnapped by Hades to make her his queen
Perseus & Medusa
Persephone/Proserpina
Jove
mea culpa
2. 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.
sub rosa
verbatim
ego
Achilles' heel
3. Literally refers to the heel of Achilles (a character from the Iliad who killed Hector)
4. A king Who was tortured in the Underworld by having water and grapes within his reach & but the water and grapes pulled away whenever he went to take drink or a bite
Tantalus
Pan
Mt. Parnassus
vice versa
5. Half-man & half-goat creatures; companions of Pan and Dionysus
satyr
C (Roman numeral)
atrium
Punic Wars
6. A teacher Who is like a parent; comes from the Mentor & Odysseus' old friend & whom he left in charge of his son Telemachus when he went off to the Trojan War
Ithaca
Priam
Tiber
mentor
7. 'Thus passes the glory of the world.' i.e. 'Worldly things are fleeting.'
sic transit gloria mundi
Sparta
per diem
SPQR
8. The male head of a Roman family
paterfamilias
e pluribus unum
aqueduct
summa cum laude
9. A mural painted directly onto wet plaster (fresco means 'fresh' in Italian)
per diem
Cyclops
vs./versus
fresco
10. 'my fault' ; tua culpa -'your fault'
polytheism
X (Roman numeral)
mea culpa
Augustus
11. A long poem that narrates the deeds of a hero or the history of a nation & e.g. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
Atlas
Ides of March
epic
post mortem
12. Out of her curiosity & she opened a box containing all the bad things in the world; she put the lid on just in time & so that hope did not escape from the box & too
cave canem
tribune
etc./et cetera
Pandora
13. The people in control of the Italian peninsula before Rome began to spread
Ares/Mars
Etruscans
the furies
Tiber
14. '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.
mosaic
Ph.D./Philosophiae Doctor
sic semper tyrannis
per annum
15. Goddess of the hearth
sic transit gloria mundi
Hestia/Vesta
Jason
Cyclops
16. The river surrounding the Underworld
Styx
cornucopia
Demeter/Ceres
Etruscans
17. Through & by way of (from via- road & way)
Sicily
Daedalus
via
Apollo/Apollo
18. 'A slip of the tongue'
Dionysus/Bacchus
lapsus linguae
status quo
Excelsior!
19. Large island off the southeast coast of Italy; home of Mt. Etna & a huge volcano; where the Cyclopes lived in the Odyssey
Sicily
plebeian
M (Roman numeral)
ex libris
20. 1000
M (Roman numeral)
Sicily
Parthenon
Hector
21. Eurydice died on their wedding day. Orpheus went down to the Underworld to bring her back. Hades agreed & on the condition that Eurydice would follow behind Orpheus on their way up to the mortal world and he couldn't check to make sure She was behind
Ithaca
mosaic
Chaos
Orpheus & Eurydice
22. Goddess of grain & the harvest & and the seasons; mother of Persephone/Proserpina
terra firma
Demeter/Ceres
persona non grata
Penelope
23. Characterized by sitting & inactive (from sedet- to sit)
cave canem
Ariadne
sedentary
patrician
24. God of the sea
Poseidon/Neptune
e pluribus unum
Hector
Gorgons
25. The 9 goddesses who looked after the arts and inspired men in those arts
muses
Circus Maximus
vs./versus
sic semper tyrannis
26. 'To the point of sickness' - doing/saying something over and over until everyone is sick and tired of it
Ge/Gaea
cornucopia
Mt. Olympus
ad nauseam
27. 'A rare bird' - something unique/rare
magnanimous
P.M./post meridiem
quid pro quo
rara avis
28. A modern day race of 26.2 miles; from Marathon in Greece & the scene of a victory over the Persians in 490 BC; the modern race is based on the tradition that a messenger ran from Marathon to Athens (26 miles) with the news.
per diem
Aphrodite/Venus
Carthage
marathon
29. A picture made from small bits of glass or pottery
mosaic
per annum
puerile
Hermes/Mercury
30. 'The things that must be done' - a to-do list
agenda
Paris
ambrosia and nectar
muses
31. Good-humored & jolly (ancient astrologers thought that the planet Jupiter fostered cheerfulness)
jovial
e.g./exempli gratia
Jason
P.M./post meridiem
32. River that runs through the city of Rome
errare humanum est
ex officio
A.M./ante meridiem
Tiber
33. Maze under the palace of Palace of Minos at Crete & where the Minotaur (half man & half bull) was thought to have been imprisoned
Athens/Acropolis
labyrinth
Punic Wars
C (Roman numeral)
34. Gladiator who led an uprising of slaves against the Romans in the 1st c. BC
Spartacus
Theseus
homo sapiens- 'wise man'
Persephone/Proserpina
35. 'great-souled & high-minded'
Tantalus
sub rosa
status quo
magnanimous
36. Large island off the southeast coast of Italy; home of Mt. Etna & a huge volcano; where the Cyclopes lived in the Odyssey
Mt. Olympus
Hydra
Sicily
C (Roman numeral)
37. God of wine and revelry; son of Zeus and Semele
valedictorian
Saturnalia
Ithaca
Dionysus/Bacchus
38. Sailed with the Argonauts to take the Golden Fleece
mentor
Jason
P.S./post scriptum
Hephaestus/Vulcan
39. 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
in toto
Cyclops
Sicily
Minotaur
40. 'firm ground/solid earth'
Sisyphus
terra firma
Delphic Oracle
Delphic Oracle
41. 5
L (Roman numeral)
V (Roman numeral)
etc./et cetera
Jason
42. 'A slip of the tongue'
lapsus linguae
mea culpa
Minotaur
sub rosa
43. Eurydice died on their wedding day. Orpheus went down to the Underworld to bring her back. Hades agreed & on the condition that Eurydice would follow behind Orpheus on their way up to the mortal world and he couldn't check to make sure She was behind
Hades/Pluto
Orpheus & Eurydice
fasces
Icarus & Daedalus
44. Literally 'the greatest bridge' -- the chief priest of Roman religion (later & the emperor took on this role); now used to refer to the Pope & the head of the Catholic Church
L (Roman numeral)
pontifex maximus
mentor
Romulus and Remus
45. The plebs were the free but non-aristocratic citizens of Rome; today & plebeian means 'of a low class'
Icarus & Daedalus
plebeian
Mt. Vesuvius
Tartarus
46. The highest political office in the Roman Republic; 2 were elected every year
Paris
consul
magnum opus
toga
47. 'doctor/teacher of philosophy' - an advanced academic degree
Hannibal
agora/forum
Ph.D./Philosophiae Doctor
Atlas
48. 'All-knowing'
Iliad
omniscient
per annum
Trojan Horse
49. Titan who had to hold up the heavens on his shoulders as punishment for rebelling against Zeus
Poseidon/Neptune
Atlas
Aegean Sea
mea culpa
50. 'peace be with you'
valedictorian
pax vobiscum
Poseidon/Neptune
Hestia/Vesta