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World History to 1550

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Who was the ruler of Greece in the 4th century B.C. who extended power from Greece to India?
Alexander the Great
Who wept because there were no worlds left to conquer?
Alexander the Great
Who was the teacher of Alexander the Great?
Aristotle
Before beginning his conquests, what did Alexander the Great allegedly unloose by cutting through it?
The Gordian Knot
Who was the king of the Huns in the 5th century whose forces overrran central and eastern Europe?
Attila the Hun
Who was called the "scourge of God"?
Attila the Hun
Who was the first emperor of Rome?
Augustus Caesar
Who was the adopted son of Julius Caesar?
Augustus Caesar
From 44 B.C. to 14 A.D. Rome enjoyed what under Augustus Caesar?
Pax Romana
When was the golden age for literature in Rome?
Pax Romana from 44 B.C. to 14 A.D.
The 18th century in England, when many excellent authors were at work is called what?
The Augustan Age of English literature
Who were the Native American people who ruled Mexico before the Spaniards conquereed the region in the 16th century?
Aztecs
Who city in ancient Mesopotamia was famed for its hanging gardens?
Babylon
What was it called when the Jews were taken captive into Babylon in the 6th century B.C.?
Babylonian captivity
What English politician, scientist, and author of the late 15th and early 16th centuries was one of the leaders of the Renaissance in England?
Francis Bacon
What Spanish explorer of the 16th century was the first European to discover the Pacific Ocean and claimed it for Spain?
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Which English bishop of the 12th century was archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Christian Church of England?
Thomas a Becket
The killing of Thomas a Becket is dramatized in which play by T.S. Eliot?
Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral was written by whom?
T.S. Eliot
The killing of Thomas a Becket is dramatized in which play by the French playwright Jean Anouilh?
Becket
Becket was written by whom?
Jean Anouilh
Who wrote The Canterbury Tales?
Geoffrey Chaucer
What disease killed nearly half the people of western Europe in the 14th century?
Black Death
Black Death is a form of what plague?
Bubonic Plague
Which second wife of King Henry VIII of England was convicted of adultery and beheaded?
Anne Boleyn
Who was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I?
Anne Boleyn
Which Italian politician of the late 15th and early 16th centuries was known for his teachery and cruelty?
Cesare Borgia
Which sister of the Italian politician Cesare Borgia was famous for her treachery?
Lucrezia Borgia
What phrase was used by a Roman writer to deplore the declining heroism of Romans after the Roman Republic ceased to exist and the Roman Empire began?
"Two things onloy the people anxiously desire- bread and circuses"
What period of history lasted from roughly 4000 B.C. to the onset of the Iron Age?
Bronze Age
Which ancient Roman politician helped assassinate his friend Julius Caesar?
Brutus
Which empire began as the eastern portion of the Roman Empire and was centered at Constantinople?
Byzantine Empire
What city was the Byzantine Empire centered around?
Constantinople
Which empire was conquered by Turkish forces in the 15th century?
Byzantine Empire
The Christian Church in the Byzantine Empire later became which independent church?
Eastern Orthodox Church
What was Istanbul formerly called?
Constantinople
Which cruel and insane Caesar ruler of the Roman Empire in the 1st century A.D. appointed his horse to the senate to humiliate the senators of Rome?
Caligula
Carthage was established by traders from where?
Phoenicia
Which city was a commercial and political rival of Rome for much of the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.?
Carthage
Which queen of Carthage was a lover of Aeneas in the Aeneid?
Dido
Which politician of ancient Rome was known for his insistence that Carthage was Rome's permanent enemy?
Cato
What words did Cato end all his speeches in the Roman senate with?
"Carthage must be destroyed"
Who was the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire?
Charlemagne
Which king of France in the late 8th and early 9th centuries was crowned emperor in 800?
Charlemagne
Throughout the Middle Ages, which French emperor was considered a model for Christian rulers?
Charlemagne
What code of the Middle Ages emphasized bravery, military skill, generosity in victory, piety, and courtesy to women?
Chivalry
Which queen of Egypt in the 1st century B.C. had an affair with Mark Antony?
Cleopatra
Which play by what author dramatizes Cleopatra's affair with Antony and her suicide?
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
How did Cleopatra commit suicide?
By letting an asp, a poisonous snake, to bite her
Which Italian explorer is responsible for the European discovery of America in 1492?
Christopher Columbus
What Spanish military leaders established Spanish rule in the New World by overthrowing Native American governments?
Conquistadores
Which Roman emperor of the 4th century founded the capital of the eastern part of the Roman Empire and allowed Christians to practice their religion within the empire?
Constantine the Great
Which Polish scholar of the 16th century argued that the earth moves about the sun?
Nicolaus Copernicus
Which Spanish explorer and conquistador of the 16th century overthrew the Aztec rulers of Mexico and established the authority of Spain over the country?
Hernando Cortes
What were the series of wars fought from the late 11th through the 13th centuries to gain control of the Holy Land?
Crusades
What happened in 1099?
The Crusaders conquered Jerusalem
What term is applied to the early Middle Ages?
Dark Ages
Who was the greatest orator of ancient Greece?
Demosthenes
What speeches did Demosthenes deliver attacking King Philip of Macedon, an enemy of Athens?
Phillipics
Which Dutch scholar of the late 15th and early 16th centuries attempted to solve some of the controversies of the time of Reformation?
Desiderius Erasmus
What is Erasmus' most famous work?
The Praise of Folly
Which Norwegian explorer dsicovered Vinland in 1000?
Leif Ericson
The Canadian province of Newfoundland and New England are possible locations for what place found by Leif Ericson?
Vinland
The Fall of Rome, the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, was caused partly by which invading tribe in the middle years of the century?
Vandals
Which last Roman emperor was abdicated in 476?
Romulus Augustulus
Which king and queen of Spain in the late 15th and early 16th centuries united their country and sponsored Christopher Columbus?
Ferdinand and Isabella
Ferdinand and Isabella were of which areas of Spain?
Aragon and Castille (respectively)
Which system of obligations bound lords and their subjects in Europe during much of the Middle Ages?
Feudalism
Which landed estate was given by a lord to a vassal in return for the vassal's service to the lord?
Fief
Which Mongolian general and emperor of the late 12th and early 13th centuries conquered northern China and southwestern Asia?
Genghis Khan
Which English noblewoman of the 11th century rode naked through her town of Coventry to save the people from an oppresive tax?
Lady Godiva
Which town did Lady Godiva ride naked through?
Coventry
What were the organizations of artisans in the Middle Ages that sought to regulate the price and quality of products such as weaving and ironwork?
Guilds
Which German printer of the 15th century invented the printing press and the technique of printing with "movable type"?
Johann Gutenberg
What was the first book printed from movable type?
Gutenberg Bible
Which king of ancient Mesopotamia was known for putting the laws of his country into a formal code?
Hammurabi
Whcih general from Carthage took an army of 100,000, supported by elephants, from Spain to Italy over the Alps?
Hannibal
Which battle took place in southeastern England in 1066?
Battle of Hastings
In the Battle of Hastings, invaders from the French province of Normandy, lead by whom, defeated English forces under whom?
William the Conquerer and King Harold (respectively)
William the Conquerer's self declaration of King of England brought about what?
Norman Conquest of England
Which king of England in the early 16th century established himself as head of the Christian Chruch in England after the pope refused to allow his marriage to be dissolved?
Henry VIII
Who were Henry VIII's 6 wives?
Catherine of Aragon (divorced), Anne Boleyn (beheaded), Jane Seymour (death attributed to birth of child), Anne of Cleves (divorced), Catherine Howard (beheaded), and Catherine Parr (survived)
Which ancient Greek historian is called the father of history?
Herodotus
What was the first attempt at narrative history and the beginning of all Western history writing?
Herodutus' history of the invasion of Greece by the Persian Empire
Which system of writing with pictures that represent words or sounds was used by ancient Egyptians?
Hieroglyphics
Which major political institution in Europe lasted from the 9th to 19th centuries and modeled on the ancient Roman Empire?
Holy Roman Empire
The emperors of the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagne were of what nationalities?
Germans and Austrians
Which 18th century French author wrote that the Holy Roman Empire was "neither holy, Roman, nor an empire"?
Voltaire
What was the personal submission of a vassal to a lord, by which the vassal pledged to serve the lord and the lord to protect the vassal?
Homage
Which war between France and England lasting from the middle of the 14th century to the middle of the 15th was fought over kings of England invading and trying to claim the throne of France?
Hundred Years' War
Which tribe from western Asia conquered much of central and eastern Europe during the 5th century?
Huns
According to Plutarch, the words by which Julius Caesar succinctly described one of his victories was what?
"Veni, vidi, vici"
What does "veni, vidi, vici" mean?
I came, I saw, I conquered
March 15, 44 B.C., the day Julius Caesar was assassinated is also known as what?
Ides of March
Which Native American people built a notable civilization in the 15th and 16th centuries in present-day Peru?
Incas
In the Roman Catholic Church, what is a declaration by church authorities that someone who says certain prayers or does good deeds will have some or all of their punishment in Purgatory remitted?
Indulgence
The attack by whom on the sale of indulgences began the Reformation?
Martin Luther
Which court established by the Roman Catholic Church in the 13th century tried cases of heresy and other offenses against the church?
Inquisition
Which period of history succeeded the Bronze Age in 2000 B.C.?
Iron Age
Which French military leader of the 15th century took up arms at the age of seventeen to establish the rightful king on the French throne?
Joan of Arc
What was the language of ancient Rome?
Latin
The crew of which Portuguese navigator of the 16th century was the first to circumnavigate the globe?
Ferdinand Magellan
Which list of rights and privileges did King John of England sign under pressure from English noblemen in 1215?
Magna Carta
Which king of England signed the Magna Carta?
King John
In which famous battle of the 5th century B.C. did the ancient Greeks defeat a much larger army of the Persian Empire?
Battle of Marathon
Which Native American people living in what is now Mexico and northern Central America were conquered by the Spanish around 1600?
Mayas
Which family of skilled politicians and patrons of the arts lived in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance?
Medici
Which Italian ruler of the 15th century was patron of Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci?
Lorenzo de Medici
Which region of western Asia, in what is now Iraq, is known as the "cradle of civilization"?
Mesopotamia
Sumerians, Akkadians, Hittites, and Assyrians lived in what part of the world?
Mesopotamia
Which period of European history began with the Fall of Rome in the 5th century and ended with the Renaissance?
Middle Ages
Which Aztec emperor of the 16th century was overthrown by Hernando Cortes?
Montezuma
Which English statesman and scholar of the 16th century, author of Utopia, and saint of the Roman Catholic Church was beheaded because he refused to recognize Henry VIII as head of the Christian Church in England?
Thomas More
Which ancient Roman emperor "fiddled while Rome burned" and, according to tradition, put the apostles Peter and Paul to death?
Nero
What was the overthrow of the English government in 1066 by forces of Normandy under William the Conqueror?
Norman Conquest
Which empire developed by Turks between the 14th and 20th centuries was succeeded in the 1920s by the present day Republic of Turkey?
Ottoman Empire
What are the famed "ancient universities" of England dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries?
Oxford and Cambridge
What is Latin for "the Roman peace"?
Pax Romana
Which long war between Athens and Sparta in the 5th century B.C. ended with a Spartan victory?
Peloponnesian War
Which Greek stateman's rule is known as the Golden Age of Greece?
Pericles
The Persians under which kings attempted to conquer Greece several times in the 5th century B.C.?
Darius and Xerxes
Who were the kings of ancient Egypt?
Pharaohs
Which ancient nation of the eastern Mediterranean Sea is now Israel and Lebanon?
Phoenicia
Which Spanish conquistador of the 16th century overthrew the rulers of the Incas and established the nation of Peru?
Francisco Pizarro
Which Italian explorer of the late 13th and early 14th centuries visited the court of Kublai Khan?
Marco Polo
Which city of the Roman Empire was destroyed in the 1st century by Mount Vesuvius' eruption?
Pompeii
Which Spanish explorer and conquistator of the late 15th and early 16th centuries conquered Puerto Rico and discovered Florida?
Juan Ponce de Leon
Which ancient Greek astronomer's system prevailed in astronomy for nearly 1500 years until the Solar System was developed?
Ptolemy
What were the three wars between Carthage and Rome in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.?
Punic Wars
Which religious movement in the 16th century began as an attempted reform of the Roman Catholic Church but resulted in the founding of Protestant churches?
Reformation
What was the cultural rebirth that occured in Europe from roughly the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries?
Renaissance
Which English king of the 12th century fought in the Crusades?
Richard the Lion-Hearted
Who founded the Roman Empire in 753 B.C.?
Romulus and Remus
Which series of wars was fought by two English houses in the late 15th centuries for rule of the country?
Wars of the Roses
Which two houses fought in the Wars of the Roses?
The House of Lancaster (red rose) led by Henry Tudor and the House of York (white rose)
Which stone discovered in Egypt in the late 18th century was the key to understanding Egyptian writing?
Rosetta stone
Which river in northern Italy did Julius Caesar cross in violation of the orders of the leaders in Rome?
Rubicon
Which Kurdish general conquered Egypt and Syria in the 12th century and precipitated a Crusade with the capture of Jerusalem?
Saladin
Which Italian religious reformer of the 15th century was hanged and burned for heresy?
Girolamo Savonarola
What are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?
Colossus of Rhodes, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Pharos of Alexandria, Pyramids of Egypt, Statue of Jupiter by Phidias, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the Tomb of Mausolus (Mausoleum)
What was the ancient Greek city-state and rival of Athens?
Sparta
Which Roman slave of the 1st century B.C. led an insurrection of slaves that defeated several Roman armies before being crushed?
Spartacus
Which ancient circles of large, upright stones date from 1800 to 1500 B.C.?
Stonehenge
Which ancient Greek historian and general fought in and recorded the Peloponnesian War?
Thucydides
What outer garment for men in ancient Rome was worn as a sign of citizenship?
Toga
Who was the first inquisitor-general of the Spanish Inquisition in the late 15th century?
Tomas de Torquemada
Which war between Greece and the city of Troy (now Turkey) began about 1200 B.C.?
Trojan War
Which pharaoh's tomb from 1400 B.C. was found in the 1920s?
Tutankhamen (King Tut)
Which women in ancient Rome tooks vows of chastity and tended the sacred flame in the temple of the goddess Vesta?
Vestal virgins
Who were the warriors from Scandinavia that raided much of coastal Europe in the 8th to 10th centuries?
Vikings

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