Antiquity Quiz
A couple of weeks back we posted an Antiquity Quiz, but forgot to take note of it on this page. The ten questions in the quiz introduce us to some of the people and peoples of the ancient world, human beings very like ourselves — but with a couple of millennia less of history upon their heads. If you’re in a hurry, try the quick version instead; it has all the questions on one page, but less supplementary information. As usual, here’s the first question:
The ancient Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest works of literature still extant. One important episode features a man named Utnapishtim, who:
A) Attacked and slew a three-headed dog at the gate of hell
B) Built an ark to save himself from a flood sent to destroy humanity
C) Caused disaster by misusing his ability to turn all things to gold
D) Drove the sun-god’s chariot across the sky
July 3rd, 2006 at 1:52 am
I think His name is Utnapishtim, not Utanapishtim.
July 3rd, 2006 at 2:51 am
This seems to be a case where there is more than one legitimate transliteration of an ancient name. However, a quick check with Google shows that the version without the extra vowel is considerably more common than the other, so we have updated the quiz to use it instead. Thanks for the comment.