Can you beat them?
Ancient Greece Quiz
Ten questions on the age of Athens and Sparta, from the battle at Marathon to the war that ruined them both. Each answer comes with a short explanation.
- 10 questions
- About 3 minutes
- Easy
- Includes a photo
About this quiz
Classical Greece was never one country. It was hundreds of small city-states, led by two rivals: democratic Athens and militarized Sparta. The quiz covers the high points of their story: Marathon and Thermopylae, the Parthenon, Socrates and his students, and the Peloponnesian War that left both cities exhausted.
It is meant as an easy start. It sticks to famous names and events, but a few questions check the popular version of the story against what the ancient sources actually say.
Topics in this quiz
Greco-Persian WarsSpartaSocratesAristotlePeloponnesian WarThucydides
Read up first
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Encyclopedia
Greco-Persian Wars
The wars in which small Greek city-states twice repelled invasion by the vast Persian Empire, later mythologized as the West's founding stand for freedom.
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Encyclopedia
Sparta
The Greek city-state that turned its whole society into an army, sustained by mass slavery, feared for Thermopylae and broken at Leuctra.
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Blog
The Peloponnesian War: the first Thucydides trap
The Peloponnesian War ruined both Athens and Sparta. Thucydides blamed a rising power and a frightened rival, and the pattern now has a name.
