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History According to Herodotus

Can you guess these facts from the "Histories" of the Greek writer Herodotus circa 430 BC?
Some of these are likely true. Some are certainly false.
Herodotus himself was often skeptical but just reported stories as he was told.
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Last updated: April 21, 2024
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First submittedApril 21, 2024
Times taken7,407
Average score70.6%
Rating4.80
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Hint
Answer
Persians debate ideas twice, once while drunk and the other time _____
Sober
300 men from ____ fought at the Battle of Thermopylae, helping to delay a
Persian army numbering in the millions
Sparta
The Persians built a canal connecting the Nile River to this sea
Red Sea
Every 500 years, Egypt is visited by this type of bird
(other myths say it rises from its own ashes)
Phoenix
This large Asian peninsula is the home of frankincense, myrrh, and flying snakes!
Arabia
Every 19 years, the god Apollo visits the Hyperboreans, a prosperous people
who live in the far _____
North
King Croesus tested all the oracles, but only the one located in ____ was correct
Delphi
This Asian city has a wall 325 feet high, 81 feet thick, and 55 miles around
Babylon
It took 100,000 workers twenty years to build this monument
The Great Pyramid
Phoenician sailors circumnavigated _____
Africa
In India, fox-size ants dig up ____ dust, which is then collected by people
Gold
The Scythians drink from the _____ of their vanquished enemies
Skulls
Inside a tent, the Scythians burn the seeds of this plant whose vapor causes
them to "shout with delight"
Hemp
These half eagle, half lion creatures guard hoards of gold
Griffins
This celestial occurrence happened during a battle between the Medes and Lydians
Solar eclipse
Herodotus describes this Egyptian creature, calling it a "river horse"
Hippopotamus
Herodotus mentions this race of warrior women, who he calls "husband slayers"
Amazons
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19 Comments
FreeStater
+8
Level 74
Apr 23, 2024
I can believe the hemp one. Maybe it led to the others?
PynchonsOverbite
+10
Level 91
Apr 23, 2024
Now THAT's the way history's supposed to be written.
buck1017
+3
Level 78
Apr 29, 2024
What is history but merely a set of fables agreed upon?
dr4gonclaw
+2
Level 39
May 7, 2024
so true, my feloow quizzer
sarielise
+4
Level 68
Apr 23, 2024
Great quiz!
overtired
+21
Level 85
Apr 23, 2024
So there's a wikipedia page on gold-digging ants...

"French ethnologist Michel Peissel says that the Himalayan marmot on the Deosai Plateau in Gilgit–Baltistan province of Pakistan, may have been what Herodotus called giant "ants". Much like the province that Herodotus describes, the ground of the Deosai Plateau is rich in gold dust. Peissel interviewed the Minaro tribal people who live in the Deosai Plateau, and they have confirmed that they have, for generations, collected the gold dust that the marmots bring to the surface when digging burrows."

Love these interesting quizzes!

JoanSR
+9
Level 75
Apr 23, 2024
you can always trust in OG Herodotus to tell. He had a friend of a friend that was there. He listened to the old sailor and the drunken merchants. He learned the facts from an old scroll. He traveled the world and back again. The master of gossips and the FanFic Lord of the antiquity.
GlassMonkeyCode
+1
Level 68
Jun 25, 2024
You sound like John Oliver.
PeregrineFalcon
+1
Level 76
May 6, 2024
Croesus also thought another oracle, Amphiaraus, was correct. cf book 1 chapter 49
CambodianQuizzer
+1
Level 65
May 6, 2024
Well, I didn't know that the Scythians did modern-day drugs...
McKenzieFam
+1
Level 65
May 6, 2024
Makes you wonder what stuff we say that people in the year 4024 will think is crazy
djeedubbeljoe
+3
Level 66
May 7, 2024
In Dutch, we still call hippos river horses!

The Dutch word nijlpaard literally translates to nile horse. I didn't know it came from Herodotus.

QRU
+1
Level 74
May 8, 2024
Hippopotamus means "Horse of the River" too!
EcceHomo
+1
Level 81
Jun 9, 2024
Nilpferd auf Deutsch.
QRU
+1
Level 74
May 8, 2024
Herodot was genuinly a great historian. One of the first historian, who did aknowledged subjectivity and sources in his work, setting himself apart from earlier and later court sponsored propaganda historians. And a lot of his outlandish claims have been validated with time.

In antiquity, one of the most ridiculed stories of his was that of an egyptian adventurer traveling through the Sahara, finding a great forest and being captured by a group of small humans. Absolutely outlandish ideas. And yet, today we know that the forest and the people really exist.

leontodon
+1
Level 69
May 13, 2024
For the quiz illustration, how about a photo of the bust of Herodotus at the Met Museum? Wikimedia Commons has some nice public-domain photos of it.
AbiA
+2
Level 85
Jun 10, 2024
Tried head, no banana.
GlassMonkeyCode
+1
Level 68
Jun 25, 2024
Lol
xTigeRx
+1
Level 62
Jul 23, 2024
Never heard of any, got 12 + misspelled Delphi
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