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Historical Rulers #1

Can you name the nations or empires ruled by these leaders?
Includes one apocryphal ruler
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 22, 2017
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First submittedDecember 26, 2012
Times taken107,796
Average score68.2%
Rating4.24
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Ruler
Nation
Julius Caesar
Rome
Queen Elizabeth I
England
Ferdinand & Isabella
Spain
Nebuchadnezzar II
Babylon
Cyrus the Great
Persia
Catherine the Great
Russia
Cosimo de' Medici
Florence
Tutankhamun
Egypt
Leonidas
Sparta
Napoleon
France
Odysseus
Ithaca
Ruler
Nation
Solomon
Israel
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Germany
Haile Selassie
Ethiopia
Franz Joseph I
Austria
Otto the Great
Holy Roman Empire
Genghis Khan
Mongol Empire
Mehmed II
Ottoman Empire
Robert the Bruce
Scotland
Atahuallpa
Incan Empire
Moctezuma II
Aztec Empire
Hirohito
Japan
74 Comments
+3
Level 48
Nov 28, 2012
great quiz
+22
Level 90
Jan 22, 2013
Nice touch with Odysseus!
+3
Level 74
Apr 20, 2018
Only one I missed. Been too long.
+14
Level 78
Sep 3, 2019
I don't know how many times I've tried "Ithaka", and it wouldn't accept it, then thinking it must be something else. A little more spelling leniency perhaps, please?
+5
Level 70
Sep 4, 2019
That looks like a valid variant spelling, though I'd be momentarily confused if I saw it spelled such.
+4
Level 13
Jan 22, 2013
Call it ignorance, but for Nebuchadnezzar II I tried Zion because I've only heard of it through the Matrix
+6
Level 66
Aug 22, 2021
Zion is generally known to be Israel or Jerusalem specifically
+5
Level 81
Jul 23, 2022
Reasonable guess pieced together from bits of information that you had - nothing wrong with that. Most of the names in the Matrix have some mythological, historical, or symbolic meaning behind them, but they are drawn from a large variety of sources.
+1
Level 33
Jan 22, 2013
Great quiz. For Odysseus can I suggest you also accept Mycenian? Culturally he was Mycenian. In the Trojan War for instance all the Greeks there were all Mycenie. But yes, Odysseus was the king of Ithica, so it is correct... though he was most likely a client king.
+5
Level 68
Mar 20, 2015
He wasn't the king of all Mycenia though, so not sure why. Client king isn't much of a reason, since that would mean stuff like King Herod for Rome.
+4
Level 32
Jun 20, 2015
Mycenae
+3
Level 25
Jan 22, 2013
Could you accept alternate spellings for Ithaca? (i.e. Ithica)
+4
Level 36
Oct 21, 2016
NO! - how would you like to be called robe or rober if your name were Robert just because someone refuses to learn how to spell it correctly?
+7
Level 69
Apr 20, 2018
If you aren't native speaker like myself, it would be much easier if spellings such as itacha were approved. In different languages, pronounciation ja different and hard spellings can be easily missed eventhough the person knows the answer.
+13
Level 69
Apr 22, 2018
ithaka with a k though maybe? tripped me up as a non english native
+7
Level 79
Jun 3, 2018
I've always thought it's odd that Jetpunk doesn't allow a Kappa K for Greek words and names.
+1
Level 39
May 25, 2024
Ithaki rather than Ithica
+1
Level 22
Aug 18, 2013
Good quiz!
+1
Level 12
Oct 24, 2013
Florence, during the Renaissance Period, was not a nation. It was just a city-state
+19
Level 81
Jun 18, 2015
Synonyms for nation: synonyms: country, state, land, realm, kingdom, republic

What do you think the "state" in "city-state" means?

+2
Level 32
Jun 20, 2015
in a similar fashion, by this reasoning you could not put Leonidas on the list as Sparta, during all of its independence was a city state.
+2
Level 14
Nov 19, 2013
THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAAA
+8
Level 89
Jun 18, 2018
Go jump in a well.
+1
Level 91
Dec 2, 2019
Are you sure? It's a very deep well.
+3
Level 31
Jan 28, 2014
Abyssinian should be acceptable for Ethiopian
+4
Level 58
Nov 9, 2020
It's been six and a half years, but I have good news for you
+2
Level 21
Mar 10, 2014
Could you maybe accept Abyssinia as well as Ethiopia for Haile Selassie as that was the name while he was in power? We do this as a part of my History course and that is the term we were used, so I kept trying different spellings before I thought to try Ethiopia!
+2
Level ∞
Dec 22, 2017
Okay
+1
Level 59
Dec 16, 2014
A city state is a nation state.
+1
Level 81
Mar 24, 2018
eh..... no, not really. Though in contemporary usage, "nation" and "state" have become synonymous.... largely because the concept of nationalism has become so pervasive that virtually ALL countries in the world consider themselves "nation states"... the idea of a "nation" comes from the concept of nationalism which only emerged in the early 19th century. This was the concept that there existed groups of people- connected through common heritage, language, religion, history, geography and/or genetics (an ethnicity, in other words)... and that these groups of people- "nations"- were entitled to self-rule by one of their own.

This was in stark contrast to what was the rule of the day and had been for most of history- which was that people were organized into multi-ethnic kingdoms/empires/principalities ruled over by monarchs and emperors that more often than not shared little in common with their subjects.

+1
Level 81
Mar 24, 2018
So... nationalism is a new concept. Relatively speaking. Even though everyone these days has been conditioned to take it for granted. And even though, at a fundamental level, the idea is complete bullpoop.

City-states, on the other hand, were more of a thing in ancient history. Back when the limitations of bureaucracy, infrastructure and communications technology made it much more practical most of the time for cities to be locally governed. Today we are left with only a handful but from antiquity up through the 19th century- right around when nationalism as an idea was catching on, in fact- there were tons.

+2
Level 66
Jun 18, 2015
17/22. Happy of getting Ithaca.
+1
Level 58
Jun 18, 2015
This was fun, good work
+2
Level 29
Jun 20, 2015
We want MORE!!
+3
Level ∞
Dec 22, 2017
+1
Level 78
Jun 25, 2017
Why not just Greece?
+3
Level 58
Nov 9, 2020
Because Greece was not a country then. It's like putting Italy for Rome, doesn't quite work out.
+1
Level 71
Jul 18, 2017
How about Scots for Robert the Bruce ? He's often referred to as King of the Scots. (I know there's only a small step to get to Scotland, but it would help me forgive myself for not taking said step. I might be taking these quizzes too seriously...)
+1
Level 36
Jan 17, 2018
The Scots are the people from Scotland.
+2
Level 70
Apr 20, 2018
In Scotland, from Ireland
+7
Level 62
Sep 12, 2017
And now I'm going to go play Civilization...
+1
Level 52
Oct 27, 2017
badly made quiz
+9
Level 68
Mar 24, 2018
?
+1
Level 36
Nov 18, 2017
The quiz is excellent. It's the moronic comments and useless clarifications that are bad.
+5
Level 60
Apr 20, 2018
The Holy Roman Empire, wasn't holy, wasn't roman, wasn't even a empire.
+2
Level 83
Apr 20, 2018
You better go back in time to tell them to call themselves something else then. :-)
+2
Level 78
Apr 20, 2018
The Holy Roman Empireans are offended by this.
+1
Level 48
Apr 20, 2018
Good quiz. Would love to see more like these.
+3
Level 15
Apr 20, 2018
Thank you so much Civilization 5 and 6
+1
Level 38
Apr 23, 2018
Damn, I picked Holy German Empire instead of Holy Roman Empire for Otto the Great. My mistake.
+1
Level 32
May 3, 2018
Elizabeth was queen of The British Empire, not just England
+3
Level 75
Nov 24, 2018
No she wasn't. She was just Queen of England & Ireland. Wales was considered a part of England, while Scotland was added via the Acts of Union in 1707. In fact James VI of Scotland would inherit the English/Irish throne from Elizabeth thereby becoming James I of England & Ireland.
+1
Level 54
Feb 12, 2020
She was also Queen of France, by title. The monarchs of England/Great Britain didn't give up their claim to the French throne until after the French Revolution.
+1
Level 93
Oct 22, 2022
The union of the crowns was in 1603
+1
Level 57
Aug 6, 2024
Wales was considered part of England by the English. That's rather similar to Russia saying that Ukraine is part of Russia.
+1
Level 82
May 14, 2018
For the record, Napoleon was also King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine and Co-Prince of Andorra. Also later Sovereign of the Isle of Elba. If we're being pedantic, Italy, Switzerland, the Confederation of the Rhine (arguably 'Germany'), Andorra and Elba should work.
+3
Level 75
Sep 3, 2019
The first thing I typed for Leonidas was Belgium. Too much chocolate.
+2
Level 52
Sep 4, 2019
Ferdinand and Isabella were not kings of Spain ... Ferdinand was king of Aragon and never of Castile, and Isabella was queen of Castile and never of Aragon. There was no Spain at the time.
+2
Level 49
Sep 11, 2019
There's no real evidence that Odysseus existed in history.
+1
Level 55
Feb 12, 2020
I don't think Julius Ceasar actually ruled Rome. It was his grandnephew Augustus Ceasar who became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.
+3
Level 59
Aug 21, 2020
The quiz doesn't specify that these rulers were all "emperors". Caesar did rule Rome, even though it was still the Roman Republic at the time.
+3
Level 59
Feb 13, 2020
Should probably take "Ithaka" for "Ithaca"
+2
Level 50
Feb 14, 2020
This should be yellow box-ified... I got most of them just by typing in various countries and empires
+1
Level 60
Nov 21, 2020
Make this yellow boxes
+1
Level 65
Jan 31, 2021
Very glad I read Homer's Odyssey last week.
+2
Level 53
Apr 3, 2021
There was more than one Cosimo de' Medici. And several of them were Grand Dukes of Tuscany, so for Cosimo de' Medici, Tuscany/Toscana should be accepted.
+1
Level 69
Aug 21, 2021
19, couldn't remember Babylon but I knew it was something obvious, missed Holy Roman and Ithaca
+2
Level 55
Aug 24, 2021
Cool quiz!
+2
Level 75
Jun 16, 2023
Accept "Ithaka" and prob put a yellow box too.
+2
Level 47
Jul 25, 2023
it still annoys me that "ithaka" isn't a valid type-in for "ithaca", considering that they are both valid romanizations of the greek name of the island
+1
Level 76
Jul 9, 2024
This quiz should have yellowbox
+1
Level 48
Aug 6, 2024
Inka should be accepted, it's a valid alternativ spelling
+1
Level 67
Aug 6, 2024
It might upset some people, but Solomon is about as apocryphal as Odysseus. There's little evidence a united Israel kingdom ever existed, similar to the evidence that the Trojan War occurred as written.
+1
Level 49
Aug 6, 2024
Delighted that HRE was understood and accepted for Otto. Chagrined that after making the effort to type in Austro-Hungarian for Franz-Joseph, only "Austria" was needed. Perhaps while either should be accepted, the revealed answer should give the full name.

BTW--agree with those who for years have said "Ithaka" should be accepted. If the reference is to the home of Cornell University, the "c" would be required. But the c/k variation in Greek names is a matter of transliteration. If strict accuracy is required, then Ιθάκη would be the only acceptable answer.