Ancient History

This man’s ally Bogud of Mauritania helped defeat rebels after the codeword “Venus” was given. To end a civil war, this man won the Battles of Munda and Lauro in Spain. This man beat a rival at the Battle of Pharsalus who later died in Egypt. This member of the First Triumvirate used circumvallation to win the Battle of Alesia against Vercingetorix in the Gallic Wars. , name this leader who crossed the Rubicon to become ruler of Rome and was killed on the Ides of March.

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Usurper Wu Zetian claimed ancestry from this dynasty’s King Ping, temporarily moving away from the Tang name. A duke’s suppression of the Rebellion of the Three Guards during this dynasty led to the rise of the decentralized Fengjian system. The civil service of Confucius occurred at the tail end of this dynasty during the Spring and Autumn period. , name this early Chinese dynasty after the Shang that gave way to the chaos of the Warring States period.

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The Shang oracle bones discovered at Anyang contain the earliest known Chinese writing system, revealing sophisticated divination practices where questions about military campaigns, agricultural cycles, and royal succession were inscribed on turtle shells and ox scapulae. These archaeological finds confirmed the historical existence of this dynasty, previously known only through later historical texts like the Records of the Grand Historian. This Bronze Age civilization developed advanced metallurgy, including the production of elaborate ritual vessels like ding and gui, which served both ceremonial and practical purposes in ancestor worship practices. Archaeological evidence from sites like Anyang and Zhengzhou confirms that this dynasty ruled the Yellow River valley from approximately 1600 to 1046 BCE, preceding the Zhou dynasty. s, name this dynasty.

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In 2019, Phillip Beale attempted to prove that ships of this civilization were able to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. According to Herodotus, this thalassocratic civilization circumnavigated Africa around 600 BCE with a sponsorship from an Egyptian pharaoh. Murex snails were once used to create a valuable purple dye named for this civilization's city of Tyre. , name this ancient civilization which founded the city of Carthage and distributed the world's oldest alphabet throughout the Mediterranean.

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The ancient version of this event included the stadion foot race and was held at Elis in the Peloponnese, with victors crowned in olive wreaths. Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived it in its modern form in 1896, with Athens hosting the inaugural edition. It operates on a four-year cycle known as an Olympiad, a unit still used to number each edition. Nations send delegations of athletes who compete under their flag in events ranging from athletics to aquatics. , name this global multi-sport competition that last summer was held in Paris.

Hint: Think olive wreaths in ancient Greece → five interlocking rings today.

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