Ain't No Mountain High Enough
On which mountain did God give Moses the Ten Commandments/Tablets of the Law?
Mt. Sinai (83)
True or False: The illusion of knowledge aided in the acquisition of knowledge in early days.
False (86) "The great obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the ocean was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments and contradictory witnesses."
According to the Stoics, to which heavenly body did souls ascend to ? *Bonus 200 for accurate summary of why from a Stoic perspective
The moon (87) (sun or stars are not acceptable answers)*Viewed as a "burning breath", the soul was thought by the Stoics to naturally rise to the fires of the sky. In the moon, it found an ether similar to its own being and stayed in equilibrium there.
Who is considered the most persuasive ancient Christian geographer of heaven and hell? *According to the Discoverers
Dante Alighieri (91) Italian poet and author of the Divine Comedy
Who is considered to be the father of modern geography? According to the Discoverers *100 Bonus Points per book he wrote
Ptolemy (97) *Almagest, Geography, and Tetrabiblos. 100 Points per book correctly named, and if any outside of Discoverers are correctly named, another 100 will be added for each
What were Egyptian ziggurats called? *300 Bonus Points for which one had 6 steps
Pyramids (84) *The great pyramid of Zoser, which is at Sakkara in Lower Egypt
What was the most common and favorite shape for the world before it was proved round? *According to the Discoverers
The egg (92) Sphere is not acceptable
Where did the greek gods supposedly live? *100 Bonus Points for Homer's direct quote about this locations weather
Mt. Olympus (83) *100 Bonus Points - "Never is it swept by the winds nor touched by snow, a purer air surrounds it, a white clarity envelops it and the gods there taste of a happiness which lasts as long as their eternal lives." - Homer (From Discoverers 83)
Why did the ancient greeks place a coin in the mouth of corpse? *100 Bonus Points for accurate name of reason.
To pay for crossing the Styx (89) *Charon. He has a boat that takes souls who can pay across the Styx, so they can be judged and sent to either the Elysian Fields or Tartarus. (He doesn't take those who can't pay, and they wander and haunt the earth for at least a hundred years)
What is the difference between geography and choreography according to the Discoverers? *400 if answered correctly, 100 if only one is defined correctly *100 Bonus Points if the definer is named correctly
Geography = mapping the earth as a whole
Chorography = mapping particular places in detail (98) *Ptolemy made this very important distinction
What is the name of the mythical mountain at the center of the world in Hindu and Buddhist tradition?
Mt. Meru (82)
Who first calculated the circumference of the earth? *200 Bonus Point for correct summarization of the discovery
Eratosthenes (95-96) Having heard through travelers that there was no shadow in a well at Syene (modern Aswan), and that the sun always cast a shadow in Alexandria where he lived, and he calculated the circumference from this and some geometry. His measurement was 15 percent too high, but his measurement of distance was very inaccurate, and his estimation wasn't equaled until modern times.
What did the Norse believe held up the world? *100 Bonus points for correct name of it *100 Bonus Points for correct-ish pronunciation *100 Bonus Points for the correct variety of it
A tree (93) *Yggdrasil *(ig-dra-sel or ig-dri-sil) *Ash tree
What was Porphyry's theory as to why evil souls go to Hell/Tartarus?
(An accurate summary of this suffices)"... Although each soul was by nature a "fiery breath" tending to rise to the heavens, yet as a soul lowered into the earthly atmosphere it tended to become damp and heavy. During the soul's life on earth, as it became encumbered with the clay of sensual life, it became still denser, until it was naturally dragged into the earthly depths." - Discoverers (90)
What did the Greeks seek to find in the shape of the earth?
Symmetry (93) With some kind of equator or division through rivers to express it
What did Babylonian texts call a "Link of Heaven and Earth"?
The Ziggurats (84)
What shape did Aristotle believe the world to be?
A sphere (94)
What does astrosus mean in Latin? According to Discoverers *No dictionaries allowed
Ill-starred (88) This meant unlucky, today we still say thank our "lucky stars." Whitaker's words also says "born under evil star" along with "ill-starred"
Why did many ancient cultures view the netherworld as being below, underground, or otherwise in the bowels of the earth? *According to the Discoverers
The burying of dead. (88) "The practice of burying the dead in the earth made it quite natural that people should think that the dead inhabited the Nether World. A subterranean topography seemed to make that afterlife possible and even plausible." - Discoverers
What shape did the ancient Peruvians imagine the world to be? *200 extra for roof shape
Square (93) The ancient Peruvians imagined a boxlike world with a *ridge shaped roof* where the great god lived
What were the stupas? *Only 400 points is correct answer lacks the religion stupas belong to
Buddhist (Hindu is acceptable) artificial-mountain replicas of Mt. Meru (symbolizing the vertical axis of the egg-shaped universe) (84) *400 if Buddhist/Hindu is not specified
The crescent moon, symbol of , adorned monuments of the ancient Babylonians and in Celtic countries, and across Africa. *Full Points for symbol of... *100 Bonus Points for adorned...
The crescent moon, symbol of immortality, adorned funeral monuments of the ancient Babylonians and in Celtic countries, and across Africa. (87) *If only the bonus points were answered correctly, only full points.
What was the main difference between the Hindu temples and the Christian cathedral? *According to the Discoverers
The temples were not places to gather and worship, they were to be worshipped. (85) "Hindu temples... unlike the Christian cathedral, were not shelters within which the faithful could gather. The artificial mountain, like the natural mountain, was an object of worship, the sacred earth at its most eminent, up which the faithful could ascend." - Discoverers
What did Saint Hildegard of Bingen describe happens to those who "had delight in foolish merriment" while in the world?
The went to "a great swamp, over which hung a black cloud of smoke, which was issuing from it. And in the swamp there swarmed a mass of little worms." (91) *A summarization of this suffices but swamp, cloud of smoke, and worms have to be a part of it. 100 Points for each, if all are mentioned, 600 total
What Ancient Greek invented much of the mathematical vocabulary we still use to talk about geography? *100 Bonus Points for the ancient greek he didn't like
Hipparchus (97) He marked the planet's surface into 360 parts, which became the "degrees" of modern geographers. He also established longitude and latitude. *Eratosthenes. Hipparchus did not like him.