Ancient Egypt Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
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- Which drink was part of the daily ration of workers on Egypt's great building sites?
- A. Wine
- B. Beer
- C. Goat's milk
- D. Mint tea
- How was the ancient Egyptians' civil calendar organised?
- A. 13 months of 28 days
- B. 10 months of 36 days, plus 5 feast days
- C. 12 months of 30 days, plus 5 extra days at year's end
- D. 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days
- What was a nilometer used for?
- A. Counting boats on the river
- B. Measuring the depth of wells
- C. Telling the time by the sun
- D. Measuring the Nile flood to forecast harvests and taxes
- How do you know which way to read a line of hieroglyphs?
- A. You always read left to right
- B. A red dot marks the first sign
- C. The text always starts at the bottom
- D. The people and animals face the start of the line
- Which natural substance was used to dry out bodies during mummification?
- A. Hot sand
- B. Honey
- C. Palm ash
- D. Natron
- During mummification, what was done with the brain?
- A. It was placed in a precious jar
- B. It was pulled out through the nose and thrown away
- C. It was left inside the skull
- D. It was buried under the temple
- Which bird was mummified by the million as an offering to the god Thoth?
- A. The ibis
- B. The flamingo
- C. The pelican
- D. The stork
- During the judgement of the dead, what was the deceased's heart weighed against?
- A. A gold ingot
- B. A stone from the Nile
- C. A feather, symbol of Maat
- D. The heart of a sacred bull
- Who devoured the deceased's heart if it proved too heavy at the weighing?
- A. Ammit, part crocodile, part lion, part hippopotamus
- B. Anubis, the jackal god
- C. Apophis, the giant serpent
- D. Sobek, the crocodile god
- Roughly how much does Tutankhamun's gold funerary mask weigh?
- A. About 1 kg
- B. About 10 kg
- C. About 50 kg
- D. About 200 g
- Which country has more pyramids than Egypt?
- A. Mexico
- B. Sudan
- C. China
- D. Peru
- In exchange for the Luxor obelisk, now on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, what did France give Egypt?
- A. A clock, which reportedly never really worked
- B. A warship
- C. A copy of the Mona Lisa
- D. A tonne of cheese
- Besides looking good, what role did the black kohl worn around the eyes by men and women play?
- A. Showing the wearer's social rank
- B. Showing that one was married
- C. Protecting the eyes from infection and glare
- D. Keeping mosquitoes away
- Why did many wealthy Egyptians shave their heads and wear wigs?
- A. For hygiene, especially against lice, and to keep cool
- B. Because hair was forbidden by law
- C. To look like the gods, who were all bald
- D. To sell their hair to the Greeks
- In banquet frescoes, what are the cones on the guests' heads probably?
- A. Straw hats
- B. Candles
- C. Party cakes
- D. Cones of scented fat
- According to a legend recorded by an ancient author, what trick did the Persian king Cambyses II use against the Egyptians at Pelusium in 525 BC?
- A. Poisoning the Nile
- B. Disguising his soldiers as priests
- C. Attacking during an eclipse
- D. Placing sacred animals, including cats, in front of his troops
- Which Alexandrian scholar estimated the Earth's circumference around 240 BC by measuring shadows?
- A. Archimedes
- B. Eratosthenes
- C. Euclid
- D. Ptolemy
- Which monumental work came out of the scholars who accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798?
- A. The "Grand Universal Dictionary"
- B. The "Encyclopédie"
- C. The "Description de l'Égypte"
- D. The "Civil Code"
- Why was the dung beetle a sacred symbol in Egypt?
- A. It protected crops from locusts
- B. Its ball of dung recalled the sun being pushed across the sky each day
- C. Its shell was used as money
- D. It was the pharaohs' favourite food
- What did the pschent, the pharaohs' double crown, symbolise?
- A. The alliance of sun and moon
- B. Victory over the Hittites
- C. The marriage of king and queen
- D. The union of Upper Egypt (white) and Lower Egypt (red)
Answer key — Ancient Egypt Quiz
- B. BeerThick, low in alcohol and nourishing, barley beer was a staple food.
- C. 12 months of 30 days, plus 5 extra days at year's endWith 365 days, this simple, regular calendar is the ancestor of ours.
- D. Measuring the Nile flood to forecast harvests and taxesA graduated staircase or shaft on the riverbank, the nilometer showed the level of the flood.
- D. The people and animals face the start of the lineHieroglyphs can run left to right, right to left or in columns.
- D. NatronThis mixture of salts, collected from the shores of dried-up lakes, drew water out of the tissues and held back bacteria.
- B. It was pulled out through the nose and thrown awayThe Egyptians believed people thought with their heart, so the brain seemed of no use in the afterlife.
- A. The ibisThe catacombs of Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel hold several million mummified ibises.
- C. A feather, symbol of MaatOn the scales, the heart had to be as light as the feather of Maat, goddess of truth and order.
- A. Ammit, part crocodile, part lion, part hippopotamusThe "Great Devourer" waited at the foot of the scales. She combined the three animals the Egyptians feared most: being eaten by her meant dying a second time, for ever.
- B. About 10 kgThe mask is made of about 10 kg of gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli, carnelian and glass paste.
- B. SudanThe kings of Kush, in Nubia, built more than 200 of them, notably at Meroë, compared with about 120 in Egypt.
- A. A clock, which reportedly never really workedKing Louis-Philippe sent a clock, installed in the Cairo Citadel.
- C. Protecting the eyes from infection and glareAccording to a 2010 study, the lead compounds in kohl, in small doses, stimulated the skin's defences against bacteria.
- A. For hygiene, especially against lice, and to keep coolShaved head and removable wig: against lice and heat, it was the perfect solution.
- D. Cones of scented fatThey were long thought to be merely symbolic, until two burials with real cones on their heads were discovered at Amarna in 2019.
- D. Placing sacred animals, including cats, in front of his troopsAccording to Polyaenus, the Egyptians dared not shoot for fear of hurting the sacred animals.
- B. EratosthenesAt Syene, the midday sun lit the bottom of wells on the solstice, while in Alexandria a stick still cast a shadow.
- C. The "Description de l'Égypte"Nearly 170 scholars, engineers and artists followed the army.
- B. Its ball of dung recalled the sun being pushed across the sky each dayThe beetle rolling its ball recalled the god Khepri bringing the sun back to life every morning.
- D. The union of Upper Egypt (white) and Lower Egypt (red)The tall white crown of the South fitted inside the red crown of the North.