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About This Quiz
Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and plagues have been common occurrences throughout history, but the ancient world was hit with some devastating blows. At the time, little was understood about these massive events, and people were not as prepared for them as we are today. These disasters sometimes even struck at night when no one could brace themselves and escape in time. While some disasters gave signs and warnings that they were about to occur, others did not, and many resulted in countless untimely deaths and destroyed cities. What do you know about these disasters?
Everyone has heard about the tragedy in Pompeii, which buried an entire city under volcanic dust and ash. While the ruins of this city have been well preserved, enabling us to learn so much more about it and its people, other cities were lost forever. This is true for the city of Helike, which similar to the city of Atlantis, disappeared underneath the water where it vanished. Unfortunately, for many ancient cities, the devastation became a harsh reality that was hard to avoid. Plagues also spread like wildfire through many ancient cities and obliterated their populations.
Are you an expert on the earthquakes, plagues and other disasters that took place in Egypt, Greece and other areas of the ancient world? If you are, then take the quiz to prove that you know it all!
Athens
Pompeii
Pompeii is one of the biggest tragedies of the ancient world. The once-bustling city was wiped out instantly and buried for 1,500 years until it was unearthed. Much of the city was well preserved, including many of its citizens who were covered in volcanic ash the moment they died.
London
Paris
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Alexandria earthquake
The Lajia, China Disaster
Lydia earthquake
Damghan earthquake
This earthquake had a large impact on this area of the world, now known as Iran, killing more than 200,000 people. It hit a magnitude of almost 8.0 on the Richter Scale, and happened in December of 856 AD.
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Plague of Athens
Plague of Cyprian
Plague of Justinian
This terrible plague was similar in nature to the later Black Plague in that they both shared the same bacteria. It heavily affected the people in the empire and has gone down in history as one of the most devastating sicknesses to affect a human population.
Plague of the Roman Empire
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Damghan earthquake
Alexandria earthquake
Helike Tsunami
The Helike tsunami was enough to sink an entire city, so it had no trouble sinking a few ships. These ships belonged to Sparta, an ancient city-state in Greece that was destroyed by the tsunami.
Plague of Athens
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Antonine Plague
Eruption of Pompeii
Plague of Cyprian
Minoan eruption
As if a terrifying volcanic eruption wasn't enough, the Santorini area of Greece was also hit by tsunamis and earthquakes. They also hit the coasts of many areas around Santorini, taking out vegetation and settlements.
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Antioch earthquake
Modern-day Syria was hit by this 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which was responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 people. The earthquake was so large that many more hit the area for more than a year after the initial blow.
Alexandria earthquake
Helike earthquake
Damghan earthquake
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Flooding of Sunda
Mayan Drought
Flooding of the Black Sea
Lydia Earthquake
The Lydia Earthquake happened in 17 AD and completely wiped out many cities in the area of this Roman province in Asia minor beyond repair. The emperor at the time recognized the devastation that had taken place and waived the taxes of his citizens for five years?
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Mount Tai earthquake
Mount Tai, located in China, was the first earthquake to ever be recorded. Despite this, we still have very little information on the disaster, other than that it took place during the Xia Dynasty. There is also no record of the death toll.
Rhodes earthquake
Minoan eruption
Helike tsunami
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Minoan Eruption of Thera
The Comet Flood
The sinking of Neapolis
Neapolis was sunk after the earthquake in Crete that created a powerful tsunami. It covered the city, which wasn't found until recently when the ruins came under the radar of archaeologists.
Damghan earthquake
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1156 Shaanxi earthquake
Ancient Neapolis tsunami
Plague of Cyprian
The Plague of Cyprian began in Ethiopia and quickly spread to other areas, including Greece and Rome. At its height, as many as 5,000 per day in Rome died from the plague.
Funnel Beaker Culture Sandstorm
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Mount Tai Earthquake
The Comet Flood
Flooding of the Black Sea
The Lajia, China Disaster
The Lajia, China Disaster took out many people and their homes all along the Yellow River. The remains were found and the flood is determined to have happened in 1920 BC. Iit has taught us much more about the time period.
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Akrotini eruption
Helike Tsunami
Damghan Earthquake
Crete earthquake
The Crete earthquake started a large tsunami shortly after its occurrence. It ended up wiping out thousands of people. The earthquake itself was estimated to be at an 8.0 on the Richter scale.
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Plague of Athens
Hut F40 Epidemic/Hamin Mangha
Antonine Plague
Plague of Justinian
The emperor at this time was Justinian I, after whom the plague was ultimately named as it happened during his reign. He was one of the lucky few who were able to come out of the sickness alive, while thousands of others died each day.
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Hut F40 Epidemic/Hamin Mangha
Hut F40 is the name of the building in which the remains of these individuals were discovered. Though it's not exactly clear how these individuals died, it's thought that they were killed in an epidemic and put into the hut as their resting place.
Rhodes Earthquake
Akrotiri Eruption
Helike Tsunami
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Alexandria Earthquake
Minoan Eruption of Thera
Plague of Athens
When the Plague of Athens hit, the Athenians were in a war against Sparta. The virus quickly swept over the area, infecting a large number of people. It was thought to have come in through the ships arriving at the local port, spreading around the city.
Eruption of Pompeii
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Damghan Earthquake
Akrotini eruption
The Lajia, China Disaster
Flooding of Sunda
Sundaland was a continent in ancient times, but its modern day equivalent are islands within Asia. The main devastation this area faced was the separation of animals that lived there, that are now found in different areas than they would have been if the flooding never occurred.
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Tsunami
Blizzard
Tornado
Drought
While many disasters of the ancient world were catastrophic and did much physical damage, drought was also just as deadly in the long term. The lack of water brought big consequences to the Mayans who ultimately were thought to have perished due to this.
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Pompeii
Far enough away that he wasn't affected by the disaster, Pliny the Younger wrote an account about what he had witnessed. His account was thought to be the date that Mount Vesuvius erupted, but this was later thought to be incorrect.
Plague of Cyprian
Akrotiri eruption
Helike Tsunami
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The 300 year drought in the Mediterranean
Lasting 300 years, this was no simple drought that could be fixed with just any rainfall. It affected the civilizations in the area as they could no longer rely on crops and farming that they needed to survive.
Hut F40 Epidemic
Helike Tsunami
The Comet Flood
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Volcanic eruptions in Ancient Egypt
The volcanic eruptions that took place at this time were devastating for Egypt and for Cleopatra as a leader. The ash meant that rainfall was minimal, halting farming for long periods of time.
Lydia Earthquake
Plague of Cyprian
Rhodes earthquake
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Damghan earthquake
1138 Allepo earthquake
Atlantis flood
Malian Gulf tsunami
In 426 BC, a large tsunami caused by an earthquake struck Greece. The event was recorded by Thucydides who correctly theorized on why the disaster took place. He knew that an earthquake had to have left behind the massive event.
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Antonine plague
Plague of Justinian
Plague of Athens
Athens was hit hard by a virus that many historians and scientists today believe was an Ebola outbreak. The citizens of the ancient world, however, did not have the means to deal with such an epidemic, and it caused widespread panic.
The Black Death
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Antioch earthquake
Justinian I was quite sympathetic when this crisis took place and made sure that the area had the means to rebuild shortly after everything had calmed down. He made sure that enough money was sent to fund this new rebuilding process.
Akrotiri eruption
The Lajia, China Disaster
Flooding of the Black Sea
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A UFO
A comet
Though it may sound like something out of a book or movie, a comet hit the Earth in ancient times and caused mayhem around the world. The sea levels started to rise upon the impact and buried tons of land.
A planet
A blizzard
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Minoan eruption
This eruption came from the Thera volcano and did some serious damage on the world around it. Modern-day Santorini was wiped out by the eruption, as well as the island of Thera, leaving large craters.
The Pompeii volcano
Damghan Earthquake
Mount Tai earthquake
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The Lajia, China Disaster
Akrotini eruption
Lydia earthquake
The Lydia earthquake hit the area when everyone was least expecting it, in the middle of the night. It was recorded by Pliny the Elder who wrote of its incredible impact and strength as it affected a large part of the empire.
Flooding of the Black Sea
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Tsunami
Though citizens took notice of the animals hightailing it out of the area, they didn't expect what was coming next. A few days later, the area was hit by a tsunami which marked the end of the city. Striking in the night, the city was quickly submerged, and everyone there was killed.
Hurricane
Volcanic eruption
Sinkhole
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Lydia earthquake
Multiple notable Greek individuals wrote their take on the entire tragedy which left the area in turmoil. The earthquake was noted for its strength and even destroyed the capital city. The Lydian Empire suffered greatly after this tragedy.
Mayan drought
Akrotini eruption
Alexandria earthquake
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Flooding of Sunda
Alexandria earthquake
The Lajia, China Disaster
Antioch earthquake
The Antioch earthquake destroyed many buildings, but it only damaged the famous Domus Aurea. The church didn't completely fall, but was devastated by fire in the following days. After that, it withstood many other earthquakes that impacted the region.
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The Black Death
Plague of Justinian
Antonine Plague
This deadly plague rapidly spread throughout the Roman Empire to places like Gaul, killing thousands upon thousands each day. It was noted that the plague heavily affected the army in 166, later spreading to others.
Ebola in Athens
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The Lajia, China Disaster
A discovery brought to light all the myths that were told about a great flood that started China, and proved that the myths were true. Rock deposits showed that a massive flood, much bigger than anything we have ever seen, ripped through Lajia during prehistoric times.
Volcanic eruptions in ancient Egypt
Funnel Beaker Culture Sandstorm
Akrotiri eruption
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Flooding of the Black Sea
This theory investigates the fact that the Black Sea has changed and rerouted itself over the years. In ancient times, it's thought that glaciers manipulated it from draining into the Aegan Sea, to the North Sea. It is also thought to have declined in volume at one point.
Mayan Drought
The Lajia, China Disaster
Akrotiri eruption
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Antonine Plague
The Antonine Plague was devastating for the people of the Roman Empire, even killing their emperor at the time, Lucius Verus. Just when they believed that the worst was over, the plague made a return a few years later and is estimated to have killed millions of Romans.
Plague of Athens
The Black Death
Plague of Cyprian
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The sinking of Neapolis
The Comet flood
1138 Allepo Earthquake
Pompeii's destruction
The day that Mount Vesuvius erupted would have ended much differently if the wind had been blowing the other way. The volcanic ash that killed everyone in Pompeii would have drifted elsewhere instead.
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The Lajia, China Disaster
Noodles are probably something that no one expected to find in the ruins left behind after the flood, but they are considered to be the oldest and best preserved ever to be found. They give insight to what the people of the time ate and what their food was composed of.
Mayan drought
Flooding of the Black Sea
Flooding of Sunda
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