Course outline
Module 1
Module 1: Gilgamesh's Missing Tablets
Gilgamesh's Missing Tablets
Knowledge check
Q1. In which ancient language was the Epic of Gilgamesh originally written?
- A. Sumerian
- B. Akkadian ✓
- C. Hittite
- D. Aramaic
Why: The best-known version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Standard Babylonian version attributed to Sin-leqi-unninni, was written in Akkadian on clay tablets. Earlier, separate Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh also existed.
Q2. Where were most of the surviving clay tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh discovered?
- A. The library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh ✓
- B. The temple of Ur in southern Mesopotamia
- C. The palace at Hattusa
- D. The tombs of Egypt's Valley of the Kings
Why: Most of the standard version was recovered in the 19th century from the royal library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, in what is now northern Iraq.
Q3. Who was the British archaeologist's assistant who, in 1872, identified a fragment describing the flood story in the Gilgamesh tablets?
- A. Hormuzd Rassam
- B. Austen Henry Layard
- C. George Smith ✓
- D. Leonard Woolley
Why: George Smith, an assistant at the British Museum, recognized a fragment of the flood narrative in 1872, which was a major sensation because it showed clear parallels with the Biblical story of Noah.
Q4. What is the name of the wise, immortal figure who survived a great flood and is told the story in the Gilgamesh epic?
- A. Enkidu
- B. Utnapishtim ✓
- C. Shamash
- D. Humbaba
Why: Utnapishtim is the immortal survivor of the flood who recounts how the gods sent the deluge and how he built a boat to save life. Gilgamesh seeks him out for the secret of immortality.
Q5. What is a major reason many tablets of Gilgamesh are considered 'missing' or incomplete today?
- A. Tablets were deliberately destroyed by Persian conquerors
- B. Many were broken, lost in excavations, or damaged over millennia, leaving gaps in the text ✓
- C. The stories were never written down, only passed orally
- D. Gilgamesh was banned from writing by the Babylonian priesthood
Why: Clay tablets are fragile, and many were broken, scattered, or lost during ancient destruction, looting, and modern excavation. Scholars still piece together fragments from different sites to reconstruct the epic.
Module 2
Module 2: Sappho's Lost Poetry
Sappho's Lost Poetry
Knowledge check
Q1. Sappho was a lyric poet associated with which Greek island?
- A. Crete
- B. Lesbos ✓
- C. Rhodes
- D. Samos
Why: Sappho was born and worked on the island of Lesbos in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE, and her poetry is often associated with the island's tradition of lyric verse.
Q2. Approximately how many of Sappho's poems have survived in substantial form?
- A. Around 1,000 complete poems
- B. Around 50 complete poems
- C. Around 10 complete poems ✓
- D. Around 200 complete poems
Why: Only about ten of Sappho's poems survive complete, along with many fragments, largely preserved through quotations by later writers and papyrus discoveries in Egypt.
Q3. What is the name of the ancient Alexandrian scholarly edition of Sappho's poems, traditionally credited with organizing her work into nine books?
- A. The Pinakes
- B. The Suda
- C. The Alexandrian Edition ✓
- D. The Hellenistic Canon
Why: Scholars at Alexandria produced an edition of Sappho's work arranged in nine books, which was the basis for the transmission of her poetry. The Pinakes was Callimachus's catalogue of authors and works, not a Sappho edition.
Q4. Which meter is most strongly associated with Sappho and bears her name?
- A. Dactylic hexameter
- B. Iambic trimeter
- C. Sapphic stanza ✓
- D. Elegiac couplet
Why: The Sapphic stanza, a four-line strophe with a distinctive metrical pattern, is named after Sappho and was used extensively by her and later Latin poets such as Horace.
Q5. Why did much of Sappho's poetry become lost after antiquity?
- A. She wrote only in a script that was never widely read
- B. Her works were deliberately destroyed by Byzantine authorities alone
- C. Papyrus and manuscript copies deteriorated and were not recopied, and some were condemned or ignored in later periods ✓
- D. Her poems were burned in a single fire at Alexandria
Why: Sappho's works were lost gradually through the decay of papyrus and manuscripts that were not recopied, combined with shifting literary tastes and some hostility to her reputation in later centuries. No single catastrophic event explains the loss.
Module 3
Module 3: The Library of Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria
Knowledge check
Q1. Which Ptolemaic ruler is traditionally credited with founding the Library of Alexandria?
- A. Ptolemy I Soter ✓
- B. Ptolemy II Philadelphus
- C. Ptolemy III Euergetes
- D. Cleopatra VII
Why: Ptolemy I Soter, a general under Alexander the Great who ruled Egypt after Alexander's death, is traditionally credited with founding the Library, which was likely established in the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE. His son Ptolemy II Philadelphus expanded it considerably.
Q2. What was the name of the institution of which the Library of Alexandria was a part?
- A. The Academy
- B. The Lyceum
- C. The Mouseion ✓
- D. The Stoa
Why: The Library was part of the Mouseion, meaning 'seat of the Muses', a research institution that housed scholars, offered them state support, and provided facilities such as dining halls and lecture spaces. The word is the origin of the modern term 'museum'.
Q3. Which of the following was a common method ancient sources describe for acquiring books for the Library?
- A. Purchasing private collections from Athenian merchants only
- B. Commissioning scribes to copy works from the palace archives
- C. Seizing books from ships docking at Alexandria's harbor and copying them ✓
- D. Receiving donations from the Roman Senate
Why: Ancient accounts, notably from the writer Galen, describe a policy of confiscating books carried by travelers arriving at Alexandria. The originals were kept and copies were returned to their owners. The stories may be exaggerated, but the practice reflects the Library's acquisitive ambitions.
Q4. Which scholar is traditionally regarded as one of the first chief librarians of Alexandria and produced critical editions of Homer?
- A. Eratosthenes
- B. Zenodotus of Ephesus ✓
- C. Aristarchus of Samothrace
- D. Callimachus
Why: Zenodotus of Ephesus is generally considered an early head of the Library and is known for preparing critical editions of Homer's epics. Later librarians such as Eratosthenes, Aristophanes of Byzantium, and Aristarchus also made major scholarly contributions.
Q5. What is the most commonly accepted explanation for the decline of the Library of Alexandria?
- A. A single catastrophic fire set by Julius Caesar destroyed it completely
- B. A gradual decline over centuries due to lack of funding, political upheaval, and neglect, rather than one dramatic event ✓
- C. It was deliberately dismantled by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian
- D. Floods of the Nile washed away all its scrolls in the 1st century CE
Why: Historians today generally reject the idea of one sudden destruction. Caesar's fire in 48 BCE likely damaged some holdings, but the Library appears to have declined gradually over several centuries through reduced royal support, political conflicts, and neglect, a process that is hard to date precisely.
Module 4
Module 4: Livy's Missing Decades
Livy's Missing Decades
Knowledge check
Q1. Livy's monumental history of Rome was titled Ab Urbe Condita. What does this title mean?
- A. The Founding of the Republic
- B. From the Founding of the City ✓
- C. The Chronicles of the Emperors
- D. The Wars of the Italian Peninsula
Why: Ab Urbe Condita translates as 'From the Founding of the City,' referring to the foundation of Rome, which Livy traditionally dated to 753 BCE.
Q2. How many books did Livy's Ab Urbe Condita originally contain?
- A. Twelve
- B. Thirty-five
- C. One hundred and forty-two ✓
- D. Ninety-seven
Why: The complete work originally comprised 142 books, but only 35 have survived in full, along with fragments and summaries of the rest.
Q3. Which period of Roman history is covered by the missing books, often called Livy's 'lost decades'?
- A. The founding myths of Romulus and Remus
- B. The reign of Augustus
- C. Books 41 to 45, covering roughly 180 to 167 BCE ✓
- D. The Gallic invasion of 390 BCE
Why: Books 41 to 45, which covered events from roughly 180 to 167 BCE, are entirely lost, and they are the best-known of the gaps in Livy's text.
Q4. What form of evidence allows modern scholars to know the general content of many lost books?
- A. Original manuscripts found in Egyptian tombs
- B. Carved inscriptions on Roman temples
- C. The Periochae, brief summaries of each book written in antiquity ✓
- D. Letters exchanged between Livy and Cicero
Why: The Periochae are short summaries of each book, probably produced in late antiquity, and they preserve the outline of many lost books.
Q5. Which later Roman writer's summaries of Livy are a significant source for the lost books?
- A. Tacitus
- B. Suetonius
- C. Juvenal
- D. Florus ✓
Why: Florus, a Roman historian of the second century CE, wrote an epitome of Roman history that draws heavily on Livy and helps reconstruct the lost material.
Module 5
Module 5: Lost Gospels and Apocrypha
Lost Gospels and Apocrypha
Knowledge check
Q1. Which of the following is generally considered a lost gospel that survives only in fragments or through quotations by early church writers?
- A. The Gospel of Matthew
- B. The Gospel of the Ebionites ✓
- C. The Gospel of Mark
- D. The Gospel of John
Why: The Gospel of the Ebionites survives only in fragments quoted by church writers such as Epiphanius and Jerome. The canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John are all preserved in complete manuscripts, so they are not considered lost.
Q2. The Nag Hammadi library, discovered in 1945 in Upper Egypt, is significant because it contains:
- A. The only surviving copies of the four canonical gospels
- B. Coptic translations of earlier Greek texts, including several non-canonical gospels ✓
- C. Original Hebrew scrolls of the Hebrew Bible
- D. Latin manuscripts of Paul's letters
Why: The Nag Hammadi codices are a collection of Coptic translations of Greek works, including non-canonical texts such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Apocryphon of John. They shed light on diverse early Christian thought.
Q3. The Gospel of Thomas is best described as:
- A. A narrative of Jesus' passion and resurrection
- B. A collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, without a narrative framework ✓
- C. A letter written by the apostle Thomas to the churches of Asia Minor
- D. A account of the infancy of Jesus
Why: The Gospel of Thomas consists of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, many of which parallel canonical material, and it lacks a narrative of his life, death, or resurrection. This makes it a notable example of the 'sayings gospel' genre.
Q4. What term is used to describe the non-canonical writings associated with the Bible, often including gospels, acts, and apocalypses?
- A. Pseudepigrapha
- B. Apocrypha ✓
- C. Midrash
- D. Targum
Why: Apocrypha, from a Greek word meaning 'hidden' or 'secret,' refers broadly to non-canonical religious writings associated with the Bible. While the term is also used for books included in some Christian Old Testament canons, it commonly covers early Christian apocryphal gospels and acts.
Q5. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is known for which characteristic?
- A. Its detailed account of Jesus' crucifixion
- B. Its stories of the young Jesus performing miracles, some portrayed in a surprisingly harsh or capricious way ✓
- C. Its record of the Last Supper
- D. Its genealogy tracing Jesus back to Adam
Why: The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, written probably in the second century or later, recounts miracles of the child Jesus, some of which are depicted as punitive toward playmates. Its portrayal of the childhood miracles led early church leaders to reject it as unfit for the canon.
Module 6
Module 6: Menander's Vanished Comedies
Menander's Vanished Comedies
Knowledge check
Q1. Which ancient Greek playwright is traditionally regarded as the leading figure of New Comedy, many of whose works survive only in fragments?
- A. Aristophanes
- B. Menander ✓
- C. Aeschylus
- D. Euripides
Why: Menander (c. 342-291 BCE) was the leading writer of New Comedy, which focused on domestic situations, romance, and social manners rather than the political satire of Aristophanes. Most of his plays are lost, surviving only in fragments and in Roman adaptations.
Q2. Which Roman playwright adapted Menander's comedies into Latin, and whose adaptations are partly why some of Menander's plots are known today?
- A. Plautus ✓
- B. Ovid
- C. Seneca
- D. Virgil
Why: Plautus (c. 254-184 BCE) adapted Greek New Comedy plays, including works modeled on Menander, into Latin. Because Plautus and later Terence reworked these plots, scholars can partly reconstruct lost Menandrian storylines from their surviving texts.
Q3. Until the discovery of substantial papyrus manuscripts in the twentieth century, what was the main source of knowledge about Menander's work?
- A. Complete medieval manuscripts preserved in monasteries
- B. Quotations and citations in later ancient authors and anthologies ✓
- C. Inscriptions carved on Athenian temples
- D. Direct descriptions written by his contemporaries only
Why: Before large papyrus finds, knowledge of Menander came largely from quotations preserved by later writers such as Stobaeus, Plutarch, and grammarians, along with Roman adaptations. Major papyrus discoveries in Egypt in the 1900s, especially in the 1950s and later, expanded the surviving text considerably.
Q4. Which Menander play was discovered in a nearly complete papyrus form in 1957, transforming scholarly understanding of the playwright?
- A. The Dyskolos (The Bad-Tempered Man) ✓
- B. The Samia (The Woman from Samos)
- C. The Perikeiromene (The Girl with the Shorn Hair)
- D. The Epitrepontes (The Arbitration)
Why: The Dyskolos was found in a near-complete papyrus copy in 1957, published in 1958, and it is the only Menander play surviving almost entirely. Its discovery allowed scholars to assess his characterization and dramatic technique directly.
Q5. What is a central theme commonly found in Menander's surviving plays?
- A. Large-scale military campaigns against foreign enemies
- B. Political debates about democracy in the Assembly
- C. Young lovers, family conflicts, and resolutions through recognition and reconciliation ✓
- D. Mythological battles between gods and titans
Why: Menander's comedies typically center on romantic entanglements, misunderstandings within families, and happy endings achieved through revelations of identity and reconciliation. This domestic focus distinguishes New Comedy from the political and fantastical elements of Old Comedy.
Module 7
Module 7: The Burning of Ancient Scrolls
The Burning of Ancient Scrolls
Knowledge check
Q1. Which ancient library is most often associated with a large-scale loss of scrolls, traditionally blamed on a fire during Julius Caesar's siege of Alexandria in 48 BCE?
- A. The Library of Pergamon
- B. The Library of Alexandria ✓
- C. The Library of Nineveh
- D. The Library of Celsus
Why: The Library of Alexandria is the best-known case of lost scrolls. Ancient sources describe fire damage during Caesar's siege, but the extent of the loss is debated, since the library may have declined gradually over centuries rather than being destroyed in a single event.
Q2. What material were most ancient scrolls made from, making them especially vulnerable to fire and decay?
- A. Clay tablets
- B. Papyrus ✓
- C. Bronze sheets
- D. Stone slabs
Why: Papyrus, made from pressed strips of the Cyperus papyrus plant, was the main writing surface in Egypt and the Mediterranean. Being organic and flammable, it was highly vulnerable to fire, humidity, and insects, which is why so few original papyrus texts survive.
Q3. Which ancient ruler is traditionally said to have ordered the burning of books in the Qin dynasty period of China?
- A. Emperor Wu of Han
- B. Qin Shi Huang ✓
- C. Emperor Taizong of Tang
- D. Kublai Khan
Why: Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, is traditionally credited with the book burning of 213 BCE, which targeted texts that criticized the state or promoted rival philosophies. Historians debate the scale of the destruction, and some texts were later recovered or reconstructed from memory.
Q4. Why did the codex (bound book with pages) gradually replace the scroll in the early centuries CE?
- A. Scrolls were banned by the Roman Empire
- B. Codices could hold more text, were easier to navigate, and were more durable ✓
- C. Codices were cheaper to produce from clay
- D. Scrolls could only be written in Greek
Why: Codices allowed readers to access any page directly, held far more text per volume, and were more durable than scrolls. Christians adopted the codex early, and it became the dominant book format by late antiquity, which affected which texts survived.
Q5. Which phrase describes the main reason many ancient texts are lost today?
- A. Most were deliberately hidden in tombs
- B. Copies were not made and originals decayed or were destroyed ✓
- C. They were all written in languages no one could read
- D. Ancient authors never finished writing them
Why: Most lost works survived only if they were recopied. When no one copied a text, or when the copies were destroyed through fire, war, neglect, or changing tastes, the work disappeared. Survival depended on continuous copying over centuries.