Ancient Egypt Quiz
Pharaohs, pyramids and mummies: 15 questions on the civilization of the Nile.
Which pharaoh is credited with building the Great Pyramid of Giza?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Khufu (Cheops)
Khufu, called Cheops by the Greeks, ruled in the Fourth Dynasty around 2560 BCE, and the Great Pyramid was built as his tomb.
At about 146 meters, the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure on Earth for nearly 4,000 years.
What writing system did the ancient Egyptians use for formal inscriptions?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphs were the formal script carved on temples, tombs and monuments, using more than 700 signs that stood for sounds, words and ideas.
For everyday writing, scribes used the faster cursive hieratic script, and later demotic, both derived from hieroglyphs.
Which stone artifact was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Rosetta Stone
Found by French soldiers in 1799, the Rosetta Stone carries the same decree in hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek, which let scholars crack the script.
Jean-François Champollion announced the decipherment in 1822, building on earlier work by the English scholar Thomas Young.
Who was the Egyptian god of the dead and ruler of the underworld?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Osiris
Osiris was murdered by his brother Set, restored to life by Isis, and became lord of the underworld who judged the souls of the dead.
Anubis, the jackal-headed god, oversaw embalming and guided souls to Osiris's hall of judgment.
What was the primary purpose of the process of mummification?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
To preserve the body for the afterlife
Egyptians believed the soul needed an intact body to return to, so embalmers dried the corpse with natron salt and wrapped it in linen.
A full royal mummification took around 70 days, including 40 days of drying in natron.
Which female pharaoh ruled Egypt during the 18th Dynasty and is known for her prosperous reign and temple at Deir el-Bahri?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh for about 20 years in the 15th century BCE, expanding trade with Punt and building her terraced temple at Deir el-Bahri.
After her death, her stepson Thutmose III had many of her statues smashed and her name chiseled from monuments.
What organ was left inside the body during mummification because Egyptians believed it was the center of intelligence?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The heart
The heart was seen as the seat of thought and emotion, so it stayed in place to be weighed against the feather of Maat in the afterlife.
The brain was considered unimportant and was usually removed through the nose with a hooked tool and discarded.
Which pharaoh attempted to convert Egypt to monotheism, worshipping only the sun disk Aten?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Akhenaten
Akhenaten, born Amenhotep IV, closed the old temples in the 1340s BCE and moved the capital to a new city at Amarna dedicated to the Aten.
His wife was Nefertiti, and his son Tutankhamun restored the old gods soon after taking the throne.
What were canopic jars used for in ancient Egypt?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Storing the organs removed during mummification
The liver, lungs, stomach and intestines were removed during embalming and stored in four jars, each guarded by one of the four sons of Horus.
The jar lids often show a human, a baboon, a jackal and a falcon, the heads of the four protective sons of Horus.
Who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Howard Carter
Carter, funded by Lord Carnarvon, found the steps to the tomb on November 4, 1922, in the Valley of the Kings, after years of searching.
The tomb held more than 5,000 objects, and Carter took nearly 10 years to catalogue and clear them all.
The Great Sphinx of Giza has the body of a lion and the head of what?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
A human (pharaoh)
The Sphinx has a human head, generally thought to represent Pharaoh Khafre, whose pyramid stands directly behind it at Giza.
At 73 meters long, the Great Sphinx was carved from a single outcrop of limestone bedrock.
Which pharaoh signed the world's earliest known peace treaty with the Hittites?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Ramesses II
Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III agreed a treaty around 1259 BCE, about 15 years after their clash at the Battle of Kadesh.
A copy of the treaty hangs in the United Nations headquarters in New York as a symbol of early diplomacy.
What material did Egyptians primarily write on, made from a plant that grew along the Nile?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Papyrus
Papyrus was made by slicing the pith of the papyrus reed into strips, layering them crosswise and pressing them into sheets.
The word 'paper' comes from papyrus, even though modern paper is made by a completely different process.
Cleopatra VII was actually of what ethnic heritage?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Greek (Macedonian)
Cleopatra VII belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, founded by Ptolemy I, a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, in 305 BCE.
She is said to have been the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
What annual natural event was essential to Egyptian agriculture and civilization?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The flooding of the Nile River
Each summer the Nile overflowed, leaving behind rich black silt that made the narrow river valley one of the most fertile places in the ancient world.
The flood was so central to life that the Egyptian calendar began with Akhet, the season of inundation.
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All History quizzes →About the Ancient Egypt Quiz
Ancient Egypt lasted longer than the span between the fall of Rome and today. The Great Pyramid of Giza was already 2,000 years old when Cleopatra VII was born, and Tutankhamun's tomb stayed sealed for more than 3,000 years before it was opened in 1922. Along the Nile the Egyptians raised vast temples, devised a 365-day calendar, and worshipped a pantheon of hundreds of gods.
These 15 questions cover the pyramid builders, the writing on the walls, mummification and the gods of the afterlife, plus the famous names of the New Kingdom and the Ptolemies. It suits students revising the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms as well as anyone who has wandered through a museum's Egyptian gallery. Each answer comes with an explanation and a bonus fact.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
How hard is the Ancient Egypt quiz?
Moderate. Questions on the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx suit beginners, while those on canopic jars, the Amarna period and the Hittite treaty reward deeper reading.
What period does the quiz cover?
From the Old Kingdom pyramid builders around 2600 BCE through the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ended with Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE.
Are the facts checked against reliable sources?
Yes. Dates, names and dynasties follow mainstream Egyptology as presented by institutions such as the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which pharaoh is credited with building the Great Pyramid of Giza?
Khufu (Cheops) Khufu, called Cheops by the Greeks, ruled in the Fourth Dynasty around 2560 BCE, and the Great Pyramid was built as his tomb. At about 146 meters, the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure on Earth for nearly 4,000 years. - What writing system did the ancient Egyptians use for formal inscriptions?
Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphs were the formal script carved on temples, tombs and monuments, using more than 700 signs that stood for sounds, words and ideas. For everyday writing, scribes used the faster cursive hieratic script, and later demotic, both derived from hieroglyphs. - Which stone artifact was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics?
The Rosetta Stone Found by French soldiers in 1799, the Rosetta Stone carries the same decree in hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek, which let scholars crack the script. Jean-François Champollion announced the decipherment in 1822, building on earlier work by the English scholar Thomas Young. - Who was the Egyptian god of the dead and ruler of the underworld?
Osiris Osiris was murdered by his brother Set, restored to life by Isis, and became lord of the underworld who judged the souls of the dead. Anubis, the jackal-headed god, oversaw embalming and guided souls to Osiris's hall of judgment. - What was the primary purpose of the process of mummification?
To preserve the body for the afterlife Egyptians believed the soul needed an intact body to return to, so embalmers dried the corpse with natron salt and wrapped it in linen. A full royal mummification took around 70 days, including 40 days of drying in natron. - Which female pharaoh ruled Egypt during the 18th Dynasty and is known for her prosperous reign and temple at Deir el-Bahri?
Hatshepsut Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh for about 20 years in the 15th century BCE, expanding trade with Punt and building her terraced temple at Deir el-Bahri. After her death, her stepson Thutmose III had many of her statues smashed and her name chiseled from monuments. - What organ was left inside the body during mummification because Egyptians believed it was the center of intelligence?
The heart The heart was seen as the seat of thought and emotion, so it stayed in place to be weighed against the feather of Maat in the afterlife. The brain was considered unimportant and was usually removed through the nose with a hooked tool and discarded. - Which pharaoh attempted to convert Egypt to monotheism, worshipping only the sun disk Aten?
Akhenaten Akhenaten, born Amenhotep IV, closed the old temples in the 1340s BCE and moved the capital to a new city at Amarna dedicated to the Aten. His wife was Nefertiti, and his son Tutankhamun restored the old gods soon after taking the throne. - What were canopic jars used for in ancient Egypt?
Storing the organs removed during mummification The liver, lungs, stomach and intestines were removed during embalming and stored in four jars, each guarded by one of the four sons of Horus. The jar lids often show a human, a baboon, a jackal and a falcon, the heads of the four protective sons of Horus. - Who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922?
Howard Carter Carter, funded by Lord Carnarvon, found the steps to the tomb on November 4, 1922, in the Valley of the Kings, after years of searching. The tomb held more than 5,000 objects, and Carter took nearly 10 years to catalogue and clear them all. - The Great Sphinx of Giza has the body of a lion and the head of what?
A human (pharaoh) The Sphinx has a human head, generally thought to represent Pharaoh Khafre, whose pyramid stands directly behind it at Giza. At 73 meters long, the Great Sphinx was carved from a single outcrop of limestone bedrock. - Which pharaoh signed the world's earliest known peace treaty with the Hittites?
Ramesses II Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III agreed a treaty around 1259 BCE, about 15 years after their clash at the Battle of Kadesh. A copy of the treaty hangs in the United Nations headquarters in New York as a symbol of early diplomacy. - What material did Egyptians primarily write on, made from a plant that grew along the Nile?
Papyrus Papyrus was made by slicing the pith of the papyrus reed into strips, layering them crosswise and pressing them into sheets. The word 'paper' comes from papyrus, even though modern paper is made by a completely different process. - Cleopatra VII was actually of what ethnic heritage?
Greek (Macedonian) Cleopatra VII belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, founded by Ptolemy I, a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, in 305 BCE. She is said to have been the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language. - What annual natural event was essential to Egyptian agriculture and civilization?
The flooding of the Nile River Each summer the Nile overflowed, leaving behind rich black silt that made the narrow river valley one of the most fertile places in the ancient world. The flood was so central to life that the Egyptian calendar began with Akhet, the season of inundation.
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