Trivia Quiz : Some myth, some history, lots of mystery
Disclaimer : Legends among the following may not be “accurate” in detail – they are, after all, legends, and are known through different versions.
Rules :
#1 : Please don’t Google
#2 : You may guess an answer to only ONE question (until I permit otherwise). This allows wider participation.
Say, did you read Rule #2 ? Just checking…
Here goes ... some of these questions are long, but most are easy.
Q1) This Order was created around 1100 AD. Its members were sworn to poverty, chastity and obedience, but rapidly acquired positions of immense wealth and power. They are also considered the first international bankers and pioneered the practice of assigning credit ratings to their clients.
Who were they ?
Q2) Greek Myth :
Phaeton was the son of Apollo (Helios), the Son God. Clymene was his mother, and she was mortal. A friend of Phaeton's said that Phaeton could not be the son of Apollo because he had no proof of this claim. Phaeton went to his mother, and demanded to know if he were really the son of Apollo, to which she replied that he was. Unsatisfied with this answer, Phaeton went to Apollo and demanded to know if what his mother had said was true. Apollo confirmed that Phaeton was his son, but Phaeton still did not believe him. Apollo promised to grant him anything that he might want. And shortly afterwards, Phaeton declared that he would like to drive Apollo’s chariot ( the chariot of the Sun, that provided Earth with light and heat). After Apollo spent a long time begging his son not to demand this, he succumbed to his desire. Being young and weak, Phaeton was unable to control the mighty horses. The horses ran unchecked, going too high at first and then going so close to the Earth that they scorched the land and set a great forest on fire.
What did this fire result in ?
Q3) When he was born (a Prince in a mountain kingdom), a soothsayer predicted that he would become either a great king or a great saint. Hoping to ensure the former, his father, the King, kept him confined to the Palace grounds, never letting him see the outside world. One day, however, he secretly got out, and saw four disturbing sights. They were an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a wandering beggar (or holy man). He had never seen the unfortunate side of life and what age, sickness, death, and poverty can do to a person. These scenes caused him to go on the Great Departure in search of a new meaning of life.
By what name (meaning ‘the enlightened one’) do we know this Prince ?
Q4) ‘BIGOT’ was a WWII code word used by the Allies. What did it refer to and what is its origin ?
Q5) The Princess of Amen-Ra (~1000 BC), after her death, was laid in an ornate wooden coffin and buried deep in a vault at Luxor, on the banks of the Nile .
In the late 1880s, four rich, young, Englishmen visiting the excavations at Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains of Princess. They drew lots. The man who won paid several thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his hotel. A few hours later, he was seen walking out towards the desert. He never returned. The next day, one of the remaining three men was shot by an Egyptian servant accidentally. His arm was so severely wounded, it had to be amputated. The third man in the foursome found on his return home that the bank holding his entire savings had failed. The fourth guy suffered a severe illness, lost his job and was reduced to selling matches in the street.
Nevertheless, the coffin reached England (causing other misfortunes along the way), where it was bought by a London businessman. After three of his family members had been injured in a road accident and his house damaged by fire, the businessman donated it to the British Museum. As the coffin was being unloaded from a truck in the museum courtyard, the truck suddenly went into reverse and trapped a passer-by. Then, as the casket was being lifted up the stairs by two workmen, one fell and broke his leg. The other, apparently in perfect health, died unaccountably two days later. Once the Princess was installed in the Egyptian Room, trouble really started. Museum's night watchmen frequently heard frantic hammering and sobbing from the coffin. Other exhibits in the room were also often hurled about at night. One watchman died on duty; causing the other watchmen wanting to quit. Cleaners refused to go near the Princess too. Finally, the authorities had the mummy carried down to the basement. Figuring it could not do any harm down there. Within a week, one of the helpers was seriously ill, and the supervisor of the move was found dead on his desk.
A journalist photographer took a picture of the mummy case and when he developed it, the painting on the coffin was of a horrifying, human face. The photographer went home then, locked his bedroom door and shot himself. Soon afterwards, the museum sold the mummy to a private collector. After continual misfortune (and deaths), the owner banished it to the attic, trying desperately to find a buyer.
Eventually, an American archaeologist (who dismissed the happenings as quirks of circumstance), paid a handsome price for the mummy and arranged for its removal to New York . The new owner escorted his treasure aboard a liner about to New York.
Where can the sarcophagus of the Princess now (supposedly) be found ?
Q6) This one’s from WW I : During the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914, in Belgium, the British forces were being beaten back by the Germans, until this group of
horsemen came to their aid. The terrified German troops soon panicked and fled.
Who were these
horsemen ? (some versions speak of only one horseman)
Your turn folks ...
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So, it is no surprise that the Titanic sank on her maiden voyage. 
got to go shovel more of my birthday dirt. BYE! 
)
and I'm speaking for my quizzes too. <quizzes blushing>
