Quiz 006

Episode 6 Quiz

Welcome to the quiz for Episode 006: The Pros and Cons of Wisdom. See what you remember about Ancient Egypt’s wisdom literature by clicking “START” below!

1 / 10

The earlier text this show covers, “The Instructions of Amenemope,” dates from the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. In approximately which century were these instructions written?

The 100s BCE

The 100s CE

The 3100s BCE

The 1100s BCE

The 2100s BCE

2 / 10

How are Ancient Egyptian wisdom literature, and many other types of wisdom literature structured?

The proverbs are grouped from shortest to longest.

With animal fables at the front, and it varies from there.

They are always divided in two, with secular in one half and religious in the other.

Very loosely around themes.

The proverbs are grouped form longest to shortest.

3 / 10

What kind of a worldview does wisdom literature generally articulate?

A bleak and despairing one.

A hedonistic one.

One preoccupied with ontology.

A conservative one.

A progressive one.

4 / 10

Which book of the Old Testament has the greatest quantity of parallels with the instructions of Amenemope and ‘Onchsheshonqy?

Obadiah

Hosea

Proverbs

Nahum

Samuel

5 / 10

The structure of Ancient Egyptian wisdom literature often involves:

Interspersed prophecies related to doomsday.

A sprinkling of folk songs recounting the instructions that have been offered.

A framing narrative of a father giving advice to a son.

Scattered incantations from The Book of the Dead.

Interspersed short lessons in mathematics.

6 / 10

The later text in this episode, “The Instructions of ‘Onchsheshonqy,” was written in the last days of the Ptolemaic period. How does this text reflect the period in which it was written?

It reverently records the rise of the Roman Republic and laments the Republic's social wars.

It has dozens of satirical references to Ptolemy XII.

It is filled with optimistic prophetic visions of the coming restoration of Egypt's native sovereignty.

It playfully mocks the vestiges of Persian culture still lingering in parts of the Middle Nile.

It contains an unusual degree of sadness and lamentation about the course of history.

7 / 10

Bronze and Iron Age wisdom literature generally identifies women as:

Having two souls, one upright and the other cursed.

Men's only hope for moral rectitude.

Predisposed to ethnic feuding.

Deceitful, sexualized, and untrustworthy.-

Having descended from a different evolutionary line.

8 / 10

The later text this episode covers, “The Instructions of ‘Onchsheshonqy,” was produced toward the end of the Ptolemaic period. Thus, around which year was our manuscript of “The Instructions of ‘Onchsheshonqy” written?

570 BCE

70 BCE

1070 BCE

1770 BCE

170 CE

9 / 10

A common piece of advice in ancient wisdom literature is:

Think before you speak.

Be kind to the disenfranchised.

All of these.

Avoid fools and keep company with the wise.

Be honest in your dealings with others.

10 / 10

While many of the maxims in Ancient Egyptian wisdom literature could come from any other period’s wisdom literature, this episode showed how Ancient Egyptian wisdom literature demonstrates a particular preoccupation with:

Avoiding polygamy.

Rules governing social hierarchy.

Embalmment.

Boundary markers.

Mercilessness in combat.

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