The 1st and 2nd Century BC

Can you guess these notable people, places, and things from the years 1–200 BC?

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Last updated: January 17, 2023

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First submitted	August 7, 2018
Times taken	11,229
Average score	66.7%
Rating	4.51

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Year	Description	Answer
4 BC	Possible date for the birth of this important religious figure	Jesus Christ
4 BC	Death of this king of Judea, known for the biblical (but not historical) Massacre of the Innocents	Herod the Great
18 BC	First mention of this capital city on the Han River	Seoul
30 BC	This last Egyptian pharaoh commits suicide. Later legends would say an asp was involved.	Cleopatra
44 BC	Julius Caesar is assassinated on this day of the year	The Ides of March
50–58 BC	Julius Caesar conquers this region. Ancient sources say a million Celts were killed, and another million enslaved.	Gaul
c. 52 BC	The Romans found this city on the river Seine	Lutetia (Paris)
53 BC	This wealthiest of Roman citizens loses his army and his life trying to conquer the Parthian Empire	Marcus Crassus
73–71 BC	This gladiator leads a rebellion of an estimated 120,000 slaves	Spartacus
1st century BC	This “ism” becomes the official ideology of the Chinese state	Confucianism
1st century BC	King Mithridates of Pontus ingests sub-lethal doses of this poison to build up a tolerance	Arsenic
146 BC	The Third Punic War ends with the complete destruction of this city	Carthage
c. 150 BC	Alexandros of Antioch creates this famous, now armless, statue	Venus de Milo
before 150 BC	The Romans invent this building material	Concrete
c. 160 BC	First celebration of this Jewish holiday marking the repurification of the Temple and candles which miraculously burned for 8 days	Hanukkah
2nd century BC	This trade route network connecting Europe with China begins to be used	Silk Road
2nd century BC	Liu An invents this pressed bean curd product	Tofu
200 BC–1 BC	Pakistan is ruled by people speaking this language, left over from Alexander’s conquests	Greek

Level 60

Feb 28, 2021

Surprised to see new things happened in the first and second centuries.

Level 73

Jan 17, 2023

I'd always thought that people checked their calendars, saw that Jesus hadn't been born yet, and went back to bed.

Level 91

Mar 8, 2023

The massacre of the innocents has a historical record (the Bible). Just because there is no record of it anywhere else, doesn't mean it isn't historical.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Based on the population of the area at that time, it was likely only about 10-20 babies killed, and unfortunately in that day that wouldn't be a major event.

Level 64

Mar 24, 2023

As you said, 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence'.

That means there is absence of evidence...

As much as you cannot assert that it certainly didn't happen, you also cannot assert that it certainly did happen.

Another example is the existence of Atlantis.

Despite it being mentioned in ancient text, Plato's Timaeus, it is still not considered a historical fact.

Why would we believe the Bible but not Plato? What reason do we have of trusting one source over the other?

Level 82

Apr 1, 2023

Atlantis is an awful example. It is very, very, very obviously an allegory in Timaeus and not in anyway implied to be historical fact. Pretty much the exact opposite of the Herod example.

Level 56

Sep 11, 2023

That's absolutely ridiculous. Of course some written historical claims are more believable than others. Do you know how many things about individuals from this era are known exclusively from writing?

Level 82

Apr 1, 2023

I think "not necessarily historical" is implied by "biblical."

Level 70

Apr 11, 2023

So you are telling me that Europe had trade relations with China already in the 2nd century BC, but no one thought of visiting them before Marco Polo in the late middle ages?

Level 56

Sep 11, 2023

People didn't have direct trade relations with each other. Chinese goods might make it to Persoa or Europe through second or third-hand (Merchant from Luoyang sells his goods in Sogdia, Sogdians sell it in Ctesiphon, Persians sell it in Iconium and so forth). The Silk Road also isn't a formal institution, you won't find it described in premodern sources at all.

Level 65

May 18, 2023

I love the tofu question, it's so silky and soft.

Level 73

Jun 26, 2023

Maybe accept "Confucian" because "ism" is in the question? And then maybe have _______ism in the answer cell? (Not that I would have got it because I only tried Confucius first time round, I always forget what the religion is actually called)

Level 57

Sep 13, 2023

I got points for Confucism thankfully.

Level 70

Jul 14, 2023

Um, you know that it should be 200-1 BC? Not the other way around, because we always put the later year first and the most recent year last. Also, the order of the questions could be reversed, but that can be debated.

Level 75

Sep 11, 2023

All the best corrections and suggestions start with “Um,”.

Level 70

Sep 11, 2023

I really can't stand this verbal tic when translated into Internet posts and comments, for me it's less polite than "Look here, idiot" would be. Going out of your way to be dismissive in this way is always unwarranted.

Level 66

Aug 14, 2023

Wow, I'm Pakistani and never knew about that. Super interesting and makes sense

Level 65

Sep 11, 2023

I'm sorry but if BC was designated as Before Christ then wouldn't his birthday have been 1 AD ? They switched the BC designation to be Before Common Era to take religion out of it but they did not move the dates. I looked it up but still it is weird

Level 56

Sep 11, 2023

Because the people who established the Christian calendar got a few dates wrong, eg. Herod died in 4BC so Jesus in Matthew's narrative must have been born then or earlier. And nobody felt like moving the entire modern calendar years back just to account for it.

Level 70

Sep 11, 2023

The reasonable technicality raised by @vittoriao could be avoided by using "BCE" instead.

Level 68

Sep 12, 2023

Spelling got me. Put Herrod and arsnic.

Level 57

Sep 13, 2023

I always write Carthrage.

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