Gods, heroes and legends from around the world.
About this quiz
This Mythology Quiz travels well beyond Mount Olympus. Next to the Greek myths you'll meet Norse, Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, Zoroastrian, West African, Celtic and Lithuanian stories, from a tree that links nine worlds to a trickster who won every story from the sky god.
Some questions trace legends back to the natural world, like the sea creature behind the kraken or what medieval buyers believed unicorn horn could do. Others ask about epics and folk heroes, from the Kalevala to William Tell. Each round is 10 questions with 20 seconds apiece, and the fact after every answer tells the rest of the tale.
Try a few questions
Tap an answer to check it, or open the answer underneath.
In Greek myth, the weaver Arachne was turned into a spider after doing what?
- Weaving a shroud for Zeus
- Stealing thread from the Fates
- Daring to challenge Athena to a weaving contest
- Refusing to weave for the temple
Answer: Daring to challenge Athena to a weaving contest
Did you know? The mortal girl boasted that her skill outstripped the goddess's, and in the contest she wove a flawless tapestry mocking the gods' love affairs. Furious, Athena tore it to pieces, and when Arachne hanged herself in despair the goddess transformed her into a creature condemned to weave forever.
Switzerland's legendary hero William Tell was forced to shoot something off his son's head with a crossbow. What was it?
- A walnut
- A pear
- An egg
- An apple
Answer: An apple
Did you know? The Austrian bailiff Gessler set the test after Tell refused to bow to a hat he had hung on a pole in Altdorf. Tell split the apple with his first bolt and later killed Gessler, though historians have found no contemporary evidence that he existed; the tale first appears in a Swiss chronicle of the 1470s.
In the legends of King Arthur, the sword Excalibur was, in some versions, given to him by whom?
- The Lady of the Lake
- The Pope
- A dragon
- Merlin's ghost
Answer: The Lady of the Lake
Did you know? A mysterious arm rose from a lake holding Excalibur, which the Lady of the Lake granted to Arthur. In some tellings this is separate from the sword he drew from the stone to prove himself the rightful king.
According to sailors' legend, what fate befell the ghost ship known as the Flying Dutchman?
- It must sail the seas forever, never making port
- It was swallowed by a whirlpool off the Cape
- It sank with a hold full of stolen church gold
- It was frozen into the Arctic ice with all hands
Answer: It must sail the seas forever, never making port
Did you know? The tale, first recorded in the late 18th century, tells of a captain who swore he would round the Cape of Good Hope in a storm if it took him until Judgement Day, and was taken at his word. Sailors held that glimpsing the glowing ship was an omen of disaster, and 'sightings' were reported well into the 20th century, including one logged by the future King George V.