You Gotta Know…

Trojan War Heroes

Greeks

1. Agamemnon The king of Mycenae, Agamemnon shares supreme command of the Greek
troops with his brother, Menelaus. An epithet of his, "king of heroes," reflects this status. As a
commander, however, he often lacks good public relations skills, as shown by his feud with
Achilles (book 1) and by his ill-considered strategy of suggesting that all the troops go home
(book 2). Upon his return home, Agamemnon is murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her
lover, Aegisthus.
2. Menelaus The king of Sparta, Menelaus is the husband of Helen, the cause celebre of the
war. He tries to win Helen back by fighting Paris in single combat but Aphrodite carried Paris
off when it seems that Menelaus will win. Despite his notionally equal say in commanding the
troops with his brother Agamemnon, in practice Agamemnon often dominates.
3. Achilles This "swift-footed" warrior is the greatest on the Greek side. His father is Peleus, a
great warrior in his own right, and his mother is Thetis, a sea nymph. The consequences of
Achilles' rage at Agamemnon for confiscating his geras (prize of honor) are the subject of the
Iliad. Achilles kills Hector, but is killed by a poisoned arrow in the heel, the only vulnerable
place on his body.
4. Patroclus Achilles' foster brother and closest friend. Although Patroclus is a formidable hero,
he is valued for his kind and gentle nature. Patroclus is killed by Hector while wearing the
armor of Achilles.
5. Ajax This prince of Salamis is the son of Telamon. He once fights all afternoon in single
combat with Hector; since neither one can decisively wound the other, they part as friends.
Ajax's most glorious achievement is fighting the Trojans back from the ships almost
singlehandedly. He commits suicide after the armor of Achilles is awarded to Odysseus rather
than to himself.
6. Diomedes In his day of glory, Diomedes kills Pandarus and wounds Aeneas before taking on
the gods. He stabs Aphrodite in the wrist and, with Athena as his charioteer, wounds Ares in
the stomach. Along with Odysseus, he also conducts a successful night raid against King
Rhesus.
7. Odysseus This son of Laertes is known for his cleverness and glib tongue. His
accomplishments include a successful night raid against King Rhesus, winning the armor of
Achilles, and engineering the famous Trojan Horse. His ten-year trip home to Ithaca (where his
wife, Penelope, awaits) is the subject of the Odyssey.
8. Nestor, king of Pylos, is too old to participate in the fighting of the Trojan War, but serves as
an advisor. He tells tales of "the good old days" to the other heroes.

Trojans

1. Hector The son of Priam and Hecuba, he is probably the noblest character on either side. A
favorite of Apollo, this captain of the Trojan forces exchanges gifts with Ajax after neither can
conquer the other in single combat. He kills Patroclus when that Greek goes into battle
wearing the armor of his friend, Achilles. Killed by Achilles to avenge the death of Patroclus, he
is greatly mourned by all of Troy. Funeral games take place in his honor.
2. Paris (sometimes called Alexander) Also the son of Priam and Hecuba, he is destined to be
the ruin of his country. He fulfills this destiny by accepting a bribe when asked to judge which
of three goddesses is the fairest. When he awards Aphrodite the golden apple, Aphrodite
repays him by granting him the most beautiful woman in the world; unfortunately, Helen is
 already married to Menelaus. Known less for hand-to-hand fighting than for mastery of his
bow, he kills Achilles with an arrow but dies by the poisoned arrows of Philoctetes.
3. Priam The king of Troy and son of Laomedon, he has 50 sons and 12 daughters with his wife
Hecuba (presumably she does not bear them all), plus at least 42 more children with various
concubines. Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, kills him in front of his wife and daughters
during the siege of Troy.
4. Hecuba (or Hecabe) The wife of Priam, she suffers the loss of most of her children but
survives the fall of Troy. She is later turned into a dog.
5. Andromache The wife of Hector and mother of Astyanax, she futilely warns Hector about the
war, then sees both her husband and son killed by the Greeks. After the war she is made
concubine to Neoptolemus and later marries the Trojan prophet Helenus.
6. Cassandra This daughter of Priam and Hecuba has an affair with the god Apollo, who grants
her the gift of prophecy. Unable to revoke the gift after they quarrel, Apollo curses her by
preventing anyone from believing her predictions. Among her warnings is that the Trojan horse
contains Greeks. After Troy falls she is given to Agamemnon, who tactlessly brings her home
to his wife Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus then kill Agamemnon and
Cassandra, leaving Agamemnon's son Orestes (egged on by sister Electra) to avenge the
deaths and kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.
7. Laocoon Yet another son of Priam and Hecuba, this priest of Apollo shares Cassandra's
doubt about the merits of bringing the Trojan horse into the city. "Timeo danaos et dona
ferentes," he says (according to Vergil), "I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts." Later, while
sacrificing a bull, two serpents from the sea crush both him and his two young sons. The death
of Laocoon is often blamed on Athena (into whose temple the serpent disappeared) but more
likely the act of Poseidon, a fierce Greek partisan.
8. Aeneas This son of Aphrodite and Anchises often takes a beating but always gets up to rejoin
the battle. Knocked unconscious by a large rock thrown by Diomedes, he is evacuated by
Aphrodite and Apollo. He succeeds the late Hector as Trojan troop commander and survives
the fall of Troy, ultimately settling in Italy. His son Iulus founds Alba Longa, near the site of
Rome. That bloodline is the basis of Julius Caesar's claim to have descended from Venus.
Rank Title Genre Creator Date Freq.
1 Aida Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1871 44
2 Carmen Opera Georges Bizet 1845 41
3 The Marriage of Figaro Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1784 35
4 Appalachian Spring Ballet Aaron Copland 1944 35
5 Messiah Oratorio Geroge Frideric Handel 1741 30
6 The Barber of Seville Opera Gioacchino Rossini 1775 30
7 London Symphonies Symphony Franz Josef Haydn 1791 29
8 William Tell Opera Gioacchino Rossini 1804 28
9 Don Giovanni Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1787 28
10 The Rite of Spring Ballet Igor (Fyodorovich) Stravinsky 1913 28
11 Salome Opera Richard (Georg) Strauss 1905 26
12 Boris Godunov Opera Modest (Petrovich) Mussorgsky 1869 26
Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele
13 La Boh�me Opera 1896 26
Secondo Maria) Puccini
Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele
14 Madama Butterfly Opera 1904 26
Secondo Maria) Puccini
15 Rigoletto Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1851 25
16 Symphonie fantastique Symphony (Louis-)Hector Berlioz 1830 25
17 The Magic Flute Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1791 23
18 The Planets Composition Gustav Holst 1918 21
19 Fidelio Opera Ludwig van Beethoven 1805 21
20 Pastoral Symphony Symphony Ludwig van Beethoven 1808 21
21 The Flying Dutchman Opera (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner 1843 21
22 The Four Seasons Concerto Antonio Vivaldi 1725 21
23 Bolero Composition (Joseph) Maurice Ravel 1928 19
24 La Traviata Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1853 19
25 The Song of the Earth Symphony Gustav Mahler 1909 19
Prelude to the Afternoon
26 Composition (Achille-)Claude Debussy 1894 19
of a Faun
27 Symphony Pathetique Symphony Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1893 18
28 Carmina Burana Cantata Carl Orff 1936 18
29 Eroica Symphony Ludwig van Beethoven 1804 18
30 Cosi fan tutte Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1790 18
31 Pictures at an Exhibition Composition Modest (Petrovich) Mussorgsky 1874 17
32 The Nutcracker Ballet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1892 17
33 Porgy and Bess Opera George Gershwin 1935 17
Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele
34 Turandot Opera 1762 17
Secondo Maria) Puccini
35 Falstaff Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1893 17
Symphony from the New
36 Symphony Anton Dvorák 1893 17
World
37 Peter and the Wolf Composition Sergei (Sergeyevich) Prokofiev 1936 17
38 The Star-Spangled Banner Song Francis Scott Key (lyrics); music traditional 1814 17
39 Moonlight Sonata Sonata Ludwig van Beethoven 1801 16
40 Lohengrin Opera (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner 1850 16
41 Hungarian Rhapsodies Composition Franz Liszt 1846 15
42 Rhapsody in Blue Composition George Gershwin 1924 15
43 Jupiter Symphony Symphony Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1788 15
Amahl and the Night
44 Opera Gian-Carlo Menotti 1951 15
Visitors
45 Spring Symphony Symphony Robert (Alexander) Schumann 1841 15
46 Don Juan Tone poem Richard (Georg) Strauss 1888 15
Sacred choral
47 A German Requiem Johannes Brahms 1868 15
work
48 Symphony of a Thousand Symphony Gustav Mahler 1907 15
49 Rodeo Composition Aaron Copland 1942 15
50 Swan Lake Ballet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1877 14
 Civil War Battles and Campaigns

1. Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861). Built on an island in 1829, the fort was one of three that the United
States maintained in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In order to claim true independence from
the Union, Jefferson Davis decided that the forts needed to be taken; a Confederate force under P.G.T.
Beauregard ordered the small Union garrison, controlled by Major Robert Anderson, to surrender.
Anderson refused, shots were fired, and the Union commander surrendered two days later, with only one
soldier killed. The Union made two unsuccessful attempts to recapture the fort with ironclad ships in
1863, but Confederate forces finally abandoned Sumter when they left Charleston in February 1865.
2. First Bull Run / First Manassas (July 21, 1861). Fought at a creek near Manassas, Virginia (30 miles
west of Washington D.C.), this was the first major showdown of the war. Beauregard led an army
against Union commander Irwin McDowell and received reinforcements from Joseph Johnston's troops
(whom Union General Robert Patterson failed to detain). The Confederacy routed the Union when
Thomas Jackson's brigade held the left line at Henry House Hill; this effort earned him the nickname
"Stonewall." Congressmen and reporters, who had expected to watch a Union victory, fled in panic back
to D.C.
3. Hampton Roads (March 9, 1862). A channel in southeastern Virginia was the site of the first major
fight between two ironclad ships. The Confederates raised an old wooden boat, the Merrimack, and fit it
with ten guns and iron armor plates. Renaming the Virginia, it was captained by Franklin Buchanan. The
Union countered by constructing a large oval with a rotating gun, called the Monitor and piloted by John
Worden. The Virginia tore through Union wooden ships (Cumberland, Congress, Minnesota) but when
the Monitor arrived, the two ironclads fought to a stalemate - thus the Union maintained its blockade.
The South deliberately destroyed the Virginia two months later, while the Monitor sank in a storm off
Cape Hatteras in December 1862.
4. Shiloh / Pittsburg Landing (April 6-7, 1862). This was named after a church in Pittsburg Landing,
Tennessee (100 miles southwest of Nashville). Confederate commander Albert Sidney Johnston led a
force north from Corinth, Mississippi. Ulysses S. Grant, who had just captured Fort Donelson, brought
five Union divisions to face him. At first, the South led the attack, but Union troops held the "Hornets'
Nest" for hours, killing Johnston in the process. Beauregard took over, but by the second day Northern
Generals Don Carlos Buell and Lew Wallace (who wrote Ben-Hur) brought reinforcements, causing the
Confederates to retreat. More than 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate soldiers lost their lives.
5. Peninsular Campaign (March - July 1862). Union commander George McClellan devised this plan to
capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia by sending 110,000 men up the peninsula
between the York and James rivers. Advised of Northern maneuvers, Southern commander Joseph
Johnston detached a force to defend the peninsula. He also sent a small unit (led by Stonewall Jackson)
that crushed Union reinforcements in the West. After Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines (June 1),
Davis replaced him with Robert E. Lee. Lee concentrated his force north of the Chickahominy River; in
the Seven Days' Battles (June 25-July 1), the Confederates broke through Union defenses, leading to
McClellan's retreat down the James toward Harrison's Landing, and failure of the campaign.
6. Second Bull Run / Second Manassas (August 29-30, 1862). This resounding victory by Lee and
Jackson pushed Union forces back to Washington, D.C. President Lincoln had replaced McClellan with
John Pope, who would supposedly be united with the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Henry
Halleck. Lee maneuvered Jackson's troops behind those of Pope; Jackson detained Pope's men at
Manassas while Lee sent James Longstreet to crush Pope's left flank. Halleck's army was supposed to
land at Aquia, but instead retreated to defend Washington, ceding all of Virginia to the Confederacy and
marking a low point in the Union effort.
7. Antietam / Sharpsburg (September 17, 1862). The bloodiest day of the Civil War: 12,000 Union men
lost their lives, as did 10,000 Confederates. Lee planned a northern invasion into Maryland but a Union
soldier discovered those battle plans wrapped around three cigars. Instead, Lee marched his army toward
Sharpsburg Creek. Meanwhile, Jackson's forces captured Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and rushed to reunite
with Lee. McClellan had a large enough force to capture the entire rebel army but did not use all of his
troops nor coordinate one solid attack. Antietam thus was actually a series of five skirmishes; in one of
them, dubbed "The Bloody Lane," 2000 Union soldiers fell in a few minutes. As it was, Union forces
drove the Confederates back across the Potomac.
8. Fredericksburg / Marye's Heights (December 13, 1862). At this site, about 50 miles south of
Washington, Union commander Ambrose Burnside (who had replaced McClellan) tried to take the
initiative and cross the Rappahannock River in a march toward Richmond. He met Lee's forces, which
were well entrenched in the hills behind the town. With a superior position, Lee routed the Union army;
13,000 Northern troops fell there, while only 5000 Confederates were killed. After the battle, Burnside's
troops were forced to make "The Mud March" up the Rappahannock, made foul by weather and dead
and wounded bodies.
9. Vicksburg Campaign (April 29 - July 4, 1863). This campaign was launched by Grant to take control
of the Mississippi River and cut off the western Confederate states from the east. Grant ordered
regiments led by James McPherson, John McClernand, and William Tecumseh Sherman through bayous
west of the Mississippi to Hard Times. They were up against rebel forces under Joseph Johnston and
John Pemberton. Sherman and McPherson drove Johnston from Jackson, Mississippi on May 14, and
the Union scored a victory at Champion's Hill two days later, but could not drive the Southerners out of
Vicksburg, so Grant laid siege to the town. Outnumbered 71,000 to 20,000 and on the brink of
starvation, Pemberton finally surrendered his men; Johnston withdrew east.
10. Chancellorsville (May 1-4, 1863). Victory for the South, but with great cost, as Stonewall Jackson lost
his life. Lincoln called on "Fighting Joe" Hooker to command the Union army; Hooker took a force of
134,000 and provoked Lee and Jackson's 60,000 men into battle. Jackson moved around Hooker and
counterattacked the Union flank on May 2. That night, while Jackson was on reconnaissance, his own
men mistook him for a Northerner and shot him; he died of pneumonia eight days later. The following
morning, a cannonball blast hit the Chancellor House, knocking Hooker unconscious; Union troops led
by John Sedgwick then retreated. Casualties for the North outnumbered those of the South, 17,000 to
13,000.
11. Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). This marked both the farthest northward advancement by the Confederacy
and the turning point that led to its defeat. Lee, along with Longstreet, A.P. Hill, and Richard Ewell, led
the southern Pennsylvania attack; J.E.B. Stuart was supposed to monitor Union movement with his
cavalry but strayed so far east of Gettysburg that his force did not return (exhausted) until the second
day. George Meade replaced Hooker as leader of the Union side; Southern forces drove Northerners
through the town but could not secure key positions at Cemetery Ridge and Little and Big Round Tops.
Low on supplies, on the final day Lee ordered an attack on the center; George Pickett led his famous
"charge" through open fields, where the Union mowed down one-third of his 15,000 men. The
Confederates lost 20,000 and Lee retreated to Virginia.
12. Chattanooga Campaign (September-November 1863). It began when Union General William
Rosecrans forced Confederate commander Braxton Bragg out of the city on September 9. Ten days later,
at Chickamauga (in Georgia), Bragg and Longstreet turned the tables by whipping Rosecrans, forcing
him into a siege position at Chattanooga. Only George Thomas (the "Rock of Chickamauga") saved
Rosecrans from annihilation. Well-developed railroad networks, however, allowed Grant, Hooker, and
Sherman to bring reinforcements. On November 24, Hooker took Lookout Mountain in the southwest, in
the "Battle Above the Clouds." The next day, Thomas ran right over the Southern force at Missionary
Ridge, securing Tennessee for the North.
13. Wilderness Campaign (May 5 - June 12, 1864). The first clash between Grant and Lee, this series of
conflicts started with the Battle of the Wilderness (50 miles northwest of Richmond), where Southern
leaders A.P. Hill and Ewell held the line, and over 17,000 Northerners fell. At Spotsylvania Court
House, Meade assaulted Lee's men, but they repelled Meade at the "Bloody Angle." The trenches in
 which much of the fighting took place were similar to those later seen in World War I. Advancing
within ten miles of Richmond, Grant met Lee at Cold Harbor (June 3); he lost 7,000 men to Lee's 1,500
and withdrew across the James River, but with the entire campaign he severely reduced Confederate
strength in a war of attrition.
14. Petersburg Campaign (June 1864 - April 1865). After Cold Harbor, Grant moved south to lay siege to
this railroad hub, 25 miles from Richmond. On July 30, Pennsylvania coal miners detonated four tons of
powder in a tunnel underneath the Confederate line; this "Battle of the Crater" killed many defenders.
Although the South maintained the city, its supplies ran thin in the winter of 1865. Grant finally
destroyed the Confederate right flank at Five Forks (April 1-2), 14 miles southwest of Petersburg. This
resounding defeat led to Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House one week later, effectively
ending the Civil War.
 You Gotta Know These Phyla

Plant, algal, and fungal "phyla" are often referred to as "divisions." Some taxonomists also extend this usage to
bacteria, while others advocate replacing the term "division" with "phylum" for all organisms.

Taxonomists do not always agree on the usage of even the most common terms. Some textbooks and other
publications will use alternate names or spellings to describe taxonomic groups, or will lump or split groups in
different ways.

Under NAQT rules, unless the question states otherwise, both Latin names (Mollusca) or Anglicized names
(molluscs) are acceptable for a given taxon.

Note that spelling and pronunciation are not completely standardized in the taxonomic world, so other sources
may have slightly different versions of these phyla.

Estimates of phylal diversity vary. Because many invertebrates are inconspicuous, all estimates are probably
low. Unless stated otherwise, numbers represent an estimate of the number of species that have been named.

1. Porifera (pore-IH-fer-ah; 5,000 species) The sponges are all water-dwellers (98% marine, 2%
freshwater), and are sometimes classified separately from other animals because of their asymmetric
bodies and lack of distinct tissues. They are sessile (immobile) except in early dispersing stages, and
collect food particles via the sweeping motions of flagellated cells called choanocytes [koh-ANN-oh-
sites].
2. Cnidaria (nih-DARE-ee-ya; 10,000 species) Also called Coelenterata [se-LEN-ter-AH-tah], the
cnidarians develop from a diploblastic (two-layered) embryo, and have two separate tissue layers and
radial body symmetry. Many cnidarians have two life stages, the mobile, usually bell-like medusa and
the sessile polyp. All cnidarians have nematocysts, or stinging cells, for capturing prey, and some can
inflict painful stings on swimmers. Examples include the hydras, sea anemones, corals, jellyfishes, and
Portuguese man-o-war (which is actually an aggregation of colonial cnidarians).
3. Platyhelminthes (PLAT-ee-hel-MIN-theez; 15,000 species) The flatworms are the most primitive
phylum to develop from a triploblastic (three-layered) embryo. They have bilateral body symmetry, and
are acoelomate (lacking a true body cavity), so that the space between the digestive tract and the body
wall is filled with tissue. As the name implies, they are generally flat-bodied. They have a true head and
brain, but the digestive system has only one opening that functions as both mouth and anus. Most are
hermaphroditic. This phylum includes parasites such as the tapeworms and flukes, as well as free-living
(i.e., non-parasitic) organisms such as the planarians.
4. Nematoda (NEM-ah-TOE-dah; 15,000 species) The roundworms are unsegmented worms that live in a
variety of habitats. They are pseudocoelomate; the three tissue layers are concentric, but the body cavity
is not lined with tissue derived from the mesoderm (middle embryonic layer). They include both free-
living and parasitic species; human parasites include hookworms and the causative agents of
elephantiasis, trichinosis, and river blindness. Soil nematodes may be crop pests, while others are
beneficial predators on other plant pests. The nematode species Caenorhabdis elegans is a common
subject in genetics and developmental-biology labs.
5. Annelida (AN-el-LEE-dah; 11,500 species) The annelids are segmented worms and represent the first
lineage of truly eucoelomate (having a body cavity lined with mesoderm-derived tissue) animals; their
body cavities are lined with tissue derived from the embryonic mesoderm. Annelid classes include the
marine Polychaeta, as well as the mostly terrestrial Oligochaeta (including the earthworms, Lumbricus)
 and the mostly-aquatic Hirudinea, or leeches. Characteristics of annelids include nephridia (kidney-like
structures), blood vessels, and, in some classes, hermaphroditism.
6. Arthropoda (ar-THROP-oh-dah or AR-thro-POE-dah; over 800,000 species described; estimates of
actual diversity vary but go as high as 9 million species) The most diverse and successful animal phylum
on earth (incorporating about 75% of all described animal species), the Arthropoda are characterized by
jointed legs and a chitinous exoskeleton. Like annelids, they are segmented, but unlike annelids, their
segments are usually fused into larger body parts with specialized functions (such as the head, thorax,
and abdomen of an insect). Arthropods are often divided into four subphyla: Uniramia (insects,
centipedes, millipedes); Chelicerata (arachnids, sea spiders, horseshoe crabs); Crustacea (shrimps,
lobsters, crabs, crayfish, barnacles, pillbugs), and Trilobitomorpha (the trilobites, now extinct).
7. Cycliophora (CY-clee-oh-FORE-ah; 1 species) The most recently named phylum; its only known
member is Symbion pandora, a tiny invertebrate first identified in 1995 when a Danish biologist found
specimens on the mouthparts of a Norwegian lobster. It is believed to be closely related to the marine
phyla Entoprocta and Ectoprocta (Bryozoa), which are not discussed here.
8. Mollusca (mol-LUS-kah; 50,000 species) The molluscs are second in diversity only to the arthropods.
Body plans within this phylum are diverse, but general characteristics include a soft body covered by a
thin mantle, with a muscular foot and an internal visceral mass. There are two fluid-filled body cavities
derived from mesodermal tissue; a small coelom and a large hemocoel that functions as an open
circulatory system. Many molluscs have a shell composed of calcium carbonate and proteins, secreted
by the mantle. Familiar groups within the Mollusca include the classes Gastropoda (slugs, snails),
Bivalvia (clams, oysters, scallops), and Cephalopoda (nautilus, squids, octopi).
9. Echinodermata (ek-KY-no-der-MAH-tah; 6,500 species) Characteristics of this phylum include an
endoskeleton composed of many ossicles of calcium and magnesium carbonate, a water vascular system
(WVS), a ring canal around the esophagus, and locomotion by tube feet connected to the WVS. Unique
to echinoderms is the five-fold radial symmetry obvious in sea stars (seafish), sea urchins, and sea lilies.
Others, like sea cucumbers, have varying degrees of bilateral symmetry. In the echinoderm body plan, a
true head is absent; the anatomical terms oral (mouth-bearing) and aboral (away from the mouth) are
used to describe orientation of the body surfaces. Feeding adaptations include particle feeding through
the WVS, everting the stomach to engulf prey (sea stars), and a scraping device called Aristotle's lantern
(sea urchins).
10. Chordata (kor-DAH-tah; 44,000 species) Our home phylum is divided into three subphyla:
Urochordata, the sea squirts; Cephalochordata, the lancelets, and the true vertebrates (Vertebrata, the
most diverse subphylum). Defining traits of chordates include pharyngeal gill slits, a notochord, a post-
anal tail, and a dorsal hollow nerve cord. In vertebrates, some of these structures are found only in
embryonic stages. The lancelet Amphioxus (Branchiostoma) is often used as a demonstration organism
in biology labs.
 American Warships

The following list of nine American warships includes eight of the most important or interesting ships in the
U.S. Navy, as well as one from the navy of the Confederate States of America. Though there are some ships that
were more involved in battle, these mark significant advancements in naval technology or turning points in U.S.
history; most importantly, they are the ships that come up most frequently in quiz bowl.

1. USS Constitution Better known as "Old Ironsides," the Constitution was one of the first six ships
commissioned by the U.S. Navy after the American Revolution. Launched from Boston in 1797, the
Constitution first saw action as the squadron flagship in the Quasi-War with France from 1799-1801 and
also fought in the Barbary War and the War of 1812. She later served many years as the nation's flagship
in the Mediterranean. Retired from active duty in 1846, the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes' "Old
Ironsides" saved her from the scrap yard--she became the training ship of the U.S. Naval Academy until
the mid-1880s. She became the symbolic flagship of the U.S. Navy in 1940 and is now a floating
museum in Boston.
2. USS Chesapeake The USS Chesapeake was built at what is now the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, between
1798 and 1799. The Chesapeake was attacked by the British Leopard off Cape Henry in 1807 (which
led to the duel between Commodores James Barron and Stephen Decatur), one of the causes of the War
of 1812. She was captured off Boston in 1813 by the British frigate Shannon, on which occasion her
commander, Capt. James Lawrence, uttered his celebrated dying words, "Don't give up the ship," which
have become a tradition in the U.S. Navy.
3. USS Lawrence/USS Niagara Oliver Hazard Perry's decisive victory over the British fleet in the Battle
of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 ensured American control of the Great Lakes during the War of
1812. In the battle, Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence, was severely damaged and four-fifths of her
crew killed or wounded. Commodore Perry and a small contingent rowed a half-mile through heavy
gunfire to another American ship, the USS Niagara. Boarding and taking command, he brought her into
battle and soundly defeated the British fleet. Perry summarized the fight in a now-famous message to
General William Henry Harrison: "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
4. USS Monitor/CSS Virginia [aka USS Merrimack] After departing Union forces burned the Gosport
Navy Yard in Norfolk in April 1861, yard workers salvaged the USS Merrimack and converted her into
the ironclad CSS Virginia. On March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia left the shipyard and sank two Union
warships in Hampton Roads. The South's ironclad rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and set fire to
and sank the USS Congress, one of the nation's first six frigates. The Monitor was sent to end its
rampage and the two ironclads battled for 3 1/2 hours before the Virginia ran aground in its attempt to
ram the USS Minnesota. Visibly damaged, the Virginia retreated and the Monitor withdrew to protect
the Minnesota. The Confederates destroyed the Virginia soon after to prevent her capture by Union
forces. The Monitor, victorious in her first battle, sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, NC. The shipwreck
is a national underwater sanctuary under the purview of the NOAA.
5. USS Maine (ACR-1) [Second class] The first Maine, a second-class armored battleship was launched in
1889. A part of the "Great White Fleet," in 1897 the Maine sailed for Havana to show the flag and
protect American citizens. Shortly after 9:40 pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship was torn apart by a
tremendous explosion. The court of inquiry convened in March was unable to obtain evidence
associating the blast with any person or persons, but public opinion--inflamed by "yellow journalism"--
was such that the Maine disaster led to the declaration of war on Spain on April 21, 1898.
6. USS Arizona (BB-39) [Pennsylvania class] A lead ship of the honor escort for President Wilson's trip to
France in 1918, she was on Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor when Japanese aircraft appeared just before
8:00 am on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The Arizona came under attack almost immediately, and at
 about 8:10 was hit by an 800-kilogram bomb just forward of turret two on the starboard side. Within a
few seconds the forward powder magazines exploded, killing 1,177 of the crew, and the ship sank to the
bottom of the harbor. In 1962 the USS Arizona memorial opened and is now administered by the
National Park Service.
7. USS Missouri (BB-63) [Iowa class] The fourth USS Missouri was the last battleship completed by the
United States; she was laid down January 6, 1941 by New York Naval Shipyard. The Missouri was
launched January 29, 1944 and received her sponsorship from Miss Margaret Truman, daughter of then
Missouri Senator, Harry S Truman. Commissioned on June 11, 1944, the "Mighty Mo," as she became
known, sailed for the Pacific and quickly became the flagship of Admiral Halsey, which is why she was
chosen as the site of the formal surrender of the Empire of Japan on the morning of September 1, 1945.
8. USS Nautilus (SSN-571) [Nautilus class] In 1951 Congress authorized construction of the world's first
nuclear-powered submarine. On December 12 of that year, the Navy Department announced that she
would be the sixth ship of the fleet to bear the name Nautilus. She was launched on January 21, 1954.
Eight months later, on September 30, 1954, the Nautilus became the first commissioned nuclear-
powered ship in the U.S. Navy. On the morning of January 17, 1955, Nautilus' Cmdr. Wilkinson
signaled "Underway on Nuclear Power." In 1958 she departed Pearl Harbor under top secret orders to
conduct "Operation Sunshine," the first crossing of the North Pole by a ship.
 Artistic Creations

The following table lists the 40 most-frequently referenced works of visual art in NAQT questions as of
November 1, 2007. While you really gotta know their creators, these are also some of the works about which
more substantive questions are written, so teams should be prepared for questions on their materials, design,
technique, depicted action, and circumstances of creation.

This is an update of an earlier You Gotta Know article.

Rank Title Genre Creator Date Freq.

Pierre Lescot
1 Louvre Building 1546 137
Francis I of France (patron)
Ictinus and Callicrates
2 Parthenon Building 447 BC 136
Pericles (patron)
3 Notre Dame Cathedral Building unknown 1160-1345 108
4 Mona Lisa Painting Leonardo da Vinci 1500 104
5 Statue of Liberty Sculpture Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi 1886 100
6 Guernica Painting Pablo Picasso (y Ruiz) 1937 89
7 Westminster Abbey Building Henry III of England (patron) 1245 78
Ustad Ahmad Lahori
8 Taj Mahal Building 1632 77
Shah Jahan (patron)
Giovanni Del Dolci
9 Sistine Chapel Building 1473 76
Pope Sixtus IV (patron)
10 The Birth of Venus Painting Sandro Botticelli 1480 76
11 Saint Paul's Cathedral Building Sir Christopher Wren 1708 74
(John) Gutzon (de la Mothe)
12 Mount Rushmore Sculpture 1927-1941 74
Borglum
13 Nighthawks Painting Edward Hopper 1942 70
(Firm of) Shreve, Lamb &
14 Empire State Building Building 1931 68
Harmon
15 St. Peter's Basilica Building Donato Bramante et al. 1626 66
Salvador (Felipe Jacinto) Dalí
16 The Persistence of Memory Painting 1931 65
(y Domenech)
17 Abraham Lincoln Memorial Building Henry Bacon 1922 64
(René-François-)Auguste
18 The Thinker Sculpture 1900 64
Rodin
 The Shooting Company of Rembrandt (Harmenszoon
19 Painting 1642 64
Captain Franz Banning Cocq Van Rijn)
20 Fallingwater Building Frank Lloyd (Lincoln) Wright 1936 63
21 School of Athens Painting Raphael 1509 61
22 Last Supper Painting Leonardo da Vinci 1495-1498 60
23 American Gothic Painting Grant Wood 1930 60
24 David Sculpture Donatello c. 1440 59
25 The Arnolfini Wedding Painting Jan van Eyck 1434 57
26 The Death of Marat Painting Jacques-Louis David 1793 56
Solomon R. Guggenheim
27 Building Frank Lloyd Wright 1959 56
Museum
Giorgio Vasari
28 Uffizi Palace Building 1560-1581 55
Cosimo I de' Medici (patron)
(René-François-)Auguste
29 The Gates of Hell Sculpture 1880 55
Rodin
Francisco (José) de Goya (y
30 The Third of May, 1808 Painting 1814 53
Lucientes)
31 Chrysler Building Building William Van Alen 1930 52
32 Starry Night Painting Vincent (Willem) Van Gogh 1889 50
Arrangement in Gray and
James (Abbott) McNeill
33 Black, No. 1: The Artist's Painting 1871 50
Whistler
Mother
Mahomet Ibn Al Ahmar
34 Alhambra Building 1354 49
(patron)
35 Gateway Arch Building Eero Saarinen 1965 49
36 Eiffel Tower Building (Alexandre-)Gustave Eiffel 1889 49
37 Cathedral of Florence Building Filippo Brunelleschi 1420 49
38 Temple of Jerusalem Building Solomon (patron) 10th century BC 49
Wiliam Thornton (original) 1793-1811
39 United States Capitol Building Benjamin Latrobe, Charles (reconstructed 1815- 49
Bullfinch, et al. (revisions) 1826)
Diego (Rodríguez de Silva y)
40 Las Meninas Painting 1656 48
Velázquez
 You Gotta Know These Musical Works

The following table lists the 50 most-frequently referenced works of music in NAQT questions as of November
1, 2007. While you really gotta know their creators, these are also some of the works about which more
substantive questions are written, so teams should be prepared for questions on their style, instrumentation,
performance, lyrics, key, program, and circumstances of creation.

This is an update of an earlier You Gotta Know article.

Rank Title Genre Creator Date Freq.

1 Carmen Opera Georges Bizet 1845 147
2 Aida Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1871 146
3 The Ring of the Nibelung Opera (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner 1876 122
4 Messiah Oratorio George Frideric Handel 1741 102
5 Symphony No. 9, "Choral" Symphony Ludwig van Beethoven 1823 100
6 Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral" Symphony Ludwig van Beethoven 1808 97
7 Symphonie fantastique Symphony (Louis-)Hector Berlioz 1830 92
8 The Nutcracker Ballet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1892 91
9 The Rite of Spring Ballet Igor (Fyodorovich) Stravinsky 1913 90
10 Madama Butterfly Opera Giacomo Puccini 1904 89
11 Symphony No. 3, "Eroica" Symphony Ludwig van Beethoven 1804 86
12 The Barber of Seville Opera Gioacchino (Antonio) Rossini 1816 85
13 The Magic Flute Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1791 84
14 Appalachian Spring Ballet Aaron Copland 1944 83
15 Rigoletto Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1851 82
16 Don Giovanni Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1787 79
17 La Bohème Opera Giacomo Puccini 1896 78
18 Fidelio Opera Ludwig van Beethoven 1805 77
19 The Four Seasons Concerto Antonio Vivaldi 1725 73
20 Rhapsody in Blue Composition George Gershwin 1924 72
21 The Marriage of Figaro Opera Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1784 72
22 West Side Story Musical Leonard Bernstein 1957 68
23 Siegfried Opera (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner 1876 66
24 Moonlight Sonata Sonata Ludwig van Beethoven 1801 63
Gustav(us Theodore von)
25 The Planets Suite 1918 61
Holst
26 Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique" Symphony Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1893 60
27 Porgy and Bess Opera George Gershwin 1935 60
28 William Tell Opera Gioacchino Rossini 1804 59
Sergei (Sergeyevich)
29 Peter and the Wolf Composition 1936 59
Prokofiev
30 The Song of the Earth Symphony Gustav Mahler 1909 59
31 Swan Lake Ballet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1877 58
32 The Flying Dutchman Opera (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner 1843 58
33 Lohengrin Opera (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner 1850 57
34 Boléro Composition (Joseph) Maurice Ravel 1928 55
35 The Phantom of the Opera Musical Andrew Lloyd Webber 1910 54
36 Tosca Opera Giacomo Puccini 1900 54
37 Turandot Opera Giacomo Puccini 1762 53
38 La Traviata Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1853 53
Modest (Petrovich)
39 Pictures at an Exhibition Composition 1874 53
Mussorgsky
Sacred Choral
40 A German Requiem Johannes Brahms 1868 51
Work
41 Symphony No. 94, "Surprise" Symphony (Franz) Joseph Haydn 1791 50
42 Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter" Symphony Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1788 50
Symphony No. 9, "From the New
43 Symphony Antonín (Leopold) Dvorák 1893 49
World"
Arthur Sullivan (music)
44 The Mikado Musical 1885 48
William S. Gilbert (words)
45 My Fair Lady Musical Frederick Loewe 1956 47
46 Falstaff Opera Giuseppe Verdi 1893 47
Modest (Petrovich)
47 Boris Godunov Opera 1869 47
Mussorgsky
48 Cats Musical Andrew Lloyd Webber 1982 46
49 Enigma Variations Composition Edward (William) Elgar 1899 46
50 Salome Opera Richard (Georg) Strauss 1905 45
 You Gotta Know

You Gotta Know These Works of Literature

The following table lists the 100 most-frequently referenced works of literature in NAQT questions as of
November 1, 2007. While you really gotta know their authors, these are also some of the works about which
more substantive questions are written, so teams should be prepared for questions on their characters, plots,
settings, and circumstances of creation. The Bible was excluded from this list because its total would swamp the
other work.

This is an update of an earlier You Gotta Know article.

Rank Title Genre Creator Date Freq.

1 Hamlet Drama William Shakespeare 1601 292
2 Oedipus Rex Drama Sophocles 430 BC 196
3 Macbeth Drama William Shakespeare 1606 182
4 King Lear Drama William Shakespeare 1605 156
5 Othello Drama William Shakespeare 1622 156
6 The Tempest Drama William Shakespeare 1611 145
7 Moby-Dick Novel Herman Melville 1851 139
8 The Great Gatsby Novel F(rancis) Scott (Key) Fitzgerald 1925 138
9 Don Quixote Novel Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1605 137
10 Jane Eyre Novel Charlotte Brontë 1847 128
8th century
11 Iliad Poem Homer 125
BC
12 Pride and Prejudice Novel Jane Austen 1813 123
13 1984 Novel George Orwell 1948 122
14 Ulysses Novel James (Augustine Aloysius) Joyce 1922 121
15 Romeo and Juliet Drama William Shakespeare 1594 121
16 The Merchant of Venice Drama William Shakespeare 1596 119
17 Paradise Lost Poem John Milton 1667 119
18 The Canterbury Tales Poem Geoffrey Chaucer 1387 117
The Adventures of Huckleberry
19 Novel Mark Twain 1884 116
Finn
20 The Scarlet Letter Novel Nathaniel Hawthorne 1850 115
21 A Streetcar Named Desire Drama Tennessee Williams 1947 114
22 Our Town Drama Thornton (Niven) Wilder 1938 113
23 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Novel Mark Twain 1876 111
24 The Divine Comedy Poem Dante (Alighieri) 1314 111
Fyodor (Mikhaylovich)
25 Crime and Punishment Novel 1866 109
Dostoyevsky
26 The Red Badge of Courage Novel Stephen Crane 1895 108
27 Candide Novel Voltaire 1759 107
28 Billy Budd: Foretopman Novel Herman Melville 1891 106
29 Les Misérables Novel Victor(-Marie) Hugo 1862 105
30 Anna Karenina Novel Leo Tolstoy 1877 105
31 A Midsummer Night's Dream Drama William Shakespeare 1595 105
32 Pygmalion Drama George Bernard Shaw 1912 103
33 Julius Caesar Drama William Shakespeare 1599 103
34 War and Peace Novel Leo Tolstoy 1865 101
35 The Three Musketeers Novel Alexandre Dumas (père) 1844 100
36 A Farewell to Arms Novel Ernest (Miller) Hemingway 1929 100
37 Vanity Fair Novel William Makepeace Thackeray 1848 100
38 To Kill a Mockingbird Novel (Nelle) Harper Lee 1960 99
39 For Whom the Bell Tolls Novel Ernest (Miller) Hemingway 1940 99
40 The Grapes of Wrath Novel John (Ernst) Steinbeck 1939 98
41 Lolita Novel Vladimir Nabokov 1955 98
42 A Tale of Two Cities Novel Charles (John Huffam) Dickens 1859 98
43 Little Women Novel Louisa May Alcott 1868 97
44 As You Like It Drama William Shakespeare 1599 97
45 The Waste Land Poem T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot 1922 95
46 Aeneid Poem Virgil 19 BC 95
8th century
47 Odyssey Poem Homer 94
BC
48 Heart of Darkness Novella Joseph Conrad 1902 94
49 Pilgrim's Progress Novel John Bunyan 1678 94
50 David Copperfield Novel Charles (John Huffam) Dickens 1850 94
51 One Hundred Years of Solitude Novel Gabriel García Márquez 1967 93
52 Antigone Drama Sophocles 441 BC 92
53 Faust Poem Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 92
54 The Count of Monte Cristo Novel Alexandre Dumas (père) 1845 91
55 A Doll's House Drama Henrik (Johan) Ibsen 1879 90
56 Robinson Crusoe Novel Daniel Defoe 1719 88
57 Animal Farm Novel George Orwell 1945 87
58 The Call of the Wild Novel Jack London 1903 87
59 Much Ado about Nothing Drama William Shakespeare 1598 87
60 The Glass Menagerie Drama Tennessee Williams 1945 86
61 The Crucible Drama Arthur Miller 1953 86
62 Brave New World Novel Aldous (Leonard) Huxley 1932 85
63 Beowulf Poem unknown 8th century 85
64 The Sun Also Rises Novel Ernest (Miller) Hemingway 1926 83
65 The Jungle Novel Upton (Beall) Sinclair 1906 83
66 Twelfth Night Drama William Shakespeare 1623 83
67 Great Expectations Novel Charles (John Huffam) Dickens 1861 82
68 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Poem Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1797 82
69 Oliver Twist Novel Charles (John Huffam) Dickens 1838 81
70 Uncle Tom's Cabin Novel Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 81
71 Rip van Winkle Short Story Washington Irving 1818 79
72 The Catcher in the Rye Novel J(erome) D(avid) Salinger 1951 77
73 Waiting for Godot Drama Samuel (Barclay) Beckett 1952 77
74 Death of a Salesman Drama Arthur Miller 1949 77
Alice's Adventures in
75 Children's Lewis Carroll 1865 76
Wonderland
76 Long Day's Journey Into Night Drama Eugene (Gladstone) O'Neill 1956 75
77 All the King's Men Novel Robert Penn Warren 1946 75
78 Things Fall Apart Novel (Albert) Chinua(lumogu) Achebe 1958 75
79 Slaughterhouse Five Novel Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1969 75
80 The Charge of the Light Brigade Poem Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1854 74
81 The Merry Wives of Windsor Drama William Shakespeare 1600 74
Oscar (Fingal O'Flahertie Wills)
82 The Importance of Being Earnest Drama 1895 73
Wilde
83 The Magic Mountain Novel (Paul) Thomas Mann 1924 73
84 Invisible Man Novel Ralph (Waldo) Ellison 1952 72
85 The Taming of the Shrew Drama William Shakespeare 1593 72
86 Eugene Onegin Poem Aleksandr (Sergeyevich) Pushkin 1833 72
87 Sense and Sensibility Novel Jane Austen 1811 72
Fyodor (Mikhaylovich)
88 The Brothers Karamazov Novel 1880 72
Dostoyevsky
89 Inferno Poem Dante (Alighieri) c. 1310-1314 71
90 The Stranger Novel Albert Camus 1946 71
91 Catch-22 Novel Joseph Heller 1961 70
92 A Raisin in the Sun Drama Lorraine Hansberry 1959 70
93 Wuthering Heights Novel Emily Brontë 1847 69
94 The Sound and the Fury Novel William (Cuthbert) Faulkner 1929 69
95 Oresteia Series Aeschylus c. 458 BC 69
96 Decameron Poem Giovanni Boccaccio 1353 69
97 The Raven Poem Edgar Allan Poe 1845 69
98 Ivanhoe Novel Sir Walter Scott 1820 68
99 The House of the Seven Gables Novel Nathaniel Hawthorne 1851 68
100 My Ántonia Novel Willa (Sibert) Cather 1918 68
 You Gotta Know

You Gotta Know These Non-Fiction Works

The following table lists the 50 most-frequently referenced works of non-fiction in NAQT questions as of
November 1, 2007. While you really gotta know their creators, these are also some of the works about which
more substantive questions are written, so teams should be prepared for questions on their key ideas, cultural
context, and circumstances of creation.

This is an update of an earlier You Gotta Know article.

Rank Title Genre Creator Date Freq.

1 Bible Religious divinely inspired, many authors varies 751
2 U.S. Constitution Document James Madison (chiefly) 1787 465
Mohammed (transcriber)
3 Qur'an Religious 660 178
Uthman (codifier)
4 Book of Genesis Religious Moses 950-500 BC 147
The Gospel According to
5 Religious Saint Matthew 1st century 137
Matthew
6 The Declaration of Independence Document Thomas Jefferson 1776 122
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay,
7 Federalist Papers Politics 1787 94
and James Madison
c. 900 - 500
8 Book of Exodus Religious Moses (attributed) 94
BC
9 Book of Revelation Religious John of Patmos c. 95 91
10 Book of Psalms Religious David (traditionally) various 86
11 Leviathan Politics Thomas Hobbes 1651 81
12 The Republic Politics Plato 4th cent. BC 73
13 Magna Carta Document King John (signer) 1215 71
14 The Elements Math Euclid c. 300 BC 69
15 The Prince Politics Niccoló Machiavelli 1513 68
16 The Gospel According to John Religious St. John the Apostle c. 100 68
17 The Social Contract Politics Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 66
6th century
18 Book of Numbers Religious Moses (traditionally) 65
BC
19 Ninety-Five Theses Religious Martin Luther 1517 64
1500 to
20 Vedas Religious divinely inspired, author unknown 59
1000 BC
21 The Wealth of Nations Economics Adam Smith 1776 58
22 Acts of the Apostles Religious Luke (traditionally) AD 70-90 57
Émile(-Édouard-Charles-Antoine)
23 J'accuse Open Letter 1898 57
Zola
24 Pragmatism Philosophy William James 1907 55
25 Principia Mathematica Physics Isaac Newton 1667 54
26 Bill of Rights Document James Madison 1789 54
Joseph Smith (Jr.) (traditional
27 Book of Mormon Religious 1830 54
translator)
3rd century
28 Book of Ecclesiastes Religious Solomon (traditionally) 53
BC
6th century
29 Torah Religious Moses (traditionally) 52
BC
30 Talmud Religious divinely inspired, author unknown c. 300 to 600 51
31 Utilitarianism Philosophy John Stuart Mill 1863 51
32 Common Sense Politics Thomas Paine 1776 51
33 Coming of Age in Samoa Anthropology Margaret Mead 1928 50
34 The Communist Manifesto Politics Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 1848 49
35 Rig Veda Religious divinely inspired, author unknown c. 1500 BC 49
36 Critique of Pure Reason Philosophy Immanuel Kant 1781 47
37 Cross of Gold speech Speech William Jennings Bryan 1896 47
38 Meditations Philosophy Marcus Aurelius c. 161-180 45
39 On The Origin of Species Biology Charles Darwin 1859 45
40 Walden Philosophy Henry David Thoreau 1854 45
41 Deuteronomy Religious Moses (traditionally) 950-500 BC 44
42 Book of Jeremiah Religious Jeremiah c. 600 BC 44
 An Essay Concerning Human
43 Philosophy John Locke 1690 44
Understanding
44 The Book of Judges Religious Samuel (traditionally) c. 550 BC 44
45 On Liberty Politics John Stuart Mill 1859 43
46 King James Bible Religious 54 scholars on 6 committees 1611 43
7th century
47 Book of Leviticus Religious Moses (traditionally) 41
BC
48 Mishna Religious divinely inspired, author unknown 3rd century 40
The Protestant Ethic and the
49 Sociology Max Weber 1904 40
Spirit of Capitalism
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
50 Religious Jonathan Edwards 1741 39
God

You Gotta Know These Classes of Particles

Physics and chemistry are often difficult subjects for quiz bowl teams if those classes are taught during the
junior or senior years since many players will not have completed them before encountering the subject matter
at tournaments. One high-yield area of physics to study is the nomenclature of various groups of particles.

Some conventions: The mass of particles is usually given in mega-electronvolts (MeV), where an electron-volt
is the energy acquired by an electron when it crosses a potential difference of one volt. The energies are
converted to masses by Einstein's famous equation E = mc2, where c is the speed of light. Charges are given in
terms of the fundamental electric charge (the absolute value of the charge on an electron).

Every kind of particle also has a corresponding anti-particle made of anti-matter; when it is said that there "six
leptons," anti-particles are not counted (so, in some sense, there are twelve). Anti-particles have the same mass,
but the opposite charge, of the original. There are no particles with negative mass. Note that in some rare
situations, a particle can be its own anti-particle.

1. Leptons are one of the classes of "fundamental particles" (meaning that they cannot be broken down
into smaller particles). There are six "flavors" of leptons: the electron, the muon, the tauon, the electron
neutrino (usually just called "the" neutrino), the muon neutrino, and the tauon neutrino. The three
neutrinos are neutral (and were once thought to be massless), while the other three have a charge of -1.
All neutrinos are fermions and the total number of leptons is conserved (counting regular leptons as +1
particle and anti-leptons as -1 particle). The word "lepton" comes from the Greek for "light" (as in "not
heavy"), even though the muon and tauon are fairly massive.
2. Quarks are another class of fundamental particle. They also come in six flavors: up, down, charm,
strange, top (sometimes, "truth"), and bottom (sometimes, "beauty"). The up, charm, and top quarks
have a charge of +2/3, while the down, strange, and bottom have a charge of -1/3. All quarks are
fermions and they combine in pairs to form mesons and in triples to form baryons. The enormous mass
of the top quark (178 GeV) made it difficult to create in particle accelerators, but its discovery in 1995
confirmed an essential element of the "Standard Model" of particle physics. The name "quark" comes
from the line "Three quarks for Muster Mark" in Finnegans Wake that appealed to Murray Gell-Mann.
The study of quarks (and the strong nuclear force) is quantum chromodynamics.
3. Baryons are composite (i.e., non-fundamental) particles made from three quarks. The most common
examples are the proton (two up quarks and one down quark) and the neutron (two down quarks and one
up). All baryons are fermions. Quarks possess a characteristic called "color" (which has nothing to do
with visual color) which can be either red, green, or blue (which are arbitrary names). A baryon must
have one quark of each color so that the "total color" (analogous to mixing red, green, and blue light) is
colorless (i.e., "white"). The word "baryon" comes from the Greek for "heavy." The total number of
baryons is conserved (again, counting anti-baryons as -1).
4. Mesons are composite particles generally made from a quark and an anti-quark. There are dozens of
examples including the pion, kaon, J/Psi, Rho, and D. All mesons are bosons. The quark and anti-quark
must have the same color (such as red and anti-red) so that the resulting meson is colorless (or "white").
It is also possible to make mesons out of two (or more) quarks and the same number of anti-quarks, but
this kind of particle (a "tetraquark") is rare, both in nature and in quiz bowl.
5. Fermions are particles with half-integral spin. Spin is a form of "intrinsic angular momentum" which is
possessed by particles as if they were spinning around their axis (but, in fact, they aren't). The values
cited for spin are not (usually) the real magnitude of that angular momentum, but the component of the
angular momentum along one axis. Quantum mechanics restricts that component to being n/2 times
Planck's constant divided by 2 pi for some integer n. If n is even, this results in "integral" spin, if it is
odd, it results in "half-integral" spin. Note that the exact value of the spin itself is a real number; it's the
multiplier of h/2pi that determines whether it is "integral" or not. The most significant thing about
fermions is that they are subject to the Pauli Exclusion Principle: No two fermions can have the same
quantum numbers (i.e., same state). The name "fermion" comes from that of the Italian-American
physicist Enrico Fermi.
6. Bosons are particles with integral spin. All particles are either bosons or fermions. The spin of a
composite particle is determined by the total spin (i.e., the component of its intrinsic angular momentum
along one axis) of its particles. For instance, an alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons) has four
half-integral spin values. No matter how they are added up, the result will be an integral spin value (try
it!), so an alpha particle is a (composite) boson. The Pauli Exclusion Principle does not apply to bosons
(in fact, bosons prefer to be in the same quantum state). The name "boson" comes from that of the
Indian-American physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.
7. Hadrons are any particles made out of quarks (alternatively, any particle affected by the strong nuclear
force). Generally, this means the baryons and the mesons. All hadrons are colorless (in the sense of the
combined color of their constituent quarks). The name "hadron" comes from the Greek for "thick."
8. Gauge bosons (sometimes called "vector bosons") are fundamental bosons that carry the forces of
nature. That is, forces result from particles emitting and absorbing gauge bosons. The strong nuclear
force is carried by gluons, the weak nuclear force is carried by the W, Z-, and Z+ particles, the
electromagnetic force is carried by the photon, and gravity is carried by the (as yet unobserved) graviton.
The name comes from the role of "gauge theories" in describing the forces (which are beyond the scope
of this article).
9. Gluons are the gauge bosons that carry the strong nuclear force and bind hadrons together. Gluons have
no charge and no mass, but do have color (in the sense of quarks). This color cannot be observed
directly because the gluons are part of the larger hadron. The name comes from their role in "gluing"
quarks together.
10. Partons are an older name that was used for the "internal parts" of hadrons before the discovery and
widespread acceptance of the quark model. Models based on partons are still used but, for the most part,
it was determined that partons were quarks and the term is rarely used at the high school level except in
historical contexts.
 You Gotta Know These Treaties

These are the twelve treaties that have been mentioned most frequently in NAQT's questions since our very first
tournament set back in 1997. As with all of the You Gotta Know lists available on our website, they aren't
necessarily the most important treaties from a historical point of view, merely those that have proven most
gettable as answers and most useful as clues.

1. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) officially ended World War I and was signed at its namesake French
palace after the Paris Peace Conference. It is noted for the "Big Four" (Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd-
George, Georges Clemenceau, and Vittorio Orlando) who headed the Allies' delegations, discussions of
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (particularly the League of Nations), and its controversial
disarmament, war guilt, and reparations clauses. The conference was also notable for up-and-coming
world figures who attended (John Maynard Keynes, Ho Chi Minh, Jan Smuts, etc.).
2. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht that (mostly)
ended the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). They were signed by France and Spain for one
side and by Britain, Savoy, and the United Provinces (The Netherlands) for the other. The treaty
confirmed a Bourbon prince (Philip, Duke of Anjou) on the Spanish throne (ending Habsburg control),
but took steps to prevent the French and Spanish thrones from being merged. Some Spanish possessions,
including Sicily, the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, and Gibraltar, were given to the victors.
3. The Treaty of Ghent (1814) ended the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain. It was signed in the
Belgian city of Ghent but, due to the distances involved, could not prevent the Battle of New Orleans
two weeks later. The treaty made no boundary changes and had minimal effect; both sides were ready
for peace and considered the war a futile and fruitless endeavor.
4. The Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) ended the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). It was signed in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after negotiations brokered by Theodore Roosevelt (for which he won the
Nobel Peace Prize). Japan had dominated the war and received an indemnity, the Liaodong Peninsula in
Manchuria, and half of Sakhalin Island, but the treaty was widely condemned in Japan because the
public had expected more.
5. The Adams-Onís Treaty (1819) settled a boundary dispute between the U.S. and Spain that arose
following the Louisiana Purchase. It was negotiated by then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and
most notably sold Florida to the U.S. in exchange for the payment of its citizens' claims against Spain. It
 also delineated the U.S.-Spain border to the Pacific Ocean leading to its alternate name, the
Transcontinental Treaty.
6. The Camp David Accords (1978) were negotiated at the presidential retreat of Camp David by Egypt's
Anwar Sadat and Israel Menachem Begin; they were brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. They led
to a peace treaty the next year that returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, guaranteed Israeli access to the
Red Sea and Suez Canal, and more-or-less normalized diplomatic and economic relations between the
two countries. This isolated Egypt from the other Arab countries and led to Sadat's assassination in
1981.
7. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ended the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and was
signed in its namesake neighborhood of Mexico City. Its most significant result was the "Mexican
Cession" transferring California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of four other states to the U.S. It also made the
Rio Grande the boundary between Texas and Mexico.
8. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) was a "separate peace" signed by the Bolshevik government of the
new USSR and Germany. The USSR needed to make peace to focus on defeating the "Whites"
(royalists) in the Russian Civil War, and it gave up Ukraine, Belarus, and the three Baltic countries after
Germany invaded, an outcome worse than a German offer which chief Soviet negotiator Leon Trotsky
had rejected. The treaty was negotiated in modern-day Brest (in Belarus) and was nullified by the
subsequent Treaty of Versailles following Germany's defeat.
9. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) ostensibly divided the New World (and, in later interpretations, the
entire world) between Spain and Portugal. It resulted from a bull by (Spanish-born) Pope Alexander VI
granting lands to Spain and established a line west of the Cape Verde islands between future Spanish
possessions (west) and Portuguese possessions (east). The line passed through Brazil, allowing the
Portuguese to establish a colony there while Spain received the rest of the Americas. Endless wrangling
and repeated revisions ensued.
10. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) is the collective name for two treaties ending the Thirty Years' War
that were signed by the Holy Roman Empire, minor German states, Spain, France, Sweden, and the
Dutch Republic. It confirmed the principle of "cuius regio eius religio" (that a ruler's religion determined
that of his country) introduced by the Peace of Augsburg, but mandated relative tolerance of other
(Christian) faiths. It adjusted the borders of German states and strengthened their princes with respect to
the Emperor and transferred most of Lorraine and some of Alsace to France.
11. The Lateran Treaty (1929) created the independent country of the Vatican City, made Catholicism the
state religion of Italy (ended in 1984), and determined the proper remuneration for Church property
taken by Italy. It was signed by Benito Mussolini and a representative of Pope Pius XI in the namesake
papal residence and ended the so-called "Roman Question" that arose out of the unification of Italy and
the dissolution of the Papal States.
12. The Treaty of Paris (1898) was, surprisingly, the only Treaty of Paris to make the list. It ended the
Spanish-American War and transferred Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the U.S. while
making Cuba (ostensibly) independent. The treaty was the beginning of American imperialism and
underwent a lengthy and contentious ratification.
 You Gotta Know These Norse Gods and Goddesses

1. Ymir A primordial giant who formed in the void of Ginnungagap from fire and ice. He gave birth to the
frost giants and created the primordial cow Audhumla. He was killed by Odin and his brothers, who
used his body to construct most of the universe.
2. Odin (or Wodin or Wotan) The All-Father, he is the leader of the Aesir, the principal group of Norse
gods. He is a god of war, death, wisdom, poetry, and knowledge, and rides the eight-legged horse
Sleipnir. He hung himself for nine days on the world tree Yggsdrasil, pierced by his own spear, to gain
knowledge, and traded one of his eyes for a drink from Mimir's well to gain wisdom.
3. Frigg (or Frigga) The wife of Odin, and mother by him of Balder, Hoder, Hermod, and Tyr. She is the
goddess of the sky, marriage, and motherhood, and often works at her loom spinning clouds.
4. Frey (or Freyr) The son of Njord, and twin brother of Freya. He is one of the Vanir, a second group of
Norse gods, but lives with the Aesir as a hostage. The god of fertility, horses, sun, and rain, his
possessions include the magic ship Skidbladnir. He travels in a chariot drawn by the golden boar
Gullinbursti, and had to give away his magic sword to win the hand of the giantess Gerda.
5. Freya The daughter of Njord and twin sister of Frey, she is also a Vanir hostage living with the Aesir.
The goddess of love, passion, and human fertility, her possessions include a cloak that allows her to turn
into a falcon, and the necklace Brisingamen. She travels in a chariot drawn by two cats.
6. Thor A son of Odin and the giantess Jord, he is the god of thunder, weather, and crops. One of the most
popular of the Norse gods, he travels in a chariot pulled by two goats, and wields the hammer Mjolnir.
He is married to Sif, and his special nemesis is the Midgard Serpent.
7. Loki He's actually giant-kin, but lives with the Aesir and is Odin's blood-brother. The god of fire and
trickery, his many pranks include duping Hoder into killing Balder. His children include the wolf Fenrir,
the Midgard Serpent Jormungandr, Hel (the ruler of the underworld), and Sleipnir. After killing Balder
he was chained to three boulders with snakes dripping poison onto him.
8. Heimdall The son of nine sisters, he is the god of light and guardians. He guards Bifrost, the rainbow
bridge into Asgard. His senses are so sharp, he can see 100 miles by night or day and hear grass
growing. He will call the Aesir into battle at Ragnarok with his horn Gjall (or Gjallerhorn).
 9. Balder (or Baldur) The fairest of the Aesir, he is the god of light, joy, and beauty. He dreamed of his
own death, so Frigga extracted promises from everything not to harm Balder, but she skipped mistletoe.
Loki tricked Balder's blind brother Hoder into killing him with a spear of mistletoe.
10. Norns The goddesses of destiny, represented as the three sisters Urd (or Wyrd), Verdandi (or
Verthandi), and Skuld. The counterparts of the Greek Fates, they tend the Well of Fate at the roots of
Yggdrasil.

You Gotta Know These Egyptian Deities

The Egyptian creation myth begins with the emergence of Ra (or Re), the sun god, from the ocean in the form
of an egg (or, alternately, a flower.) Ra brought forth four children: Geb, Shu, Nut, and Tefnut. Shu and Nut
became manifestations of air and moisture. From Geb, the god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky, were
spawned four other gods: Osiris, Isis, Set (or Seth), and Nepthys.

These nine gods became known as the ennead ("group of nine"). The center of their worship was Heliopolis, as
all were tied to Ra, the sun god. The Heliopolitan ennead was one of several in Egyptian theology, and at times
this grouping was superseded by other sets. Two notable alternatives were the ennead of the city of Memphis
led by the god Ptah, and the ennead of Thebes, with Amon at its head. Not surprisingly, the pre-eminence of
these variations coincided with their corresponding cities' political control of Egypt.

The Stories
Fortunately for quiz bowlers, there are, for most practical purposes, only three major episodes in Egyptian
mythology. Knowing the principal actors in these (as well as the various animal heads) will go a long way
toward scoring points in the category.

• The first is the "family quarrel" of Osiris and Set: Osiris took Isis, his sister, for his wife, and ruled over
the earth. Set grew jealous of his brother and killed him, afterwards cutting his body into 14 pieces and
hiding them in various places around Egypt. He then claimed kingship over the land. Isis searched the
breadth of the land until she had recovered all of the pieces and, with the help of Anubis, embalmed the
body. She then conceived a son, Horus, by the (still dead) Osiris and then resurrected him. Horus
defeated Set to regain the kingship and all subsequent pharaohs were said to be aspects of him.
 • The second is the afterlife; the Egyptians believed that the soul had three components, the ba, ka, and
akh, each of which had different roles after death. The ka remained near or within the body (which is
why mummification was required). The ba went to the underworld where it merged with aspects of
Osiris, but was allowed to periodically return (which is why Egyptian tombs often contained narrow
doors). The akh could temporarily assume different physical forms and wander the world as a ghost of
sorts. In the underworld, the ba was subjected to the Judgment of Osiris in the Hall of Double Justice
where the heart of the deceased was weighed against Ma'at, commonly represented as an ostrich feather.
• The third is actually an historical episode: during the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 BC), worship
of the god Aton (or Aten)--a representation of the disc of the sun--was resurrected. This process was
carried to its extreme conclusion by his successor, Amenhotep IV, who eventually declared Aton to be
the only god, thereby creating one of the earliest known monotheistic religions. The pharaoh even
changed his name to Akhenaton, meaning "Aton is satisfied." The worship of Aton was centered on the
capital city of Tell-al-Amarna and was largely confined to upper classes and the pharaonic court and, in
any case, did not survive Amenhotep himself. Under his successor, Tutankhamen (of King Tut fame),
traditional religious practices were restored.

The Pantheon
1. Osiris Husband of Isis, father of Horus, and brother of Set, Osiris served as god of the underworld, and
protector of the dead. In addition to his role as the chief and judge of the underworld (as a result of the
above-mentioned murder by Set), Osiris also served as a god of vegetation and renewal; festivals
honoring his death occurred around the time of the Nile flood's retreat. Statues representing him were
made of clay and grain, which would then germinate. Osiris was represented either as a green mummy,
or wearing the Atef, a plumed crown.
2. Set Created in opposition to the forces of Ma'at, Set (termed Typhon by Plutarch) fought the demon
Apopis each day, emerging victorious, symbolic of the struggle of forces that brought harmony. In later
times, this struggle led Set to be associated with the serpent itself, and Set became the personification of
violence and disorder, and the cause of all disasters. Having killed his brother Osiris, Set did battle with
Osiris' son Horus, being emasculated in the fight. His cult was diminished over time, due to reaction
against violence. His effigies were destroyed by some, while others were changed into representations of
Amon, by replacing the ears with horns.
3. Isis Isis, daughter of Geb and Nut, protected love, motherhood, and fate in the Egyptian mythos. Many
of her roles are similar to the goddess Hathor, but she is often equated with the Greek Demeter. Her
powers were gained through tricking the god Ra. By placing a snake in his path, which poisoned him,
she forced him to give some power to her before she would cure him.
4. Horus The god of the sky and light and the son of Isis and Osiris. In earlier myth he was the brother of
Set, and son of Ra. His mother impregnated herself with the dead Osiris, and Horus was hidden by his
mother. When he was grown, he avenged his father's death, driving away Set. In the battle, he lost his
eye, but regained it thanks to the god Thoth. Thus Horus came to rule over the earth. He was known to
have two faces, that of the falcon, Harsiesis, and that of a child, Harpocrates.
5. Ra Personification of the midday sun, he was also venerated as Atum (setting sun) and Khepri (rising
sun), which were later combined with him. He traveled across the sky each day and then each night, the
monster Apep would attempt to prevent his return. Other myths held that Ra spent the night in the
underworld consoling the dead. The god of the pharaohs, from the fourth dynasty onward all pharaohs
termed themselves "sons of Ra," and after death they joined his entourage. He was portrayed with the
head of a falcon, and crowned with the sun disc.
6. Amon Amon began as a local god of Thebes, governing the air, fertility and reproduction, his wife was
Mut, and his son Khon. Later, Amon became linked with the sun god Ra, and the two combined as
Amon-Ra. In this form, he became worshipped beyond Egypt, and identified with Zeus and Jupiter. His
appearance in art was as a man in a loincloth, with a headdress topped by feathers, but other appearances
show him with the head of a ram. The temple of Amon-Ra at Karnak was the largest ever built.
7. Thoth Serving the gods as the supreme scribe, ibis-headed Thoth was known as the "tongue of Ptah" for
his knowledge of hieroglyphics, and as the "Heart of Re" for his creative powers. His knowledge of
science and calculation made him the creator of the calendar, and his symbol of the moon was due to his
knowledge of how to calculate its path. His knowledge of magic led to his association with the Greek
Hermes. Thoth was consulted by Isis when attempting to resurrect Osiris, and was again consulted when
the young Horus was stung by a scorpion.
8. Ptah Principal god of the city of Memphis, he was portrayed as a mummy, or wearing the beard of the
gods on his chin. His godhood was achieved by himself, much like his creation power, done merely by
act of will. A patron of craftsmen, he also was seen as a healer, in the form of a dwarf. In the death
trilogy (Anubis, Osiris, Ptah), he was seen as the god of embalming. His wife was the cat headed
Sekhmet and his son was the lotus god Nefertem.
9. Anubis Son of Osiris and Nepthys, and god of embalming to the Egyptians, he was typically pictured
with the head of a jackal. He also served as the god of the desert and the watcher of the tombs. He also
served to introduce the dead to the afterlife, and as their judge. To decide the fate of the dead, Anubis
would weigh the heart of the dead against the feather of truth. Anubis is sometimes identified with
Hermes or Mercury.
10. Ma'at The daughter of Ra, she predated the universe, and served over the creation of it, ensuring
balance between everything. Primarily seen as the keeper of order, Ma'at was responsible for seasons,
day and night, rainfall, and star movements. A symbolic offering of Ma'at, in the form a statuette was
given to the gods, as Ma'at encompassed all other offerings. Ma'at's aspect as god of justice also showed
through her role in death ritual, where her ostrich feather symbol was weighed against the hearts of the
dead in the underworld. Judges wore effigies of Ma'at, and the supreme head of courts was said to be the
priest of Ma'at.
11. Hathor Hathor (or Athor or Athyr) was the patron of women. Hathor was the daughter of Ra, and wife
of Horus. She fulfilled many functions as goddess of the sky, goddess of fertility, protector of marriage,
and goddess of love and beauty. In that final role she became equated with Aphrodite and Venus.
Pictures of Hathor show the goddess with the head of a cow.
12. Nephthys Termed the "lady of the castle," for her role as guardian of the tomb, she sided against her
own husband, Set, in his battle against Osiris, but when Set was destroyed, she collected the bits of his
body, and brought him back to life, much as Isis had done for Osiris. Isis' sister, she was also said to be
Osiris' mistress, leading to much complaint from Isis. Due to her close ties to all the other gods, she was
rarely associated with a cult of her own.