praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: In some fields Hellenistic culture thrived, particularly in its preservation of the past. The states of the Hellenistic period were deeply fixated with the past and its seemingly lost glories. The preservation of many classical and archaic works of art and literature (including the works of the three great classical tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides) are due to the efforts of the Hellenistic Greeks. The museum and library of Alexandria was the center of this conservationist activity. With the support of royal stipends, Alexandrian scholars collected, translated, copied, classified and critiqued every book they could find. Most of the great literary figures of the Hellenistic period studied at Alexandria and conducted research there. They were scholar poets, writing not only poetry but treatises on Homer and other archaic and classical Greek literature.

question: Who is most responsible for the preservation of Hellenistic culture? 

answer: Hellenistic Greeks

question: What museum and ilbrary was the center of Hellenistic culture conservation? 

answer: Alexandria

question: Where did most of the great literary figures of the Hellenistic period study? 

answer: Alexandria
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Athens retained its position as the most prestigious seat of higher education, especially in the domains of philosophy and rhetoric, with considerable libraries and philosophical schools. Alexandria had the monumental Museum (i.e. research center) and Library of Alexandria which was estimated to have had 700,000 volumes. The city of Pergamon also had a large library and became a major center of book production. The island of Rhodes had a library and also boasted a famous finishing school for politics and diplomacy. Libraries were also present in Antioch, Pella, and Kos. Cicero was educated in Athens and Mark Antony in Rhodes. Antioch was founded as a metropolis and center of Greek learning which retained its status into the era of Christianity. Seleucia replaced Babylon as the metropolis of the lower Tigris.

question: Which city held the most prestigious seat of higher education? 

answer: Athens

question: What library was estimated to have 700,000 volumes? 

answer: Library of Alexandria

question: Which city became a major center of book production? 

answer: Pergamon

question: What island has a famous finishing school for diplomacy and politics? 

answer: Rhodes

question: What replaced Babylon as the metropolis of the lower Tigris? 

answer: Seleucia
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The spread of Greek culture and language throughout the Near East and Asia owed much to the development of newly founded cities and deliberate colonization policies by the successor states, which in turn was necessary for maintaining their military forces. Settlements such as Ai-Khanoum, situated on trade routes, allowed Greek culture to mix and spread. The language of Philip II's and Alexander's court and army (which was made up of various Greek and non-Greek speaking peoples) was a version of Attic Greek, and over time this language developed into Koine, the lingua franca of the successor states.

question: Philip II and Alexander's court army spoke a version of what language? 

answer: Attic Greek

question: Attic Greek developed into what lingua franca? 

answer: Koine

question: Ai-Khanoum was situated on what kind of routes? 

answer: trade
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The identification of local gods with similar Greek deities, a practice termed 'Interpretatio graeca', facilitated the building of Greek-style temples, and the Greek culture in the cities also meant that buildings such as gymnasia and theaters became common. Many cities maintained nominal autonomy while under the rule of the local king or satrap, and often had Greek-style institutions. Greek dedications, statues, architecture and inscriptions have all been found. However, local cultures were not replaced, and mostly went on as before, but now with a new Greco-Macedonian or otherwise Hellenized elite. An example that shows the spread of Greek theater is Plutarch's story of the death of Crassus, in which his head was taken to the Parthian court and used as a prop in a performance of The Bacchae. Theaters have also been found: for example, in Ai-Khanoum on the edge of Bactria, the theater has 35 rows – larger than the theater in Babylon.

question: The practice of identifying local gods with Greek deities is called what? 

answer: Interpretatio graeca

question: Who wrote the story of Crassus? 

answer: Plutarch

question: Crassus' head is used a prop in what performance? 

answer: The Bacchae

question: A 35 row theater at the edge of Bactria was found in what region? 

answer: Ai-Khanoum
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: It seems likely that Alexander himself pursued policies which led Hellenization, such as the foundations of new cities and Greek colonies. While it may have been a deliberate attempt to spread Greek culture (or as Arrian says, "to civilise the natives"), it is more likely that it was a series of pragmatic measures designed to aid in the rule of his enormous empire. Cities and colonies were centers of administrative control and Macedonian power in a newly conquered region. Alexander also seems to have attempted to create a mixed Greco-Persian elite class as shown by the Susa weddings and his adoption of some forms of Persian dress and court culture. He also brought in Persian and other non-Greek peoples into his military and even the elite cavalry units of the companion cavalry. Again, it is probably better to see these policies as a pragmatic response to the demands of ruling a large empire than to any idealized attempt to bringing Greek culture to the 'barbarians'. This approach was bitterly resented by the Macedonians and discarded by most of the Diadochi after Alexander's death. These policies can also be interpreted as the result of Alexander's possible megalomania during his later years.

question: Who led Hellenization practices by founding new Greek cities and colonies? 

answer: Alexander

question: Susa weddings were an example of how Alexander mixed Greek culture with what other culture? 

answer: Persian

question: Who bitterly resented Alexander's pragmatic approach of selecting his military? 

answer: the Macedonians

question: Alexander suffered from what mental disorder? 

answer: megalomania
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Throughout the Hellenistic world, these Greco-Macedonian colonists considered themselves by and large superior to the native "barbarians" and excluded most non-Greeks from the upper echelons of courtly and government life. Most of the native population was not Hellenized, had little access to Greek culture and often found themselves discriminated against by their Hellenic overlords. Gymnasiums and their Greek education, for example, were for Greeks only. Greek cities and colonies may have exported Greek art and architecture as far as the Indus, but these were mostly enclaves of Greek culture for the transplanted Greek elite. The degree of influence that Greek culture had throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms was therefore highly localized and based mostly on a few great cities like Alexandria and Antioch. Some natives did learn Greek and adopt Greek ways, but this was mostly limited to a few local elites who were allowed to retain their posts by the Diadochi and also to a small number of mid-level administrators who acted as intermediaries between the Greek speaking upper class and their subjects. In the Seleucid empire for example, this group amounted to only 2.5 percent of the official class.

question: Native populations in the Hellenistic world were discriminated by what peoples? 

answer: Greek

question: Hellinistic Gymnasiums could only be used by whom? 

answer: Greeks

question: What are the areas of concentration from where Greek culture eminates? 

answer: highly localized

question: What percent of the Seleucid empire were comprised of native elites? 

answer: 2.5
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Despite their initial reluctance, the Successors seem to have later deliberately naturalized themselves to their different regions, presumably in order to help maintain control of the population. In the Ptolemaic kingdom, we find some Egyptianized Greeks by the 2nd century onwards. The Indo-Greek kingdom, we find kings who were converts to Buddhism (e.g. Menander). The Greeks in the regions therefore gradually become 'localized', adopting local customs as appropriate. In this way, hybrid 'Hellenistic' cultures naturally emerged, at least among the upper echelons of society.

question: Menander converted to what religion? 

answer: Buddhism

question: Egyptianized Greeks in the Ptolemaic kingdom started to exist by which century? 

answer: 2nd

question: Greeks adopted what from local cultures? 

answer: customs
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The trends of Hellenization were therefore accompanied by Greeks adopting native ways over time, but this was widely varied by place and by social class. The farther away from the Mediterranean and the lower in social status, the more likely that a colonist was to adopt local ways, while the Greco-Macedonian elites and Royal families, usually remained thoroughly Greek and viewed most non-Greeks with disdain. It is only until Cleopatra VII, that a Ptolemaic ruler bothered to learn the Egyptian language of their subjects.

question: A colonist far from the Mediterranean and low in social rank would be more likely to do what? 

answer: adopt local ways

question: Greco-Macedonian elites remained commited to what culture? 

answer: Greek

question: Who did Greeks look down upon? 

answer: non-Greeks

question: Who was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language? 

answer: Cleopatra VII
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: In the Hellenistic period, there was much continuity in Greek religion: the Greek gods continued to be worshiped, and the same rites were practiced as before. However the socio-political changes brought on by the conquest of the Persian empire and Greek emigration abroad meant that change also came to religious practices. This varied greatly on location, Athens, Sparta and most cities in the Greek mainland did not see much religious change or new gods (with the exception of the Egyptian Isis in Athens), while the multi-ethnic Alexandria had a very varied group of gods and religious practices, including Egyptian, Jewish and Greek. Greek emigres brought their Greek religion everywhere they went, even as far as India and Afghanistan. Non-Greeks also had more freedom to travel and trade throughout the Mediterranean and in this period we can see Egyptian gods such as Serapis, and the Syrian gods Atargatis and Hadad, as well as a Jewish synagogue, all coexisting on the island of Delos alongside classical Greek deities. A common practice was to identify Greek gods with native gods that had similar characteristics and this created new fusions like Zeus-Ammon, Aphrodite Hagne (a Hellenized Atargatis) and Isis-Demeter. Greek emigres faced individual religious choices they had not faced on their home cities, where the gods they worshiped were dictated by tradition.

question: What Egyptian god was worshipped in Athens? 

answer: Isis

question: Zeus was paired with which local god? 

answer: Ammon

question: Aphrodite was paired with which local god? 

answer: Hagne

question: Isis was paired with what local god? 

answer: Demeter
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The worship of dynastic ruler cults was also a feature of this period, most notably in Egypt, where the Ptolemies adopted earlier Pharaonic practice, and established themselves as god-kings. These cults were usually associated with a specific temple in honor of the ruler such as the Ptolemaieia at Alexandria and had their own festivals and theatrical performances. The setting up of ruler cults was more based on the systematized honors offered to the kings (sacrifice, proskynesis, statues, altars, hymns) which put them on par with the gods (isotheism) than on actual belief of their divine nature. According to Peter Green, these cults did not produce genuine belief of the divinity of rulers among the Greeks and Macedonians. The worship of Alexander was also popular, as in the long lived cult at Erythrae and of course, at Alexandria, where his tomb was located.

question: What practice did the Ptolemies adopt in which they dubbed themselves god-kings? 

answer: Pharaonic

question: What theism is practice of putting your self on the level of gods? 

answer: isotheism

question: A long lived cult in Erythrae worshiped which dead leader? 

answer: Alexander

question: Where was Alexander's tomb located? 

answer: Alexandria
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The Hellenistic age also saw a rise in the disillusionment with traditional religion. The rise of philosophy and the sciences had removed the gods from many of their traditional domains such as their role in the movement of the heavenly bodies and natural disasters. The Sophists proclaimed the centrality of humanity and agnosticism; the belief in Euhemerism (the view that the gods were simply ancient kings and heroes), became popular. The popular philosopher Epicurus promoted a view of disinterested gods living far away from the human realm in metakosmia. The apotheosis of rulers also brought the idea of divinity down to earth. While there does seem to have been a substantial decline in religiosity, this was mostly reserved for the educated classes.

question: The Hellinistic age marked the rise in what type of religion? 

answer: traditional

question: Who declared the centrality of humanity and agnosticism? 

answer: Sophists

question: What is the view "that the gods were simply ancient kings and heroes" called? 

answer: Euhemerism

question: Who thought that gods were distant and uninterested? 

answer: Epicurus

question: Rulers brought the concept of divinity to where? 

answer: down to earth
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Magic was practiced widely, and these too, were a continuation from earlier times. Throughout the Hellenistic world, people would consult oracles, and use charms and figurines to deter misfortune or to cast spells. Also developed in this era was the complex system of astrology, which sought to determine a person's character and future in the movements of the sun, moon, and planets. Astrology was widely associated with the cult of Tyche (luck, fortune), which grew in popularity during this period.

question: How would people ward off misfortune in Hellenistic times? 

answer: charms

question: What is the complex system based on the sun, moon, and planets movements that determine your personality? 

answer: astrology

question: Astrology was associated with which cult? 

answer: Tyche

question: What does Tyche mean? 

answer: luck

question: What was the trajectory of Astrology during Hellenistic times? 

answer: grew
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, the only few surviving representative texts being those of Menander (born 342/1 BCE). Only one play, Dyskolos, survives in its entirety. The plots of this new Hellenistic comedy of manners were more domestic and formulaic, stereotypical low born characters such as slaves became more important, the language was colloquial and major motifs included escapism, marriage, romance and luck (Tyche). Though no Hellenistic tragedy remains intact, they were still widely produced during the period, yet it seems that there was no major breakthrough in style, remaining within the classical model. The Supplementum Hellenisticum, a modern collection of extant fragments, contains the fragments of 150 authors.

question: Menander is one of the few remaining pieces of what time of liteary work? 

answer: New Comedy

question: What is the only play that remains in it's entirety from the New Comedy era? 

answer: Dyskolos

question: What is the name of the collection that holds fragments of works from 150 authors? 

answer: The Supplementum Hellenisticum

question: What two years are debated as the date in which Menander was born? 

answer: 342/1 BCE
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Hellenistic poets now sought patronage from kings, and wrote works in their honor. The scholars at the libraries in Alexandria and Pergamon focused on the collection, cataloging, and literary criticism of classical Athenian works and ancient Greek myths. The poet-critic Callimachus, a staunch elitist, wrote hymns equating Ptolemy II to Zeus and Apollo. He promoted short poetic forms such as the epigram, epyllion and the iambic and attacked epic as base and common ("big book, big evil" was his doctrine). He also wrote a massive catalog of the holdings of the library of Alexandria, the famous Pinakes. Callimachus was extremely influential in his time and also for the development of Augustan poetry. Another poet, Apollonius of Rhodes, attempted to revive the epic for the Hellenistic world with his Argonautica. He had been a student of Callimachus and later became chief librarian (prostates) of the library of Alexandria, Apollonius and Callimachus spent much of their careers feuding with each other. Pastoral poetry also thrived during the Hellenistic era, Theocritus was a major poet who popularized the genre.

question: Who did Hellenistic poets wish to court? 

answer: kings

question: Who wrote hymns equating Ptolemy II to Zeus and Apollo? 

answer: Callimachus

question: Who said "Big book, big evil"? 

answer: Callimachus

question: What was the name of Callimachus' catalog at the library of Alexandria? 

answer: Pinakes

question: Who wrote Argonautica? 

answer: Apollonius of Rhodes
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: During the Hellenistic period, many different schools of thought developed. Athens, with its multiple philosophical schools, continued to remain the center of philosophical thought. However Athens had now lost her political freedom and Hellenistic philosophy is a reflection of this new difficult period. In this political climate, Hellenistic philosophers went in search of goals such as ataraxia (un-disturbedness), autarky (self-sufficiency) and apatheia (freedom from suffering), which would allow them to wrest well-being or eudaimonia out of the most difficult turns of fortune. This occupation with the inner life, with personal inner liberty and with the pursuit of eudaimonia is what all Hellenistic philosophical schools have in common.

question: What city remained the center of philosophical thought? 

answer: Athens

question: What does ataraxia mean? 

answer: un-disturbedness

question: What does autarky mean? 

answer: self-sufficiency

question: What does apatheia mean? 

answer: freedom from suffering
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: The Epicureans and the Cynics rejected public offices and civic service, which amounted to a rejection of the polis itself, the defining institution of the Greek world. Epicurus promoted atomism and an asceticism based on freedom from pain as its ultimate goal. Cynics such as Diogenes of Sinope rejected all material possessions and social conventions (nomos) as unnatural and useless. The Cyrenaics meanwhile, embraced hedonism, arguing that pleasure was the only true good. Stoicism, founded by Zeno of Citium, taught that virtue was sufficient for eudaimonia as it would allow one to live in accordance with Nature or Logos. Zeno became extremely popular, the Athenians set up a gold statue of him and Antigonus II Gonatas invited him to the Macedonian court. The philosophical schools of Aristotle (the Peripatetics of the Lyceum) and Plato (Platonism at the Academy) also remained influential. The academy would eventually turn to Academic Skepticism under Arcesilaus until it was rejected by Antiochus of Ascalon (c. 90 BCE) in favor of Neoplatonism. Hellenistic philosophy, had a significant influence on the Greek ruling elite. Examples include Athenian statesman Demetrius of Phaleron, who had studied in the lyceum; the Spartan king Cleomenes III who was a student of the Stoic Sphairos of Borysthenes and Antigonus II who was also a well known Stoic. This can also be said of the Roman upper classes, were Stoicism was dominant, as seen in the Meditations of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and the works of Cicero.

question: Who promoted freedom from pain as the ultimate goal? 

answer: Epicurus

question: Who said social norms and material possesions were unnatural and useless? 

answer: Diogenes of Sinope

question: Which group embraced hedonism? 

answer: Cyrenaics

question: Who founded Stoicism? 

answer: Zeno of Citium

question: Who rejected Academic Skepticism in favor of Neoplatonism? 

answer: Antiochus of Ascalon
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Hellenistic culture produced seats of learning throughout the Mediterranean. Hellenistic science differed from Greek science in at least two ways: first, it benefited from the cross-fertilization of Greek ideas with those that had developed in the larger Hellenistic world; secondly, to some extent, it was supported by royal patrons in the kingdoms founded by Alexander's successors. Especially important to Hellenistic science was the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which became a major center of scientific research in the 3rd century BC. Hellenistic scholars frequently employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of mathematics and deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations.

question: The Royal patrons of Alexander's successors supported what type of science? 

answer: Hellenistic

question: What city was especially important to Hellinistic science? 

answer: Alexandria

question: What century did Alexandria become scientific research hub? 

answer: 3rd
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Hellenistic Geometers such as Archimedes (c. 287 – 212 BC), Apollonius of Perga (c. 262 – c. 190 BC), and Euclid (c. 325 – 265 BC), whose Elements became the most important textbook in mathematics until the 19th century, built upon the work of the Hellenic era Pythagoreans. Euclid developed proofs for the Pythagorean Theorem, for the infinitude of primes, and worked on the ﬁve Platonic solids. Eratosthenes used his knowledge of geometry to measure the circumference of the Earth. His calculation was remarkably accurate. He was also the first to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis (again with remarkable accuracy). Additionally, he may have accurately calculated the distance from the Earth to the Sun and invented the leap day. Known as the "Father of Geography ", Eratosthenes also created the first map of the world incorporating parallels and meridians, based on the available geographical knowledge of the era.

question: When did Archimedes die? 

answer: 212 BC

question: When was Euclid born? 

answer: 325

question: Who worked on the five Platonic solids? 

answer: Euclid

question: Who measured the circumference of the Earth? 

answer: Eratosthenes

question: Who was the Father of Geomtery? 

answer: Eratosthenes
Title: Hellenistic_period
Context: Astronomers like Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) built upon the measurements of the Babylonian astronomers before him, to measure the precession of the Earth. Pliny reports that Hipparchus produced the first systematic star catalog after he observed a new star (it is uncertain whether this was a nova or a comet) and wished to preserve astronomical record of the stars, so that other new stars could be discovered. It has recently been claimed that a celestial globe based on Hipparchus's star catalog sits atop the broad shoulders of a large 2nd-century Roman statue known as the Farnese Atlas. Another astronomer, Aristarchos of Samos developed a heliocentric system.

question: When was Hipparchus born? 

answer: 190

question: Hipparchus measured the precession of what? 

answer: Earth

question: Who stated that Hipparchus created the first systematic star map? 

answer: Pliny

question: Hipparchus' star may be depicted in a statue called what? 

answer: Farnese Atlas

question: Whch astronomer developed a heliocentric system? 

answer: Aristarchos of Samos