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TEST – Which classical character would you have been?

By Haris Ioannides / April 23, 2012 / 1 Comment

One week ago I came back from Paris, where I visited my parents. Yes, it is a big treat to be able to see your family and combine it with a great vacation in one of Europe’s most beautiful places. But that alone doesn’t make you a lucky and happy person, does it? In any case, I really enjoyed my stay there for a number of reasons. One of them being the opportunity to go to museums, see some paintings that currently “speak” to me and enter the Louvre for free (yes, I am so young). Ironically enough, I traveled all the way to Paris to see some of the amazing statues antiquity left us, even though I am living in Cyprus. Walking through the halls of the museum,

I focused on the god and goddesses’ facial expressions. Couldn’t their look reveal more about the state of mind that is connected to their virtu? Statues have in general a very calming effect on me, regardless if they are showing somebody in fight or in thought. Not all of the ones I saw represented gods or goddesses, but they were all surrounded by such a peaceful aura that one could actually (temporarily) cope with the mass of people that relentlessly surrounds every Louvre visitor. Isn’t it great to imagine how people interacted back then? What place in society would you have had, if you lived in the ancient times? Just now I stumbled upon this “test“, posted on the Oxford Dictionaries’ blog. Those classical characters had all sorts of problems, it seems. Mediocre things like “Oh, I have a headache today” would not have escaped their mouths, I guess…

Try the test… Good luck

“Which classical character are you?”

The many and varied characters of classical mythology played such a large role in the cultural identity of Ancient Greece and Rome that tales of their exploits have endured and have been incorporated into literature and language worldwide. The names of the characters themselves are often listed in dictionaries and are frequently associated with particular character traits or certain predicaments. Herculean, for example, can be used to describe a feat of great difficulty comparable to The Twelve Labours, but can also portray the great physical strength of an individual. A beautiful woman can be a modern-day Helen of Troy, which, though an enviable attribute, could be described as your Achilles’ heel when it sparks a war!

To celebrate the publication of the new edition of The Oxford Classical Dictionary we’re giving you the chance to discover how you would fit into this fascinating world of ancient myth and legend.

Divine or mortal? Good or evil? Hero or zero? Find out which classical character you are with our interactive quiz…