Geography
Lebanon Quiz
Phoenician heritage, incredible food, and a tiny country with an outsized cultural impact.
Phoenician heritage, incredible food, and a tiny country with an outsized cultural impact.
The Phoenicians invented the alphabet on the coast of modern-day Lebanon approximately 3,000 years ago — the ancestor of virtually every writing system used today. This quiz covers 50 questions on Lebanon's ancient history, its world-renowned cuisine, Beirut's resilience, and a tiny country whose cultural influence far exceeds its size.
You'll discover the Phoenician origins of our alphabet, the massive Roman ruins at Baalbek, Lebanon's legendary food culture from mezze to manakish, the complexities of its confessional political system, and why the Lebanese diaspora vastly outnumbers the country's own population.
Yes — the Phoenician alphabet, developed around 1050 BCE on the coast of modern Lebanon, is the direct ancestor of the Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew alphabets. Virtually every alphabetic writing system in use today traces back to this Phoenician innovation.
On August 4, 2020, approximately 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been unsafely stored at the Port of Beirut for six years detonated, creating one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. The blast killed over 200 people, injured 7,000+, and left 300,000 homeless.
Mezze is the Lebanese tradition of serving a large spread of small dishes to share — hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanoush, fattoush, kibbeh, and dozens more. A full mezze can include 20-40 different dishes and is as much a social ritual as a meal.
Last updated: March 2026