Weekly History Quiz No.287

Read more about the Etruscans here.

1887's A Study in Scarlet was the first to feature the character. Doyle was a polymath. In addition to his writing, he played 10 first class cricket matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club. He was most proud of a ball he bowled to the legendary WG Grace, which was nicked and caught by the wicket keeper. A skilled boxer, he was invited to referee a world heavyweight championship fight. Doyle received a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery from the University of Edinburgh, later completing his Doctor of Medicine as well as working in the field for over a decade.

View of Toledo is among the best known depictions of the sky in Western art. El Greco was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Rising to power when they overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 750, the Abbasids' age ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan.

The Philistines established a confederation of five major city-states in what is now Israel and Palestine; Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. They are the origin of the modern name of Palestine.

The first official Paralympic Games were held in Rome in 1960. These led on from the precursor Stoke Mandeville Games, which were solely open to war veterans.

First appearing in the second century CE, runes record everything from births and deaths, to love letters, to a note from a wife to her husband, demanding he come home from the tavern!

Puerto Rico formed a key part of the Spanish Empire from its early years. In 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently became a possession of the U.S. In 2009, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization approved a draft resolution calling on the U.S. government to expedite a process that would allow the Puerto Rican people to exercise fully their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. It remains a US territory.

Also known as 'The Goncourt Prize for Murderers', it was in use in France from 1792 to 1977. It also saw much use by other European countries. Nazi Germany in particular made significant use of the 'Köpfmaschine', using it to execute 16,500 prisoners.

The USA entered World War I on April 6th 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. This followed Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare and their interception of the Zimmerman telegram, which proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico against the USA.