Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 09, 2023

“It was in Byzantine — DUH!

Go for the higher value if you want a daily double!

The Byzantine Empire was on Neptune, obviously.

What kind of first-grade teacher quizzes their kids on subjects like the Byzantine Empire?

I wonder what Mr. Trebek thought of this when this was first published.

Now name the last five emperors.

Filibustering for $100, Alex

Calvin is in “Jeopardy”.

I prefer to call it the New Roman Empire…

Well, it was kind of all over the place. Its outlines were, y’know, byzantine.

Seriously, does anybody here know where Byzantine was (without looking it up)?

I love Calvin’s face in the second panel.

What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color? What is the capital of Assyria? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? If a tree falls on a mime in the middle of a forest and nobody hears it, does anybody care?

The Byzantine Empire was Romaning around Asia Minor for a millennium.

It’s in the name. It was by Zantine.

Over there -→

Can you just imagine today, in a classroom, if a student acted up like Calvin? ☹️

Outer planets? So, circling Uranus?

In first grade would it not be more like:See Jane run, run Jane run, Stranger Danger Jane.. (21st century edition)

Ahhh, I remember that feeling of utter panic and brain freeze whenever the teacher called on me.

And since when do they teach ancient history in grade one…lol

The Byzantine empire?

In the first grade?

Checking the Star Trek handbook …. Talus 6.

Where were you in 700 CE? It was in all the newspapers.

Cal’s thinking has always been mostly off planet

The Emperor Constantine, realizing the Roman Empire was too large and unwieldy, made the minor city of Byzantium into New Rome to be the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. This was fortunate as it survived and flourished for close to 1,000 years after the Western Roman Empire collapsed. Incidentally, they never called themselves Byzantines as they considered they were the Roman Empire.

We didn’t even learn that the Byzantine Empire existed until AP World History.

Istanbul was Constantinople or so the song goes.

Wrong planet, Calvin.

Good choice. Odds are Spaceman Spiff has been there!

That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’.

I can’t even remember anything I learned in first grade, let alone if it was as complicated as the things Calvin has to learn.

“Where is the Agean Sea?”

.

“The first three strings on a ukulele?”

Calvin, you are on your way to the principal’s office………again ! ! !

Maybe in a high school Western Civ class.

Last night at a school improv show, they played calvinball!

“In Imperium?” :)

Right next to the Zantine Empire.

I”m going to have to use my “Call a friend” option on this one.

Miss Wormwood’s history lessons were often pretty advanced for first grade. I didn’t start to learn some forms of history until second grade (the really important stuff like Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims).

The Byzantine Empire was in the East, Eastern Rome.

Everybody knows it’s by the zantine.

That’s a trick question. The borders changed a lot over the years. Considering that there were a thousand or so years, it’s hard to pin down. Yup, it outlasted the Western Roman Empire by a lot.

Toga! Toga! Toga! No socks with sandals please. Despite what your father might profess and practice.

I lost on Jeopardy.

From what I’ve read, the people who lived there considered it to be the Roman Empire. The fall of Rome did not change that for them.

Pssst, Calvin? Your odds are excellent if you say somewhere in Eurasia! That covers pretty much all the empires back in that time period, if you leave out the South American empires.

The Byzantine Empire in first grade??