Context: The Romans liked bright colors, and many Roman villas were decorated with vivid red murals. The pigment used for many of the murals was called vermilion, and it came from the mineral cinnabar, a common ore of mercury. It was one of the finest reds of ancient times – the paintings have retained their brightness for more than twenty centuries. The source of cinnabar for the Romans was a group of mines near Almadén, southwest of Madrid, in Spain. Working in the mines was extremely dangerous, since mercury is highly toxic; the miners were slaves or prisoners, and being sent to the cinnabar mines was a virtual death sentence.

Question: What pigment was used to paint villas in ancient Rome?
Answer: vermilion

Question: From where did vermilion originate?
Answer: the mineral cinnabar

Question: Cinnabar is an ore of what metal?
Answer: mercury

Question: What mines did Romans use to acquire cinnabar?
Answer: Almadén, southwest of Madrid, in Spain

Question: Along with slaves, who was sent to work in cinnabar mines in Rome?
Answer: prisoners

Question: What color were Roman villas painted?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What was the pigment called that was used for the painting of Roman villas?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What is Mercury a common ore of?
Answer: Unanswerable

Question: What city is southwest of Almaden?
Answer: Unanswerable