Deck 10: The Severans and the Third-Century Crisis 192-284

Question 1

The brothers Caracalla and Geta began their joint emperorship in 211, but before the year was over Geta was dead. What happened?

A) Geta died of plague
B) Geta was killed in battle in Britain
C) Caracalla murdered Geta
D) A Praetorian Prefect poisoned Geta

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The political activities of the women who guided the reigns of the young emperors ______ and ______ represented the closest the Roman Empire came to rule by an actual empress.

A) Elagabalus, Severus Alexander
B) Macrinus, Valerian
C) Valerian, Gallienus
D) Trajan Decius, Trebonianus Gallus

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Caracalla introduced a new coin called the ______ after he was forced to debase the currency.

A) antoninianus
B) sestertius
C) dupondius
D) victoriatus

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The emperor Aurelian tried to create a sense of religious unity throughout the empire by promoting the worship of the god ______.

A) Mithras
B) Bacchus
C) Mars
D) Sol Invictus

Question 5

The so-called "Soldier Emperors" who succeeded Gallienus came from which region?

A) Palmyra
B) Gaul
C) Spain
D) Illyria

Question 6

The philosopher Cassius Dio is regarded as the founder of the philosophical system known as Neoplatonism.

Question 7

The emperor Valerian, after his defeat at the hands of Shapur, spent the rest of his life as Shapur's slave.

Question 8

By the Severan period, the army had become heavily provincialized, as more and more recruits came from outside Italy.

Question 9

According to Persian sources, the teenaged emperor Gordian III died in a battle, which would make him the first Roman emperor to have suffered that fate.

Question 10

The emperor Commodus did not name a successor before he was assassinated.

Question 11

One of the main reasons the Roman Empire survived the Imperial Crisis of the third century was that the vast Roman bureaucracy continued to function at all levels.

Question 12

The Roman empire did not use paper money and had to function according to a balanced budget.

Question 13

Life on the frontiers of the Roman empire throughout the third century was inherently dangerous, and most of those living on it were hardened Italian veterans.

Question 14

Barbarian hairstyles and certain forms of dress became fashionable among third-century Romans.

Question 15

Under Septimius Severus, the status and power of the Senate rose to heights it had not seen since the days of the Republic.