Deck 6: The Roman Empire,27 B.C.E.-284 C.E.

Question 1

What was a donative?

A) a statue of an imperial deity.
B) an offering made by a new emperor to his soldiers
C) a form of rhetoric employed in the Golden Age of Literature.
D) a peasant soldier from the provinces.
E) a provincial administrator.

Answer 1

an offering made by a new emperor to his soldiers

Question 2

Why was the idea that under Augustus Caesar's reign,Rome continued as a Republic,considered "a fiction"?

A) Augustus disbanded the Senate.
B) The Roman army answered only to him.
C) The senate and consuls had no real power.
D) Augustus eliminated the constitution.
E) The Roman territory had become an empire 200 years earlier.

Answer 2

The senate and consuls had no real power.

Question 3

Which emperor violated Augustus's mandate about expanding the Roman Empire?

A) Caligula
B) Tiberius
C) Trajan
D) Vespasian
E) Nero

Answer 3

Trajan

Question 4

Which of the following was not a title taken by Augustus?

A) pontifex maximus
B) princeps
C) augustus
D) emperor
E) None of these

Question 5

How could a person in the provinces be granted Roman citizenship?

A) learning to speak Latin.
B) rejecting Christianity
C) serving in the military for 25 years.
D) settling on latifundia along disputed borders to hold the land.
E) an annual lottery.

Question 6

What was the biggest expense in the Roman imperial budget?

A) construction of roads, aqueducts, and public temples
B) transporting food resources throughout the empire from Gaul
C) maintaining the army
D) maintaining the provincial administration salaries
E) extended campaigns to conquer new provinces

Question 7

Augustus used all of the following measures to unify the empire except

A) standardized provincial administration
B) established permanent civil service, especially among the equestrians
C) revised the tax collection system
D) utilized Romanization, including the universal use of Latin.
E) mandated participation in Roman Imperial cult festivals.

Question 8

What was the main goal of Romanization?

A) To defend the empire against foreign invasion.
B) To extend Roman culture throughout the empire.
C) To ensure all citizens adhered to the Imperial cult.
D) To wipe out Christianity.
E) To promote Roman goods and trade with the East.

Question 9

The crucial aspect of ensuring a successor without violating the pretense of being a republic was met by

A) holding an election in the senate and army.
B) automatically picking the most senior senator as the next princeps.
C) passing the title to the emperor's son in his will.
D) making sure a successor was chosen before the current emperor died.
E) None of these.

Question 10

Who was the emperor who granted citizenship to everyone except slaves in 212 C.E.?

A) Constantine
B) Caligula
C) Caracalla
D) Diocletian
E) Domition

Question 11

If an emperor died without a successor,who was most likely to choose a new emperor?

A) the Senate
B) the army
C) the consul and tribune
D) the previous emperor's widow
E) the censor in the Senate

Question 12

What is considered to be one of the greatest factors of identification with Rome allowed in the provinces?

A) inclusion in the new Roman coinage system was based on denarii.
B) all official business was transacted in Latin.
C) the annual provincial councils could transmit their opinions and concerns to the emperor.
D) Roman citizenship was extended to inhabitants of the provinces.
E) provincial proconsuls in service were circulated throughout the empire.

Question 13

The two factors that bound Roman society together were

A) reverence for the law and importance of the family.
B) speaking Latin and deifying the emperors.
C) maintaining the Senate and the army.
D) Roman citizenship and urban life.
E) the censorum and the imperium.

Question 14

Which of the following did Augustus not accomplish as emperor?

A) construction of the Roman Peace
B) creation of a frontier defense
C) control of the army
D) creation of the Roman principate
E) legalization of Christianity

Question 15

What was considered the most dangerous frontier in the Empire under Augustus?

A) The Germanic border
B) Dacia
C) Britain
D) Thrace
E) Egypt

Question 16

How did Augustus Caesar demonstrate his commitment to Roman tradition?

A) He passed legislation against sexual immorality
B) He sponsored the Golden Age of Latin Literature
C) He built and revitalized the city of Rome
D) He provided entertainment to the Roman people.
E) All of these.

Question 17

The permanent border to the north of the Roman Empire was marked by which rivers?

A) Arno and Po
B) Rhine and Rhone
C) Danube and Marne
D) Danube and Rhine
E) Seine and Elba

Question 18

What was the political compromise made by Augustus in 23 B.C.E.?

A) He stopped dominating the position of consul, becoming a proconsul and tribune instead.
B) He voluntarily relinquished his option of veto in the Senate.
C) He agreed to maintain control of the legions only in Spain, Gaul, and Syria, and allowed the senate control of all others.
D) He purposely refused the title of praetor to alleviate the worries of senators that he would become like Sulla.
E) He offered to resign from all offices since he had stabilized the Republic.

Question 19

The first emperor who died without naming a successor,leaving selection to the military,was

A) Nero
B) Tiberius
C) Augustus
D) Vespasian
E) Nerva

Question 20

Why did Hadrian build a wall across Great Britain?

A) To put the army to work to strengthen Roman defenses.
B) As a monument to his reign.
C) To inscribe Roman law for public viewing.
D) To divert their attention from the economic and political crises.
E) An oracle had foretold his death if he did not.

Question 21

One of the major contributors to a universal bond among Jews was

A) direction from the new Sanhedrin.
B) study based around the Talmud.
C) the guidelines of Halakha.
D) a widespread diaspora within the empire that allowed vast networks.
E) Roman economic and diplomatic connections to the Parthian Empire.

Question 22

Cities within the empire provided entertainment in all of the following ways except

A) theatrical performances.
B) circuses.
C) athletic competitions.
D) gladiatorial games.
E) religious retreats.

Question 23

The primary source of information regarding the life of Jesus of Nazareth,as written in the New Testament,comes from

A) the Gospels.
B) the Acts of the Apostles.
C) Revelations.
D) Paul's Letter to the Corinthians.
E) oral tradition.

Question 24

Which of the following groups best exemplifies active resistance to Roman cultural assimilation?

A) Celts
B) Germans
C) Jews
D) Polytheists
E) Greeks

Question 25

The city that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 C.E.was

A) Lyons.
B) Pompeii.
C) Numidia.
D) Merida.
E) Rome.

Question 26

Many of the important points of Jesus' teachings were delivered in

A) Gospels.
B) Psalms.
C) the Sermon on the Mount.
D) Saul's evangelism on the road to Damascus.
E) an Epistle to the Corinthians.

Question 27

The "divine man" Apollonius was credited with performing all of the following except

A) overpowering a vampire.
B) driving out a demon who brought the plague.
C) being in two places at once.
D) healing the sick.
E) slaying a minotaur.

Question 28

Latifundia were worked on in the second century by

A) slaves.
B) soldier-farmers.
C) tenant farmers.
D) day laborers.
E) extended family units.

Question 29

The comprehensive guide to Jewish life around 200 C.E.was known as the

A) Tanakh.
B) Mishrah.
C) Talmud.
D) Kethevim.
E) Halakha.

Question 30

For most Romans,participation in the imperial cult was considered

A) a political act.
B) an essential part of religious worship.
C) one more god in a polytheistic culture.
D) blasphemy.
E) none of these.

Question 31

All of the following factors contributed to the growth of trade and the Roman economy except

A) improved roads.
B) ease of water transportation.
C) little crime or piracy.
D) low tolls on roads or at ports.
E) stabilized value of the denarius.

Question 32

Most religions within the empire were

A) monotheistic.
B) polytheistic.
C) agnostic.
D) focused on the imperial cult.
E) henotheistic.

Question 33

What term best characterizes literature of the Silver Age in Rome?

A) Conservative
B) Fantastical
C) Practical
D) Philosophical
E) Fictional

Question 34

One of the most popular philosophies in the Roman world among the ruling class was

A) skepticism.
B) stoicism.
C) cynicism.
D) epicurianism.
E) sophism.

Question 35

The major proselytizer who spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire was

A) Matthew.
B) Mark.
C) Luke.
D) John.
E) Paul.

Question 36

What was the motivation to push for education in the later Roman Empire?

A) The desire to counteract Christianity's teachings.
B) The thirst for Graeco-Roman cultural assimilation.
C) The vastly cosmopolitan world with its many different intellectual possibilities.
D) The need for educated civil servants.
E) Augustus Caesar's mass demobilization of the army.

Question 37

The purpose of a delator was to

A) provide the emperor with personal counsel.
B) determine whether an emperor should receive a decree of damnation of memory.
C) to inform people accused of treason.
D) make an offering of gold to the army.
E) maintain a census of provincial populations.

Question 38

Paul was later able to avoid crucifixion as his death sentence because he

A) was a delator.
B) recanted his conversion.
C) was a Roman citizen.
D) was made a public example.
E) was of noble birth.

Question 39

Most grain grown for trade within the empire was transported on a grain fleet that came from

A) Alexandria.
B) Syria.
C) Marseilles.
D) Carthage.
E) Spain.

Question 40

Private religion in Rome included all of the following except

A) mystery cults.
B) magic.
C) astrology.
D) horoscopes for the emperor.
E) philosophy.

Question 41

What accounts for changes in the population of slaves in the Roman Empire?

Question 42

Analyze the role of the Roman Senate during the principate and period of decline.

Question 43

What were the major contributors to the weakening of the Roman Empire?

Question 44

The two earliest sacraments required of Christians were baptism and

A) marriage.
B) communion.
C) last rites.
D) confession.
E) confirmation.

Question 45

The death of Decius while fighting invaders was seen by Christians as

A) punishment by God.
B) the first significant victory for the Goths.
C) a sign that the Roman Empire needed to reconstitute a large army.
D) an indication that the Roman Empire should extend citizenship to barbarians to obtain peace.
E) None of these.

Question 46

Why did Bouddica instigate a revolt against the Romans? Analyze why this example was important in the development of the Roman empire.

Question 47

Why did Christianity have trouble fitting in with the Roman Empire?

Question 48

Aurelian was an example of which kind of emperor?

A) absolute
B) warlord
C) soldier-emperor
D) citizen-soldier
E) dictator pro mundi

Question 49

The worst punishment that could be inflicted on Christians was

A) execution by crucifixion.
B) forced participation in the imperial cult.
C) expulsion from the Christian community.
D) exclusion from taking communion.
E) condemnation in church.

Question 50

Why did the emperors debase the coinage in the third century?

A) The Senate had to be bought off.
B) The army had received raises that the treasury could not afford.
C) There was a trade imbalance with India.
D) Because of an outbreak of plague, there was less money collected in taxes.
E) The emperors were redirecting the wealth to their own amici.

Question 51

Which emperor initiated the first Christian persecution in 64 C.E.?

A) Trajan
B) Nero
C) Tiberius
D) Hadrian
E) Nerva

Question 52

What was the significance of the Roman Peace and what did it accomplish?

Question 53

Why did Christianity embrace the status of martyrdom,and use this for expansion of the religion?

Question 54

Why was the support of the Roman Senate so crucial for Augustus?

Question 55

Why is Augustus Caesar considered the greatest of the Roman emperors? What were his successes and failures?

Question 56

Who did not pose a military threat to the Roman Empire in the third century?

A) the Franks
B) the Huns
C) the Goths
D) the Alamanni
E) the Scythians

Question 57

Christianity prospered in urban areas for all of these reasons except

A) There was a large enough population to find converts.
B) There were diverse peoples who were dissatisfied with Roman religion.
C) There were Jewish communities who were predisposed to conversion.
D) It was easier to hide covert religious activities in more populous areas.
E) There was significant anti-Semitism in the more rural areas.

Question 58

Why did the Roman army fall out of control in the third century?

A) Their salaries became worthless with debased coinage.
B) They would overthrow an emperor to get a donative from a new one.
C) They declared their commanders as emperors.
D) They would march on Rome to force the Senate to choose their candidate.
E) All of these.

Question 59

To meet the need for enlistment in the army,what actions were taken?

A) Soldiers must provide their own equipment.
B) Soldiers were hired from Barbarian units.
C) Soldiers need only serve for ten years in order to receive land allocations.
D) Slaves could earn freedom for serving in the military.
E) Women were allowed to serve in non-combat positions.

Question 60

How did the rule of Severus change from previous emperors?

A) He eliminated rivals for power and exiled them to far-flung provinces.
B) He appointed military commanders as proconsuls to ensure loyalty of both administrators and military.
C) He granted citizenship to the areas he conquered to quell violence.
D) He launched a war against the Celtic tribes in the north.
E) He abandoned the pretense of sharing power with the Senate.

Question 61

Caracalla granted citizenship to everyone,including slaves.

Question 62

Under the Severan dynasty,participation in the Roman army was restricted to only native-born Italians.

Question 63

Compare the Golden Age to the Silver Age in Latin literature.What cultural differences are distinguished?

Question 64

Official court records of the trials of Christians sometimes served as the basis of later biographies.

Question 65

The reign of Emperor Antoninus was so uneventful that it is undocumented.

Question 66

Augustus Caesar supported the trade of prostitution because it raised revenue for the army through taxes.

Question 67

Nero sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish Temple.

Question 68

How did Roman trade with those outside their empire bring benefit or decline to the Roman Empire?

Question 69

Roman trade routes were so expansive that they reached China.

Question 70

Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death in his capacity as Roman prefect.

Question 71

The highest ranking title in the Senate was princeps.

Question 72

Cities,even in provinces,became the focal point for disseminating Roman civilization.