Deck 5: The Roman Republic

Question 1

As Rome expanded, it became Roman policy to govern the provinces with officials known as

A)consuls.
B)quaestors.
C)colonnae.
D)proconsuls and propraetors.
E)tribunes.

Answer 1

proconsuls and propraetors.

Question 2

The Second Punic War marked Rome's only serious defeat during the Republic.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

For the Romans, Italy's geography

A)provided little productive land for agriculture.
B)divided the peninsula into small isolated communities.
C)made Rome a natural crossroads and an area easy to defend.
D)made the conquering of the Mediterranean a difficult task.
E)created the same difficult environment as in Greece, thus making political unity difficult.

Answer 3

made Rome a natural crossroads and an area easy to defend.

Question 4

Because the Romans frequently adopted the gods of the peoples they came into contact with, and since, by the Republic, Greece was a major influence upon Rome, it can be argued that the Romans and the Greeks had essentially the same "Greco-Roman" religion.

Question 5

For the Romans, ius gentium was that part of the law that applied to both Romans and foreigners, or was the law of nations and not just for the Romans.

Question 6

The most significant non-Latin influence upon early Rome came from the Etruscans.

Question 7

Rome was established in the first millennium B.C.E.on the

A)plain of Latium.
B)river Danube.
C)coast of the Aegean Sea.
D)foothills of the Alps.
E)toe of the Italian peninsula.

Question 8

The paterfamilias in Roman society was

A)a client to a patron or wealthy citizen.
B)the oldest son in a family.
C)an upper-class aristocrat.
D)a common person.
E)the male head of the family.

Question 9

Romans traditionally associated the rape of Lucretia and its alleged consequences with

A)the end of the Etruscan domination of Rome.
B)the model of Roman womanhood and virtue.
C)the establishment of the era of the Republic.
D)the end of Rome's control by monarchs.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 10

Roman legend identifies twin brothers Romulus and Remus as the founders of Rome.

Question 11

Like most of the great Roman writers of the first century B.C.E., Catullus was from Rome.

Question 12

During the Third Punic War against Carthage, the Romans made Egypt a Roman province.

Question 13

The people to the north of Rome who apparently ruled Rome for a century and heavily influenced Roman urban culture were the

A)Ligurians.
B)Gauls.
C)Samnites.
D)Etruscans.
E)Dorians.

Question 14

Which of the following statements about Roman names is INCORRECT?

A)Three names became common in the later Republic.
B)The praenomen was the forename or personal name.
C)The nomen was the hereditary family name.
D)The cognomen was the hereditary family name.
E)Women usually had one name, the feminine form of the father's nomen.

Question 15

Imperium was

A)the duties which Roman citizens owed to the gods.
B)the power to command Roman citizens.
C)the right to collect taxes.
D)the privileges reserved to patricians.
E)the name of Roman children's favorite board game.

Question 16

The Struggle of the Orders

A)was a violent conflict between Rome's citizens and their slaves.
B)was a violent struggle between the patricians and plebeians.
C)was a peaceful struggle between the patricians and plebeians, won completely by the patricians.
D)was a peaceful revolution in which the plebeians were completely victorious.
E)was a peaceful struggle which resulted in political compromise.

Question 17

The Roman Dictator

A)was the spokesman for the plebeian order.
B)exercised unlimited power for a period of usually two years.
C)was responsible for getting Rome involved in the Punic Wars.
D)was a temporary executive during the period of the Republic.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 18

Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian in 31 B.C.E.at the Battle of Actium, thus symbolically ending the Roman Republic.

Question 19

An early event in the Struggle of the Orders occurred in 445 B.C.E., when the Canuleian law allowed patricians and plebeians to intermarry.

Question 20

The Latin alphabet was derived from the Greek alphabet.

Question 21

Livy's account of Cincinnatus

A)was used to teach the Roman people the treachery of tyrants.
B)recounts the inseparable linkage of wealth and leadership abilities.
C)provides an account of the founding of Rome.
D)demonstrates how the virtues of duty and simplicity in Rome's leaders enabled Rome to survive in difficult times.
E)justified the concept of divine right monarchy.

Question 22

The Carthaginians originated from

A)Phoenician Tyre.
B)northern Italy.
C)Macedonia.
D)southern Gaul.
E)"Nether" Spain.

Question 23

Rome set a precedent for treating its vanquished foes after forming the Roman Confederation by

A)forcing slave labor on the populace of the defeated cities.
B)offering its most favored allies full Roman citizenship, thus giving them a stake in successful Roman expansion.
C)slaughtering the citizens wholesale and selling the rest to pirates.
D)confiscating all the property of defeated peoples.
E)creating for the first time the citizen category of "plebeian."

Question 24

The Twelve Tables

A)was the meeting place of the Roman Senate.
B)were to record and inspire a new religious cult in Rome.
C)referred to the arts of the Roman festival celebrating spring's arrival.
D)was the only place in Rome where patricians and plebeians could meet together.
E)were the first formal codification of Roman law and customs.

Question 25

The main achievement of the Hortensian law in Roman constitutional history was its

A)removal of patricians from civic government.
B)establishment of the death penalty for treason against the state.
C)ruling that all plebiscita passed by the plebeian assembly had the force of law and were binding even upon the patricians.
D)banishment of all Greek law from the Roman legal system.
E)giving citizenship to non-Romans.

Question 26

The Roman Senate

A)was the chief legislative body of the Republic.
B)could only advise the magistrates in legal matters.
C)was the most important popular assembly.
D)saw its power wane by the third century B.C.E.
E)was the only body with total military authority.

Question 27

At the Battle of Cannae the Romans

A)suffered a devastating defeat by Hannibal.
B)defeated the army of Hannibal.
C)won a great naval victory, giving them control of the Straits of Messana.
D)retreated to the walls of Sagantum.
E)captured and sacked the city of Carthage.

Question 28

As a result of the First Punic War

A)the Carthaginians were forced to withdraw from Spain.
B)the Carthaginians were forced to withdraw from Sicily and pay an indemnity to Rome.
C)Sicily gained its independence from both Rome and Carthage.
D)Rome was forced to relinquish its Mediterranean claims.
E)Pyrrhus invaded Italy.

Question 29

The head of the Roman religious observances was

A)a caesar.
B)the vestal virgins.
C)the tribunate.
D)a consul.
E)the pontifex maximus.

Question 30

The Second Punic War saw Carthage

A)try to force a naval war in the Mediterranean as a precursor to invasion of Italy.
B)precipitate the war by encroaching on Roman Gaul.
C)enlist the forces of its Mongol allies.
D)capture and sack the city of Rome.
E)carry a land war to Rome by crossing the Alps.

Question 31

The Roman senator who led the movement for the complete destruction of Carthage was

A)Cato.
B)Scipio.
C)Marius.
D)Pliny the Elder.
E)Sulla.

Question 32

The immediate cause of the First Punic War was

A)Carthaginian treachery in the Pyrrhic Wars.
B)Roman colonization in North Africa.
C)Carthaginian expansion along the Spanish and Italian coasts.
D)Rome sending an army to Sicily.
E)Cato's decision to destroy Carthage.

Question 33

In Roman household cults, Janus was

A)the spirit of the doorway.
B)the goddess of the harvest.
C)the spirit of the storehouse.
D)the spirit of mischief.
E)the goddess of childbirth.

Question 34

The result of the Third Punic War was

A)an alliance between Rome and Carthage.
B)the complete destruction and subjugation of Carthage.
C)the loss of Rome's mastery of the Mediterranean Sea.
D)the sacking of Rome.
E)the coming to power of Julius Caesar.

Question 35

What was the significance of Scipio Africanus in the Second Punic War?

A)He impeded Hannibal's advance in Italy through delaying tactics.
B)He expelled the Carthaginians from Spain and later won the decisive Battle of Zama.
C)He engineered a valuable alliance with the Gauls.
D)He first utilized elephants as "living tanks."
E)He saved Rome by leaving his farm, assuming military leadership, and then returning to his land.

Question 36

In defeating the Greek city-states in southern Italy, Rome

A)employed mercenary armies from Persia and Asia Minor.
B)faced large, well-trained armies from the Greek colonies.
C)gained a sense of security and demobilized its military.
D)had to fight the soldiers of King Pyrrhus, sent against them by the Greeks.
E)relied upon a large and professional navy.

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT true of the centuriate assembly?

A)It rivaled the Roman senate for power.
B)It was the Roman army functioning in its political role.
C)It was organized by classes based on wealth.
D)It elected the chief magistrates and passed laws.
E)It was structured in such a way that the wealthiest citizens always possessed a majority.

Question 38

It can best be said that Roman imperial expansion was

A)ruthlessly and carefully planned from the beginning.
B)driven solely by economic necessity.
C)opposed by most senators as too costly and too dangerous.
D)highly opportunistic, responding to unanticipated military threats and possibilities for glory.
E)futile, as Rome's empire did not endure.

Question 39

In their struggle with the patricians, Roman plebeians employed which of the following tactics?

A)allying with the Etruscans against Rome
B)the formation of popular assemblies to lobby for more political reforms
C)open civil war
D)assassination of political opponents
E)All of these are correct.

Question 40

After Rome crushed the Latin states in the fourth century B.C.E., it waged a 50-year struggle against

A)the Gauls.
B)the Aequi.
C)the Sicilians.
D)the Samnites.
E)the Corsicans.

Question 41

The equites

A)were a wealthy and ambitious class of Romans who appeared in the late Republic.
B)were a new military order created by Caesar.
C)competed with the optimates for power in the Roman Senate.
D)were advisors to proconsuls in the provinces of the Republic.
E)were second class citizens of non-Roman origin.

Question 42

Which one of the following innovations enabled Romans to erect giant amphitheaters, public baths, and high-rise tenement buildings?

A)steel
B)copper
C)calculus
D)concrete
E)load-bearing arches

Question 43

By the later Republic, Roman slaves

A)often worked on the Roman latifundia.
B)always received humane treatment from their owners.
C)never received humane treatment from their owners.
D)were used as soldiers in the army.
E)usually came from Gaul.

Question 44

All of the following were results of the Roman civil wars of 43-30 B.C.E.EXCEPT the

A)Second Triumvirate's defeat of Pompey at the Battle of Actium.
B)defeat of Caesar's assassins.
C)demise of republican institutions.
D)rule of Octavian.
E)suicide of Antony and Cleopatra.

Question 45

Romans did not readily accept any Greek philosophy except that of

A)Stoicism, because of its emphasis on virtue and duty.
B)Neo-Platonism, because of its concern for ideal beauty.
C)Epicureanism, because of its emphasis on the good life.
D)Hedonism, because of its advocacy of intense emotional experiences.
E)Aristotelianism because of its logical preciseness and practicality.

Question 46

The First Triumvirate was a political alliance between Crassus, Julius Caesar, and

A)Pompey.
B)Cicero.
C)Lepidus.
D)Marc Antony.
E)Octavian.

Question 47

By crossing the Rubicon, Caesar showed that he

A)was willing to disobey the direct orders of the Senate.
B)was willing to compromise with Pompey.
C)had no will to fight his enemies in Rome.
D)wished to retire peacefully to his rural estates.
E)was a loyal Roman citizen, willing to return peacefully to Rome.

Question 48

Cicero

A)believed in a "concord of the orders."
B)was a "new man" of the equestrian order.
C)was a great orator and capable lawyer.
D)advocated a balanced government of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 49

Julius Caesar

A)defeated Crassus at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C.E.
B)dissolved the Senate while he was dictator for life.
C)was assassinated for his strong beliefs in republican institutions.
D)married Cleopatra.
E)led military commands in Spain and especially Gaul that enhanced his popularity.

Question 50

Which of the following statements about marriage best captures the realities for Roman women by the first century B.C.E.?

A)They had legal independence inside their marriages.
B)They had legal control over all children still at home.
C)They were legally controlled by their husbands.
D)They remained legally the property of their fathers.
E)If rich enough, they could marry two husbands simultaneously.

Question 51

Which Roman writer is most closely associated with the development of a new style of poetry at the end of the Roman Republic?

A)Sallust
B)Cicero
C)Catullus
D)Plutarch
E)Virgil

Question 52

Sulla's legacy and importance was that he

A)became the first non-Roman consul.
B)became the first Roman general to use siege engines.
C)prevented civil war by arbitrating disputes between Marius and Gaius.
D)divided up the latifundia and restored the dispossessed farmers to their lands.
E)employed his personal army in political disputes, paving the way toward Roman civil war.

Question 53

Among the dangerous military innovations of Marius threatening the Republic was his

A)use of Greek mercenaries.
B)recruitment of destitute volunteers who swore an oath of allegiance only to him.
C)theft the state treasury's tax revenues to buy weapons.
D)proclamation of himself as dictator for life.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 54

After imposed retirement from Roman politics, Cicero took up writing

A)comic plays.
B)tragic theater pieces.
C)new poems.
D)philosophical treatises.
E)histories of early Rome.

Question 55

In Rome, the male family head could

A)sell his children.
B)put his children to death.
C)arrange the marriages of all offspring.
D)divorce his wife.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 56

Optimates in the late Roman Republic wanted to maintain the privileges of the

A)Roman soldiers.
B)nobiles.
C)plebeians.
D)equestrians.
E)emperors.

Question 57

Tiberius Gracchus ran for tribune in 133 B.C.E.on a program of

A)punishing corrupt Roman officials in the provinces.
B)cracking down on drugs and prostitution in Rome.
C)freeing the slaves.
D)war against Ptolemaic Egypt.
E)providing farms to landless farmers.

Question 58

Which of the following statements best applies to Roman education?

A)Foreigners were not allowed to become teachers.
B)Boys and girls were educated through a rigorous public school system borrowed from the Spartans.
C)The wealthy classes wanted training in Greek and mastery of rhetoric, or persuasive public speaking, for their children.
D)Study of foreign languages was prohibited to purify the Latin language.
E)There were many public schools, with scholarships made available to the poor.

Question 59

The college of augurs existed to

A)keep wine used in religious ceremonies pure.
B)keep the Roman supply of water fresh and available.
C)interpret auspices-signs sent to humans by the gods.
D)keep track of the official system of weights and measures.
E)provide assurance that Roman architecture was aligned with religious precepts.

Question 60

The reforms of Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus

A)helped create a system of absolute political domination by the optimates.
B)eliminated the position of tribune of the plebs.
C)resulted in further instability and violence as they polarized various social groups.
D)were a total success, bringing some more egalitarian laws and customs.
E)made Rome more democratic.

Question 61

Was Julius Caesar a man of the common people, or was he a tyrant in the making?

Question 62

It has been said that Roman culture was not very original, only a copy of the Greek.Prove or disprove this idea.

Question 63

The Greek historian Polybius described the Roman government in this fashion: "As for the Roman constitution, it had three elements, each of them possessing sovereign powers; and their respective share of power in the whole state had been regulated with such a scrupulous regard to equality and equilibrium, that no one could say for certain, not even a native, whether the constitution were an aristocracy or democracy or despotism." Is Polybius's description of the early Roman constitution an accurate one? Why or why not? Be specific.

Question 64

Compare and contrast Roman religion with the religion of the Greeks.How did its religion help Rome become such an important state?

Question 65

In the "struggle of the orders," what did the plebeians want, and what did they succeed in getting? Can it be said that Rome became a democracy because of this struggle? Why or why not?

Question 66

What social and economic problems plagued the late Roman Republic and led to its decline?

Question 67

Discuss the role of the Senate, powerful generals, and politicians in the collapse of the Roman Republic.

Question 68

What were the causes and the results of the Punic Wars?

Question 69

Which elements of Roman society and political culture were most innovative, and which were the product of Rome's contact with outside peoples and cultures?

Question 70

What advantages and disadvantages did integration into Rome's empire offer conquered peoples?

Question 71

Compare and contrast the Roman family of the Republic with the Greek family of Periclean Athens.Can it be said that women had more rights and freedom in one of these societies than the other? Why or why not?