Deck 5: The Roman Empire

Question 1

Which of the following was NOT a part of elite Roman women's lives?

A)divorce
B)contraception
C)literary groups
D)formal education

Answer 1

formal education

Question 2

________ shared his imperial power with three other men.

A)Aurelian
B)Constantine
C)Constantius II
D)Diocletian

Answer 2

Diocletian

Question 3

________ was a cruel and vicious emperor whose bizarre actions made many suspect he was insane.

A)Caligula
B)Claudius
C)Nero
D)Nerva

Answer 3

Caligula

Question 4

"Circuses" were named for their ________.

A)acrobatics
B)circular layout
C)clowns
D)24-hour duration

Question 5

Manichaeans,whose faith combined elements of Zoroastrianism,Christianity,and Judaism,believed the world to be ________.

A)basically a good place
B)a temporary evil to be escaped
C)in perpetual war between good and evil
D)a place to atone for past sins

Question 6

Valentinian I divided the empire in two and appointed his brother Valens as ruler of the east.The two sides became increasingly separate,as ________ was spoken in the west and ________ in the east.

A)Greek;Turkish
B)Greek;Latin
C)Italian;Latin
D)Latin;Greek

Question 7

Because they denied the existence of the Roman gods,Christians were accused of ________.

A)atheism
B)monotheism
C)pantheism
D)Zoroastrianism

Question 8

Octavian became the undisputed ruler of Rome following the Battle of ________.

A)Actium
B)Thermopylae
C)Milvian Bridge
D)Carthage

Question 9

Augustus reduced the size of the Senate to ________.

A)20
B)1000
C)600
D)100

Question 10

Septimius Severus changed conditions in the Roman army for what reason?

A)to help falling recruitment
B)to restore the army's prestige
C)to improve morale
D)in accordance with changing Roman morals

Question 11

Constantine's father was a ________ under Diocletian.

A)Caesar
B)censor
C)consul
D)mercenary

Question 12

Jesus' death was ordered by ________.

A)Augustus
B)Caligula
C)Judas Iscariot
D)Pontius Pilate

Question 13

Typical cities in the Roman Empire had about 20,000 inhabitants.Rome itself had more than ________ (choose the largest correct answer).

A)40,000
B)80,000
C)120,000
D)500,000

Question 14

What made Maecenas,the cultural adviser to Augustus,important to literary circles?

A)He controlled imperial patronage for the arts.
B)He would bring Augustus to important parties.
C)He was an incisive critiC.
D)He was a publisher.

Question 15

Although the military had social mobility in the empire,a new class system was legally recognized between the lower classes,humiliores,and the upper classes,________.

A)agapes
B)consiliores
C)honestiores
D)praetors

Question 16

Vespasian founded the ________ dynasty.

A)Flavian
B)Valentinian
C)Julio-Claudian
D)Severan

Question 17

The beliefs of the majority of Christians were considered universal,or catholic.Those disagreeing with catholic orthodoxy were known as ________.

A)anti-Christians
B)episcopals
C)heretics
D)Nazarenes

Question 18

"Augustus" was an honorific title meaning "________."

A)first citizen
B)ambitious
C)summer
D)venerated

Question 19

According to Cicero,laws should be ________.

A)local
B)fair
C)different for every ethnicity
D)universal

Question 20

In Augustus's reign,Rome had a professional army of between _______.

A)10,000 and 50,000 men
B)50,000 and 100,000 men
C)100,000 and 250,000 men
D)250,000 and 500,000 men

Question 21

Because Augustus was officially "first citizen" and not king or emperor,he could not legally name his ________.

A)advisers
B)military leaders
C)cabinet
D)successor

Question 22

In 311,Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration,permitting Christian worship.He was perhaps influenced by ________.

A)divination at Delphi
B)his Christian wife
C)Jewish advisors
D)Christian music

Question 23

Trajan's campaign to establish the province of Dacia between the Danube River and Carpathian Mountains can be seen as being defensive because ________.

A)he immediately declared Dacians to be citizens of Rome under his protection
B)he built a wall there
C)his goal was to split enemy groups
D)he paid mercenary Visigoths to keep other Germanic tribes out of the region

Question 24

Although differences in doctrine had the potential to splinter the early Christian church into dozens of sects,a unity of belief and ritual was maintained by a ________.

A)single religious leader known as the pope
B)group of secret nuns
C)network of bishops
D)regular publication of current thought

Question 25

Hadrian's wall represented a solidified,rigid defensive perimeter.Once a border demarcation was established,however,________.

A)negotiations were irrelevant
B)it required passport control stations
C)initiative passed to the barbarians
D)Romans lost the will to conquer

Question 26

At first,Christians were thought to be a sect of Jews and thus ________.

A)awarded high office
B)eligible for state persecution
C)enemies of the state
D)protected by law

Question 27

Diocletian and Decius attacked Christians for what reason?

A)Christians threatened internal security.
B)Christians threatened imperial authority.
C)Christians sparked several small uprisings.
D)Christians were already declining in numbers.

Question 28

The ________,who characterized one segment of the nobility at the end of the republic,found their literary expression in the personal poems of Catullus.

A)introverted Hellenophiles
B)peace-promoting "doves"
C)crippled war veterans
D)pleasure-seeking aristocrats

Question 29

________,the great eighteenth-century scholar of Roman history,suggested that instead of asking why Rome fell,"we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long."

A)Alexander Hamilton
B)Henry James
C)Edward Gibbon
D)Samuel Morse

Question 30

Constantinople was easily defensible,because of its location ________.

A)on an island
B)on a peninsula
C)on a hilltop
D)well inland

Question 31

The fourth- and fifth-century "decline and fall of the Roman Empire" refers to the diminishing fortunes of ________.

A)the frontier provinces
B)Rome and the Italian peninsula
C)the eastern empire
D)the western empire

Question 32

Instead of maintaining a large fighting force throughout the empire,the emperors of the late third century fortified the cities and reorganized the army to be ________.

A)autonomous
B)bodyguards
C)more mobile,including heavy cavalry
D)more stable,including permanent defensive trenches

Question 33

Faith,fundamental to Christian belief,and reason,the foundation of classical education,were reconciled in the writings of ________.

A)Augustine
B)Leo
C)Ambrose
D)Peter

Question 34

One telling change in the literature of the Silver Age came in response to an increasingly irritable imperial rule.What was it?

A)a lack of writing on contemporary affairs and recent history
B)an emphasis on comedies
C)many contemporary biographies of the emperor
D)political poetry

Question 35

After the Praetorian Guard killed the emperor and installed a frightened Claudius on the throne,it was clear that the ultimate arbiter of leadership in imperial Rome was ________.

A)democratic elections
B)military power
C)Etruscan tradition
D)foreign models

Question 36

In the rural west of the late empire,many cities were reconfigured as walled fortresses.For civilians,life revolved around the villa,a(n)________.

A)corner market
B)country estate
C)village of a few hundred people
D)extended family

Question 37

As the Roman government became more efficient,it took on more functions.To pay for these services,Rome ________.

A)instituted "sin" taxes on tobacco and alcohol
B)minted fewer coins,hoping speculators would take them out of circulation
C)imposed taxes on farmers who lived outside of Italy
D)sold bonds

Question 38

The troubled succession of the early Roman Empire was exemplified in the year 69,when ________.

A)Claudius had a nervous breakdown
B)the Germans attacked
C)four different men served as emperor
D)Trajan took power by force

Question 39

The debate that resulted in the Nicene Creed is proof that,although the Christian emperors hoped to unite the empire behind a single religion,there were ________.

A)barbarians who believed in Christ
B)better faiths to choose from
C)a lot of competing religions
D)divisions within Christian worship

Question 40

After Rome's destruction of Jerusalem,Christians congregated in ________.

A)Carthage
B)Constantinople
C)Judea
D)Rome

Question 41

Diocletian emphasized the divine nature of the imperial office,requiring citizens to worship the same.This caused conflict and led to ________.

A)temples rebuilt to accommodate four tetrarchs
B)a Jewish pogrom
C)harsh persecution of Christians
D)war with the Goths

Question 42

Silver Age literature,produced between the death of Augustus and the reign of Marcus Aurelius,reflected the times.In contrast to Augustan work,Silver Age writing was ________.

A)genuinely funny, even to modern readers
B)gloomy and negative
C) clichéd and unoriginal
D) filled with reflections on current affairs

Question 43

Less than a hundred years after the crucifixion,membership in the Christian community was ________.

A)virtually unknown
B)a crime
C)plummeting
D)expensive

Question 44

The historian Tacitus related an incident in which Nero used a city fire ________.

A)as inspiration for a poem
B)as an excuse to kill Christians
C)to promote his new fire department
D)as light to read by

Question 45

Christianity appealed to the poor and underserved populations of Rome.For this reason,it makes sense that it first gained popularity ________.

A)in urban centers
B)in Italy
C)in frontier towns
D)among coloni

Question 46

Because Rome had a large early Christian population,and because Peter was thought to be first bishop of the city,________.

A)Christians were expected to make a pilgrimage to Rome in their lifetime
B)subsequent bishops of Rome claimed leadership of the Catholic Church
C)Paul wrote an angry letter to Ephesus
D)emperors looked upon Christians as their wards

Question 47

________ believed in a world of divine and natural law,and his writings were read well into the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Question 48

The Roman authorities were suspicious of Christians because they ________.

A)dressed differently
B)kept caches of weapons in their churches
C)were happier than other citizens
D)had a secret network of communities

Question 49

Early Christians James and Paul argued over whether ________.

A)their worship services should be conducted in Latin or vernacular languages
B)Romans should be allowed to convert
C)Jesus was truly the messiah
D)Christianity was a version of Judaism

Question 50

When the bishop of Milan excommunicated emperor Theodosius I for ordering a massacre,the emperor ________.

A)had the bishop killed
B)paid penance
C)massacred the bishop's family
D)returned to worshipping pagan gods

Question 51

Augustus's imperial reign is known as the "Principate" after his title princeps,meaning "first ________."

Question 52

Why did the Roman underclass live in cramped apartment buildings?

A)Land was at a premium in Rome.
B)It was an inexpensive way to share heating costs with neighbors.
C)Additional height added water pressure to the plumbing.
D)They were concerned about suburban sprawl.

Question 53

The elaborate civilian bureaucracy established by Constantine included four praetorian prefects,twelve vicars,and almost a hundred provincial governors.The system was corrupt despite ________.

A)steady pay and good benefits
B)spies and secret informants
C)the freedom granted each bureaucrat
D)the use of paper money

Question 54

By 212 c.e.almost every free inhabitant of the Roman Empire was granted ________.

Question 55

According to Tacitus,why did Nero,in 64 c.e. ,kill a number of Christians in particularly horrific ways?

A)as punishment for arson
B)for the public good
C)to satisfy his own perverse desires
D)as a result of a clerical error

Question 56

A measure of the desperate straits of the Roman military in the third century was the use of ________ in the army.

A)slaves
B)donkeys
C)mercenaries
D)Parthians

Question 57

Adherents to the imperial cult worshipped the emperor more as a(an)________ than as a religious act.

A)way to pass time
B)annual ritual
C)political duty
D)duty to their parents

Question 58

A pervasive negative mood in the decades following the reign of Augustus is apparent in the ________ of the time,which was satirical and pessimistic.

A)dance
B)music
C)literature
D)architecture

Question 59

Although he was arguably reflecting the society around him,________ was exiled for writing that was considered out of step with Augustan ideals of morality.

Question 60

Gaius Caesar Germanicus,known as Caligula,acted erratically and was eventually killed by members of the ________.

Question 61

Certain Christian tenets did not fit with Roman paganism.Imagine you are a Roman whose neighbor has converted to Christianity.What do you perceive as the neighbor's change in behavior? How does that make you feel?

Question 62

Although the period between Diocletian and Constantine was fraught with issues of succession,both men can be considered successful leaders in the chaos of the late empires.What policies did they enact to promote peace and prosperity? Were any of these policies counterproductive?

Question 63

With a soaring population and limited land,many of Rome's underclass lived in cramped insulae,or _______ buildings.

Question 64

The Roman Empire after Marcus Aurelius was seen by Dio Cassius as a decline from "a kingdom of gold into one of iron and rust." Do you agree with Cassius's metaphor? What were the major difficulties following the last of the "good emperors"? Were the problems caused by internal or external forces?

Question 65

Born in Africa,________ was one of the great early theologians,known for his books Confessions and City of God.

Question 66

Imperial Rome made great engineering advances,including the use of vaults and domes,both forms adapted from Etruscan semi-circular ________.

Question 67

Jesus of Nazareth was named christos by his followers,meaning "________."

Question 68

Freestanding amphitheaters were built around the empire,hippodromes were constructed for chariot racing,and gladiatorial combat was as popular as ever.What did the need for entertainment (and particular kinds of entertainment)suggest about the Roman populace? Did these entertainments benefit or harm the emperor in any way?

Question 69

The sculpture on the church of San Marco in Venice portrays Diocletian and three colleagues.Explain the symbolism of the four men.Explain why the sitting of the sculpture is ironic.

Question 70

Although Augustus granted himself the powers of an absolute ruler,he did not proclaim this ascension openly.In what ways did he retain the appearance of republican government? Why?

Question 71

Saul of Tarsus,in Cilicia,underwent a conversion outside Damascus and changed his name to ________.

Question 72

Hadrian's wall in the south of Scotland exemplifies his foreign policy,reversing the offensive polices of Trajan with a new focus on ________.

Question 73

Although Latin was the language of the Roman Empire,eastern provinces continued to use _______.

Question 74

Early Christians organized themselves into communities and elected ________ to lead worship and supervise funds.

Question 75

Consider Map 5-2 showing the extent of the Roman Empire between 14 and 117 c.e.How could this evidence be used to explain why Trajan was considered one of the "good emperors"? What societal benefits flowed from the changes he made to the empire?

Question 76

Diocletian divided the empire into four parts,led by a quartet known as the ________.

Question 77

Constantine moved his court to Constantinople (modern Istanbul).What were the consequences of removing the Roman Emperor from Rome itself? Can you defend the move? Why or why not?

Question 78

Augustus introduced laws intended to proscribe moral behavior.What sort of behavior was codified,and who do you think would have suffered the most prosecution from these laws?

Question 79

Looking at Map 5-6,Map Exploration,we can see the spread of Christianity from 200 to 600 c.e.Why did Christianity first take root in urban areas? What would have been the consequence of Christianity spreading more rapidly before developing an orthodox tradition?

Question 80

The Circus Maximus's racing companies called factiones and gambling were all elements of one of the Romans' favorite entertainments,________ racing.