Deck 7: Late Antiquity: the Transformation of the Roman Empire and the Triumph of Christianity

Question 1

During whose reign was the Edict of Milan issued?

A) Theodosius
B) Constantine
C) Justinian
D) Diocletian

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which group of barbarians defeated a Roman army in 378 and then sacked Rome in 410?

A) Visigoths
B) Vandals
C) Huns
D) Ostrogoths

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The primary justification for the Roman bishop's leadership over the Western church was that

A) the church would gain legitimacy by attaching itself to the legacy of the Roman Empire.
B) the apostle Peter had been the first bishop of Rome.
C) Jesus had begun his ministry in Rome.
D) Rome was the wealthiest and largest city in the entire Christian world

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In a challenge to Emperor Anastasius I, Pope Gelasius I insisted that

A) Christians owed no allegiance to the imperial government.
B) emperors had power, but priests had authority.
C) an emperor had no legitimacy unless he was crowned by the pope.
D) hierarchical political institutions conflicted with the ideal of Christian brotherhood.

Question 5

Who founded Christian communities called monasteries that ate, worked, and prayed together?

A) Arius
B) Athanasius
C) Ulfilas
D) Pachomius

Question 6

Which of the following emperors restructured the government by dividing the empire into two separate areas?

A) Theodosius
B) Constantine
C) Justinian
D) Diocletian

Question 7

Which of the following is true of Egyptian Christians?

A) They blended Christianity and Islam into a syncretic faith.
B) They were primarily Coptic Christians.
C) They readily took theological direction from Rome.
D) They were primarily Syriac Christians.

Question 8

Under Diocletian's tetrarchy, each half of the empire was ruled by

A) an Augustus with a subordinate Caesar
B) two co-equal Caesars
C) a Caesar in conjunction with a local senate.
D) a senate with two consuls.

Question 9

Which of the following emperors converted to Christianity?

A) Diocletian
B) Marcus Aurelius
C) Trajan
D) Constantine

Question 10

As evidenced by the most significant early heresies, one of the issues dividing the early Christians was the

A) nature of the Virgin Mary.
B) power of congregations instead of the pope to make decisions.
C) divine nature of Jesus.
D) relationship of the pope to the Roman emperor.

Question 11

Under the dominate, Diocletian and Constantine

A) strengthened the concept of the emperor as a magistrate ruling with consent of the people.
B) persecuted Christianity mercilessly.
C) adopted more Hellenistic and Persian customs.
D) reduced Roman expenditures on building projects significantly.

Question 12

The need for the Nicaean creed was sparked by

A) claims among bishops that Abrahamic faiths could be as valid as Christianity.
B) claims that apostolic succession was false.
C) claims that the bishop of Rome had no special authority over other bishops.
D) claims by Arius that Jesus was not one with God.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT a way in which Roman law developed during the imperial period?

A) Emperors assumed the power to make law themselves.
B) Specialists in the science and theory of law rose to greater prominence.
C) The ratification of the Twelve Tables eliminated legal distinctions among different classes.
D) Roman laws were codified.

Question 14

Beginning with Constantine, emperors often made treaties with barbarian groups that usually aimed to

A) have the groups defend a section of the frontier.
B) incorporate barbarian men into the imperial Roman army.
C) bribe the barbarians into returning to their native lands.
D) officially recognize the barbarians as Roman citizens.

Question 15

Justinian's accomplishments included all of the following EXCEPT

A) the temporary reconquest of much of lands in North Africa and Western Europe.
B) building a vast set of landward walls to protect Constantinople from outside threats.
C) the construction of the magnificent church, Hagia Sophia.
D) the codification of Roman law in the Corpus Iuris Civilis.

Question 16

Which emperor was responsible for the most influential law book in human history?

A) Augustus Caesar
B) Constantine
C) Justinian
D) Marcus Aurelius

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT representative of conditions in the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 CE?

A) many emperors with brief rules
B) deflationary economic pressure
C) military dominance over civilian rule
D) endemic civil war

Question 18

Which of the following statements about Galen is NOT true?

A) He wrote more than 500 medical treatises.
B) He served as the court physician to a number of emperors.
C) He remained the West's chief medical authority until the middle of the seventeenth century.
D) He expanded knowledge of anatomy by dissecting human corpses.

Question 19

The slow transition and disintegration of the western empire encouraged

A) the lessening of converts to Christianity.
B) a stable platform for the growth of successor kingdoms.
C) the weakening of the Catholic Church.
D) the resurgence of Greek and Hellenistic culture.

Question 20

The Edict of Milan, issued in 313,

A) pardoned all Christians for their past sins.
B) permitted Christians to worship openly.
C) demanded that all pagans convert to Christianity.
D) made Christianity the state religion.

Question 21

Diocletian's palace on the Dalmatian coast incorporated all EXCEPT which of the following?

A) an impressive peristyle
B) imperial apartments and a guards' barracks
C) a strict focus on secular political power
D) an incorporation of nearly all the major designs and techniques known to Roman builders

Question 22

Augustine's conversion to Christianity

A) came to him when he was an adolescent.
B) occurred after he met the pope in Rome.
C) was inspired by a mystical child's voice commanding him to read the scripture.
D) was due to the influence of his father, a devout Christian.

Question 23

The fifth-century miniatures of Virgil's Aeneid were an early example of what new medium?

A) the illustrated book
B) the Christian mural
C) the Biblical parchment scroll
D) the Church mosaic

Question 24

Music in late antiquity seems to have been

A) limited to chanting and unaccompanied singing.
B) similar to the orchestras of today.
C) developing complex melodies that required the formation of new instruments.
D) confined to the use of brass and percussion instruments.

Question 25

In The City of God, Augustine asked and answered which of the following questions?

A) Why did God create the world?
B) Why does the Roman Empire suffer so much?
C) Will Rome be powerful again?
D) Where did evil originate?

Question 26

What was a characteristic of the style of sculpture prevalent during the reign of Diocletian?

A) realistic depiction of facial features
B) an abandonment of symbolic representation
C) idealized human forms
D) generalized features

Question 27

St. Augustine's Confessions can be described as a

A) detailed account of how he converted to Christianity.
B) record of his sins and sufferings.
C) document that reveals his perplexed inner thoughts.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 28

Eusebius, an early Christian church historian, displayed

A) contempt for the earlier Greco-Roman historians.
B) ignorance of the Greek classics.
C) his reliance on written sources, such as the Old and New Testaments.
D) a determination to assess church history impartially.

Question 29

Neoplatonism solved the problem of Platonic dualism by

A) appealing to Rome's state gods for assistance.
B) calling for worship of the emperor.
C) using mystical insight to reach a new vision of truth.
D) supporting mystery cults.

Question 30

Which of the following is true about Neoplatonism?

A) It was a school of thought founded by Seneca.
B) It could not reconcile the split between Plato's world of ideas and the material world.
C) It relied on logical analysis, not mystical insight.
D) It was the last major school of philosophy in the ancient world.

Question 31

The western barbarian peoples learned Roman law and incorporated it into their own legal traditions primarily through

A) the Theodosian Code.
B) Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis.
C) the Digest.
D) the Institutes.

Question 32

How did Roman architecture shift after 313 CE?

A) More triumphal arches were built.
B) It shifted from pagan to Christian architecture.
C) Government and military structures became less functional.
D) It shifted toward classical Hellenic styles.

Question 33

Augustine has been recognized for his

A) contributions to pagan philosophy.
B) reconciling Arianism with Christian thought.
C) contribution to the development of linear, providential history.
D) identification of happiness as the goal of human life.

Question 34

By the end of the third century, Christian art was

A) incorporating more Hellenic and Roman pagan themes.
B) offering more literal content and was realistic in style.
C) moving away from representations of Jesus and more toward depictions of common Christian peoples.
D) more symbolic in content and impressionistic in style.

Question 35

What was accomplished by the creation of the Vulgate?

A) the codification of Roman law for use by provincial peoples
B) the ability of a wider group of people to read the Bible
C) the standardization of Latin across Christian communities
D) a reduction in the power of bishops outside of Rome

Question 36

In the fifth and sixth centuries, what happened to the apses of almost all Christian basilicas?

A) They were painted with "good shepherd" murals.
B) They acquired sculptured representations of the physical Christ.
C) They acquired an ornamental Cross.
D) They acquired mosaics depicting Christ.

Question 37

Prudentius' Psychomachia is an allegory in which

A) the eastern and western churches battle for supremacy.
B) the gods use their power to torment the human mind.
C) Christian virtues battle human vices.
D) the decay of the Roman state is attributed to secular values.

Question 38

Rome's visual arts during the late empire were dominated by

A) architectural adornment of older, existing buildings.
B) mural and canvas painting.
C) the purely decorative use of architecture and sculpture.
D) the practical use of architecture and sculpture.

Question 39

Late Roman Christian authors

A) combined classical with biblical learning.
B) ignored classical writings and pioneered new styles appropriate to Christian themes.
C) burned classical writings because they seemed to contradict Christian beliefs.
D) adopted Aristotle's writings but ignored the rest of classical literature.

Question 40

Which was Ambrose's most memorable contribution to the church?

A) his letters
B) his belief scholarly sermons
C) his hymns
D) his translation of the Bible into Latin

Question 41

The Arch of Constantine is

A) the last pagan triumphal arch.
B) a precursor to the Arch of Titus.
C) an example of imperial humility.
D) the first of its type in Roman architecture.

Question 42

How does Diocletian's palace reflect the imperial values of the late Roman Empire?

Question 43

How did Christianity change from an illegal religion to one backed by the state? What tensions affected relations between the church and the empire even after Christianity had risen to prominence?

Question 44

What roles did murals and mosaics play in the Roman arts?

Question 45

What were the major threats to the Roman Empire of late antiquity, and how did the Romans respond to these threats?

Question 46

Which of the following formed a crossing arm that intersected the nave at the apse end of the basic church building?

A) arch
B) transept
C) atrium
D) basilica

Question 47

Compare and contrast the secular writers' and the Christian writers' views on life in the late Roman Empire.

Question 48

Carvings on late Roman burial vaults or sarcophagi reveal that

A) rich non-Christian Romans preferred plain, unadorned monuments.
B) late Romans wanted only biblical themes and figures on these tombs.
C) the Christian belief in life after death made the sarcophagus a likely object for art.
D) Christians cremated the dead and thus did not use burial vaults.

Question 49

Discuss Augustine's literary works and theological views. What religious and secular controversies did he confront, and how did he resolve them?

Question 50

Christians adopted which Roman building type for their churches?

A) cathedral
B) forum
C) basilica
D) amphitheater

Question 51

Describe the Roman temple, including its Greek and Etruscan roots. What special building techniques were developed by Roman architects?

Question 52

What did the Romans achieve in the field of law?

Question 53

The shape of the floor plan of many early Christian churches was the

A) cruciform.
B) square.
C) rectangle.
D) "X" cross form.
Essay Questions

Question 54

What were some of the debates that raged inside the early Christian community? How were they resolved?

Question 55

Analyze Diocletian's and Constantine's solutions to Rome's imperial problems, and note their successes and failures.