Deck 8: Empires, Networks, and the Remaking of Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, 500 Bce-600 C.E

Question 1

Which of the following northern European peoples did not rise amidst Roman decline?

A) The Carthaginians
B) The Celts
C) The Germans

Answer 1

The Carthaginians

Question 2

How did most slaves enter Roman society?

A) Born into slave families
B) As war captives
C) Purchased by the superrich

Answer 2

As war captives

Question 3

Which of the following is true of religion in Roman civic life?

A) There existed strict "separation of church and state."
B) There existed no "separation of church and state."
C) Church officials played no role in political life.

Answer 3

There existed no "separation of church and state."

Question 4

What did Benedict of Nursia establish during the sixth century?

A) Rome's first Catholic Church
B) Monotheism across the Eurasian continent
C) Europe's first monastic order

Question 5

The modern city of Istanbul once served as what?

A) The capital of the Byzantine Empire
B) The seat of power for Maximian
C) The primary naval port of the western Roman Empire

Question 6

Because Romans generally believed that people could determine right from wrong, conquered peoples were accorded what freedom?

A) The freedom to conquer and control other states
B) The freedom to govern themselves
C) The freedom to travel within the boundaries of the Roman Empire

Question 7

Indo-European pastoralists established Rome in what century?

A) Eighth century BCE
B) Third century BCE
C) Third century CE

Question 8

Which of the following Roman legal principles informs those of the U.S. court system?

A) In a criminal trial, the burden of proof rests with the plaintiff or prosecutor.
B) In a criminal trial, the burden of proof rests with the defendant.
C) In a criminal trial, the burden of proof is immaterial.

Question 9

What did the Nicene Creed of 325 CE do?

A) It banished all nonbelievers of Christianity from the Roman Empire.
B) It standardized the doctrines and beliefs of Christianity to establish consistency.
C) It created a set of rules for Christian bishops to follow when doing missionary work.

Question 10

What role did Christianity play as the Roman Empire crumbled?

A) It provided some sense of order that the government could no longer provide.
B) It emboldened the poor to seize control of the levers of power.
C) It prevented polytheism from reestablishing itself as Romans flailed.

Question 11

How did Christianity become a legal religion in the Roman Empire in 313 CE?

A) The emperor Constantine issued an edict after winning a battle whose success he attributed to the Christian God.
B) The emperor Nero strong-armed Senators into legalizing it to curry favor with the Jewish population.
C) Jesus of Nazareth issued a formal statement declaring it the one true religion.

Question 12

What does the Pax Romana refer to?

A) The pact made between Rome and Carthage following the Battle of Actium
B) Two centuries of relative peace when Rome controlled the Mediterranean world
C) The title bestowed on Augustus by the Roman Senate

Question 13

Between 251 and 266 CE, 5,000 people died in Rome each day due to what?

A) A plague
B) Civil war
C) Old age

Question 14

Which of the following statements about wealth in Roman society is most accurate?

A) A small fraction of the population controlled most of the wealth
B) A substantial majority of citizens lived in luxury
C) A small minority of poor Romans lived close to financial ruin

Question 15

Which of the following best describes the Roman Empire?

A) A single autocratic state with three distinct populations perpetually vying for power
B) A collection of city-states that celebrated a multitude of ruling styles
C) A multinational state with diverse populations under a common set of laws

Question 16

Which of the following authors wrote Aeneid ?

A) Ovid
B) Tacitus
C) Virgil

Question 17

What did the writer Juvenal mean when he said, "The people that once bestowed commands now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses"?

A) The people did not participate in government opting instead for distractions.
B) The people are hungry and therefore resort to performing in circuses to make ends meet.
C) The people are incapable of self-rule, so better that the military replace the Senate.

Question 18

Which of the following is the approximate population that Rome governed in the first century CE?

A) 54 million
B) 265 million
C) 6 million

Question 19

According to the Bible, what charges were brought against Jesus of Nazareth that resulted in his execution?

A) Treason
B) Theft
C) Blasphemy

Question 20

Who were the commoners in Roman society?

A) Consuls
B) Patricians
C) Plebeians

Question 21

Broadly speaking, what condition did Justinian leave the Roman Empire in when he died?

A) Poorer, weaker, and smaller
B) Richer, stronger, and larger
C) In about the same condition as he found it

Question 22

What Roman province did Jesus of Nazareth come from?

A) Anatolia
B) Istanbul
C) Palestine

Question 23

Which of the following Persian religions blended Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity?

A) Mithraism
B) Manichaeism
C) Islam

Question 24

To whom was citizenship given and why?

Question 25

Who wrote the four gospels that serve as the basis of the Christian faith?

A) Jesus of Nazareth
B) Followers of Jesus of Nazareth
C) Early Roman historians

Question 26

What battle culminated with Roman control of Egypt?

A) The Battle of Actium
B) The Battle of Zama
C) The Battle of Cannae

Question 27

The major trading center of Palmyra thrived under which of the following queens until being destroyed by the Romans?

A) Sheba
B) Septimia Zenobia
C) Cleopatra

Question 28

Which of the following established Rome ca. 753 BCE?

A) The Etruscans
B) The Latins
C) The Egyptians

Question 29

Describe the rights and duties of Roman citizenship.

Question 30

Describe the relationship between Rome's social orders.

Question 31

Which of the following dynasties spearheaded a Persian revival early in the third century CE?

A) The Parthians
B) The Kushans
C) The Sassanians

Question 32

Which of the following religions emerged during the seventh century from a mixture of diverse traditions?

A) Islam
B) Coptic Christianity
C) Zoroastrianism

Question 33

What does the term "Justinian's plague" describe?

A) One of the worst epidemics in world history
B) The mighty force of his army descending upon an enemy
C) A type of seemingly intractable problem not worth solving

Question 34

Why did Etruscan rule in Rome end?

Question 35

Describe the political composition of Etruria.

Question 36

Describe the constitution of early Rome.

Question 37

How did wealth and status affect Roman politics?

Question 38

What type of rule did the Emperor Justinian command?

A) Democratic
B) Despotic
C) Republican

Question 39

Eastern, or Byzantine, Roman society and culture borrowed much from which of the following?

A) Western Roman tradition
B) Hellenistic Greek tradition
C) Etruscan tradition

Question 40

Which of the following cities located in modern Jordan functioned as a major crossroads in the Arab trading world?

A) Palmyra
B) Amman
C) Petra

Question 41

What effect did invasions have on the Roman Empire after 100 CE?

Question 42

How did Augustus's successors build on or dismantle key principles of the principate?

Question 43

How did Plebeians achieve political equality?

Question 44

What were Jesus of Nazareth's main teachings?

Question 45

Describe the results of Roman expansion up to the 100s BCE.

Question 46

How did Octavian come to rule Rome?

Question 47

Why had Augustus become so popular by his death in 14 CE?

Question 48

How did Roman religion change from the republic to the empire?

Question 49

What were the short-term causes of Rome's civil wars during the late republic?

Question 50

What effect did plagues have on the Roman Empire after 100 CE?

Question 51

Why were Rome's religious practices considered a public religion?

Question 52

Describe the results of Roman expansion up to the 300s BCE.

Question 53

How did Augustus govern the Roman Empire?

Question 54

In what ways did Rome's public religion and mystery religions differ?

Question 55

How was Roman opinion about early Christianity shaped by the political context of trying to maintain control over Judea/Palestine?

Question 56

Which of the following did not participate in the Punic Wars?

A) Romans
B) Carthaginians
C) Etruscans

Question 57

What were the long-term causes of Rome's civil wars during the late republic?

Question 58

What effect did conflicts over succession have on the Roman Empire?

Question 59

Which of the following leaders declared themselves "perpetual dictator" of Rome in 44 BCE?

A) Octavian
B) Mark Antony
C) Julius Caesar

Question 60

Describe Roman household religious practices.

Question 61

What was the substance of Peter and Paul's disagreements?

Question 62

Who were the biggest winners and losers in the Punic Wars?

Question 63

What benefits and detriments did the system of patronage have in the Roman republic?

Question 64

Why is Paul regarded as so important to the writing of the New Testament?

Question 65

What conditions allowed the Sassanian dynasty to arise?

Question 66

Why were Rome's eastern provinces so wealthy?

Question 67

How did early Christianity differ to other Roman religious practices?

Question 68

How did the Byzantines govern their empire?

Question 69

What were the origins of the Byzantine Empire?

Question 70

Which of the following peoples resided along the North African coast near modern Tunis?

A) Carthaginians
B) Macedonians
C) Etruscans

Question 71

How did trade affect the fortunes of different parts of the Roman Principate?

Question 72

Describe Sassanian policies toward religion.

Question 73

Did the republic really end under Augustus? Why or why not?

Question 74

To what extent did Nabataean fortunes depend on Roman trade?

Question 75

Which of the following Romans establish based on Greek political ideas?

A) An oligarchy
B) A republic
C) An autocracy

Question 76

Why did the Byzantine church split from the Roman church?

Question 77

Describe Arab trade relationships with Africa and the Middle East.

Question 78

Did the republic really end under Augustus? Why or why not?

Question 79

Did Rome's imperial expansion mostly help or harm the republic? Why?

Question 80

Describe the social, political, and economic relationship between the Etruscans and early Rome.