The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
1. What Roman emperor (312-337 C.E.) moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, renaming the city (now known as Istanbul, Turkey) after himself?

Constantine
Diocletian
Domitian
Romulus Augustus
2. The Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried in 79 C.E. when Mount _____ erupted.

Kilimanjaro
McKinley
Noshaq
Vesuvius
3. Who (46-120 C.E.) wrote "Parallel Lives" and "Moralia"?

Augustus
Cato
Livy
Plutarch
4. Emperor _____, 14-37 C.E., the stepson of Augustus, abolished the Assembly and extended the frontier in the north.

Caligula
Germanicus
Nero
Tiberius
5. Emperor _____ (41-54 C.E.) brought southern Britannia (modern-day England) under Roman control.

Augustus
Caligula
Claudius
Tiberius
6. Who (ca. 56-ca. 117 C.E.) wrote Germania, Annals, and Histories?

Gaius Gracchus
Livy
Ovid
Tacitus
7. What Roman emperor (284-305 C.E.) divided the empire into two administrative realms (east and west) in 285 C.E.?

Commodus
Constantine
Diocletian
Marcus Aurelius
8. Emperor _____ (37-41 C.E.), nephew of Tiberius, was assassinated in 41 C.E. by members of the Praetorian Guard.

Caligula
Constantine
Nero
Remus
9. Which of the following is not a Romance language?

French
German
Italian
Portuguese
10. The term _____ means "successful general."

augustus
imperator
pontifex maximus
princeps
11. Virgil (70-19 B.C.E.) wrote "_____," an epic poem based on Homer's Iliad.

Aeneid
Annals
Metamorphoses
Odes
12. Plautus and Terence were famous Roman _____.

generals
orators
playwrights
poets
13. Under Emperor _____, the Romans put down the Second Jewish Revolt (Bar Kokhba Revolt), 132-136 C.E.

Hadrian
Titus
Trajan
Vespasian
14. Who (106-43 B.C.E.) is called the "father of Latin prose"?

Cicero
Livy
Tacitus
Virgil
15. The brief period of civil war following the death of Emperor Nero is known as the _____ (69 C.E.).

Bar Kokhba Revolt
Pax Romana
War of the Roman Succession
Year of the Four Emperors
16. Many historians date the defeat of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (136 C.E.) as the official start of the Jewish _____.

Diaspora
Republic
Revival
Torah
17. Which of the following is not true of Emperor Justinian (527-565 C.E.)?

Married Theodora, an intelligent courtesan
Permanently reunited the Eastern and Western Roman empires
Plague hit during his reign, severely hurting the Byzantine Empire
Rewrote Roman law (Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Justinian Code)
18. Which of the following was not a successful accomplishment of Augustus?

Establishment of a strong military system
Establishment of fire and police departments for Rome
Extension of citizenship to more and more provincials
Reformation of public morals by promoting family life
19. Which of the following is not a contribution of the Romans to world history?

modern trench warfare
Roman law
Romance languages
transmission of Greek (Hellenistic) culture
20. The religious leader Jesus was born in the Roman province of _____ during the reign of Augustus.

Egypt
Judea
Persia
Thrace
21. Construction of the Colosseum in Rome, as well as the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 C.E.), occurred during the reign of what Roman emperor?

Constantine
Domitian
Titus
Vespasian
22. The spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire is an example of _____.

cultural diffusion
Hellenization
Judaism
tribal migration
23. What emperor (98-117 C.E.) oversaw the expansion of the Roman Empire to its greatest extent?

Constantine
Domitian
Hadrian
Trajan
24. Emperor Nero blamed the fire that destroyed Rome on members of a new religious group, the _____.

Christians
Jews
Muslims
Zoroastrians
25. The term _____ refers to the time period, beginning with Augustus (Octavian), when Rome was ruled by emperors.

First Triumvirate
Roman Empire
Roman Republic
Second Triumvirate
26. Christianity was legalized under Emperor Constantine by the _____ (313 C.E.).

Balfour Declaration
Edict of Milan
Edict of Nantes
Potsdam Declaration
27. As the Western Roman Empire fell apart, _____ became the headquarters of the Catholic Church.

Alexandria
Athens
Constantinople
Rome
28. The term _____ means "chief religious leader."

augustus
imperator
pontifex maximus
princeps
29. The work of _____ (131-201 C.E.) was almost the entire basis for anatomy and physiology studies in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Galen
Hippocrates
Ovid
Pliny the Elder
30. The Roman Senate gave Octavian the name _____, meaning "most high."

Augustus
Caesar
King
Romulus
31. Catholic popes use the imperial title _____.

imperator
pontiff
primus inter pares
princeps
32. The _____, a period of relative peace throughout the Roman Empire, began under the rule of Augustus and lasted nearly 200 years.

Age of Reason
Pax Romana
Primus Inter Pares
Second Temple Period
33. Emperor _____ (54-68 C.E.) was accused of setting fire to Rome, then playing the lyre as he watched the city burn.

Caligula
Claudius
Nero
Tiberius
34. The Western Roman Empire officially ended in 476 C.E. when the last emperor, _____, was deposed by the barbarian Odoacer.

Diocletian
Julius Caesar
Justinian
Romulus Augustus
35. The term _____ means "first citizen."

augustus
imperator
pontifex maximus
princeps
36. What Roman emperor (161-180 C.E.), a Stoic philosopher, wrote Meditations?

Commodus
Gaius Gracchus
Marcus Aurelius
Tiberius
37. _____ fought to death in the Colosseum as a form of public entertainment.

Christians
Gladiators
Plebeians
Soldiers
38. According to tradition, the Christian leader _____ used his Roman citizenship to have his criminal trial relocated to Rome from Caesarea (in Judea-Palestine) in the 60s C.E.

Jude
Matthew
Paul
Peter
39. According to an official census conducted under Emperor Claudius in 48 C.E., the Roman Empire had nearly _____ citizens.

4,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
7,000,000
40. The Latin phrase "primus inter pares," used to describe Augustus, means _____.

first among equals
I came, I saw, I conquered
the die is cast
to each his own

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