Battles/Events/Law/Agreements

Question 1

1st Triumvirate 59 BC

Answer 1

• Political alliance between Caesar, Crassus and Pompey

Question 2

Second Triumvirate 43 BC

Answer 2

(Antony, Octavian and Lepidus):
• The 2nd was based on ambition and mutual distrust
• Appointed themselves triumviri with imperium for five years to legislate
• Octavian gave up his consulship and let Antony and Lepidus be consuls
• Antony was to get Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul
• Lepidus was to get Outer Gaul and the two Spains
• Octavian was to get North Africa, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia

Question 3

Peace of Brundisium 40 BC:

Answer 3

• Maecenas negotiated a truce, between Octavian and Antony
• Sealed by the marriage of Antony to Octavian’s sister, Octavia
• Terms of the peace:
o Renewal of the Triumvirate
o Africa went back to Lepidus
o Italy to continue to be a common recruiting ground
o All of the Gauls were officially Octavian’s
o Antony kept the east

Question 4

Rebellion of Lepidus 78 BC

Answer 4

• Event that led to Pompey’s rise to power

* Restoration of Proscriptions

Question 5

Spanish War

Answer 5

• Pompey vs. Sertorius

Question 6

Spartan Slave War 73-71 BC

Answer 6

• Uprising of the slaves

Question 7

Trial of Verres 70 BC

Answer 7

• Cicero makes it well known and wins it

* Verres a corrupt Politician

Question 8

Banishment of Cicero 58 BC

Answer 8

• Caesar worried about him undermining him

* Clodius got him banished

Question 9

Battle of Carrhae 53 BC

Answer 9

• Crassus Died

* Battle between Rome and Parthia

Question 10

Battle of Alesia

Answer 10

• 52 BC Lead by Julius Caesar, Rome vs. Vercingetorix, Gauls.
• The siege was one of Caesar’s greatest military achievements
• marked the end of Celtic dominance in France.

Question 11

Crossing of Rubicon 49 BC

Answer 11

• Caesar against Pompey (Civil War)

Question 12

Battle of Dyrrachium 48 BC

Answer 12

• Pompey/Senate vs. Caesar

* One of Caesar’s Civil Wars

Question 13

Battle of Pharsalus 48 BC

Answer 13

• Pompey is defeat by Caesar (Civil War)

* Pompey runs to Egypt and is stabbed on the beach

Question 14

Battle of Thapsus 46 BC

Answer 14

• Caesar defeated Cato, who then committed suicide

Question 15

Battle of Munda 45 BC

Answer 15

• Sextus Pompeius
Siege of Mutina 43:
• Rome was becoming a dangerous place for Antony
• Expelled Decimus Brutus from Cisalpine Gaul
• Decimus Brutus refused to leave his province Antony went north to besiege the town of Mutina
• The Senate sent Pansa and Hirtius as well as the young Octavian to defeat Antony
• Antony was defeated and fled across the Alps to southern Gaul
• Pansa and Hirtius were both killed, leaving Octavian as sole commander now of all the military legions
• Senate declared Antony a public enemy and snubbed Octavian, by giving him only a minor ovation and repudiating the promised consulship and lands for Caesar’s veterans
• Octavian, not yet 20, marched on the city of Rome with his ten legions, and was immediately given a consulship

Question 16

Assassination of Caesar 44 BC

Answer 16

• Ides of March 15

* Cassius and Brutus

Question 17

Proscriptions 43 BC

Answer 17

the triumvirs set up proscription, supplemented the proscriptions with heavy taxes on the wealthy classes

Question 18

Battle of Philippi 42 BC

Answer 18

• The “liberators” Brutus and Cassius vs. the “avengers” Antony and Octavian
• The armies met at Philippi, with Brutus defeating Octavian, but Antony defeating Cassius and the triumvirs triumphed overall
• Triumvirs win, and split empire into three parts
• Octavian in the West has control of Italy
• Antony in the East – the rich provinces
• Lepidus was given only Africa, because of suspected disloyalty
• The eve of the battle Augustus vowed to build a temple to Mars Ultor, the Avenger

Question 19

Repudiation (divorce) of Octavia by Antony 32 BC

Answer 19

• By divorcing Octavia and parrying Cleopatra Antony inherited joint rule of several strong eastern kingdoms, previously ruled by Cleopatra
• Antony sent divorce papers to Octavia in Rome
• Octavian responded by illegally extorting Antony’s will from the Vestal Virgins safe keeping and read it out loud to the senate
• The will confirmed the legacies of the children of Antony and Cleopatra. Declared that Cleopatra and Caesar’s son Caesarion was their true son and the successor for Caesar. Directed that Antony be buried next to Cleopatra in Alexandria
• Octavian formally declared war on Cleopatra
• Octavian made a brutal civil war seem like a noble and legitimate foreign war
• Stripped Antony of his imperium and his promised consulship

Question 20

Battle of Actium 31 BC

Answer 20

• Antony was preparing military stations at Actium
• Marks the end of an era, not the great battle that historians have tried to make it
• Augustan propaganda was intended to portray the Battle of Actium as the mother of all battles
• Took place at sea, and the respective land armies of Octavian and Antony never even fought
• Octavian’s fleet and his troops caused a blockade, which in turn caused a famine
• Moral was very low and Antony’s armies capitulated finally to Octavian
• Antony and Cleopatra fled the scene to Alexandria
• Alexandria fell to Octavian in 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide

Question 21

Great Rebellion AD 6

Answer 21

• The frontier north of the Balkans was not settled
• Dalmatian and Pannonian tribes staged an uprising led by their chief Bato
• The legate of Moesia stepped in and held Sirmium until Tiberius was able to take the offensive and defeat the Pannonians in two campaigns
• By 9 AD the revolt was crushed and Pannonia was annexed

Question 22

Varian Disaster AD 9

Answer 22

• Varus was sent out to Germany to organize the area, tax the populations and bring some sort of order to it
• Introduced unpopular methods of taxation and jurisdiction having misjudged the conditions of his new command
• Entertained Arminius in his camp on the Virsuris
• Arminius knew when and by what routes he would be withdrawing his troops to their winter quarters that winter
• As Varus was marching through the dense Teutoberg forest he was attacked by Arminius
• Varus committed suicide, those others that survived were tortured and executed
• After the battle
o Tiberius and his nephew Germanicus successfully re-organized the reference of the river
o Lost ground could have been recovered, but Augustus was getting old and was shaken from the loss
o Loss resulted in serious diminution of military man power

Question 23

Clades Variana

Answer 23

• Rome vs. Varus.
• Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
• Arminius attacked Varus’ men.