Classical History MS

Question 1

Question: This event may have happened to make room for the Domus Aurea. This event was blamed on early Christians, leading to their 64 CE persecution. According to Tacitus, this event began near the Palatine Hill while the (*) emperor was in Antium. For ten points, name this disaster that destroyed a prosperous Italian city, legendarily while Nero either played a lyre or fiddled.

Answer 1

Great Fire of Rome (accept descriptions like Rome burning)

Question 2

Question: This man’s sons, Paralus and Xanthippus, died of a plague that killed him a few months later. In peaceful times, this leader hired Phidias to sculpt a statue of Athena for the Acropolis. This statesman delivered a funeral oration after the first year of the Peloponnesian War, in which his city-state opposed (*) Sparta. For ten points, name this leader during the Golden Age of Athens.

Answer 2

Pericles

Question 3

Question: This leader’s sister, Arsinoe, was controversially killed on the steps of the Temple of Artemis. This leader’s son, Caesarion, lived briefly as the last Pharaoh of Egypt one year after this leader ordered a decisive retreat from (*) Octavian’s navy at the Battle of Actium with her lover, Marc Antony. For 10 points, name this Egyptian Pharaoh who, shortly after Marc Antony’s suicide, legendarily killed herself by snakebite.

Answer 3

Cleopatra VII Philopator

Question 4

Question: The exile Hippias advised the losing side in this battle, whose men panicked and ran into swamps. The winning general of this battle, Miltiades [mill-tye-ah-dees], organized troops to defend the only two paths off the beach, then ordered a devastating phalanx assault. After this loss for (*) Darius the Great, the Persian army retreated from Greece for 10 years. For 10 points, name this 490 BCE battle, after which Pheidippides [fay-ih-dip-ih-dees] legendarily ran 26 miles to Athens.

Answer 4

Battle of Marathon

Question 5

Question: The loser of the first of these events was further threatened by an uprising called the Mercenary War. The Siege of Saguntum triggered the second of these events, while the last was spurred by Cato the Elder’s calls for destruction. The second of these conflicts saw (*) Scipio Africanus win the Battle of Zama against a force of war elephants led by Hannibal. For 10 points, name this series of three wars between Rome and Carthage.

Answer 5

Punic Wars

Question 6

Question: This man fought alongside Hirtius and Pansa at one battle, and he founded Nicopolis near where his friend Marcus Agrippa won a battle at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. In those battles, Mutina and Actium, this man fought a man who had joined him and Lepidus in the Second Triumvirate. Victorious over Mark Antony in a civil war, he was the adopted son of (*) Julius Caesar. For 10 points, name this first Roman Emperor.

Answer 6

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus [or Gaius Octavius Thurinus or Octavian]

Question 7

Question: This man elucidated Heron’s formula before Heron proved it. He supposedly created a death ray outof mirrors in order to defeat an invading Roman army. A task given to him by Hiero (“HIGH”-er-oh) ofSyracuse led to his discovery that the buoyancy of an object is equal to the fluid displaced. For 10 points,who supposedly ran into the streets shouting “Eureka!” after discovering how to test whether Hiero’scrown was made of pure gold?

Answer 7

Archimedes of Syracuse

Question 8

Question: This polity’s army was defeated and its king, Cleombrotus (CLEE-ahm-BRO-tus), was killed at the battle of Leuctra by forces led by Epaminondas (eh-PAM-in-ON-das). Critias (CRITT-ee-us) was installed as one of the Thirty Tyrants by this city-state to rule a naval power that led the Delian League. While defending against Persia, this city-state lost King Leonidas and three hundred other soldiers at Thermopylae (ther-MOP-i-lee). For 10 points, identify this Greek city-state and rival of Athens.

Answer 8

Sparta [accept Lacedaemon]

Question 9

Question: This man became sole emperor of the Western Roman Empire following Maxentius’ death at the Battleof Milvian Bridge. This man would later gain control of the Eastern Roman Empire following his victoryover Licinius (lih-SIN-ee-uss) at the Battle of Adrianople. This man issued the Edict of Milan, whichestablished religious toleration throughout the Roman Empire. For 10 points, name this first Christianemperor.

Answer 9

Constantine the Great [or Constantine I; prompt on Constantine]

Question 10

Question: This leader fought with co-emperor Licinius in battles at Cibalae (SEE-ball-AY) and Adrianople. It issaid that he had a vision before the Battle of Milvian Bridge. He called for the Council of Nicaea andissued the Edict of Milan. He was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, and he establishedan eastern capital at Byzantium. For 10 points, name this Roman Emperor who lent his name to the citynow called Istanbul.

Answer 10

Constantine I [or Constantine the Great; or Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus; or Saint Constantine]

Question 11

Question: After being ransomed from pirates, this man captured his kidnappers and crucified them. At the Battle of Alesia (ah-LEE-see-ah), this man defeated Vercingetorix (ver-sin-GEH-tor-icks) and conquered Gaul. After Pompey ordered him to disband his army, he crossed the Rubicon. For 10 points, name this Roman general who was appointed dictator and later assassinated on the Ides of March by Brutus.

Answer 11

Gaius Julius Caesar

Question 12

Question: One of these conflicts contained the Battle of the Trebia and the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Cato the Elder said during the last one that the enemy city “delenda est,” meaning that it must be destroyed. In the second of these wars, (*) Scipio Africanus defeated Hasdrubal and then finished the war at the Battle of Zama, where he defeated Hannibal. For 10 points, name this series of three conflicts between Rome and Carthage.

Answer 12

Punic Wars

Question 13

Question: This leader ended an invasion shortly after the head of his brother, Hasdrubal, was thrown into his camp. This man ravaged the Italian countryside for over a decade but was defeated at (*) Zama by Scipio Africanus, ending the Second Punic War. For ten points, name this Carthaginian general who led a military force, including elephants, over the Alps.

Answer 13

Hannibal Barca

Question 14

1: This group of tribes, led by Vercingetorix, lost at Alesia when the attackers surrounded their hilltop fort. These people dominated what is modern France for the last few centuries BC.

Answer 14

Gauls

Question 15

2: This civilization won the battle of Alesia to conquer Gaul. A set of Commentaries detailing the victory was written by a future dictator of this republic, Julius Caesar.

Answer 15

Rome

Question 16

1: Name this 532 CE riot, which burned nearly half of the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Answer 16

Nika Riots

Question 17

3: This emperor almost fled from Constantinople during the Nika Riots, but his wife Theodora convinced him to stay.

Answer 17

Justinian I

Question 18

1: At Aegospotami, Lysander led a rout of the Athenian navy, thus essentially ending this war over control of the Greek mainland.

Answer 18

(Second) Peloponnesian War

Question 19

2: Lysander was an admiral from this militaristic Greek city-state, which was traditionally more of a power in ground combat. After the Peloponnesian War, this city-state installed the Thirty Tyrants in Athens.

Answer 19

Sparta

Question 20

3: In addition to Sparta’s installing of the Thirty Tyrants, they insisted that Athens tear down a set of these defensive structures. Sparta itself lacked these structures, claiming that their army itself was protection enough.

Answer 20

City Walls/Long Walls