II. The Sybil's Curse : Choking on Gold

Question 1

Which monarch left his entire kingdom to the Republic?

Answer 1

Attale III, who, upon dying with no heir, left the kingdom Pergamum in his will to the Roman Republic in 133 BC.

Question 2

“SPQR”?

Answer 2

Senatus Populusque Romanus, is an emblematic abbreviated phrase referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic. It appears on Roman currency, at the end of documents made public by an inscription in stone or metal, and in dedications of monuments and public and civil works.

Question 3

Which law did Gaius Gracchus succed in passing, in relation to the newly acquired Pergamum?

Answer 3

After 10 years of perculation by roman officers sent to administer the kingdom, in 123, Pergamum
was at last subjected to organised taxation.

Question 4

Who were the Publicani ?

Answer 4

Private business men who’s job was to collect tax for the roman governement.

Question 5

In 89 BC..

Answer 5

The Roman commissioner in Asia, Manius Aquillius, trumped up an excuse to invade Pontus, a kingdom on the Black Sea coast of now-Turkey.

Question 6

Who was Mithridates?

Answer 6

Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic’s most formidable and determined opponents.

Question 7

In 89..

Answer 7

Mithridates won a decisive victory, scattering the Roman-led forces. His victorious forces were welcomed throughout Anatolia. The following year, 88 BC, Mithridates orchestrated a genocide of Roman and Italian settlers remaining in several major Anatolian cities, including Pergamon and Tralles, essentially wiping out the Roman presence in the region.

Question 8

What happened to Manius Aquilius, the Roman who had provoked Mirthidates into war?

Answer 8

He was captured and dragged to Pergamum, where Mirthidats poured molten gold down this throat, to symbolise the Greed of the Roman Republic.