Rome Political Terms

Question 1

Legion

Answer 1

A group of roughly 5,000 soldiers (similar to the phalanx of the Greeks) fought in close formation.

Question 2

Punic Wars

Answer 2

The battle between Rome and Carthage. Rome defeats Carthage after the first Punic War. Rome defeats Carthage in the second Punic War as well.

Question 3

Navy

Answer 3

Soldiers who fight on boats.

Question 4

Cannae

Answer 4

Key city of the second Punic War.

Question 5

Hannibal

Answer 5

General that starts the second Punic War and single-handedly defeats half of the Roman soldiers in one battle.

Question 6

Carthage

Answer 6

The powerful empire that controlled trade and merchants and had a large navy around the Mediterranean Sea.

Question 7

Militia

Answer 7

An army that was made up of Roman men and not a professional army.

Question 8

Gladius

Answer 8

A short sword that is the standard weapon for Roman legionaries.

Question 9

Pilum

Answer 9

A vital tool for Rome’s imperial regions. Feature a sharp iron in the head of the weapon.

Question 10

Marius Mule’s

Answer 10

The solider of Marius. Marius is said in ancient sources to have moved much of the baggage off beasts of burden and onto the backs of the common soldiers

Question 11

Patrician

Answer 11

an aristocrat or nobleman.

Question 12

Plebian

Answer 12

Plebeians were average working citizens of Rome – farmers, bakers, builders or craftsmen – who worked hard to support their families and pay their taxes.

Question 13

Princeps

Answer 13

First among equals in a restored Republic

Question 14

Augustus

Answer 14

One of the many honorific titles that the Senate gave Octavian, connotes prosperity and piety. Became the name by which he is best known to posterity.

Question 15

Third-century crisis

Answer 15

When political, military, and economic problems beset and nearly destroyed the Roman Empire through frequent changes of rulers.

Question 16

Constantine

Answer 16

Reunited the entire Roman empire under his sole rule by 324. Religious tolerance.

Question 17

Diocletian

Answer 17

The Roman princeps under the time of Roman hostility against the Jewish people and persecution against Christians. Institutionalized such actions.

Question 18

Theodosius

Answer 18

Made Christianity the official religion of Rome.

Question 19

Nero

Answer 19

The emperor after Caligula’s death. People believed he started the Great fire that destroyed most of buildings in Rome.

Question 20

Vespasian

Answer 20

Tasked by Nero with crushing the rebellion and was appointed emperor. Under the Vespasian, the Romans broke the Jewish resistance in the North.

Question 21

Rhea Silvia

Answer 21

Mother of Romulus and Remus

Question 22

Romulus and Remus

Answer 22

The first king/emperor of the Roman empire. Romulus killed his brother Remus for the throne.

Question 23

Tarquin “the proud”

Answer 23

The last Etruscan Roman emperor was taken down because his son raped a noble Roman woman.

Question 24

Marius

Answer 24

The Roman military general who revolutionized the way that the Roman military was structured. Allowed farmers and the poor to be elected into the army and made the army more loyal to the general rather than the states.