Set #2

Question 1

Who was Herodotus?

Answer 1

Herodotus (484 - 425 BCE) was an ancient Greek writer who is considered by many to be the “father of history”. Most importantly, he is widely remembered today as one of the first ancient Greeks to write about events of his own time in prose rather than verse, and to organize his material systematically. He inspired later Greeks to record real events of their own times, rather than the mythical exploits of heroes or gods. One of his most important works was “The Histories”, which focused on the origins of the war between Greece and Persia that took place at the beginning of the 5th century BCE. He was interested in human nature and his surroundings as he traveled the length and breadth of the ancient Greek world, recording what he encountered. Although he came from Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey), he also lived in Athens for a time. He allegedly visited Egypt, Italy, Sicily, and Babylon, and his writing is full of entertaining detail about the customs of the countries he visited. Although he is considered the first historian, his stories cannot be deemed wholly factual, since much of his account is based on oral history, folklore, and tradition.

Question 2

What important change in thinking occurred in ancient Greece after 600 BCE?

Answer 2

Many individuals began to question supernatural or superstitious explanations for everyday events in the world, thus leading to an explosion in scientific investigation.

Question 3

Who was Thales of Miletus?

Answer 3

An ancient Greek (c. 624 - 526 BCE) who is considered the “father of science”. Like many other Greek scientific thinkers (dubbed “natural philosophers” by their times), Thales pondered the nature of matter. He suggested that all solids, liquids, and gases are made of water, based on the fact at the time it was one of a few substances that could be observed in all three states.

Question 4

Who was Anaximenes?

Answer 4

(585 - 525 BCE) An ancient Greek “natural philosopher” (i.e., early scientist) who suggested that air was the “fundamental” substance that made up all other matter.

Question 5

Who was Heraclitus?

Answer 5

(535 - 475 BCE) An ancient Greek scientist who theorized that fire might be the “fundamental substance” that all matter is made from.

Question 6

Who was Empedocles?

Answer 6

(490 - 430 BCE) An ancient Greek early scientist who postulated that fire, earth, air, and water are “the four elements” of matter.

Question 7

Who were Leucippus and Democritus?

Answer 7

Leucippus (born c. 480 BCE) and Democritus (born c. 460 BCE) suggested that matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles separated by empty space.

Question 8

Who was Pythagoras?

Answer 8

An ancient Greek mathematician and “natural philosopher” (scientist) who was fascinated by the mathematical relationships between everything. He even suggested that numbers not only describe reality, but that the world is literally made of numbers. His famous Pythagorean theorem was actually known long before him, and there is no evidence that he even used it or even existed. His ideas, moreover, have been revealed to be more mystic than scientific, with Pythagoras and his followers seeing mystical relevance in mathematics.

Question 9

What were Plato’s scientific views?

Answer 9

That each element is made of atoms with a particular idealized geometric shape. Plato also supposed that the real world was an imperfect reflection of an ideal, “theoretical” and mathematically perfect world.

Question 10

Who was Aristotle?

Answer 10

An ancient Greek philosopher (384 - 322 BCE) who was a pupil of Plato and perhaps the greatest influence on the history of science of all the ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle famously reversed Plato’s ideas of mathematics, claiming that the truth was to be found only in physical reality – an idea known as empiricism that is important to philosophy and science even today.

Question 11

What were some of the subjects that Aristotle wrote about?

Answer 11

Botany, zoology, astronomy, anatomy, and physics.

Question 12

Who was Archimedes?

Answer 12

(c. 287 - 212 BCE) An ancient Greek brilliant theoretical mathematician, as well as a great engineer and inventor.

Question 13

Who was Hippocrates?

Answer 13

An ancient Greek natural philosopher (scientist) (c. 460 - 370 BCE) who promoted a rational, scientific approach to medicine and rejected the temple medical theories about illnesses and their cures. He placed great emphasis on the careful observation of symptoms. It is unknown whether he actually wrote the original “Hippocratic Oath”.

Question 14

Describe the origins of Rome.

Answer 14

Before Rome, Italy was inhabited by several cultural groups, one of which was a Latin-speaking people who settled in villages, including Rome, in the hills above the Tiber River in 1000 BCE. In the 8th century BCE, the highly developed Etruscan civilization flourished and spread across much of Italy and Sicily. The Greeks meanwhile established city-states in southern Italy and Sicily, and the Latin communities became more complex as Rome became an important city. The date 753 BCE is taken to be the date of the founding of Rome.

Question 15

How were Rome’s Etruscan neighbors important in the development of Roman civilization?

Answer 15

The Roman monarchs from the middle of the 6th century BCE were Etruscan, and the Etruscans often often passed on their own and Greek innovations and culture to the Romans. Etruscan contributions included the toga, forms of the stone arch, sewage systems, and chariot racing. Greek contributions, often passed on via the Etruscans, included Greek art, architecture, philosophy, science, and technology. The Etruscans also passed on the Greek alphabet, which the Romans developed to create the basis for many modern western languages.

Question 16

Who was Hannibal Barca and what was the Second Punic War?

Answer 16

Hannibal Barca was the leader of the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War (218 - 201 BCE), the second of three wars between Rome and Carthage fought across the Mediterranean. When Rome blocked the sea routes, Hannibal led 37 war elephants and 35,000 men over the Pyrenees and Alps. Despite heavy losses, Hannibal won many victories but was defeated at Zama in North Africa. Carthage was eventually destroyed by the Romans, and Hannibal fled to Syria where he later committed suicide.

Question 17

What were some of the ancient Roman advances in building and civil engineering and what was the origin of many of those advances?

Answer 17

The ancient Romans made many advances in these areas, mostly by clever development of techniques obtained by other civilizations the Romans came into contact with. While using fired bricks, tiles, and stone to great effect, they also perfected concrete, developing a form that would harden under water. From the 3rd century BCE, Roman builders became the first to use concrete extensively, building many large-scale engineering and building projects.

Question 18

Describe the origins and early stages of the Roman Republic.

Answer 18

Rome was ruled by seven kings until the last one, the Etruscan Tarquinius, was overthrown in 509 BCE in a coup staged by Roman aristocrats. Rather than install a new monarch, the Romans dismantled the institution and Rome became a republic. The early republic had two consuls (to counter overreliance on one individual), who were elected annually. While the Senate was originally put in place to prevent despotism, it became the true decision-making authority. The law was upheld by magistrates, who also came from the Senate. The magistrates were expected to be loyal and self-sacrificing to the republic and to lead blameless lives as an example to others.

Question 19

Describe the hierarchy in early republican Rome.

Answer 19

Society was first divided into free and non-free (slaves). The most significant free people were citizens, who could elect the consuls. Citizens were further divided into Patricians, an elite landowning class, and Plebeians, the remainder of the citizens. The Senate drew its members from the Patrician class; therefore, the Republic in its early form was a transfer of power from the king to Rome’s wealthiest classes. Rising resentment from the Plebeians led to violence in a class conflict that became known as the “struggle of the orders”. The Patricians relied on the Plebeians, as they not only provided the food and supplied the labor that drove the Roman economy but also filled the ranks of the Roman army. This reliance led to the passing of many social reforms. This included the “Twelve Tables” laws (evidence of which are now lost to us), the election of the first Plebeian Council in 366 BCE, and the ruling that the Plebeian Council’s decisions were to be binding for all citizens, including the Patricians.

Question 20

Describe the Roman republic’s early military successes.

Answer 20

Roman armies won extensive lands for the Republic in wars that gradually took place farther afield and with increasing scale. By 264 BCE, Rome dominated Italy, and by 146 BCE, Rome had crushed the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars, which broke out several times in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, to dominate the entire western Mediterranean. The Roman’s treatment of conquered peoples varied greatly. People who seemed close enough in kinship or “civilized” enough were granted rights similar to those of Roman citizens, while those who actively resisted them received much harsher treatment.

Question 21

Describe the mounting problems faced by the Roman republic by the 2nd century BCE.

Answer 21

By the 2nd century BCE, Rome was in a state of perpetual war, flux, and social discontent. Farms fell into disrepair while their owners were away fighting, and debts were mounting. While the city of Rome was at the heart of a growing empire, tensions arose as the republic’s existing social and political institutions struggled to address new problems. The tensions reached a peak in 137 BCE when the Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius (tribunes of the Plebeians, officials representing Plebeian interests), fought against the Patrician Senate by proposing revolutionary social reform that included redistributing public land to the landless poorer classes. Armed struggle broke out and both brothers ended up dead. This signaled the beginning of the Republic’s decline.

Question 22

Describe the troubles faced by the Roman Republic in the 1st century BCE before the rise of Julius Caesar.

Answer 22

The 1st century BCE saw a mixture of new gains and civil strife for Rome. Some of Rome’s former allies, after fighting for Rome, became frustrated by Rome’s domination over them and failure to grant them Roman citizenship. The self-proclaimed dictatorship of Sulla lasted from 82 - 80 BCE, destabilizing the Republic. In 72 - 71 BCE, Spartcus, a fromer auxiliary in the Roman army turned slave-gladiator, became leader of a group of disaffected slaves and rebels that swelled in number to around 120,000. They fought against Rome and dominated much of southern Italy. The Romans were ultimately victorious and Spartacus was killed around 70 BCE. However, the uprising showed the dangers of using slave labor on a massive scale.

Question 23

What was the dictatorship of Sulla?

Answer 23

A rule of the ancient Roman Republic under a man named Sulla from 82 - 80 BCE. Sulla’s struggles against his rival, Marius, had already weakened the republic and his rule increased patrician (upper class) power. During his dictatorship there was also increased corruption in the Senate.

Question 24

Who was Gaius Julius Caesar?

Answer 24

An ancient Roman born into a patrician (upper-class) family of ancient lineage. He later became a famous politician and orator. After being sent by Rome to fight in campaigns in the Roman provinces of Gaul, he earned wealth and renown for his military victories, as well as the loyalty of his army. After the Roman Senate under the control of his rival Pompey called on him to disband his army in 50 BCE, Caesar instead led his legions across the Rubicon, the stream separating Cisalpine Gaul from Italy proper. He fought Pompey for two years for control of the Roman world before emerging victorious. Caesar became Rome’s dictator for life. A group of Roman senators would assassinate Caesar in the assembly hall of the Senate. He is remembered as a skilled orator, author, and military leader.

Question 25

Describe the life of Julius Caesar before he became a member of the Triumvirate.

Answer 25

Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician (upper-class) family of ancient lineage. He was aligned through his family and marriage with the reforming “populares” faction that wanted to break the power of the Senate and empower a wider group of people from the lower classes. He was lucky to escape with his life when the rival conservative “optimates” faction triumphed over the dictator Sulla in 81 BCE. This setback slowed Caesar’s career progress – he was in his mid-30’s before he achieved prominence. At first Caesar was as known for scandal as for talent. He was a blatant womanizer notorious for affairs with married women – he may have been the natural father of one of his eventual assassins, Marcus Brutus. In pursuit of public office, he spent far beyond his means and fell heavily into debt. His political stance was that of a flamboyant populist, embracing policies such as redistribution of land to war veterans and the poor. He was widely distrusted among the Roman elite as unprincipled in the pursuit of money and power.

Question 26

Describe Julius Caesar’s ascension to the Triumvirate and his campaign in Gaul.

Answer 26

In 60 BCE, Caesar made a private agreement with the wealthy and powerful general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey, Rome’s most successful general. They dominated Roman politics as “the Triumvirate”. This earned Caesar election to the consulship, the highest office of state in the Roman Republic. This was followed by an appointment to command in the Roman provinces of Gaul, where he showed outstanding energy and ruthlessness in years of campaigning against the Celtic and Germanic tribes of the region. Caesar went beyond the borders of his official command, making forays across the Rhine in Germany and as far as the Thames River in Britain. Victories brought him wealth and renown, but more importantly the loyalty of his armies, who were now loyal to him and not the Roman Republic.

Question 27

Describe Julius Caesar’s action in the civil war between him and the Roman Republic.

Answer 27

By late 50 BCE, the Senate, under the control of the Roman general Pompey, ordered Caesar to disband his army after his ten-year command in Gaul came to a successful conclusion. Caesar instead led his legions across the Rubicon, the stream separating Cisalpine Gaul (the region to the south of the Alps) from Italy proper. Easily occupying Rome, he fought Pompey for two years for control of the Roman world. Finally, the battle of Pharsalus was decisive for Julius, and Pompey fled only to be murdered a month later in Egypt. Although Pompey’s sons, Sextus and Gnaeus, continued the civil war until 45 BCE, Caesar now had supreme power.

Question 28

Describe Julius Caesar’s brief reign and his assassination.

Answer 28

Caesar was zealous for reform and innovation after gaining control of Rome. He halved the number of Roman citizens dependent on handouts of bread from the state by resettling the destitute in colonies in Italy and abroad, and reformed the calendar to create the Julian calendar. Caesar assumed the role of “dictator”, a post granted by the Republic to give exceptional power to cope with an emergency, but permanently assumed the role. In March 44 BCE, Caesar was planning a campaign against the Parthians in the Middle East. A group of senators led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, inspired by attachment to the Republic and a desire to protect their own privileges, conspired to kill him before he left Rome. They stabbed him to death in the assembly hall where he had come to address the Senate. Ironically, his death brought about the end of the Republic that his assassins had tried to restore, and two years after his death, the Senate made him a deity.

Question 29

Describe the origins of the Julian calendar and the calendar itself.

Answer 29

The original Roman calendar was based on a lunar calendar with 355 days and was adjusted by occasional extra months. Julius Caesar introduced a 12-month year of 365 days with a 366-day leap-year once every four years. To align Rome with the solar cycle, 46 BCE was made into a 445-day year. The Julian calendar then came into force in 45 BCE. It was in general use in Europe until the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 CE, and is still used by the Greek Orthodox Church.