Ancient Rome
183 flashcards by MentisLibrary
From a legendary founding in 753 BC to the last emperor in the west, covering the Republic, the Punic Wars, Caesar, the emperors, the legions, and how Romans actually lived. Includes the institutions and engineering that outlasted the empire itself.
- Who were the Etruscans?
- A civilization north of Rome whose kings ruled the city and shaped its early culture
- According to legend, who founded Rome and in what year?
- Romulus, traditionally in 753 BC
- What was the Roman Senate?
- A council of current and former magistrates that guided finance, foreign policy and provincial administration
- How many kings did Rome traditionally have?
- Seven, beginning with Romulus and ending with Tarquin the Proud
- What was Roman religion like before Christianity?
- Polytheistic, combining state cults to gods such as Jupiter, Juno and Mars with household worship
- Who were the Vestal Virgins?
- Priestesses who tended the sacred flame of Vesta in the Forum
- Who were the augurs?
- Priests who read the will of the gods from birds and other signs before public business
- What did the Latin alphabet come from?
- A Greek alphabet adapted through the Etruscans to write Latin
- What was the Forum Romanum?
- The civic heart of Rome, holding law courts, temples, monuments and the speaker's platform
- What was the Circus Maximus?
- Rome's largest chariot racing track
- What was the toga?
- The formal woolen garment worn by male Roman citizens
- What is the Cloaca Maxima?
- Rome's great sewer, begun under the kings to drain the marshy ground of the Forum
- What did Servius Tullius reorganize?
- The citizen body, sorting Romans into classes by wealth for voting and military service
- What was the Comitia Centuriata?
- The assembly that elected consuls and praetors, voting in wealth-based blocks
- What form of government did Rome adopt in 509 BC?
- The Republic, after the expulsion of the last king Tarquin the Proud
- Who were the two chief magistrates elected annually in the Roman Republic?
- The consuls
- What story explains the fall of the monarchy?
- The rape of Lucretia by the king's son, which drove Brutus to lead the expulsion of the Tarquins
- Why did Romans fear the word king?
- Because the expulsion of Tarquin made monarchy the definition of tyranny in Roman politics
- What was the difference between patricians and plebeians?
- Patricians were the closed circle of old aristocratic families; plebeians were everyone else
- What was a Roman dictator?
- A magistrate given supreme authority for a strictly limited term, normally six months, during an emergency
- What was a client in Roman society?
- Someone who received protection and favors from a wealthier patron in return for public support
- What was a triumph?
- A ceremonial parade through Rome granted to a victorious general
- What are Roman numerals built from?
- The letters I, V, X, L, C, D and M, combined by addition and limited subtraction
- Who were the tribunes of the plebs?
- Officials elected by the plebeians to protect them, holding the power to veto acts of magistrates
- What was the Conflict of the Orders?
- The long struggle in which plebeians won political rights from the patrician elite
- What did a Roman aedile do?
- Ran the city: markets, streets, water, grain supply and the public games
- Who was Cincinnatus?
- A farmer made dictator in a crisis who resigned and returned to his plough once it passed
- What were the Twelve Tables?
- Rome's first written law code, published on tablets in the Forum
- Who was the paterfamilias?
- The senior male head of a Roman household, holding legal authority over its members
- What was the legal position of Roman women?
- They could own and inherit property but could not vote or hold public office