Late Republican Drama
What man, whose discovery of a conspiracy against the Roman state in 63 B.C. led to the arrest of Catiline, was considered the greatest Roman orator due to his famous speeches?
CICERO
Who was torn apart by maenads in Thrace because he had rejected their advances after the death of his wife?
ORPHEUS
What woman, who proclaimed herself bejeweled by her offspring rather than her ornamentation, was the daughter of the great Scipio Africanus — sharing his nōmen — and mother of the Gracchi?
CORNELIA
According to Cassius Dio, what Roman emperor displayed his skills as an archer by using crescent-shaped arrows to shoot the heads off a large flock of ostriches, a feat that aligned with his belief that he was Hercules reincarnated?
COMMODUS
What December holiday was it if you saw people wearing a synthesis in pileus in public in daylight?
SATURNALIA
What man, who was granted extraordinary powers under the Lēx Gabīnia to clear the Mediterranean of pirates, died in 48 B.C. during the civil war that he fought against Julius Caesar?
POMPEY
Often considered the most beautiful in a long line of Trojan royalty, what youth was carried off to the heavens by Zeus and positioned next to the god as his cupbearer?
GANYMEDE
Which of Augustus’s wives was successful in guaranteeing that her son Tiberius succeed him?
LIVIA
Name Didius Julianus’ predecessor who took power after Commodus was strangled in 192 A.D.
PERTINAX
What adjective, also derived from the name of a Roman god, means “cold and steady in mood” or “of a gloomy or surly disposition”?
SATURNINE
Command against what foreign ruler was transferred by the Lēx Mānīlia from Lucullus to Pompey, who was able to finally take control of his kingdom of Pontus?
MITHRIDATES
Which beautiful youth was killed when a gust of wind diverted a discus that he had thrown while practicing with a partner?
HYACYNTHUS
With which of his wives did Augustus have his only natural child, Julia?
SCRIBONIA
What man, born at Lepcis Magna, ruled as Roman emperor from 193-211 AD?
SEPTIMUS SEVERUS
What temple in Rome housed the aerarium or treasury?
TEMPLE OF SATURN
What Roman did Cicero attack in a series of speeches that were known as the Philippics?
MARK ANTONY
What sculptor of Cyprus felt all women were bad and fell in love with his own creation?
PYGMALION
Agrippina was said to have poisoned Claudius with what food?
MUSHROOMS
Who were the sons of Septimius Severus?
GETA & CARACALLA
What Latin author gives us all the following insights: “the Saturnalia will not last forever,” “there is no easy way from the earth to the stars,” and that “all art is an imitation of nature”?
SENECA THE YOUNGER
This man won the Perusine War against Antony’s brother and Antony’s wife Fulvia, and he joined Hirtius and Pansa to fight Antony at Mutina. Later he issued the 2nd proscriptions with Antony under the authority of the Lex Titia, and in 12 BC he became Pontifex Maximus upon the death of Lepidus. He divorced his first wife Scribonia, with whom he had a daughter, Julia, in favor of Livia, but never produced any children with the latter. Who was this Roman who relied upon the military and diplomatic advisors Agrippa and Maecenas, who defeated Antony at the battle of Actium to become master of the Roman world and essentially brought an end to the Res Pubica governmental system by becoming Rome’s first emperor?
OCTAVIAN/AUGUSTUS
Who in mythology used her bow to kill the centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus as they attempted to rape her, a skill she used effectively again during the Calydonian Boar Hunt?
ATALANTA
Often portrayed on coins as Cybele or on the throne of Juno, what empress accompanied her husband to Britain — where he died at Eburacum — then had to suffer her son Geta being murdered in her arms by her other son, Caracalla?
JULIA DOMNA
A payment of 25,000 sesterces to every member of the Praetorian Guard allowed what emperor to rise to the throne, though he was sentenced to death by Septimius Severus soon afterward?
DIDIUS JULIANUS
What late Roman author wrote a commentary on Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis in addition to his own Saturnalia?
MACROBIUS