Roots of Rome
According to legend, twin brothers Romulus and Remus founded Rome in this year.
What is 753 B.C.?
This Latin phrase meaning “public affairs” gave the Romans the name for their new form of government after they drove out their last king.
What is res publica (a republic)?
By 265 B.C., the Romans were masters of nearly all of this peninsula.
What is Italy?
Tribunes Tiberius and Gaius were these brothers, who tried to help Rome’s poor by limiting the size of estates and giving land to the poor.
Who are the Gracchus brothers?
From 27 B.C. to A.D. 180, this “Roman peace” brought 207 years of peace and prosperity to the empire.
What is the Pax Romana?
Rome was built on this many rolling hills at a curve on the Tiber River.
What is seven?
These wealthy landowners held most of the power in the early republic and claimed their ancestry gave them the authority to make laws.
Who are the patricians?
Once a colony of Phoenicia, this North African city’s rise to power put it in direct opposition with Rome.
What is Carthage?
On January 10, 49 B.C., Caesar defied the senate by taking his army across this river in Italy.
What is the Rubicon?
In Augustus’s time, this silver coin was used throughout the empire, which made trade between regions much easier.
What is the denarius?
Of the Latins, Greeks, and Etruscans, this group built the original settlement at Rome, a cluster of wooden huts on Palatine Hill.
Who are the Latins?
Elected by the plebeians’ own assembly, these representatives protected plebeians from unfair acts of patrician officials.
Who are the tribunes?
Hannibal surprised the Romans by leading his army and elephants from Spain across France and through these mountains.
What are the Alps?
Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey dominated Rome as this group of three rulers
What is a triumvirate?
About 90 percent of the people in the empire were engaged in this, the most important industry.
What is farming (agriculture)?
The Romans adopted their alphabet and the use of the arch from this skilled northern Italian people.
Who are the Etruscans?
Carved on twelve tablets in 451 B.C. and hung in the Forum, this written code became the basis for later Roman law.
What are the Twelve Tables?
Hannibal won his greatest victory at this battle in 216 B.C., inflicting enormous losses on the Romans.
What is Cannae?
Caesar was stabbed to death in the senate chamber on this date in 44 B.C.
What is March 15?
This huge arena could hold 50,000 people for the free games and gladiator contests that distracted and controlled the masses.
What is the Colosseum?
Livy praised Rome’s site as near enough to this for convenience, yet not so near as to bring danger from foreign fleets.
What is the sea?
In times of crisis, a Roman dictator held absolute power for only this long.
What is six months?
This Roman general’s plan to attack Carthage forced Hannibal home, and the Romans defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 B.C.
Who is Scipio?
Octavian defeated the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at this naval battle in 31 B.C.
What is Actium?
Augustus paid workers to manage the grain supply, tax collection, and the postal system by setting up this system.
What is a civil service?