Geography & Early Republic
This major body of water and its connecting river allowed foreign ships to bring trading goods straight up into the city of Rome
What is the Tiber River?
At its greatest height, the Roman Empire expanded far past Italy to include Britain, parts of Asia, and this northern continent.
What is North Africa?
This notoriously cruel emperor is remembered for executing his own mother and his wife during his chaotic reign.
Who is Nero?
The Romans built a massive, durable network of these to unite the empire, which accidentally helped Christian missionaries travel safely to spread their message.
What are roads?
In the history of the Roman Empire, this term refers to being targeted, arrested, or punished strictly because of your religious beliefs.
What is persecution?
This emperor realized the empire had grown too massive for one person to manage, so he divided it into two separate parts to make it easier to rule.
Who is Diocletian?
This type of government, which Rome established after overthrowing its kings, gives citizens the right to vote and choose their own leaders.
What is a republic?
This ruler is best remembered for bringing order, good government, and peace to Rome, starting the era known as the Pax Romana.
Who is Augustus?
This unstable emperor was so hated for his behavior that his very own bodyguards turned on him and assassinated him.
Who is Caligula?
This shared ideal in both ancient Roman law and the modern United States legal system states that a person is considered this until proven guilty.
What is innocent?
This emperor completely changed Roman history by outlawing the persecution of Christians and making Christianity equal to all other religions.
Who is Constantine?
This is the term for a soldier who is hired from a foreign land to fight in a foreign army purely for money, rather than loyalty to the country.
What is a mercenary?
In the early Roman Republic, this powerful governing body was made up exclusively of wealthy, powerful male citizens.
What is the Senate?
This is the name given to the two centuries of peace and stability across the empire that began under the rule of Augustus.
What is the Pax Romana?
True or False: Historians believe that a long line of very strong, wise, and capable rulers is what directly caused the fall of Rome.
What is False? (A series of weak and corrupt rulers contributed to its downfall).
In both the Roman and U.S. legal systems, these legal officials are responsible for looking at and interpreting the laws during a trial.
Who are judges?
This later emperor went a step further than Constantine by making Christianity the one and only official religion of the Roman Empire.
Who is Theodosius?
True or False: A mercenary is a kind-hearted person who takes mercy on the poor and helps them out.
What is False?
These people were the poorer, working-class Roman citizens who made up the majority of the population but held very little power early on.
Who are the Plebeians?
This famous Roman general and dictator was famously stabbed to death by a group of senators on the floor of the Senate.
Who is Julius Caesar?
Unlike other emperors who ruled from a throne, this emperor was known for shockingly stepping into the arena to perform as a gladiator.
Who is Commodus?
Rome's three biggest lasting achievements were establishing new laws, uniting the people of the empire, and building this infrastructure.
What are roads?
True or False: Emperor Constantine actively used his power to encourage the spread of old Roman paganism and worship of the traditional gods.
What is False? (He strongly encouraged and supported Christianity).
During the long decline of Rome, hiring mercenaries became a major disadvantage because these soldiers lacked this important quality toward Rome.
What is loyalty?
These individuals were the wealthiest, most powerful citizens in Rome who controlled the early government and economy.
Who are the Patricians?
Rather than forcing conquered people to live exactly like Romans, Rome allowed them local freedom as long as they supplied raw materials, bought Roman goods, and did this.
What is pay taxes?
True or False: Instead of sitting upright in fancy chairs like we do today, wealthy Romans would actually recline on couches when eating their meals.
What is False? (The statement "Wealthy Romans sat in fancy chairs to eat" is false because they lay down on couches).
Throughout most of their history, Romans were highly tolerant of different religions across the empire under these two conditions.
What is keeping the peace and paying taxes?
Emperor Constantine moved the massive capital of the empire away from the city of Rome to this ancient Greek city, which he renamed Constantinople.
What is Byzantium?
To capture the city of Rome, this invading Germanic tribe cut off the city's food supply, robbed the homes of the wealthy, and burned what they couldn't take.
Who are the Visigoths?