Quiz Notes

Quiz #1

1. The term paterfamilias refers to

a. “the ways of our ancestors”: traditional Roman behavior and customs

b. “the father of the family”: the elder male with life and death authority over the household(true)

c. “the high priest”: the priest in charge of the Vestal Virgins and other priests

d. “the crunchy frog”: the small honeyed amphibians wealthy Romans ate as a delicacy

The paterfamilias was the senior male figure in an extended family (all those connected by a vertical male bloodline). According to custom and law, the paterfamilias was the owner of all the family’s property, and the sole representative of its interests to the public. All that happened within the family—private matters, as contrasted with public matters (res publica)—were entirely in the hands of the paterfamilias, who had complete power (patria potestas) of justice and disposition over all the men, women, children, freedmen, slaves, and possessions of his bloodline, up to an including the right to execute or sell into slavery.

2. Roman religious officials included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. flamens (high priests dedicated to a particular god or goddess)

b. ciceros (responsible for archiving speeches)(not true)

c. fetials (involved in issues of peace and war)

d. augurs (consulted the will of the gods)

Roman religious officials included pontiffs, flames, fetials, and augurs. (The magi were Persian Zoroastrian religious officials.)

3. The senate differed from the assemblies in that the senate

a. consisted entirely of old men retired from politics

b. could only be convened by a firstborn son

c. operated independently of religion and the gods

d. could not pass laws(true)

The senate was an advisory body consisting of an elder from the most important Roman families, especially the priesthood-holding families that became the patricians. The senate had no political power; it could only issue advisory decrees (called senatus consultum). But their collective prestige and their members’ role in providing religious advice provided them with great influence, gaining them a sense of responsibility for protecting Rome’s customs and traditions. In addition, because the elected magistrates served for only one year and so were largely focused on short-term needs and crises, it fell to the senate to consider long-term policy, especially concerning foreign affairs.

Roman assemblies were meetings of the citizen body, with the power to vote on laws and elect magistrates. Unlike the senate, these assemblies had sovereign constitutional power to govern Rome. Nonetheless, these assemblies were weighted to favor the wealthiest classes.

They voted in special groups, each group getting one vote. The centuriate assembly was essentially the citizen army meeting as a legislature. Vote was by century, and the 193 centuries were ordered and weighted by census class (the poorest with little or no landed property were lumped into a single century, the proletariat, while the upper centuries were populated by the richest citizens). For these reasons, measures could pass solely with the support of the elite.

(The tribal assembly met in the Forum and had power over domestic affairs and election of the other magistracies. Vote was by tribe, and the 35 tribes were ordered and weighted by census class—the lower classes were lumped into the four “urban tribes”, leaving the “rural tribes” in the hands of the rich estate-holders—so that measures could pass solely with the support of the elite.)

4. All of the following are true of the Struggle of the Orders EXCEPT:

a. It arose through stress between landed patrician families and less empowered families and clans (farmers, shopkeepers, artisans, etc.)

b. According to the text, the details of the Struggle of the Orders were deliberately exaggerated and oversimplified in later Roman accounts

c. Despite constant pressure to create them, no plebeian-only offices existed in the Republic(not true)

d. Class tension was alleviated through such gains as the Plebeian Council and the lex Hortensia

The Struggle of the Orders was a conflict between the patricians—members of a small set of old families that controlled offices in both the state religion and in government—and the plebeians, which was essentially all nonpatricians. Plebeian families that were wealthy and powerful, and so members of the elite, fought the patricians’ strangehold on power in the early Republic; legend says they even went on strike in a way, removing themselves from Rome and organizing their own assembly and leaders.

Out of this came (a) the plebeian assembly, a subset of the tribal assembly consisting only of plebeians, which eventually was able to make laws binding on all Romans; (b) the tribunes of the plebs, a board of ten elected officials with a duty to protect plebeians’ rights against the state and possessing a veto power and a sacrosanct person; and (c) the concession to allow plebeians to be elected to the major magistracies, including consul. (Most priesthoods, however, remained in the hands of patricians throughout the Republic.)—By the mid-fourth century the plebeians were able to push through a series of reforms, most notably the Licinian-Sextian Laws (366 BCE) requiring (among other things) that one of the two consduls be plebeian. The Struggle of the Orders effectively ended with the Hortensian laws (287 BCE) which made all Roman citizens subject to laws passed by the Plebeian Council.

5. The Twelve Tables

a. actually consisted of thirteen tables, accounting for the later notoriety of the number 13

b. were compiled by a special panel of six white-bearded men called a coven

c. publicly established in principle the equality of all free citizens before the law(true)

d. survives today entirely intact thanks to centuries of careful preservation of every word of the text

The Twelve Tables are a set of laws that were laid down by the board of ten lawmakers in the mid-fifth century, providing rules on dealing with disputes over property, marriage, debt, and injury. These laws established both specific precedents and the general precedent that justice in Rome was to be according to established rules and past decisions, as well as public and transparent.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Name an official of the Roman Republic and briefly describe what they did and how they were elected.

Roman state officials included censors (2, responsible for census and contracts), consuls (2, generals and chief executives), praetors (6, administrators and judges), aediles (4, temples and games), and quaestors (20, treasury and audits); tribunes of the plebs (10 protectors of the plebs); military tribunes (junior military officers); and special offices such as the dictator (crisis management) and the interrex (elections).

Quiz #2

1. An early Roman success that brought much-needed land wealth to Rome and made possible its first expansions into central Italy was

a. the Conquest of Veii (396 BCE)(true)

b. the Sack of Rome (390 BCE)

c. the First Samnite War (343–341 BCE)

d. the Pyrrhic War (280–275 BCE)

Roman expansion was made possible by a number of factors. First, the greatly increased wealth that came from the capture of Veii meant Rome had more economic resources. Second, increased territory meant more peoples were subject to taxation and military service, which meant larger armies of Romans and allies could be put in the field. Third, poltical reforms stabilized the conflict between the patricians and the plebeians, allowing more unified action. Finally, military reforms, including the advent of the manipular army in place of the hoplite phalanx, meant more versatile armies and a greater wealth of tactics and strategies.

2. According to Roman accounts, the first three dictators laid down all of the following precedents for future dictators EXCEPT:

a. A dictator’s power was limited to the specific need or crisis that had led to their appointment

b. A dictator resigned at the end of his crisis

c. Dictators were champions of the Roman nobility, to be used against foreigners and the lower classes alike(not true)

d. The dictatorship was used to resolve crises both military and domestic

The first three dictators were appointed in response to a public perception that a crisis needed emergency resolution by the man most qualified to do so. The first dictators therefore saw their total power as bound to that specific need only, and each resigned immediately in the resolution of the crisis. All future dictators understood the office as bound to a specific mandate and resigned at the earliest moment, restoring normalcy to Rome. The first dictators also appointed a magister equitum as their first act.

3. The Roman system of alliances and citizen communities in Italy included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Municipia (cities granted full or partial Roman citizenship)

b. Socii (Italian and Greek-Italian cities having mutual defensive pacts with Rome)

c. Canes felesque (cities treated affectionately by Rome and given regular food allowances)(not true)

d. Latin allies (cities allowed intermarriage and binding contracts with Romans)

The Roman apparatus of alliances and citizen communities in Italy included municipia, socii, and Latin allies. Cats and dogs (canes felesque) were not a formal part of the system.

4. Ways that expansion into central Italy impacted on Rome included all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Public works: Paved highways and aqueducts in Italy, plus a major building boom in Rome

b. Trade and manufacturing: Early coinage and increased production of manufactured goods

c. Agriculture: Conquered land redistributed to poor but also amassed into large estates

d. Art: Development of a new Greek-inspired medium involving humanlike forms with round, tinted faces depicting a range of strong emotions(not true)

Some of the ways expansion into central Italy impacted on Rome included: Trade and manufacturing: Increased production of manufactured goods (pottery and bronzes) and expansion of its markets in Italy and the west; early coinage; Public works: Paved highways and aqueducts in Italy, plus major building boom in Rome, including many new temples; Agriculture: Conquered land was redistributed to the poor but also amassed into large estates, producing lucrative crops for export and a demand for slaves; Urban: Increased urban population, free, slave, and ex-slave, from countryside and Italian cities; greater class tension as patricians defend prerogatives; Art: New temples and homes reflecting success in war; appropriation and Romanization of Greek art forms, especially literature and theater.

5. A favorite Roman story of the old days when Roman leaders valued humility over ambition was the tale of

a. Cincinnatus called to the dictatorship from his plow(true)

b. Claudius Pulcher naming his humble servant Glicia to the dictatorship

c. The first dictator, Larcius, being chosen for his impressive, Hercules-like appearance

d. The later-abandoned custom of granting dictators the cognomina Humilis Maximus (“humblest of men”) on their departure from office

Dictators were appointed by the consuls in response to a public perception of need. The duty of the consul was to choose the needed man for any crisis, regardless of family or status. Cincinnatus was chosen for his utter humility, representing core Roman values and rejecting any thought of glory, power, or wealth from office as un-Roman. Glicia was the wrong choice because the consul, Claudius Pulcher, deliberately chose him as the most unsuitable person he could think of to take command of the fleet out of sheer pique. Both cases illustrate that the dictatorship depended on the honor of the consuls choosing them as much as that of the dictators themselves.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. What set the manipular army apart from the hoplite-style armies Rome had used before?

The Romans reshaped their military in the 4th century by replacing their old-fashioned Greek/Etruscan style hoplite army with the manipular army, which operated in smaller, more maneuverable bands (maniple = fist). This change allowed fighting on many kinds of terrain and against a variety of enemies, but required more drilling and training, further militarizing Rome.

Quiz #3

1. Carthage was known for

a. a focus on farming with no interest in trade

b. incompetence in sailing and shipbuilding

c. its descent from the Phoenicians of Tyre(true)

d. succeeding despite being situated in a place of little strategic importance

Carthage controlled vital mining resources around the western Med, giving them access to lead, zinc, copper, tin, iron, and silver. They also controlled quantities of highly-prized grains, olive oil, wine, and fruit. As with their Phoenician forebears, they leveraged wealth in natural resources into lucrative luxury trade, including pottery, textiles, and jewelry.

The Phoenician seafaring tradition and the excellent harbors at Carthage ensured superior shipbuilding and expertise in sea trade. Carthage was also able to establish a powerful navy to protect its ships, ports, and land resources.

Not unlike Rome, Carthage was governed by its landholding familes via an assembly, a senate, and elected magistrates.

2. All of the following are true of the First Punic War EXCEPT:

a. The war came out of a conflict over Sicily, which both Rome and Carthage coveted

b. The call for aid from the Mamertines was backed by all Romans as a just and noble cause (not true)

c. Lacking in naval power to fight Carthage, Rome used a captured Carthaginian warship as a model for a new 100-ship armada

d. Rome’s win resulted in a punitive treaty and Rome’s first provincial territories

At the outset of the first war, Carthage was an established military power at sea, experienced in the building of ships, the equipping and operating them at sea, and naval strategy and tactics; on land, by contrast, they tended to rely on mercenary armies. Rome, however, had neither the inclination nor the expertise to be a naval power; by this time Rome had become expert at land warfare and tended to be suspicious of the sea, where their vast skills in land warfare were moot.

Now that the enemy was, for the first time, overseas, and because the object was the island of Sicily between Italy and north Africa, it was suddenly imperative to be able to fight at sea. Characteristically Rome approached this by both adapting to alien ideas and Romanizing them. A captured Carthaginian quinquireme was reverse-engineered and a contingent of merchant sailors and new recruits trained in using these speedy, maneuverable warships. Instead of relying on ramming, the primary naval tactic of the time, the Romans devised a free-turning grappling gangplank, the corvus, that enabled Roman soldiers aboard their ships to board the enemy and fight in the way Romans knew best—infantry combat.

3. Before the Second Punic War, the river Ebro was the boundary between

a. Carthaginian and Roman territory in Spain(true)

b. Carthage and Egypt

c. Italy and Gaul

d. the worlds of the living and of the dead

A treaty between Carthage and Rome marked the Ebro River in Spain as the boundary between the influence of Rome (from the north) and Carthage (from the south) in the Iberian peninsula. The deliberate violation of this agreement resulting from Rome’s interference in Saguntum (south of the Ebro, in Carthaginian territory) helped lead to the war.

4. All of the following are battles in which the Romans suffered disastrous defeats at the hands of Carthaginian forces EXCEPT:

a. Battle of Zama (202 BCE)(not true)

b. Battle of Lake Trasimene (217 BCE)

c. Battle of the Trebia (218 BCE)

d. Battle of Cannæ (216 BCE)

Hannibal inflicted a succession of devastating victories on Rome at Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae, all of which are in Italy. Carthage was finally defeated at the Battle of Zama, in the Carthaginian home territory in north Africa.

5. Fabius Maximus was known as Cunctator (the Delayer) because he

a. stalled Rome’s entry into the Second Punic War

b. avoided battle with Hannibal’s superior forces(true)

c. conducted his morning rituals in the afternoon

d. made annoyingly long speeches in the Senate

After the defeat at Trasimene, Fabius was made dictator in order to save Rome from Hannibal. His strategy of drawing Hannibal out and avoiding battle while Rome rebuilt its forces was extremely divisive among Romans at first, but was soon vindicated. Fabius was thereafter accounted one of the key heroes of the war with Hannibal.

Optional Extra Credit

EC. Explain one key thing that you think either (a) Rome did to win, or (b) Hannibal did to lose, the Second Punic War.

Hannibal had considerable advantages at the outset. In his march toward Italy through Spain and Gaul, and later in Italy itself, Hannibal collected allies from among the local peoples who marched with him to end the looming threat of Rome. This gave him great numbers as well as making parts of Italy itself hostile territory. Two successive annihilations of Roman forces, at Lake Trasimene and at Cannae, demoralized the leadership and terrified the populace.

While the Romans were so stricken and divided over the best response to Hannibal, however, Hannibal did not capitalize on this advantage by attacking Rome directly. Instead he allowed Rome to gain time to rebuild its nerve and its strength. The dictator Fabius pursued a strategy of avoiding battle and harassing Hannibal’s marching army, earning him the nickname Delayer, while attacking, taking, and punishing Italian, Sicilian, and Spanish cities allied with Hannibal one by one. Slowly Hannibal was hemmed in to the south, where his army was depleted and softened. Finally Scipio won support for a bold stroke against Carthage itself while its armies were holed up in Italy.

The militarization of Roman society and their deep reserve of manpower (which the invader Hannibal did not have) meant that even after the destruction of its forces it was able to equip, assemble, and field new armies for the next year’s campaign. Perhaps just as importantly, Roman military leadership was not pegged to a single mastermind like Hannibal; every year a new pair of trained and experienced generals was elected consul, allowing continued leadership even if consuls were killed in battle (as at Trasimene and Cannae); and dictators like Fabius could be appointed at need from the most seasoned and admired of Rome’s nobility. The senate was the repository of all Rome’s experience, including all the ex-magistrates. Thus, as it had against Pyrrhus and against the Samnites, Rome’s capacity for perseverance, recovery, and adaptation meant that even costly defeat in battle was only the latest crisis to be overcome.