Key Questions on Roman History – Practice Flashcards

60 question-and-answer flashcards that trace Rome’s rise, government, wars, reforms, emperors, and transformation into medieval Europe. They cover core people, dates and concepts from the founding (753 B.C.) to the fall of Constantinople (A.D. 1453). Use them to test recall of key milestones and ideas.

What central lesson does Roman history give about the nations of modern Europe?

It explains why European nations share many laws, customs and ideas from Rome, yet differ because each preserved them in different degrees and mixed them with Germanic traditions.

Which five big questions does the book say you must ask about Rome?

1) How Rome became fit to conquer, 2) How she made her conquests, 3) How she kept them, 4) How she governed the world, 5) Why she fell.

In what year was Rome traditionally founded, and by which Italian tribe?

753 B.C. by Latin settlers as a river‐colony on the Tiber.

Who were Romulus and Remus according to Roman legend?

Twin sons of Mars who founded Rome; Romulus killed Remus and became the city’s first king.

Name the social classes that formed inside early Rome.

Patricians (old noble families) and Plebeians (the ‘crowd’ of new settlers without political rights).

What was the main duty of the Roman Senate in the regal period?

It acted as the council of the ‘fathers’ (patres) and advised the king on state affairs.

Why did the Romans abolish their monarchy in 509 B.C.?

They expelled Lucius Tarquinius Superbus for tyranny and refused to suffer kings again.

What two annual magistrates replaced the king, and what special emergency office was retained?

Two Consuls replaced the king; a Dictator could still be appointed for six months in crises.

Why did the Plebeians secede to the Sacred Hill in 494 B.C., and what office did they gain?

Debt-bondage and harsh patrician rule drove them out; they returned when granted their own protectors, the Tribunes of the Plebs.

What did the Twelve Tables (451-450 B.C.) achieve?

They published Rome’s first written code, ending patrician monopoly of legal knowledge.

Who proposed the first great Agrarian Law (486 B.C.) and what was its aim?

Spurius Cassius wanted public land distributed to poor Plebeians and rent charged on the rest.

Which offices did patricians invent to weaken the Consuls once Plebeians pushed for equality?

The Censorship (443 B.C.) and later the Praetorship.

What were the Licinian–Sextian Laws of 367 B.C.?

They limited patrician use of public land, eased debts and required that one Consul must be a Plebeian.

After which year were Patricians and Plebeians legally equal in holding offices?

By 300 B.C., when Plebeians could hold every magistracy, including the priesthoods.

Against which two mountain tribes did Rome fight her earliest long wars (5th century B.C.)?

The Æquians and the Volscians.

Which barbarian people sacked Rome in 390/387 B.C. and what fortress held out?

The Gauls under Brennus; only the Capitol remained untaken, saved by Manlius and the sacred geese.

Who were Rome’s hardest Italian enemies (343-290 B.C.) and which three wars bear their name?

The Samnites; First, Second and Third Samnite Wars.

Which Greek king brought elephants to Italy (280-275 B.C.) and what did his ‘Pyrrhic victories’ show?

Pyrrhus of Epirus; he could win battles but not the war because Rome replaced her losses.

What strategic tools did Rome use to hold Italy after 264 B.C.?

Citizen and Latin colonies planted as military outposts and a network of paved military roads.

Why is 241 B.C. important in Rome’s overseas story?

End of the First Punic War; Rome gained Sicily, her first province, and became a naval power.

Explain the function of a Roman ‘province’.

A conquered territory governed by a yearly Roman magistrate, paying tribute but without Roman citizenship.

What device (‘corvus’) helped Rome win early sea battles against Carthage?

A boarding bridge with a spike that fastened to enemy decks, turning sea fights into land combats.

Which three major battles did Hannibal win on Italian soil before 216 B.C.?

Ticinus, Trebbia and Lake Trasimene.

Where and when did Hannibal inflict Rome’s worst defeat, and with what loss?

At Cannae, 216 B.C.; about 70,000 Romans and allies fell.

Who was the ‘Cunctator’ and what was his strategy?

Quintus Fabius Maximus; he delayed, harassed and avoided pitched battle to wear Hannibal down.

Name the decisive battle of the Second Punic War and its result.

Zama (202 B.C.); Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal, forcing Carthage to sue for peace.

What two lasting effects did Hannibal’s war have on Roman society?

Rome became supreme naval-land power in the west, and Italian small-farmers were ruined, increasing slavery and urban poverty.

Which Syrian king did Rome defeat at Magnesia (190 B.C.)?

Antiochus III (the Great) of the Seleucid Empire.

What chief purpose did Roman client-kings serve in the East before it was made provincial?

They acted as buffers and paid obedience to Rome, preventing any single eastern power from growing dominant.

Who destroyed Carthage, in what year, and why?

Scipio Aemilianus in 146 B.C.; Carthage was forced into war and annihilated because Rome feared its revival.

What fundamental problem did Tiberius and Caius Gracchus try to solve?

Loss of small freeholders and growth of slave latifundia; they sought land redistribution and wider political rights.

How did Marius transform the Roman army (c. 107 B.C.)?

He recruited landless citizens for long service, equipped by the state, turning legions into a professional standing army loyal to generals.

What did the Social War (91-88 B.C.) achieve?

It forced Rome to grant full citizenship to all Italian allies.

What constitutional precedent did Sulla set after his civil war victory?

He entered Rome with legions, proscribed opponents, became Dictator with no term limit and re-wrote the constitution to favour the Senate.

Which three men formed the ‘First Triumvirate’ (60 B.C.) and what held it together?

Pompeius, Crassus and Julius Caesar; mutual self-interest and personal armies.

What river did Caesar cross in 49 B.C., starting civil war, and what phrase is linked to it?

The Rubicon; ‘The die is cast’ (Alea iacta est).

Identify the battle (48 B.C.) that decided the war between Caesar and Pompeius.

Battle of Pharsalus, where Caesar triumphed.

Why was Julius Caesar assassinated on 15 March 44 B.C.?

Senators feared his lifetime dictatorship and possible kingship undermined the Republic.

Who won at Actium (31 B.C.) and what political era began?

Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra; the Roman Principate or Empire began.

List two key constitutional powers Augustus kept for life.

Proconsular imperium (army command) and tribunician power (initiative with the people).

How did Augustus secure the Roman frontiers in the north?

By treating the Rhine and Danube as natural boundaries after Varus lost three legions in Teutoburg Forest (A.D. 9).

Name one infamous act associated with Emperor Nero.

Persecution of Christians after the Great Fire of Rome (A.D. 64).

Which dynasty began with Vespasian and what famous amphitheatre did he build?

The Flavian dynasty; he started the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre).

Who was the first emperor born outside Italy (a Spaniard) and what province did he add (A.D. 106)?

Trajan; he annexed Dacia north of the Danube.

Why did Hadrian construct a wall across northern Britain?

To mark and defend the Empire’s limit against unconquered Caledonian tribes.

Which philosopher-emperor wrote ‘Meditations’ and fought the Marcomannic Wars?

Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180).

What critical military change followed the murder of Commodus (192)?

Praetorians openly auctioned the throne, signalling overt military control over succession.

Which reforming emperor (284-305) split authority among four rulers and introduced elaborate court ceremony?

Diocletian.

What is the significance of the Edict of Milan (A.D. 313)?

Issued by Constantine and Licinius, it granted full toleration to Christianity in the Empire.

Why did Constantine found Constantinople (330), and on which strait does it stand?

To create a strategic, Christian capital on the Bosporus, better placed to defend east and west.

Which 4th-century battle saw Emperor Valens killed by the Visigoths?

Battle of Adrianople, A.D. 378.

Who sacked Rome in 410 and what new kingdom did his people later found?

Alaric’s Visigoths; they established the Visigothic kingdom in Spain and southern Gaul.

Name the ‘Scourge of God’ who led the Huns and was checked at Châlons (451).

Attila.

In what year did the Western Roman Empire conventionally ‘fall’, and who became king in Italy?

476 A.D.; Odoacer, leader of the Heruli, ruled Italy as ‘Patrician’ for the Eastern Emperor.

Which Eastern emperor’s general Belisarius briefly reconquered Africa and Italy?

Justinian (527-565).

Which new religion united the Arabs and stripped the Empire of Syria, Egypt and Africa (7th century)?

Islam, founded by the prophet Muhammad.

Who was crowned ‘Roman Emperor’ in A.D. 800, renewing the title in the West?

Charlemagne (Charles the Great) by Pope Leo III.

What event in 1453 finally ended the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire?

Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II.