Lec 6 CLA 2323

What year is traditionally cited as the mythological founding of Rome?

753 BC

What does the Roman dating system AUC stand for?

Ab Urbe Condita ("from the founding of the city")

What event in 509 BC sparked the overthrow of the Roman monarchy and the birth of the Republic?

The assault of the Roman matron Lucretia by a prince

What was the primary path to social prestige for a Roman aristocrat during the Republic?

Becoming a victorious general

Who did Rome defeat and ultimately destroy in 146 BC after three brutal wars?

Carthage (in the Punic Wars)

What dangerous precedent did Sulla set in 88 BC?

He was the first to march a formally constituted Roman army on Rome itself

What were Sulla's "proscriptions"?

Public death lists used to purge political enemies and weaken the Senate

What title did Julius Caesar's nephew adopt after establishing one-man rule (the Empire)?

Augustus (meaning "holy" or "sacred")

What major technological flaw contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire?

Heavy reliance on slavery stunted technological adoption (e.g., ignoring the steam engine)

In what year did the Western Roman Empire fall to the Germanic king Odoacer?

476 AD

How did Roman ancestor veneration differ from Greek religious practices?

Romans kept death masks and shrines in their homes to venerate ancestors and legitimize social standing

How is traditional Roman religion described in terms of its purpose?

Highly functional and utilitarian; gods existed to grant favors in exchange for exact worship

What is animism in the context of Roman religion?

Personifying abstract concepts into deities, such as Concordia (harmony) and Spes (hope)

Who was the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Ares, and how did they differ?

Mars; while Ares represented chaos/bloodlust, Mars represented strategy, masculinity, and courage

Who was the Roman equivalent of Hera, and what was her unique Roman role?

Juno; she was a fierce protectress of the city (Juno Sospita) alongside being a mother goddess

Why did early Christianity appeal to many Romans, especially the lower classes?

It offered a personal relationship with a God who suffered, inverting the traditional Roman power dynamic, and accepted women and slaves

How did the Greeks geographically perceive the mythological world?

As flat with a dome sky, placing humanity at the absolute center

What were the five realms of the Greek mythological universe?

Sky (Gods), Earth (Humans), Hades (Dead mortals), Tartarus (Imprisoned monsters/wicked), and Elysium (Paradise)

In Greek mythology, what did the world outside the polis (city-state) represent?

Unregulated chaos, extreme danger, and unbridled sexuality (nature)

What did the Amazons represent to the Greek male mind?

The ultimate inversion of order (a society ruled by warrior women)

What did Gorgons (like Medusa) symbolize in Greek mythology?

The fear of unbridled, dangerous femininity and women possessing power over men

Who were the Hyperboreans in Greek myth?

A tribe at the edge of the world living in a primitive "Golden Age," communing directly with the gods

What did the Greek polis (city-state) represent conceptually?

Masculine order and control

How was the Greek underworld (Hades) contrasted with Mount Olympus?

Hades was in eternal darkness, while Mount Olympus existed in perpetual light

What Greek god was brought into the Roman pantheon without changing his name?

Apollo (brought in during the 5th century BC as a god of medicine/reason)