Intermediate NJCL Certamen History

What two brothers, known to their mother as her "jewels," served as tribunes of the plebs in the late second century BC and passed popular legislation such as the redistribution of land to the landless and the discounted sale of grain?

Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus

Which of the Gracchi brothers ensured the passage of a law that established the colony of Junonia on the site of Carthage?

Gaius

In what year did Scipio Nasica and his mob assassinate Tiberius Gracchus?

133 BC

What part of his equipment was a soldier's cingulum?

belt

What part of his equipment was a soldier's lorica?

breastplate

What part of his equipment was a soldier's umbo?

knob on shield

Who encouraged Gaius Silius to replace the emperor Claudius as emperor -- and as her husband -- while Claudius was away from Rome?

Messalina

What freedman of Claudius had the praetorians kill Messalina and Silius before Claudius returned?

Narcissus

Who replaced Messalina as Claudius' fourth and final wife?

Agrippina the Younger

What emperor was beloved by his subjects in spite of the disasters that occurred during his reign, which included a plague and a fire in Rome as well as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius?

Titus

In what year did Vesuvius erupt?

79 AD

In what year did Titus die?

81 AD

Who was the first Roman king of an Etruscan background?

Tarquinius Priscus

From what Greek town had Priscus' father Demaratus been exiled when he came to Etruria?

Corinth

Give the Latin term for the sewer system, constructed by Priscus, that drained the Forum, allowing construction to begin there.

Cloaca Maxima

What island in the Bay of Naples was home for eleven years to the emperor Tiberius?

Capri

What praetorian prefect encouraged Tiberius to retire to Capri and leave him in charge in Rome?

Sejanus

To what island had Tiberius retired for eight years during the reign of Augustus, after it was clear that Augustus favored his grandsons Gaius and Lucius to succeed him?

Rhodes

What Arvernian chieftain, still considered a national hero in France, led a revolt in Gaul against Caesar that culminated in Caesar's sack of Alesia?

Vercingentorix

In what year did Caesar sack Alesia?

52 BC

What Roman politician was murdered on the Appian Way in 52 BC?

Clodius

What was the distinction between arma and tēla in the weapons carried by Roman soldiers?

arma were defensive; tēla were offensive

What cognōmen is shared by two Romans who, though over four and a half centuries apart, are remembered as Rome's greatest tyrannicides?

Brutus

Marcus Iunius Brutus' mother Servilia had a long-standing affair with what famous Roman?

Caesar

How did Marcus Iunius Brutus die?

suicide

What emperor, who was first hailed as Augustus by his troops at Eboracum in 306 A.D., later signed a letter in Milan proclaiming religious toleration in the Roman empire?

Constantine

What other son of a tetrarch proclaimed himself prīnceps in Rome shortly after Constantine was declared Augustus in Britain?

Maxentius

What battle in 312 A.D. saw Constantine and Maxentius in a final showdown?

Milvian / Mulvian Bridge / Saxa Rubra

With what are all of the following terms associated: olla, tumulus, rogus, imāginēs, cenotaphium, and columbārium?

death / burial / funerals

What was a rogus?

a funeral pyre

What Greek colony in Italy hired Pyrrhus to fight against their enemy Rome?

Tarentum

What right of the tribunes, previously recognized only in an oath of the plebeians, was confirmed by one of the Valerio-Horatian Laws of the fifth century B.C.?

sacrosanctity

What political benefit did the Lēx Licinia Sextia, enacted in 367 B.C., confer upon the plebeian order?

required that one consul be a plebian

What law of 287 B.C. abolished the Senate's right of veto on plēbiscīta?

Hortensian law

By what man's orders was the Alban king, Mettius Fufetius, drawn and quartered?

Tullus Hostilius

What three Roman brothers fought in a duel with three Alban brothers during the reign of Tullus to determine a winner in the war between Rome and Alba Longa?

the Horatiī

How did Tullus Hostilius die?

in a fire

Let's go on a trip from Rome to Byzantium. What road will we take from Rome to Brundisium to catch the boat?

Via Appia

At what battle did the dissension of Maximus and Caepio lead to a disastrous Roman defeat at the hands of the Cimbri?

Arausio / Orange

Name another tribe allied with the Cimbri at Arausio.

Teutones / Tigurini

Who took the disaster of Arausio as an opportunity to swoop in as savior of Rome?

Marius

What emperor celebrated a double triumph in Rome for victories over the Dacians and Chatti in 89 AD?

Domitian

What natural event prevented Saturninus' German allies from joining him and doubling the severity of the revolt?

the Rhine thawed