Roman Emperors Trivia

1. Julius Caesar's enmity with Pompey reached a critical point at a battle in which city in central Greece? Although it did not end the civil war, Caesar's victory was instrumental in securing his power.

From Quiz Emperors of Rome (Part I)

Answer: Pharsalus

Although many people do not regard Caesar as a true emperor, these tend to be later sources; Suetonius (c. 79-122 AD) includes Caesar in his volume "Lives of the Twelve Caesars". Indeed, it's very telling that the word for emperor was Caesar, which can still be seen today in the German "Kaiser" and the Russian "tsar". Although Caesar and Pompey had joined together in the First Triumvirate (with Crassus), their bond began to weaken with Crassus's death, and was fully broken by the death of Julia, Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife. Caesar caused a rift with the senate as he demanded the privilege to run for the consulship while remaining in Gaul; by Roman law, to run for consulship, one must be in Rome, and also by law, army commanders must surrender their legions before entering the city. Thus Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his troops in an invasion of Italy. Pompey, along with many of the senate, fled to Greece, and was followed by Caesar and his army. At the Battle of Pharsalus, although Pompey had much of the upper hand - more troops, more provisions, and Greece was loyal to him - he suffered a massive defeat at the hands of Caesar, and fled to Egypt, where Ptolemy XIII's men murdered him.

From Quiz Domitian and Nerva

Answer: Titus Flavius Domitianus

He was the brother of the former emperor Titus and ruled for 15 years. Thought to be a tyrant by some historians.

From Quiz Jerry Springer: Imperial Rome edition

Answer: Claudius

Claudius married Agrippina the Younger, the daughter of his brother Germanicus. She was his fourth wife, and was rumoured to have murdered him in order to ensure the succession of her son, the future Nero Caesar. Claudius was a little uneasy about marrying someone so closely related, and decided to make it legal for freeborn men to marry a niece. Unsurprisingly, not many people went for it. Claudius was also famously fond of dice, and was deified after his death.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Diocletian

Diocles was a Greek name from the area of Dalmatia. He was probably an illegimate child as well, becoming a competent soldier and eventually a protectores.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Julius Caesar

Augustus' father had been married to Atia, sister of Caesar's wife.

From Quiz Emperors of Rome (Part I)

Answer: Augustus

Octavian, Antony and Lepidus (Caesar's former deputy) formed the Second Triumvirate, in spite of their differences. However, the bonds between Octavian and Antony were always uneasy, and this was only intensified when Octavian banished Lepidus without consulting Antony. With Antony behaving lewdly while Octavian made progress throughout Italy, many Italian towns pledged allegiance to the latter, and Octavian assumed power and declared war against Antony. In 31 BC, Antony's and Cleopatra's armies surrendered in battle and fled, and the two later committed suicide. Now reigning as Augustus, Octavian gave up the dictatorial rights that he had been granted in the war against Antony, and much power was given to two friends, Agrippa and Maecenas. This structure was a halfway point between the republican government of previous and the monarchical rule of emperorship, which was beneficial because the people feared a return to dictatorships such as Sulla's, whose bloody reign of terror put fear into the Roman people in the years before Caesar's rise to power.

From Quiz Domitian and Nerva

Answer: 81 AD

He assumed the emperorship after a supposed assasination of his brother Titus, although the assasination has not been proven.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Diocletian

Diocletian was such an unusual emperor, he deserves to be twice mentioned. It is said that Diocletian appeared in public with his face painted a white-pale shade, so that he would appear spectre-like. Occasionally he would disappear in a puff of smoke through a trap door, excercising his apparent divinity.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Vespasian

Vespasian died after a short illness in 79AD.

From Quiz Emperors of Rome (Part I)

Answer: Germanicus

Germanicus was the people's choice to succeed or usurp Tiberius, and his army staged a mutiny in Germany, in which they murdered Roman centurions and urged Germanicus to seize the throne from Tiberius. However, he refused, and reportedly he threatened suicide to force his men's loyalty to the emperor, which showed his soldiers that he was perhaps not suited as a commander - apparently, one man offered his own sword for the deed, proclaiming it was sharper than Germanicus's own! Germanicus died suddenly in Syria, and it was suspected that the governor, Piso, had poisoned him on instruction from Tiberius; Piso himself was then found dead, having "committed suicide" following a visit by Sejanus, the commander of the Praetorian Guard. Germanicus's death devastated the people, for Tiberius severely lacked the desired qualities when it came to interpersonal political relations. He deemed the Senate "men fit to be slaves" (according to historian Tacitus) and invoked the "lex maiestatis", which was a law against treason, for which the guilty were beheaded. Tellingly, whoever accused someone found guilty would gain a share of his estate, and the law was much abused in Tiberius's reign. Tiberius spent his final years as a recluse, having become very paranoid. He died of natural causes, amid rumors that Sejanus's successor had suffocated him.

From Quiz Jerry Springer: Imperial Rome edition

Answer: Caligula

Caligula was perhaps the most famously unbalanced Emperor Rome ever had to endure. Although no definite proof exists to show that Caligula made Incitatus a consul, there is a persistent belief that he did. The story certainly seems to fit in with Caligula's record of extremely erratic behaviour. Making his favourite horse Incitatus a consul was one of his more harmless acts, along with providing him with a gold stable. Caligula was famous for his debauchery and his bloodthirstiness, and Rome suffered greatly under his rule. He also believed himself to be a god, and was eventually murdered by Cassius Chaerea, an officer of the Praetorian Guard.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Constantine

Once in power he executed his son Crispus and wife Faustus. Constantine gained complete power and reunited the empire under his supreme control; surely his rule was the undoing of the empire...particularly his creation of the eastern capital at Constantinople which undermined the grandeur of Rome.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Caligula

'Caliga' are the army sandals or boots worn by Roman soldiers with whom his family campaigned during the early years of his life.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Commodus

Commodus was our beloved monster. According to the movie 'Gladiator' he strangled his own father Marcus Aurelius, but that's just fiction. But in the end his opponents got at him. Narcissus killed him while he was in his bath. Not surprising, really: he used to take up to eight showers a day. Verus was his uncle and Pertinax was a rebellious general of those days.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Heliogabalus

Heliogabalus (Varius Avitus Bassianus) was cousin to Caracalla and claimed to be his son. The sun-god cult of which he became a priest was too much for the conservative Roman public to take, he was later murdered...only 4 years into his reign.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Galba, Otho, Vitellius,Vespasian

Year of the Four Emperors was AD 69.

From Quiz Emperors of Rome (Part I)

Answer: His fourth wife

Claudius was the uncle of Caligula, and according to legend was declared the new emperor when he was found hiding behind a curtain by the Praetorian Guard. He is thought to have suffered from cerebral palsy and a club foot, and was humiliated by his nephew after they had shared the consulship. He lacked political experience, and frequently surrounded himself with freedmen rather than senators. About a decade into his thirteen year reign, Rome was scandalized by the sexual misconduct of his third wife, Valeria Messalina, who was executed for her actions. The emperor then took a fourth wife, his niece Agrippina, having changed the law to allow this incestuous marriage. Agrippina's son Nero was a few years older than Claudius's son Britannicus. Britannicus would only succeed his father if he were over 14 years of age and so Agrippina arranged for her husband to be poisoned by mushrooms while at a banquet to allow Nero to succeed to the post of emperor before Britannicus was of age. Nero was 16 at the time. Several months later, Britannicus was also murdered by poisoning. Again, because Claudius had so relied on freedmen, both the senate and the people rejoiced when Nero came to power.

From Quiz Domitian and Nerva

Answer: Stabbed to death

He was killed by Stephanus and a number of freedmen. His successor was Nerva, the father of Trajan. Nerva reigned for only 16 months.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Septimius Severus

The Severan dynasty was begun under his reign and the rank of Princeps was passed on to his son Caracalla. Septimius was a decent emperor but had to deal with challenges from both Clodius Albinus and Pescinus Niger...both of whom he defeated.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Tiberius

Augustus banished her in 2BC because of her allegedly unbecoming behaviour.

From Quiz Domitian and Nerva

Answer: 16 months

He announced his successor Trajan in October of 97 and was dead two months later.

From Quiz Jerry Springer: Imperial Rome edition

Answer: Drusilla

Drusilla, Agrippina and Lesbia (Julia Livilla) were all sisters of Caligula. Due to the fact that Caligula did many unspeakable and bloodthirsty things, it is difficult to ascertain the full extent of Caligula's relationship with his sisters, as it is hard to tell fact from rumour. It is certain that Drusilla was his favourite sister, and that after her death he made her a goddess. Although it is likely that Drusilla died of fever, other accounts claim that when she became pregnant by Caligula, he disembowelled her in an attempt to get to the 'divine' child. Livia was the wife of Augustus, and the matriarch of the Julio-Claudian house.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Carus

Carus was emperor for 11 months 282-2383 AD. that man.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Galla Placida

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Nero

He is believed to have changed his name at the insistence of his mother, Agrippina.

From Quiz Domitian and Nerva

Answer: Germania

He was commanding legions in Germany, came to Rome for two months, and then went back to secure the German front from hostile German tribes still living there.

From Quiz Jerry Springer: Imperial Rome edition

Answer: Nero

Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula. His mother went on the marry her uncle, the Emperor Claudius, and her son was adopted into the imperial family, with the name Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus. When he was Emperor, Nero brought great shame to himself by performing in public as an actor, singer and musician, as these pursuits were not considered fitting ways for a ruler to pass his time. Nero set about trying to kill his mother when he realised her power over him was too great for his own comfort. It is recorded that he attempted to poison her three times, constructed a device to make her bedroom ceiling collapse, and attempted to drown her by giving her a boat designed to sink. Upon the failure of the final plot, Nero gave up subterfuge and sent soldiers to arrest and execute her. Aelius Sejanus was a favourite of Tiberius, and for a time was the most influential Roman citizen. He plotted to seize imperial power, and was executed when the plot was discovered by Tiberius.

From Quiz Peculiar Roman Emperors

Answer: Julian

He was said to be stolid, modest and uncommonly ugly. Never washed or bathed and lived like a slob, but was as courageous and virtuous as befit an emperor. With a well-discplined army Julian led them to conquer the Persians, reaching Ctesiphon and almost subduing the Persians until he was said to have been struck by an arrow from his own army.

From Quiz Roman Emperors

Answer: Nerva

Although this was supposed to be reward for helping Domitian avoid a plot against him, Domitian began to distrust Nerva later in his reign.

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