A Day at the Forum Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tiberius

Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, Tiberius was the son of Augustus's third wife Livia Drusilla (later known as Julia Augusta), from her first marriage. His reign as emperor was from 14 to 37 AD. Although he had had a distinguished military career and his reign got off to a good start, this did not last and he became increasingly unpopular, so much so that when he died the populace clamoured for his body to be thrown into the Tiber, a fate normally reserved for criminals' remains.

In the end, however, he was cremated.

He was succeeded by his adopted grandson (also great-nephew) Caligula.

Answer: bathing

A strigil was a metal tool used along with perfumed oils to scrape dirt and sweat from the body before bathing. Roman bathing was quite a ritual; only wealthy families had their own bath houses, so for the majority of the people bathing was undertaken in public bath houses.

These consisted of a hot bath, called a caldarium, a tepidarium (warm), and the frigidarium, which as its name suggests, was a cold bath. Bath houses were often elaborate and bathing was almost a social event, with friends and families meeting together to bathe whilst passing the time of day or even conducting business.

Many bath houses had large seating areas and even offered food and drink for sale.

Answer: Denarius

The denarius was a silver coin used in Roman times from circa 211 BC. As time went on the silver content was gradually reduced. Other Roman coins of the time were as (pl. asses), sestertius and dupondius.

The thermopolium was effectively a fast food restaurant/bar found throughout Rome and the surrounding area, which sold wines and hot food. Food was kept warm in sunken earthenware pots called dolia. Hot food could be eaten standing at the long counter and some larger thermopolia also had seated dining areas.

Spiculus was the name of a famous gladiator during the reign of Nero, and the caldarium was the 'hot room' in a Roman bath house, comprising a hot bath situated above the underfloor heating.

Answer: Vespasian

After Nero's death by suicide in AD 68, Rome was plunged into the chaos of a short-lived civil war, with Galba (Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus) emerging as the new Roman Emperor on 8 June AD 68. His popularity was also short-lived, and in January AD 69 he was superseded in turn by Otho and Vitellius. Vespasian (Titus Flavius Vespasianus) then came to power while he was in Egypt, with the support of the Legions opposed to Vitellius. Under his reign the Empire began a period of financial reform and greater stability.

Answer: Pliny the Younger

Pliny the Younger wrote in depth of the eruption of Vesuvius in his correspondence to his friend, the historian Tacitus. Pliny the Elder, his uncle, who was head of the Roman Navy, was also present, in nearby Misenum, on a rescue mission, and it is believed he succumbed to a heart attack or possibly an asthma attack.

His nephew had the sadness of knowing his uncle had perished, but he kept a clear head and managed to write his account of the horrors he saw despite being only seventeen at the time.

His account was so descriptive that volcanic eruptions such as the one he witnessed are now called Plinian in his honour.

Answer: Hadrian

Of these four, only Hadrian died of natural causes, believed to be heart failure, in 138 AD after a reign of 21 years. Pertinax was Emperor for only three months in 193 AD. He was murdered by the Praetorian Guard, ironically the very ones who had helped his rise to power. The Praetorian Guard were also responsible for the assassination of Maximinus I in 238 AD at the end of his three-year reign. Lastly, Nero committed suicide with the help of his secretary in 68 AD, following the discovery that he had been declared a public enemy by the Senate and condemned to death.

Answer: Fishbourne

The excavation of the ruins of Fishbourne Roman Palace, as it is known, started in 1960 after it had been discovered when work was being done to lay a water main. The remains and the accompanying museum which was built to accompany the site are administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society. The site is very large, covering about 500 square metres, and is a very interesting place to visit. It is particularly famed for its mosaic floors, which are in excellent order, and the garden, which has been extensively replanted with plants that would have grown there in Roman times.

Magiovinium was a Roman settlement in present-day Buckinghamshire, Lindinis was the Roman name for the village of Ilchester, Somerset, and Segedunum is the site of a Roman fort in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

Answer: XLIII

X in Roman numerals stands for 10, L for 50 and I, naturally, is 1. When writing Roman numerals, to avoid writing too many successive characters the number 40, for example, is written XL, in other words 'ten before fifty'. Therefore, 43 is correctly written XLIII, not, as might be assumed, XXXXIII.

The full set of Roman numerals is: I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500 and M = 1,000. The year in which this quiz was written is therefore MMXIII (2013).

Answer: gladiatorial battles, public executions and drama

The construction of the Colosseum, or Flavian amphitheatre, was started in 70 AD under the Emperor Vespasian (69-79 AD). He died before it was finished and its completion was left to his son and successor Titus, with later additions by Titus's successor, his younger brother Domitian.

The Colosseum is the world's biggest amphitheatre and its ruins are visited by thousands of tourists every year. It was an integral part of Roman society and the scene of many epic battles between gladiators and also between gladiators and wild animals; a gladiator who fought against wild beasts was called a bestiarius. Public executions were a regular feature and were well-attended, and such was the Colosseum's capacity and design it could even be flooded to set the stage for mock sea battles!

Answer: Lindsey Davis

Historical novelist Lindsey Davis's 'Falco' series covers twenty volumes, from 'The Silver Pigs', published in 1989, to 'Nemesis', published in 2010. Her central character Marcus Didius Falco is a Roman 'informer', the term for what we would call nowadays a private detective, in tales set in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian (69 - 79 AD).

The books pay careful attention to the historical accuracy of the period, along with all the intrigue of a classic detective story, and the lives of the main character and his family, friends and enemies, of which a particularly worthy one is Anacrites, the chief spy. Ms Davis's books have won several awards including the British Crime Writers' Association's Dagger in the Library award in 1995.