Ancient Rome Mix Trivia Quiz

Answer: Caligula

Caligula only ruled as emperor for four years before he was assassinated. He started out as a popular emperor, and it is speculated that an illness he suffered caused brain damage and led to the increasingly bizarre behavior that ended with his assassination. Julius Caesar was never actually an Emperor.

After Caesar was murdered, his heir Octavian became the first Emperor. Nero was also known for his decadence, but he ruled after 41 AD. Tiberius was the second emperor of Rome and ruled immediately before Caligula.

Answer: A wolf

There is a famous bronze sculpture called "The Capitoline Wolf" that shows the baby twins suckling from a she-wolf. It can be seen in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. You can take a virtual tour of the museum at http://en.museicapitolini.org/

Answer: Mark Antony

Mark Antony had heard of the conspiracy, but was intercepted and detained when he tried to stop it. Marcus Brutus was the one to whom Caesar was supposed to have said, "Et tu, Brute?" (And you, Brutus?) Gaius Longinus, along with Brutus was one of the main instigator of the assassination. Servius Galba had fought for Caesar during the Gallic wars, but joined the conspiracy after Caesar opposed his campaign to become a consul.

The ancient Roman historian Suetonius wrote about this in his "Lives of the Twelve Caesars".

Answer: Octavian

Octavian was Julius Caesar's great-nephew and was adopted by Caesar as his sole heir. Marc Antony was a Roman general and Caesar's friend, but never his heir. He is famous for his ill-fated love affair with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. Cato was a famous Roman statesman, writer, soldier and senator that lived long before Julius Caesar was born. Pliny the Elder was an author, naturalist and naval commander in the Roman empire, who was born over 20 years after Caesar was assassinated.

Answer: Carthage

There were three Punic Wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 BCE and 146 BCE. Hannibal, the Carthaginian leader, is famous for bringing his elephants across the Alps. He came very close to defeating Rome on more than one occasion. Rome fought Gaul during the Gallic wars. (Gaul is in Western Europe in the area now comprised of modern day France, Belgium, Luxembourg and most of Switzerland.) Rome conquered Egypt and made it a province during the time of Julius Caesar. Macedonia was an ancient kingdom best known as the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

Answer: Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius wrote a stoic philosophical work called "Meditations". Stoicism focused on the idea that emotions can be destructive and that in order to be free, people must maintain a will that is in accord with nature. He was considered to be one of the last good emperors of Rome.

Interestingly, he was a featured character in the 2001 film "Gladiator." Commodus was Marcus Aurelius' son, but was not nearly as beloved as his father. He was also a character in the film "Gladiator". Augustus was the first emperor of Rome, and Maximus was the name of the main character in "Gladiator".

He is fictional.

Answer: He crossed the Rubicon River with his army and named himself dictator for life.

After he crossed the Rubicon and became dictator, many Senators were worried that he was becoming too powerful. In the end, over 40 senators were involved in the conspiracy. Julius Caesar did not raise taxes; in fact, he was loved by many of the common people for his social reforms which included canceling some of their debts.

He may or may not have called the Senators mean names; no one knows for sure!

Answer: Constantine

Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and in 313 AD, by the Edict of Milan, enacted tolerance of all religions; which ended hundreds of years of persecution of Christians (and others) in the Roman empire. The emperor Hadrian was probably best known for building Hadrian's Wall, in what is now northern England. Parts of the wall still exist today. Augustus was the first Roman Emperor and Tiberius was the second.

Answer: Etruscans

According to the ancient Roman historian Marcus Varro, Rome was founded by the Etruscans in 753 BC. Archaeological digs show evidence of Rome's existence in the centuries prior to c. 750 BC.

The Greeks had an influence on Roman culture, but didn't found Rome. The Hittites were an ancient civilization that began circa 1800 BCE in Anatolia (modern day Turkey). The Minoans were another civilization that existed in what is now Crete, but they flourished and died out from approximately 2000 BCE to 1400 BCE - long before Rome was founded.

Answer: The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire consisted of many of the former Roman provinces northern Africa, southern Europe and eastern Asia. Its capital was Constantinople (now Istanbul) and it was much smaller in scope than the Roman Empire was at its largest. Indo-European is the name of a group (or family) languages that includes most of the modern European languages.

The "Indo-European" Dynasty is however, is just something I made up. Although the Roman Catholic church became very powerful after the fall of Rome, there was never an empire specifically called "The Roman Catholic Empire".