Countdown to the Millennium: II Quiz

Answer: Parthian Empire

Trajan is considered to one of the group of Roman emperors known as the "Five Good Emperors". It was under his rule that the borders of the Roman Empire reached their greatest extent. The Roman and Parthian Empires had a rivalry within the region for centuries as the two major powers. Trajan's forces managed to take control of the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, and install a puppet king, Parthamaspates, on the Parthian throne.

While Parthamaspates' rule did not last long and the Romans under the rule of Hadrian would later withdraw from those conquered territories, his victory against the Parthians was a big difference from the crushing defeat the Romans suffered against them in the Battle of Carrhae over a century before.

In addition to these conquests, Trajan also conquered the lands of Dacia and the Nabataean Kingdom.

Answer: Paper

The invention of paper is credited to Cai Lun, a Han Dynasty official. While papyrus, a similar medium for writing, existed back in the days of Ancient Egypt, many of the same ideas from the method for papermaking pioneered by Cai Lun are used today. Sheets of fiber, which could originate from a variety of sources such as tree bark, hemp, rags of cloth, and used fishing nets, would be first made wet using water.

The sheets of fiber would later be made dry and thin. Prior to the invention of paper, the Chinese were using silk as a writing medium, so this invention would end up saving them a lot of money. Cai Lun was greatly respected for his invention, and even to this day, paper is considered one of the "Four Great Inventions" by the Chinese.

Answer: Picts

Hadrian's Wall was built in what is now known as Northern England during the reign of Hadrian, one of the "Five Good Emperors". The land above the Roman province of Britannia was given the name of Caledonia. Its inhabitants, the Picts, while related due to their shared Celtic heritage to the native Britons that the Romans conquered, had a distinct culture of their own.

The wall was a large undertaking by the Romans, covering a distance of over 70 miles. While the wall put a physical barrier between the Picts and the province of Britannia, many contemporary historians believe the construction of the wall was also a matter of prestige that showed off Roman engineering. Walls like these reflected Hadrian's more defensive policy in regards to Rome's borders.

Answer: Buddhism

Kanishka expanded the Kushan Empire into the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Northern India and the Tarim Basin to the west of Han China. What made these lands valuable was their strategic positions on the massive transcontinental trade route known as the Silk Road.

His conquests in the Tarim Basin would help facilitate the introduction of Buddhism into China, and through China, the rest of East Asia. Kanishka himself was a Buddhist and was a big patron of Buddhist-related art. The Kushans were big practitioners of syncretism, meaning a blending of different religions and cultures so their beliefs in Buddhism also had some Hindu and also Greek influences (a byproduct of Alexander the Great's conquests) .

Answer: Alexandria

Ptolemy was a Greco-Egyptian scientist who was born in the city of Alexandria. He wrote several scientific treatises that would end up influencing future Byzantine, Arab, and European scientists for centuries. The "Almagest" is the only surviving work of his in the field of astronomy, and it was based on the observations of previous Greek and Babylonian astronomers. Ptolemy also wrote a treatise on cartography, the study and creation of maps, called "Geography".

In "Geography", Ptolemy compiled a large amount of information of what was known about the geography of the Roman Empire, along with some information of lands beyond Rome's borders that went as far east as China.

This treatise would influence mapmakers as far into the future as the Medieval and Renaissance Ages.

Answer: Shimon bar Kokhba

The Bar Kokhba Revolt was the third and final major conflict between the Jews and the Romans. The leader of the revolt, Shimon bar Kokhba, was believed by many Jews to be the Messiah who would restore the Jewish kingdom. This war ended up being incredibly bloody for both sides, leaving hundreds of thousands dead.

The Romans would end up calling for multiple legions across the empire to put down the rebellion as the rebels caught the Romans by surprise. Eventually the Romans would put down the rebellion, killing Shimon bar Kokhba and the remnants of his army during the bloody siege of the fortress of Betar.

The Jews ended up greatly punished for this revolt. Jewish traditions such as Torah law and the Hebrew calendar were now forbidden. The Jews were expelled from the city of Jerusalem, or rather Aelia Capitolina, the Roman settlement built on the ruins of Jerusalem after the First Jewish-Roman War. Members of the Sanhedrin, a council of various Jewish religious leaders, were executed along with several Jewish scholars. Jewish towns across the Judea would be burned down. Even the province of Judea would end up being erased as it was merged with Syria to form Syria Palaestina.

The Jews would never again be able to take arms against the Romans on the same level prior to their defeat at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

Answer: Yellow Turban Rebellion

The Yellow Turban Rebellion gets its name from the yellow cloth that the rebels wore. It was a long and bloody rebellion that lasted 21 years and left millions dead. Overall the main reason why this rebellion occurred was a result of a major famine that brought uncertainty in the Han emperor's right to rule through the "mandate of heaven". Zhang Jue and his brothers led the rebellion because they sympathized with the suffering of the poor at the hands of an increasingly corrupt government.

They were founders of a Taoist sect, proclaiming a sort of prophecy that stated that the sky would become yellow to symbolize that the age of the Han emperors was over and that it was time for an age of new governance.

The yellow skies of the prophecy was where the idea that the "yellow turbans" the rebels would wear came from.

While the rebellion was eventually defeated, it greatly weakened the monarchy and empowered local warlords.

Answer: Commodus

Commodus was part of a rather unique dynasty of Roman emperors. The Nerva-Antonine dynasty succeeded the Flavian dynasty as emperors of Rome, but what made this dynasty unique was that until Commodus took the throne, each emperor after Nerva had been adopted into the family instead of being born into the family.

In fact, he was the only emperor at that point to have been born to a ruling emperor. It would be over a century later until that would happen again, which speaks to the stability of the Roman imperial institution.

After the chaos caused by the aftermath of Commodus' death in 192 A.D., Septimius Severus won the power struggle and established the Severan dynasty.

Answer: Dong Zhuo

Dong Zhuo was originally a member of the army. He was sent to help fight against the various rebellions occurring in China at the time, including the Yellow Turban Rebellion, yet didn't manage to achieve much success against them. When Emperor Ling died in 189 A.D., Dong Zhuo ended up seizing power by taking over the imperial capital, Luoyang, during a wider power struggle with the eunuchs.

In addition, he poisoned Emperor Ling's teenage successor, Emperor Shao, with an even younger sibling that he could manipulate, and declared himself chancellor.

In fear of Dong Zhuo's growing power over the government, Yuan Shao organized an alliance of various warlords to remove Dong from power. The capital was moved from Luoyang to Chang'an in response.

However, due to poor communication between the warlords, combined with some infighting, the coalition was ultimately a failure.

Answer: adopted son

Lu Bu was originally a subordinate of a warlord by the name of Ding Yuan, who was sent to the capital to deal with the conspiratorial eunuchs. However, Dong Zhuo convinced Lu Bu to betray Ding Yuan. Lu Bu killed Ding Yuan and took over the soldiers under his command.

As a result, when Dong Zhuo seized power he gave Lu Bu a series of promotions and adopted him as a son. Lu Bu became Dong's bodyguard, but over time he would become resentful of his adoptive father's bad temperament. Only a few years later, Lu Bu was convinced to betray Dong Zhuo and kill him, succeeding where the coalition failed.

As a result of the novel, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Lu Bu has gained a reputation for being an exceptional warrior, yet he was notorious for his constant betrayals.

This would prove to be his undoing as he met his end after the Battle of Xiapi when facing off against Cao Cao and Liu Bei, both of which he attempted to take land from.