Geography of the Roman Empire Trivia Quiz

Answer: Regensburg

The stone fort Castra Regina was built in the 2nd century AD under the rule of Emperor Marcus Aurelius during his efforts to fortify the weakened Danubian Limes on the shores of the river. It wasn't the first one at the site: a smaller castrum already developed there in the first century AD.

A third one, also dating to the 2nd century AD, made the military development in the area complete.

Answer: England

The military camp Eboracum was founded under the rule of emperor Vespasian in 71 AD. It was an important colonia and the capital of the entire province of Britannia inferior, profiting from its strategic location at the crossroads of many roads and rivers. Eboracum ultimately evolved into the modern day English city of York.

Answer: Aegyptus

Egypt is where Rome drew a great percentage of its grain from. It was also an important trading hub for luxury goods. Its long history as a powerful kingdom made it an irresistible region to conquer - Augustus was the first Roman to do so after his adoptive father Gaius Iulius Caesar had paved the way through his famous escapade with the last Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII.

Answer: Mesopotamia

The ancient region of Mesopotamia with its millennia of rich history involving such peoples as the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians was the farthest the empire could temporarily stretch its power to when emperor Trajan incorporated it as a province in the early 2nd century AD - much to the dismay of the Parthians and the later Sassanids...

Answer: Portus

Portus was erected under the reign of emperor Claudius on the coast not far south of the ever growing Eternal City. All of the empire's commerce came through here and shipped directly up the river Tiber and into the metropolis. Portus slowly but surely replaced Rome's first harbor, Ostia, over the centuries.

Answer: A Republican province

After the defeat of their arch nemesis Carthage, the Romans established the province of Africa around it in 146 BCE. The administration changed throughout the centuries, as it and its neighboring provinces were split and grouped together several times.

It ultimately became the province of Tripolitania in the 4th century AD, a name that lives on in the modern day capital of Libya: Tripoli.

Answer: Vindolanda

The wooden ink-inscribed Vindolanda Tablets were excavated from the site of the eponymous fort in England in 1973. They date to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD and are some of the few hand written records that survive from the Roman Empire. They allow us to learn about ordinary people - soldiers and their wives - and what their life on the border was like. (Vindolanda is near Hexham in Northumberland, England).

Answer: Via Claudia Augusta

During the Alpine campaigns of Drusus and Tiberius, the stepsons of emperor Augustus, in 15 BCE, crossing the Alps became a lot easier when the Via Claudia Augusta was erected along the way. It ensured military and commercial movement through the mountains and into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum in modern Switzerland, Germany and Austria, where it connected with other roads in the Danube region.

Answer: They included it in the province Asia

The province of Asia was established after Attalus III, the local ruler of the kingdom of Pergamum, gave his domain to the Romans in the late 2nd century BCE. Among the regions incorporated in the new province were Ionia, Lydia, Mysia, Caria, Cilicia and Troas.

Answer: Two weeks

Ships and boats of all kinds were vital for the Roman infrastructure, economy, military and diplomacy. The route from Rome to Alexandria was one of the most important in the Imperial Age and was heavily frequented. Two weeks are a good estimate of how long it would have taken for a ship to travel eastward.

The way back - against the currents entering the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean - would have taken roughly double the time. These calculations are made with the seasons in mind; the journey would have been more dangerous and therefore even lengthier in winter.