Great Military Men of the Roman Republic Quiz

Answer: Fabius Maximus

By 217 BC, Rome had suffered two military disasters at Trebia (218 BC) and Trasimene. Elected dictator in 217 BC, Fabius sought to avoid a direct battle with Hannibal, focusing instead on harassing and cutting off the supply of the Carthaginian army.

This strategy grew unpopular and was ended in 216. But the massive defeat at Cannae would force the Romans to accept it again when Fabius was elected Consul in 215 and 214. The Fabian strategy would play its part in forcing Hannibal out of Italy in 203/202 BC.

Answer: Lucius Aemilius Paulus

Aemilius Paulus defeated Perseus at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC and broke up Macedonia in the settlement. On the way home to Rome he would sack the cities of Epirus and enslave 150,000 Epirots, taking home vast amounts of treasure from his campaign.

He himself, valuing a Greek education, would keep only Perseus' private library. He also served as praetor against the Lusitanians in Spain in 191 BC and as consul in 182 BC against the Ligurians in Cisalpine Gaul.

Answer: Marcus Claudius Marcellus

Livy called Marcellus the "Sword of Rome." His career would span the First Punic War, the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War. Consul five times, he would doggedly defend Southern Italy against Hannibal and would capture Syracuse in 211 BC. He would die in a Carthaginian ambush in 208 BC.

Answer: Gaius Marius

Marius would be elected consul an unprecedented seven times and earn the title of "Third Founder of Rome" for his defeat of the Cimbri. He would also implement serious military reforms which would help Rome weather the dual threats from both Jugurtha in Africa and the Cimbri in Gaul, the most important of which were lowering the property requirements so that Rome could recruit the lower classes into the army and the formation of a professional standing army.

Answer: Quintus Sertorius

Sertorius would fight for the Marian cause due, in part, to his opposition to the Sullan constitution, which gave power back to the Senate and took power from the Tribunate. He consistently defeated the Sullan forces sent against him, including the efforts of Pompey, and was respected by the native tribesmen. He was betrayed and assassinated by his lieutenant Marcus Perpena in 72 BC.

Answer: Lucius Licinius Lucullus

Lucullus was the only officer who stayed with Sulla when the latter marched on Rome with his army against the Marian-dominated Senate in 88 BC. Lucullus commanded the Roman navy and played a key subordinate role in Sulla's first campaign against Mithradates VI in 87-85 BC.

He returned to Rome from his years in Asia Minor in 66 BC a fabulously wealthy man. He was an able administrator and an excellent general.

Answer: Gaius Duilius

By using the Corvus-- a plank with a spike in it that attached itself to Carthaginian ships-- at Mylae, Duilius was able to storm their ships with the superior Roman infantry. His victory was a remarkable achievement given that Rome had no naval tradition up to that point.

Answer: Scipio Aemilianus

Aemilianus was the biological son of Aemilius Paulus (of Battle of Pydna fame) and the adoptive son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, the son of the great Scipio Africanus the Elder (the victor at Zama over Hannibal).

Answer: Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus

As a general under the consul Quintus Fabius Maximus, Scipio Barbatus also helped defeat the Samnites at the Battle of Tifernum in 297 BC and fought as General under Appius Claudius and Lucius Volumnius Flamma in 296 BC. His sarcophagus and its epitaph are the only ones that have survived intact from the Tomb of the Scipiones (located in the Vatican).

The Scipiones were synonymous with Roman military greatness.

Answer: Manius Curius Dentatus

Dentatus, a three time consul of plebian origin, defeated the Samnites and Sabines in 290 BC (and celebrated two triumphs as a result), the Gallic Senones in 283 BC and the Lucani of Southern Italy in 272 BC. He was known for his simplicity, incorruptibility and frugality and was respected as the archetypal Roman of the Early Republic.