Roman Military Trivia

1. The city of Carthage was founded in North Africa around 814 BC by who?

From Quiz The Origins of the First Punic War

Answer: The Phoenicians

The Phoenicians originated from the area of present day Lebanon and were a seagoing commercial people whose ships may have reached as far as Ireland and West Africa in the Atlantic and who traded throughout the Mediterranean. Founded as a colony, Carthage would soon outstrip its founders as a naval and commercial power in the western Mediterranean. The Latin word for Phoenician was "Punicus." By the late seventh century BC, Carthage would be a major political, military and economic player on the island of Sicily, especially the western half.

From Quiz Great Military Men of the Roman Republic

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.

From Quiz The Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD

Answer: Herod the Great

Rome's history in the Levant mainly begins with the formation of the province of Syria in 63 BC. Julius Caesar later appointed Antipater the Idumaean as a Roman procurator, and his son Herod the Great defeated his Hasmonean rivals to gain control of the region in 37 BC. Following Herod's death in 4 BC, his kingdom was divided up between his three sons and his sister, whose domains began to be incorporated into the Roman province of Iudaea in 6 AD. Iudaea was ruled by prefects until 41 AD, when Agrippa I ruled temporarily as King, followed by procurators until around 70 AD, and then legates.

From Quiz The Roman Civil War: 49-31 BC

Answer: "Let the die be cast"

For months Caesar (representing roughly the Populares or more populist side of Roman politics) and the Roman Senate (the Optimates or more oligarchic side) had negotiated Caesar's return from Gaul. The Senate had requested that he leave and resign his position with the army he led, but he feared prosecution and being at the mercy of his enemies. He offered to resign if Pompey would resign his command as well. Ultimately those enemies refused to let Caesar dictate conditions and left him no choice, as he felt, and the "die was indeed cast."

From Quiz Rome Turns East

Answer: They were pirates, raiding Roman shipping

Queen Teuta stated that "it was never the custom of royalty to prevent the advantage of its subjects they could get from the sea." One of the ambassadors said, basically, that Rome would make it her business. This angered the Queen so much that she had one of the ambassadors killed and the other captured. Rome sent more than 20,000 troops and the Queen was forced to surrender in 227. This incident forced Rome, for the first time, to think about its security and the lands to the East.

From Quiz Rome's Darkest Hours: Hannibal, Spartacus & Attila

Answer: Second Punic War

No it wasn't called the Hanniballistic War but I'm sure that eventually it seemed like both sides were going ballistic. Hannibal was the son of the great Carthagian general Hamilcar and he certainly wasn't overshadowed by his father. In fact, it is said that when Hannibal was nine years old his father made him swear to be Rome's enemy forever (guess it ran in the family). Carthage is in northern Africa.

From Quiz Famous Roman Battles III

Answer: Pompeius Strabo; Asculum

In 90 BC an alliance of Italian states rose up in open revolt against the might of Rome. At Fucine Lake, they had already smashed a consular army under Cato, but at Asculum it was not to be ... Some 75,000 Romans decisively defeated a 60,000-strong rebel army and the Social War ended.

From Quiz Divide and Conquer!

Answer: Divide et impera

During the Roman Republic period Romans divided conquered territories into four categories, each with different civic and political rights to prevent eventual rebellions and uniting of conquered nations.

From Quiz The Gallic Wars

Answer: France

Though Gaul comprised of France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany (up to the Rhine River) and parts of northern Italy, most of Gaul fell within modern France.

From Quiz Battles that Changed the World: Actium

Answer: September 2, 31 BC

September 2 (about 450 years earlier, in 490 BC) is also the day that Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to spread the news of the victory and died on the spot. (That is a legend that I spoke about in Battles that Changed the World: Marathon).

From Quiz Roman Captains I

Answer: 25

Young Scipio offered himself for the appointment to Spain (where his father and uncle had been killed in battle) when the senior statesman and magistrates declined. He was well below the traditional age for election to the praetorship or consulship, which usually were required to command an army. He went on to expel the Carthaginians from Spain and to defeat the great Hannibal gaining the cognomen "Africanus". Scipio was arguably the greatest of all Roman captains.

From Quiz Raging Romans

Answer: 753BC

According to legend, Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus in 753BC.

From Quiz The Origins of the First Punic War

Answer: Syracuse

Syracuse would grow to be one of the greatest cities in the Greek world. It would evolve into an oligarchal democracy but gradually sink into tyranny in the latter part of the fourth century under Dionysus I (405-367 BC), who would fight four wars with Carthage and expand Syracusan influence, at one point, over much of Sicily and into southern Italy.

From Quiz Wars of the Early Roman Republic: 509 to 264 BC

Answer: It augmented Roman military strength

The Latin League agreed to provide troops to Rome in time of war. It was agreed also to equally divide any war booty between the Latins and Romans (this would be a problem down the line). It appears that command of raised forces was to go to Roman generals, though this fact is sometimes disputed. It was in effect an alliance between the two sides that set a precedent for relation between Rome and and other peoples. But both sides, at first, benefited from the agreement.

From Quiz Great Military Men of the Roman Republic

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.

From Quiz The Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD

Answer: Caesarea Maritima

Caesarea Maritima, often called Caesarea, was built by Herod the Great and named after Caesar Augustus. In the 60s AD, it was home to a substantial Greek population. While many Jews had become Hellenised, much of the community had very tense relations with the Greeks. Roman governors frequently favoured the Greeks, who had citizenship while the Jews were disenfranchised. Caesarea's synagogue was built on Greek-owned land, and arguments erupted when the land was turned into a building site and access to the synagogue blocked. Florus accepted bribes from the Jewish elite to block the work but took no action and left to visit Samaria. Fighting broke out when Greeks violated the Law of the Torah by sacrificing birds at the synagogue, and the Roman cavalry was sent in. Various Jews fled with their Torahs to keep them safe and travelled to Samaria to petition against Florus, who instead arrested the delegation for removing Torahs from Caesarea. He then incensed the population even more by demanding a large amount of money from the Temple funds, and he brought in as many as 1000 troops and many of the inhabitants were massacred.

From Quiz The Roman Civil War: 49-31 BC

Answer: He fled Rome with much of the Senate to the south

Pompey was allied with the Roman Senate, which feared Caesar's popularity and his ambition. Caesar had moved with characteristic speed with only one legion, but the effect on his opponents was panic. Pompey eventually crossed the Adriatic to Greece, while Caesar occupied Rome. The latter would first deal with and defeat a Pompeian army in Spain before moving against his great rival.

From Quiz Rome's Darkest Hours: Hannibal, Spartacus & Attila

Answer: Pyrenees

After attacking Saguntum in Spain, a war-provoking act, Hannibal and his army of 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and nearly 40 elephants went on a 1,000 mile march to invade Italy. They crossed the Pyrenees, Rhone River and Alps. That must have been quite a workout with all those elephants- not to mention with the Roman army on their tails. After the crossing, Hannibal's army was quite bruised and battered but not so much that they couldn't give Rome a taste of their own medicine.

From Quiz Famous Roman Battles III

Answer: Battle of Orchomenus; First Mithridatic War

Having defeated a Mithridatic force at Chaeronea, Sulla made for Thessaly to meet consul Flaccus. However, an enormous fleet with 80,000 Mithridatic troops had landed at Chalcis to reinforce Archelaus. There, they fought the Battle of Orchomenus. Most of the battle was fought for a trench that Sulla had ordered his troops to dig. Despite repeated attacks by Archelaus' troops, they could not conquer the trench, and in the last such attack, Sulla finally managed to rout them.

From Quiz Divide and Conquer!

Answer: Colonia

'Coloniae' started as military outposts to secure the area, but later they became the highest status a town can get. Examples in Western Europe include Lincoln and Cologne.

From Quiz The Gallic Wars

Answer: Mark Antony

Mark Antony was Caesar's right hand man, even as early as the Gallic Wars. Mark Antony later became a lover a Cleopatra VII, just as Caesar was before he died. Mark Antony wasn't so lucky; both he and Cleopatra committed suicide after defeat at the hands of Augustus.

From Quiz Battles that Changed the World: Actium

Answer: Octavian and Mark Antony

Mark Antony was a friend of Julius Caesar as well as a Roman politician and general. Octavian was the nephew of Julius Caesar whom Caesar named as his heir. These two were part of the triumvirate, but, due to a disagreement, it fell apart and civil war broke out between the two sides.

From Quiz Political Revolution in Rome (133-78 BC)

Answer: He bypassed the Senate to get his bill passed in the tribal assembly

It doesn't sound like much now, but bypassing the Senate, the most prestigious political body in Rome, and thus "disregarding their customary prior right of discussing legislation" (Scullard - check out his book 'From the Gracchi to Nero'), was an action which brought violence, political chaos and civil war to Rome! Why was this so revolutionary? Well, it was considered revolutionary because the Senate's sense of 'Dignitas' (or 'pride')in politics had been completely ignored by Tiberius - Remember, we're dealing with a political body that had enjoyed unprecedented authority in Rome for 400 years. Secondly, it was also revolutionary in that Tiberius exposed the crucial and exclusive power granted to the Tribunes to gather the Concilium Plebis (or in other words, the assembly of all the tribes in Rome) for getting laws passed WITHOUT the sanction of the Senate. Why and how? Blame the Lex Hortensia, a law which decreed that any law passed by the Concilium Plebis would be binding on every person in Rome. What was the Senate to do if they were now no longer even NEEDED for the law making process? Panic, that's what!

From Quiz Roman Captains I

Answer: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Superseded by political enemies, Sulla marched on Rome to confirm his command, then crossing the Adriatic to Greece, defeated Mithridates' armies at Chaeronea and Orchomenus in Boeotia, besieged and took Athens, and drove the king out of Europe.

From Quiz The Origins of the First Punic War

Answer: Rome overthrew the Tarquin dynasty and became a republic

It is not known if the treaty(which ironically gave each equal rights in Sicily--of course Rome had no navy and could not enforce it) and the establishment of the Republic are linked. Rome was an agrarian land power, with not even a port, moving south into Latium. Carthage was already a significant commercial and naval power with influence in Sardinia and often in conflict with the Sicilian Greeks and Etruscans. It may have been that each sought to balance off the Etruscans, Rome's neighbor to the north. Rome may have feared counterrevolution because the Tarquins were Etruscan and wanted to secure its northern flank while moving south, and Carthage just because of its rivalry with the Etruscans. The treaty appears to be the first significant diplomatic contact between the two cities.

From Quiz Great Military Men of the Roman Republic

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.

From Quiz The Roman Civil War: 49-31 BC

Answer: Dyrrachium

Caesar suffered a sharp setback at the Battle of Dyrrachium but gave chase across Greece to Pompey and his army.

From Quiz Rome Turns East

Answer: He allied Macedon with Carthage against Rome

By 215 Rome had suffered great defeats at Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae, and the alliance must have seemed like a good bet at the time. Rome made cause with the Greek Aetolian League in 211. Later Attalus I of Pergamum intervened on behalf of Rome, but he eventually withdrew in 207, and Philip was the last man standing. He negotiated a relatively favorable settlement with Rome to end the First Macedonian War at Phoenice in 205. He would not be able to enjoy his relative success for very long. An Eastern monarch had once more gotten the attention of Rome.

From Quiz Rome's Darkest Hours: Hannibal, Spartacus & Attila

Answer: an ambush

Hannibal also had many other victories, for example Trebia and Cannae, but Lake Trasimene included a very clever ambush on his part. First of all, Hannibal made sure he arrived at the battlefield before his army. Then he divided his army into three parts. West of his camp, he had his heavy infantry. On hills north of the lake were light infantry. His Gallic infantry and cavalry were placed further west in a wooded valley. When the Romans arrived by the Lake, all of Hannibal's men charged from their positions. With their enemies coming right, left, and centre, eventually some of the Romans escaped, but most were killed or captured.

From Quiz Divide and Conquer!

Answer: Ius Latii - right of citizenship

A 'municipium' was a conquered town with native people loyal to Roman authority. It had some degree of autonomy and the citizens had Roman citizenship.

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