SparkNotes: The Fall of Rome (150CE-475CE): Review Quiz

The chief threat to Rome's eastern borders in the 160s were the

(A) Marcomanni

(B) Parthians

(C) Goths

(D) Sassanids

In the time of Marcus Aurelius, the method of imperial succession was

(A) Hereditary

(B) Senatorial acclamation

(C) Adoption

(D) Legion decision

Who were the first Germanic Barbarians to invade Roman lands and when?

(A) Franks, 57 BCE

(B) Marcomanni, 100 CE

(C) Quadi, Marcomanni, Sarmatians, 160s-180s, CE

(D) Angles and Saxons, 120s CE

Who was Commodius' successor, and how did he become Emperor?

(A) Avidius Cassius, revolt

(B) Septimius Severus, adoption

(C) Attalus, Senatorial election

(D) Helvius Pertinax, Praetorian selection

The Severi Emperors were of what professional and ethnic background?

(A) Balkan, commercial

(B) Iberian, military

(C) Balkan, military

(D) Gaulic, decurion

Diocletian's reforms did not include

(A) subdivision of imperial districts

(B) Imperial seclusion

(C) institution of primus inter pares as basis of rule

(D) new coinage

Pax Romana refers to

(A) strong Roman administration, order, and general lack of warfare ion imperial territory

(B) treaties between Roman co-emperors in East and West

(C) Roman-Barbarian agreements for settlement in rteturn fo military service

(D) The Church's corporate status ion Rome

Latifundia began as

(A) Emperor's estates administered by decurions

(B) provincial notables' large agricultural estates worked by landless peasants

(C) regions settled by Barbarians, from which they received share of agricultural surplus

(D) North African Grain Reserves

The Sassanids were

(A) Eastern Danubian tribes of slavic origin

(B) Parthian cavalry troops pushing far west

(C) a pacifist Persian dynasty overthrowing the Parthians

(D) an expansionist Persian dynasty replacing the Parthians

The Tetrarchate was

(A) Aurelius' sharing of power with his adopted half brothers

(B) Diocletian's sharing of power with Augustus and Caesar

(C) Constantine's bequest of power to four families

(D) Diocletian's sharing of responsibilities with Maximian and two junior generals titles Caesar

Constantine became Christian

(A) after 312

(B) while growing up in the East

(C) on his deathbed

(D) immediately before the Battle of Milvian Bridge

Christianity's status under Constantine was

(A) the new imperial cult

(B) tolerated but illegal

(C) the official state religion

(D) tolerated, patronized, favored by the court

>From 285-350, craftsmen were made

(A) equal in status to curiales

(B) to swear they used proper coinage

(C) hereditary vocations

(D) sons of the Church

Master of the Military was

(A) Barbarian kings whose tribes served Rome

(B) Latin generals serving as Imperial aides

(C) Chief of staff of all Roman forces

(D) The Emperor

Which of the following is not a reason Germanic tribes presented little danger to Rome prior to 200 CE?

(A) They were impoverished

(B) rulership was excessively centralized

(C) internal fighting was rampant

(D) The Roman garrisons kept them at bay

Comitatus was

(A) the council in which imperial decisions were taken

(B) Large German armies under tight German king control from 200

(C) Church conventions from 325 in Nicaea

(D) Small, tightly organized Germanic raiding groups from the 200s

The first Germans to convert to Christianity in large groups were

(A) slaves captured by Rome and used in workshops from the 150s

(B) German auxiliaries serving with Roman forces on the borders from 320s

(C) Goths, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy by Augustine in 420s

(D) Goths, converted by Ulfillias to Arianism in the 350-80s

Why was Fritigern elected Visigothic leader?

(A) Only he would resist the Hunnic invasions

(B) He was related to Valens, the Roman Emperor

(C) He agreed to flee the Huns

(D) He lead the most successful comitatus

Why did Visigothic-Roman hostilities break out in 378, leading to the Roman defeat at Adrianopole?

(A) Valens would not allow them into Roman lands

(B) Visigoths did not feel Roman administrators were properly honoring foederati agreements

(C) Visigoths supported Gratian in a succession dispute

(D) It involved Arian-Orthodox controversies

What was the Barbarian attitude to Rome?

(A) Awe and resentment

(B) attraction and unquestioning loyalty

(C) material attraction, and possibly as a safe haven

(D) Rome was barbarous

What pushed the Goths over the Danube?

(A) Gepid raiding

(B) Vandal dominance above the Danube

(C) The Hunnic Threat

(D) Theodosius' offers

What was Theodosius' contribution to Christianity?

(A) He officiated at the Nicene Councils

(B) He built St. Peter's Basilica

(C) He made it the official state religion

(D) He relinquished rule to become Pope Leo I

What were the foederati

(A) non-Italian Roman citizens

(B) barbarians settled outside Roman borders, fighting for the imperial standard from the 300s

(C) Barbarians settled within Roman lands from the 420s, required to provide military service

(D) Same as above, but from 370s

Stilicho was

(A) Fritigern's successor as Visigothic king

(B) Roman hostage to Attila

(C) Roman general of Barbarian ethnicity who served as Master of Soldiers under Honorius

(D) The hero of Catalaunian Plains, 451

The first sack of Rome was

(A) 408, under Alaric and the Vandals

(B) 455, under the Vandals

(C) 410, under Athaulf and the Visigoths

(D) 410, under Alaric and the Visigoths

What did Alaric, Athaulf, and Wallia want from Roman leaders?

(A) The title of Caesar in the West

(B) latifundia in Gaul

(C) land, food, and regularized imperial status

(D) help against the Huns

Rome was split into two, East and West,

(A) in 325, when Constantinople was built

(B) in the 350s, with two separate emperors

(C) in the 380s, when imperial colleagues were no longer able to take interest in the others' realms

(D) in 455, when the Eastern Emperor refused to prevent the sack of Rome

Wergeld were

(A) Roman-Barbarian legal conventions

(B) gold reserves in Barbarian kings' hands

(C) blood-money-based Barbarian justice measures

(D) funds allocated to Barbarian federates living in Gaul

hospitalitas began as

(A) a legal measure for quartering Roman forces on peasants' farmlands during winter

(B) illegal usurpations of free peasant lands by rich senators

(C) illegal Barbarian occupations of royal domains

(D) Palace procedure borrowed from Persia, doling food to poor urbanites

Aetius was

(A) Orestes' nominee for emperor in 472

(B) Western Master of soldiers in the 430s-50s

(C) Visigothic king who helped to defeat Huns, 451

(D) Alexandrine priest holding Christ to be less divine than God

The Battle of Milvian Bridge was

(A) a Christian defeat of Italian pagans

(B) Constantine's defeat of rival Maxentius

(C) Roman-Gothic defeat of Atilla in 451

(D) Gepid uprising against Huns

The 325 Council of Nicaea established

(A) two-emperor rulership of the Empire

(B) Legalization of Christianity

(C) Official Christian creed followed by Rome regarding co-equal divinity

(D) Sunday as official holiday

Who was Augustine of Hyppo

(A) Imperial claimant in North Africa withholding grain from Alaric

(B) the last Roman Emperor

(C) Carhaginian bishop witnessing Vandal sack

(D) Pope preventing Vandal sack of Rome in 455

When did Britain stop receiving Roman reinforcements?

(A) When Constantine left it in 311

(B) After Angle and Jute arrival in 420s

(C) >From mid 440s

(D) After Theodoric the Ostrogoth freed it

The core of Roman society was

(A) Asia Minor and Italy

(B) Italy

(C) The Mediterranean Basin

(D) Italy, Gaul, and Iberia

Why did Honoria write Atilla

(A) As a claimant to the throne, he wanted Hunnic military help

(B) As pope, he hoped to prevent a sack of Rome

(C) She wanted to convert the Huns from Arianism

(D) She wanted to avoid marriage to her chosen groom

Why did Atilla not move south against Marcian in Constantinople?

(A) He wanted to get married

(B) Huns were no match for Byzantines

(C) Byzantium was much poorer than Rome

(D) his forces had the plague

What was the importance to Rome of North Africa?

(A) Preventing a Carthaginian resurgence

(B) Money tribute supporting the Roman economy

(C) grain and other foodstuffs

(D) gold and slaves

Marcus Aurelius

(A) gave Roman citizenship to all in the empire

(B) was Balkan in origin

(C) was the son of Italians who settled in Iberia

(D) died from the plague

Zeno sent Theodoric west because

(A) he wanted a family relative to rule in the west

(B) Odovacar asked for help

(C) Zeno wanted to unseat Odovacar

(D) Zeno would not tolerate Arianism

The foundation of Roman law was

(A) avoidance of blood-feuds

(B) impersonal, to be applied to all

(C) based on place of origin

(D) heavily Christian by 450

By 430, the Senate

(A) was almost entirely Barbarian

(B) Under Eastern control

(C) a king-maker

(D) irrelevant

When was the destructive Roman plague?

(A) 220s, under the Severi

(B) 370s, because of contact with Goths

(C) 160-70s, under Aurelius, because of contact with te Marcomanni

(D) 160-70s, under Aurelius, because of Parthian contact

Vandals attacked Rome

(A) by land, from the Alps

(B) through the Adriatic

(C) by sea, by coming up the Tiber

(D) from within Italy

Germans left their 'reservations'

(A) after Gaiseric passed to North Africa

(B) when Odovacar fell in 493

(C) Upon Honorius' death in 423

(D) they did not; rather, they were nuclei for new kingdoms

Where did the Visigoths end up?

(A) Spain

(B) North Gaul

(C) Britain

(D) Italy

Chi Ro

(A) is gothic for 'Cross'

(B) was the name of Constantine's sun cult

(C) was a Christian symbol

(D) means 'in this you shall prevail'

The Praetorian Guard was

(A) a group of papal officers provided by Constantine

(B) an elite corps of palace guards from Praetus

(C) Palace guards all of Italian birth who ended up making and unmaking emperors, eliminated by 200

Julian the Apostate was so-named

(A) because he was Christian at a time of Paganism

(B) chose Islam as his religion

(C) allowed the Jews to rebuild their Temple

(D) back-slid into paganism from Christianity

Why was Byzantium chosen as a new capital site?

(A) it had plenty of water

(B) it was closer to the Eastern borders

(C) refolts had occurred there

(D) St. Paul was buried there

What was the effective capital of Rome in the West?

(A) Milan

(B) Otranto

(C) Ravenna

(D) Rome

Provide the proper sequence:

(A) Dominate-Republic-Tetrarchate

(B) Republic-Principate-Dominate

(C) Kingdom-Principate-Republic

(D) Tribes-Principate-Dominate

What was not one of the post-Roman kingdoms in the West to 530?

(A) Franks

(B) Visigoths

(C) Lombards

(D) Burgundians