Midterm Exam
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Identify four (4) of the following and then locate each item correctly by its number (e.g. 1, 2, 3) on the map.
| 1. | _________________ | This Greek city in Italy allied itself with King Pyrrhus of Epirus against the Romans in the early 3rd c. BC. |
| 2. | _________________ | This island Rome seized, perhaps unfairly, from Carthage between the First and Second Punic Wars. |
| 3. | _________________ | This city became the focus of hostilities between Hannibal and Rome, which led to the outbreak of the Second Punic War. |
| 4. | _________________ | This province, added to Rome’s empire around 50 BC, significantly shifted the focus of Roman expansion away from the Mediterranean. |
| 5. | _________________ | Cicero served as governor of this eastern province where many ex-pirates were settled by Pompey. |
II. Chronology. (12 pts.)
Locate each item below by writing its letter on the time-line within the proper century and in proper relation to other items in the same century.
|-----------------|------------------|--------------------|---------------------|--------------------|-----------------------|
BC 500 400 300 200 100 AD 1
|
A. |
1st Mithridatic War |
G. |
Battle of Pharsalus |
|
B. |
Licinian-Sextian Law |
H. |
Dictatorship of Sulla |
|
C. |
Destruction of Carthage |
I. |
Gauls sack Rome |
|
D. |
Battle of Zama |
J. |
Marius’ first consulship |
|
E. |
Death of Tiberius Gracchus |
K. |
Slave rebellion of Spartacus |
|
F. |
Social War |
L. |
Sicily becomes a Roman province |
III. Identification. (10 pts.)
Answer ten (10) of the following.
| 1. | ______________________ | Legendary Roman matron whose rape and suicide sparked the overthrow of the monarchy in Rome. |
| 2. | ______________________ | Roman author who provides our best historical narrative of the life of Romulus. |
| 3. | ______________________ | Businessmen in ancient Rome typically belonged to this socio-economic class. |
| 4. | ______________________ | True or False. The slave uprisings of the late Republic radically changed the way Romans perceived and practiced slavery. |
| 5. | ______________________ | True or False. The triarii were the oldest and most experienced soldiers in the Roman legions and made up the rear units of a maniple. |
| 6. | ______________________ | This political body originally met in the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) in military formation to elect Rome’s top magistrates. |
| 7. | ______________________ | Roman law passed in the aftermath of Battle of Cannae that forbade Romans, especially women, from displaying their wealth in public. |
| 8. |
______________________
|
Which of these men was ineligible to be tribune of the plebs? a) Octavian b) Marius c) Caesar d) Pompey |
| 9. | ______________________ | Numidian king who harassed Rome into a protracted war in the late 2nd century BC. |
| 10. | ______________________ | True or False. Rome’s new Italian citizens in the aftermath of the Social War were distributed evenly among all the city’s voting tribes. |
| 11. | ______________________ | This class of priests in ancient Rome read signs in nature to determine whether conditions were favorable for certain endeavors. |
| 12. | ______________________ | Roman senator who stood for conservative Roman values in opposition to Scipio Aemilianus and his love of Greek culture. |
IV. Short Identification. (20 pts.)
In 3-4 well-crafted sentences identify two (2) of the following. Be sure to locate the item within its specific historical context—time and place—and to discuss its significance for our knowledge of the ancient Romans.
- Quintus Fabius Pictor
- Battle of Alesia
- Tomb of the Leopards (slide)
- Syria-Palestine
V. Essay. (50 pts.)
Choose one of the following three topics and prepare to write an essay on it for the exam. A good essay will have an introduction with thesis statement, a well organized discussion of the thesis based on close reading of the primary sources, and a strong conclusion. At all times write clearly and legibly with correct spelling and punctuation. You may not use any notes during the exam.
- Romans and Non-Romans. Looking at the primary evidence for Roman perspectives on non-Romans from the period of the early monarchy down to the death of Cleopatra, discuss what you think are the main themes in Roman attitudes toward outsiders. Who qualifies as an outsider? Are there different categories of outsiders? How do Roman concepts of non-Romans affect foreign policy, for example, or the Roman economy? You may choose to develop your own questions, if you wish. Also, choose a reasonable number of examples (at least three) to discuss in detail rather than covering too much evidence in a cursory manner.
- Violence in Roman Politics. Examine the primary evidence for the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus or Gaius Gracchus and the evidence for the assassination of Julius Caesar and discuss whether or not you see these deaths as comparable in terms of what factors led to the violence, who perpetrated the violence, and what the violence was meant to accomplish. You may develop other criteria for comparison, if you wish.
- The Judgment of Roman Historians. Livy writes in the introduction to his history of Rome:
…no state was ever greater, none more righteous or richer in good examples, non ever was where avarice and luxury came into the social order so late, or where humble means and thrift were so highly esteemed and so long held in honor. For true it is that the less men’s wealth was, the less was their greed. Of late, riches have brought in avarice, and excessive pleasures the longing to carry wantonness and license to the point of personal ruin and universal destruction.
In your opinion, is this description of the moral rise and fall of Roman Republican society a fair analysis of what went wrong in Rome and her empire at the end of the Republic? Is Livy’s analysis typical of Roman historiography generally at this time?
