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HIST 101 Exam 2 Review Questions and Answers
(100% Correct Answers)
What did Roman morality primarily emphasize?
Ans: Virtue, faithfulness, and respect
What institution of the early Roman republic was based on a network of relationships
characterized by mutual obligations?
Ans: The patron-client system
What Roman woman of the second century B.C.E. gained fame for having turned
down a marriage offer from King Ptolemy VIII of Egypt and giving birth to two
leading politicians, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus?
Ans: Cornelia
Which subjects were considered most important for an elite Roman boy's education
and preparation for adulthood?
Ans: Rhetorical training (public speaking)
What was the significance of the chastity of the Vestal Virgins?
Ans: The Vestal Virgins, six unmarried women sworn to chastity and Rome's only
female priests, tended Vesta's shrine. They earned high status and freedom from
their fathers' control by performing their most important duty: keeping the flame
from going out. If the flame went out, the Romans assumed that one of the Vestal
Virgins had had sex and buried her alive.
What was the original purpose of the Roman Senate?
Ans: Advising government leaders
Why was Rome's geography perfect for territorial expansion?
Ans: The Romans originated in Italy, a long peninsula with a mountain range down
its middle like a spine and fertile plains on either side. Rome also controlled a river
crossing on a major north-south route. Most important, Rome was ideally situated for
international trade: the Italian peninsula stuck so far out into the Mediterranean that
east-west seaborne traffic naturally encountered it, and the city had a good port
nearby.
What finally ended the struggle of the orders, a political power struggle between
Rome's most aristocratic families (the patricians) and the rest of Rome's citizens (the
plebeians)?
Ans: When plebeians won the right to make laws in their own assembly.
How did the office of tribune differ from most other political offices?
Ans: Tribunes were ten annually elected plebeian officials who could stop actions
that would harm plebeians or their property. Tribunes did not count as a regular
ladder office and based their special power on the plebeians' sworn oath to protect
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them, and their authority to block officials' actions, prevent laws from being passed,
suspend elections, and contradict the Senate's advice. The tribunes' extraordinary
power to veto government action often made them agents of political conflict.
What was the most important Roman assemblies, in which plebeians outnumbered
patricians?
Ans: The Tribal Assembly
To consolidate its power on the Italian peninsula, what did republican Rome often
require of conquered neighboring peoples?
Ans: Sometimes they enslaved the defeated or forced them to surrender large
parcels of land. Other times they offered generous peace terms but required them to
join in fighting against other foes, for which they received a share of the spoils,
namely, slaves and land.
Where and when was the bloodiest loss in all of Rome's military history, one that
resulted in the deaths of more than thirty thousand Romans?
Ans: At Cannae in 216 B.C.E
What triggered the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage?
Ans: Sicily, where Carthage wanted to preserve its trading settlements, while Rome
wanted to block Carthaginian power close to Italy
How did a Hellenistic king increase Roman power in 133 B.C.E.?
Ans: In his will he bequeathed to Rome his kingdom in western Asia Minor
Why did Romans such as Cato in the second century B.C.E. distrust the influence of
Greek ideas and culture on Rome?
Ans: They thought that if the Romans adopted Greek values, they would lose their
power.
Why did so many farmers sink into debt or lose their land in the latter years of the
Roman republic?
Ans: The long deployments of troops abroad disrupted Rome's agricultural system.
A farmer absent during a protracted war had to rely on a hired hand or slave to
manage his crops and animals, or even his wife to perform farmwork.
How did the Roman elites who profited from Rome's expansion undermine traditional
Roman values?
Ans: The elite profited from Rome's expansion by filling the governing offices in the
new provinces. The new opportunities for rich living strained the traditional values
of moderation and frugality.
What did Gaius Gracchus propose in order to root out corruption among provincial
governors?
Ans: New courts to try senators accused of corruption as provincial governors. The
new juries would be manned by equites - wealthy businessman whose focus on
commerce instead of government made their interests difference from the senators'
HIST 101 Exam 2 Review Questions and Answers
(100% Correct Answers)
What did Roman morality primarily emphasize?
Ans: Virtue, faithfulness, and respect
What institution of the early Roman republic was based on a network of relationships
characterized by mutual obligations?
Ans: The patron-client system
What Roman woman of the second century B.C.E. gained fame for having turned
down a marriage offer from King Ptolemy VIII of Egypt and giving birth to two
leading politicians, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus?
Ans: Cornelia
Which subjects were considered most important for an elite Roman boy's education
and preparation for adulthood?
Ans: Rhetorical training (public speaking)
What was the significance of the chastity of the Vestal Virgins?
Ans: The Vestal Virgins, six unmarried women sworn to chastity and Rome's only
female priests, tended Vesta's shrine. They earned high status and freedom from
their fathers' control by performing their most important duty: keeping the flame
from going out. If the flame went out, the Romans assumed that one of the Vestal
Virgins had had sex and buried her alive.
What was the original purpose of the Roman Senate?
Ans: Advising government leaders
Why was Rome's geography perfect for territorial expansion?
Ans: The Romans originated in Italy, a long peninsula with a mountain range down
its middle like a spine and fertile plains on either side. Rome also controlled a river
crossing on a major north-south route. Most important, Rome was ideally situated for
international trade: the Italian peninsula stuck so far out into the Mediterranean that
east-west seaborne traffic naturally encountered it, and the city had a good port
nearby.
What finally ended the struggle of the orders, a political power struggle between
Rome's most aristocratic families (the patricians) and the rest of Rome's citizens (the
plebeians)?
Ans: When plebeians won the right to make laws in their own assembly.
How did the office of tribune differ from most other political offices?
Ans: Tribunes were ten annually elected plebeian officials who could stop actions
that would harm plebeians or their property. Tribunes did not count as a regular
ladder office and based their special power on the plebeians' sworn oath to protect
, 2 Inquire through: | Professional | Confidential Support
them, and their authority to block officials' actions, prevent laws from being passed,
suspend elections, and contradict the Senate's advice. The tribunes' extraordinary
power to veto government action often made them agents of political conflict.
What was the most important Roman assemblies, in which plebeians outnumbered
patricians?
Ans: The Tribal Assembly
To consolidate its power on the Italian peninsula, what did republican Rome often
require of conquered neighboring peoples?
Ans: Sometimes they enslaved the defeated or forced them to surrender large
parcels of land. Other times they offered generous peace terms but required them to
join in fighting against other foes, for which they received a share of the spoils,
namely, slaves and land.
Where and when was the bloodiest loss in all of Rome's military history, one that
resulted in the deaths of more than thirty thousand Romans?
Ans: At Cannae in 216 B.C.E
What triggered the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage?
Ans: Sicily, where Carthage wanted to preserve its trading settlements, while Rome
wanted to block Carthaginian power close to Italy
How did a Hellenistic king increase Roman power in 133 B.C.E.?
Ans: In his will he bequeathed to Rome his kingdom in western Asia Minor
Why did Romans such as Cato in the second century B.C.E. distrust the influence of
Greek ideas and culture on Rome?
Ans: They thought that if the Romans adopted Greek values, they would lose their
power.
Why did so many farmers sink into debt or lose their land in the latter years of the
Roman republic?
Ans: The long deployments of troops abroad disrupted Rome's agricultural system.
A farmer absent during a protracted war had to rely on a hired hand or slave to
manage his crops and animals, or even his wife to perform farmwork.
How did the Roman elites who profited from Rome's expansion undermine traditional
Roman values?
Ans: The elite profited from Rome's expansion by filling the governing offices in the
new provinces. The new opportunities for rich living strained the traditional values
of moderation and frugality.
What did Gaius Gracchus propose in order to root out corruption among provincial
governors?
Ans: New courts to try senators accused of corruption as provincial governors. The
new juries would be manned by equites - wealthy businessman whose focus on
commerce instead of government made their interests difference from the senators'
