Roman Emperors

Question 1

Near the end of his reign, he invaded the Parthian Empire, sacking its capital of Ctesiphon and annexing Armenia and Mesopotamia

Answer 1

Trajan

Question 2

He earned his name, “little boot,” from his father’s soldiers

Answer 2

Caligula

Question 3

He also commissioned a wall to mark the border of Roman Britain and crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judea.

Answer 3

Hadrian

Question 4

He ordered his mother’s death in 58 CE, and ordered the deaths of Seneca the Younger and several others after the Pisonian Conspiracy.

Answer 4

Nero

Question 5

Beloved companion of Hadrian who drowned and whom Hadrian tried to have made a god

Answer 5

Antinous

Question 6

The last of Rome’s “Five Good Emperors.” With Lucius Verus, he inherited the throne from his uncle Antoninus Pius

Answer 6

Marcus Aurelius

Question 7

He wrote the Meditations, a journal and major text of Stoic philosophy.

Answer 7

Marcus Aurelius

Question 8

In 305, he became the first emperor to voluntarily step down, retiring to his palace in Split, Croatia.

Answer 8

Diocletian

Question 9

Prefect of the Praetorian Guard (and later consul) and a friend and confidante of Tiberius. who left him to manage the state before later arresting and executing him for treason

Answer 9

Lucius Sejanus

Question 10

Emperor at the time of the supposed crucifixion of Jesus in 33 CE

Answer 10

Tiberius

Question 11

The first Roman emperor (ruling as princeps, or first citizen) 27 BCE - 14 CE

Answer 11

Augustus

Question 12

He proposed the Edict of Milan giving tolerance to Christians and oversaw the Christian Council of Nicea

Answer 12

Constantine

Question 13

In AD 49, he married his niece Agrippina the Younger, who then poisoned both his son Britannicus and the Emperor himself.

Answer 13

Claudius

Question 14

While visiting Egypt, his beloved companion Antinous drowned in the Nile.

Answer 14

Hadrian

Question 15

The son of one of the junior members of Diocletian’s Tetrarchy, proclaimed emperor by his father’s men,

Answer 15

Constantine

Question 16

He secured a decisive victory over the Parthian Empire but then spent much of his reign dealing with the Antonine Plague and fighting the Marcomannic Wars.

Answer 16

Marcus Aurelius

Question 17

Unhappy as emperor, he mostly resided in his villa on the island of Capri and left Lucius Sejanus to manage the state (however, when Sejanus attempted to seize power in 31 CE, he had Sejanus arrested and executed)

Answer 17

Tiberius

Question 18

He unsuccessfully attempted to curb inflation with his Edict on Maximum Prices

Answer 18

Diocletian

Question 19

Though initially moderate, he became increasingly tyrannical, supposedly trying to build a palace on Lake Nemi and to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul

Answer 19

Caligula

Question 20

He halted the empire’s expansion into Germania after a crushing defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest

Answer 20

Augustus

Question 21

He led the last and largest persecution of Christians

Answer 21

Diocletian

Question 22

Barbarian king of Italy who deposed Romulus Augustulus in 476, marking the end of the West Roman Empire

Answer 22

Odoacer

Question 23

He led Rome to its greatest territorial extent

Answer 23

Trajan

Question 24

With the help of Marcus Agrippa, he defeated Marc Antony at the Battle of Actium to seize the empire

Answer 24

Augustus

Question 25

Marcus Aurelius's co-emperor

Answer 25

Lucius Verus

Question 26

Location of Diocletian's palace

Answer 26

Split, Croatia

Question 27

System of imperial rule, created by Diocletian, with two senior emperors and two junior emperors

Answer 27

Tetrarchy

Question 28

Caligula’s uncle, who ruled after Caligula's assassination

Answer 28

Claudius

Question 29

He triumphed in the Year of the Five Emperors and founded the Severan dynasty. He was the first emperor to be born in Africa.

Answer 29

Septimius Severus

Question 30

Edict of Constantine that gave tolerance to Christians

Answer 30

Edict of Milan

Question 31

Marcus Aurelius's son and successor who chose not to follow the advice of his senior generals and signed a peace treaty with the Marcomanni and the Quadi. His reign is commonly considered to mark the end of the golden period in the history of the Roman Empire known as the Pax Romana.

Answer 31

Commodus

Question 32

Major Iranian Empire with whom Rome spent many centuries battling for territory

Answer 32

Parthian Empire | or Arsacid Empire

Question 33

Tiberius's popular nephew, a noted general, and the father of Caligula

Answer 33

Germanicus

Question 34

He reconquered the territory lost during the Crisis of the Third Century by defeating Zenobia of the Palmyrene Empire and retaking Gaul and Britain.

Answer 34

Aurelian

Question 35

While traveling in Greece, he joined the Eleusinian Mysteries (initiation rites for the cult of Demeter and Persephone)

Answer 35

Hadrian

Question 36

Niece and wife of Claudius, who poisoned Claudius and his son Britannicus so that her son Nero could be emperor (Nero then had her murdered)

Answer 36

Agrippina the Younger

Question 37

In AD 41, Cassius Chaerea led a conspiracy of senators and Praetorian guards that killed him and his immediate family.

Answer 37

Caligula

Question 38

He was the last man to rule both the eastern and western halves of the empire

Answer 38

Theodosius

Question 39

He is traditionally regarded as the last “Roman emperor.” He was deposed in 476 by Odoacer, marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Answer 39

Romulus Augustulus

Question 40

He stabilized the empire after the Crisis of the Third Century. He took power by defeating Carinus at the Battle of the Margus before creating the Tetrarchy

Answer 40

Diocletian

Question 41

Close friend and son-in-law of Augustus, not only the architect responsible for the construction of some of the most notable buildings in Rome but also the general who defeated Marc Antony's forces at the Battle of Actium

Answer 41

Marcus Agrippa

Question 42

The son of the general Germanicus, Tiberius's popular nephew

Answer 42

Caligula

Question 43

The name Colosseum is believed to be derived from a colossal statue of this emperor that once stood nearby. (This statue was later remodeled by his successors into the likeness of Helios/Sol or Apollo.)

Answer 43

Nero

Question 44

Emperor who oversaw the conquest of Britain and centralized power through a bureaucracy featuring talented freedmen like Tiberius Narcissus

Answer 44

Claudius

Question 45

He created the Praetorian Guard (the elite unit of the Imperial Roman army whose members served as personal bodyguards and intelligence for the Roman emperors)

Answer 45

Augustus

Question 46

After Julius Caesar was assassinated, he formed the Second Triumvirate with Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus to defeat Caesar's assassins

Answer 46

Augustus (known then as Octavian)

Question 47

After succeeding Nerva, he defeated Decebalus to conquer the rich Kingdom of Dacia (modern-day Romania). He employed Apollodorus of Damascus to build a triumphal column and a bridge across the Danube

Answer 47

Trajan

Question 48

He supposedly “fiddled” during the Great Fire of Rome and persecuted Christians after it (he may have instigated the fire himself to clear land for his Domus Aurea, or Golden Palace).

Answer 48

Nero

Question 49

He defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge to seize Italy and then defeated his brother-in-law Licinius to win the east

Answer 49

Constantine

Question 50

The Five Good Emperors

Answer 50

``` Nerva (reigned 96–98 CE), Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138), Antoninus Pius (138–161), and Marcus Aurelius (161–180) (each only distantly related to his predecessor if at all) ```

Question 51

In 68 CE, he was deposed by the Senate and committed suicide

Answer 51

Nero

Question 52

Battle which halted Augustus's expansion of the empire into Germania

Answer 52

Battle of Teutoburg Forest

Question 53

He converted the city of Byzantium into the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and re-named it after himself

Answer 53

Constantine

Question 54

A noted scholar, this emperor was the last person able to read ancient Etruscan.

Answer 54

Claudius

Question 55

Born Gaius Octavius, he was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar

Answer 55

Augustus

Question 56

Augustus's stepson (the son of his wife Livia) who led the conquests of Pannonia and Raetia during his stepfather's rule

Answer 56

Tiberius

Question 57

With whom did Octavian (later Augustus) form the Second Triumvirate?

Answer 57

Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus

Question 58

He emerged from the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 CE to found the Flavian Dynasty, and later commissioned the Colosseum.

Answer 58

Vespasian

Question 59

Trajan’s younger cousin who succeeded him as emperor. At the start of his reign, he withdrew from Trajan’s conquests in the east.

Answer 59

Hadrian

Question 60

He provoked scandal by performing as an actor, musician, and charioteer

Answer 60

Nero