1. Upon his death in 133BC, Attilus III bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Empire in an attempt to avoid dynastic disputes between his heirs. However, Rome was slow to claim the kingdom and the pretender Aristonicus, the brother of Attilus, claimed the throne as Eumenes III. He was eventually defeated and captured in 129 BC by a Roman force under Marcus Perperna and executed. What was the name of this Greek kingdom that was subsequently absorbed into the Roman Republic?
2. Fought in November of 82 BC and named after the landmark near which it was fought, what was the name of the final battle at which Sulla secured control of Rome by routing the Samnites led by Pontius Telesinus?
3. Regularly appearing in the Asterix comics, what was the name, perhaps meaning ‘Superior warrior King’, of the chieftain of the Arverni who led the Gauls in their ultimately unsuccessful war against Roman rule under Julius Caesar, being executed some five years after his defeat at the Battle of Alesia?
4. ‘Odysseia’, a Latin version of Homer's ‘Odyssey’, is the best-known work of which Greco-Roman dramatist and poet, regarded as the father of Roman drama and epic poetry?
5. Meaning ‘Greatest Sewer’, what was the Latin name given to the early sewage system of Ancient Rome that was, according to tradition, constructed around 600 BC under the orders of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus?
6. The period following the death of Nero in 68AD is known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Who, on 8th June 68AD, was proclaimed the first of those Emperors?
7. After Emperor Tiberius withdrew to Capri in 26AD, he left which soldier and commander of the Praetorian Guard in control of the state as the de facto ruler of the Empire until his arrest and execution in 31AD on charges of conspiracy against the Emperor?
8. With a name deriving from the Germanic for 'watchful of wealth', who was the Roman general and the first barbarian King of Italy, who deposed the Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476AD?
9. In Ancient Rome, what name was given to the amulet, often made from cotton, leather or gold or silver depending on the wealth of the family, that was given to newborn children to wear around the neck to protect against evil spirits?
10. The popular Roman board game Tabula was played on a board almost identical to that of which modern game, and is therefore considered its direct ancestor?
11. The Pontifex Maximus was the title given to the high priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs. Originally very much a religious position it was gradually subsumed into the Imperial office and was last held by which Christian Emperor (who came to power in 367AD) who refused to wear its insignia, which he saw as a sign of paganism?
12. According to Suetonius in ‘Lives of the Twelve Caesars’, the Roman Emperor Caligula, best remembered for his mental instability, possibly brought about by encephalitis, once ordered his soldiers to invade Britain in order to fight which Roman god?
13. Who was the Emperor of Rome when the famous eruption of Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79AD?
14. What was the name of the Jewish leader who led the eponymous revolt against the Roman Empire under Hadrian in 132AD and established a Jewish state of Israel before it was conquered by the Romans three years later?
15. First used by Constantine I, what name was given to the Roman military standard that displayed the Greek letters χ (chi) and ρ (rho), the first two letters of the name of Christ in Greek?
16. Ben Jonson and Henrik Ibsen both wrote plays about which politician of the Roman Republic, best remembered for the conspiracy that bears his name?
17. What was the name of the edict issued by the Roman Emperor Caracalla in 212AD that granted full Roman citizenship to all free men in the Empire, thus removing the long-standing legal distinction between Italians and those from the provinces?
18. Signed in 85BC by Lucius Cornelius Sulla of Rome and the King of Pontus, the Treaty of Dardanos brought which war to an end?
19. Upon finding his body after his death at the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC, the Parthians are said to have poured molten gold down the throat of which Roman general and politician, supposedly symbolising his unhealthy obsession with money?
20. Which son of Marcus Aurelius became Roman Emperor in 180AD making him the first direct successor in a century, breaking the scheme of adoptive successors that had served Rome so well during the period known as the Five Good Emperors?
The answers:
1. PERGAMON
2. BATTLE OF THE COLLINE GATE
3. VERCINGETORIX
4. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS
5. CLOACA MAXIMA
6. GALBA
7. SEJANUS
8. ODOACER (or ODOVACAR)
9. BULLA
10. BACKGAMMON
11. GRATIAN
12. NEPTUNE
13. TITUS
14. SIMON BAR KOKHBA
15. LABARUM
16. CATALINE (or CATALINA)
17. CONSTITUTIO ANTONINIA
18. FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR
19. CRASSUS
20. COMMODUS
