Exam 5: The Roman Empire

In the rural west of the late empire, many cities were reconfigured as walled fortresses.For civilians, life revolved around the villa, a(n) ________.

After the Praetorian Guard killed the emperor and installed a frightened Claudius on the throne, it was clear that the ultimate arbiter of leadership in imperial Rome was ________.

The debate that resulted in the Nicene Creed is proof that, although the Christian emperors hoped to unite the empire behind a single religion, there were ________.

Hadrian's wall in the south of Scotland exemplifies his foreign policy, reversing the offensive polices of Trajan with a new focus on ________.

One telling change in the literature of the Silver Age came in response to an increasingly irritable imperial rule.What was it?

Hadrian's wall represented a solidified, rigid defensive perimeter.Once a border demarcation was established, however, ________.

________, the great eighteenth-century scholar of Roman history, suggested that instead of asking why Rome fell, "we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long."

According to Tacitus, why did Nero, in 64 c.e., kill a number of Christians in particularly horrific ways?

The troubled succession of the early Roman Empire was exemplified in the year 69, when ________.

Jesus' death was ordered by ________.

Although differences in doctrine had the potential to splinter the early Christian church into dozens of sects, a unity of belief and ritual was maintained by a ________.

The beliefs of the majority of Christians were considered universal, or catholic.Those disagreeing with catholic orthodoxy were known as ________.

The fourth- and fifth-century "decline and fall of the Roman Empire" refers to the diminishing fortunes of ________.

Constantine’s father was a ________ under Diocletian.

What made Maecenas, the cultural adviser to Augustus, important to literary circles?

Saul of Tarsus, in Cilicia, underwent a conversion outside Damascus and changed his name to ________.

________ believed in a world of divine and natural law, and his writings were read well into the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Consider Map 5-2 showing the extent of the Roman Empire between 14 and 117 c.e.How could this evidence be used to explain why Trajan was considered one of the "good emperors"? What societal benefits flowed from the changes he made to the empire?

Valentinian I divided the empire in two and appointed his brother Valens as ruler of the east.The two sides became increasingly separate, as ________ was spoken in the west and ________ in the east.

Freestanding amphitheaters were built around the empire, hippodromes were constructed for chariot racing, and gladiatorial combat was as popular as ever.What did the need for entertainment (and particular kinds of entertainment) suggest about the Roman populace? Did these entertainments benefit or harm the emperor in any way?