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Study Guide for First Test: History of Rome
CLAS 333
Please feel free to email me with any questions: blibby@amherst.edu
Names, terms, and concepts (possible ID’s or topics for a short-answer question):
Etruscans
Capitoline Hill
Aeneas
Romulus and Remus
Kings of Rome (esp. Numa, Servius Tullius, and the Tarquins)
Horatia and her brothers
Lucretia
exemplum
mos maiorum
Mucius Scaevola
Cincinnatus
Paterfamilias and patriapotestas
Struggle of the Orders (5th and 4th century BC):
Decemvirs
Verginia
12 Tables
Plebeians and Patricians
Plebeian secession
Tribune of the Plebs
Assembly of the Plebs
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Patrons and Clients
Comitia Centuriata/ Centuriate Assembly; the idea of census classes; the inequalities of voting
Magistracies (esp. consul, tribune, censor, and dictator)
Fasces and imperium
The senate: senatusconsulta
Nobles and Triumph ceremony
cursus honorum
improvements to Roman army after Gallic sack
Latin League
King Pyrrhus of Epirus: Pyrrhic Victory (early 3rd century)
Idea of the “Just War”
Roman colonies; municipia; Latin colonies and WHY they were important
What is unique about Rome’s conception and use of citizenship rights?
Carthage—and how Carthage was different from Rome in politics, economy, and military
What began the First Punic War (Messana and Mamertines)?
Corvus
Hannibal Barca
What began the Second Punic War?
Battle of Cannae 216 BC
Fabian tactics (Fabius Maximus Cunctator)
Be able to identify a few important after-effects of Rome’s victory against Hannibal
Scipio Africanus
Philip V of Macedon and Peace of Flamininus
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Dates: if in bold, you should learn exact date—otherwise approx. is fine (i.e. mid-4th cent.)
1184 Fall of Troy
753 Founding of Rome
509 Expulsion of the Kings and beg. of Roman Republic
451 Twelve Tables
390 Battle of Allia and Gallic Sack
366 Licinio-Sextian Laws: a Plebeian can be consul
338 End of Latin League
295 Battle of Sentinum: key victory in last Samnite War
287 lex Hortensia: plebiscita = laws binding on all Roman citizens
264-41 First Punic War
238 Forced annexation of Sardinia
218-201 Second Punic War
216 Cannae
201-133 Guerilla warfare in Spain only ends when Numantia taken
197 Battle of Cynoscephalae in Thessaly:
Major Roman victory vs. Macedon—superiority of legion over phalanx
190 Battle of Magnesia: decisive Roman victory against Antiochus of Syria
146 Destruction of Carthage
Possible questions for a short essay (all taken from your reading guides):
1) What were the causes and pretexts of the 2nd Punic War?
2) How does Fabius Maximus (cunctator) seem to his biographer either to embody or betray
central Roman values?
3) Key to Polybius’ conception of Rome's imperial greatness is her constitution. What does
he take to be the key elements in it? Why is it so successful in his view?
4) What, if anything, can a historian learn from Livy’s legendary or mythical stories?
Please use a specific example to explain you answer.
a. Another way of approaching the same issues:
What is Livy’s attitude toward his project of writing down Rome’s
history? What does he say is his goal as he writes Rome’s history?
5) What role do women play in Livy’s stories of early Rome?
6) What is the role of violence in Livy’s stories of early Rome?