The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Party Room => Brain Food => Topic started by: Noname on June 01, 2009, 03:26:33 PM
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I'll start. The one who gets a question correct gets to ask the next one.
What was the collective name of the two brothers whose tried to pass land reforms to help the poor during the later years of the Roman Republic?
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The Gracchi? Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus both promoted reforms on behalf of the poor in the second century B.C.
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Correct. You turn, Malte.
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Another Roman became famous for acting on behalf of the plebejans. He ultimately started a revolt which failed and in which he was killed. Whom am I talking about?
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There was at least one such revolution, Malte. Although, you are NOT referring to the servile wars, right?
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No Spartacus involved here. The one we are looking for was a member of one of Romes oldest and most distinguished families of Rome.
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Was this during the plebian revolt of 494 BC?
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Nope, we are talking of the first century B.C.
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Was it Lucius Sergius Catilina, also known as Cataline?
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Aye :yes
My final test in Latin was about him.
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Oh, you also took a class in Latin, as I did. Cool.
What was the highest De Jure religious position of the Roman Republic?
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BUMP.
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Is it a consul?
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Close enough. It is technically the pontifex maximus, but by the later republic, that role and that of the consul were effectively merged.
Your turn, Mirumoto.
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OK, here's a quick one:
What is the name of a weapon that was few times mentioned to have be used, never found archaeologically, and has a surprisingly resemblance to a man-portable weapon that was used in East Asia?
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Would that be a crossbow? I think there are engravings which suggest the Romans used it while for all I know no Roman crossbow has been found so far. There were crossbows (including repeating ones) in ancient China.
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Very warm, in fact. Think of a siege weapon form of a crossbow with the attributes of the Chinese type you mentioned. I need only the name of it.
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Polybolos?
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Right on! Your turn!
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Most people will know the name of one of the seven hills of Rome (Capitoline Hill) because the term Capitol is derived from it (I wonder if perhaps even the word capital may have its roots there?). Please give the name of the other six hills of Rome.
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Seven hills of Roma:
Capitoline was the most important of the hills as it had the forum for example (so ie: centre), Palatine and Aventine (running between them is the Circus Maximus) then there are the Caelian, Equiline, Viminal and finally the Quirinal.
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:yes
That's right. Your turn Katie :)
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Just to let you know, I just checked both, and they are in fact, correct. Good job, everyone. And yes, it is her turn.
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^
I'm glad they are right, otherwise I would have to rethink what I'd like to take for university.;) :lol:
Okay question time...erm...
Bit of an easy one...I think..but what date was the last western emperor (of Rome) deposed?
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September 4th, 476. At least, in the West. It was understood that the Empire was not dead, just transferred to the East.
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Yeah....your turn Noname.:)
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What were the 12 divisions of the Roman Empire called under Emperor Diocletian.
Hint: I'm looking for a one-word answer.
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Not sure if this is absolutely correct on what you are looking for but are they the Dioceses?
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Correct! At the late part of the empire, one state was divided into two main imperial divisions, Eastern Roman and Western Roman (the latter fell in 476 AD, the latter in 1453 AD), and each of those was divided into two parts, so that there were 4 emperors as a whole. This was called a Tetrarchy, from the Greek word "tetra", meaning "four."
To make matters more confusing, each of the four divisions had three dioceses, making for 12 in all. Underneath all of THAT were the provinces, whose numbers Diocletian had increased to something like 100. Altogether, it was a complex, archaic, confusing, and ultimately doomed system which attempted to keep the warlords who effectively ran the empire together, keeping it in "one" piece for another couple of centuries. If there was anything "good" about this arrangement, it is that it gave Europe the concept of vassalage, which, while not a good thing in itself, did provide a foundation for at least some expected order, even when proper government failed.
Your turn, Saft.
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Mind if i give it a stab. How did the Coliseum get its name?
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It got that name only quite a while after it had been built (not quite sure but I think the name came up as late as the middle ages). It was named after a nearby "colossal" statue of a former Roman empire (not a hundred percent certain, but I think that statue depicted Nero). Before that renaming it had simply been referred to as the "Amphitheatrum novum" (new amphitheater) or "Amphitheatrum Flavium" (after the dynasty of the Flavians which included Vespasian who had ordered the building of the Colosseum).
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Absolutely correct, Malte, although I thought it was Saft's turn. Still, if she is not here, and since you are willing to participate, you can go next. Feel free to ask away.
And yes, it was the megalomaniac emperor Nero.
EDIT: Forgot to add the "s." :oops
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Sticking to Colosseum related questions, what little story and famous quote is related to it and to the odor of currency?
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Does this have to do with the taxes levied by Vespasian, who was the emperor who built the Colosseum? One of his taxes was on public urinals in the city of Rome. :blink:
When asked by his son about how undignified a toilet tax was, the emperor asked him to smell a coin that came from the odd source of revenue, and when Titus, his son, replied that it had no odor, Vespasian said:
"Pecunia non olet" meaning "Money does not smell."
I think that is it. Not sure about the quote.
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Right :yes
It is not absolutely certain what exactly Vespasian said. Some reports have him hold some coins under his son's nose just saying "Non olet!" with the "pecunia" being added to the quote when the context is not so clear.
Your turn Noname.
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^
It's fine, it doesn't matter. I'm rather used to it by now anyway. I was going to ask a question but it's probably not interesting or anything...I'll save it to ask another time if I get another question correct..so you can just continue on this chain..and bypass me.
(Also, I'm female....I don't know whether that was a typing error).
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my apologies to you saft. you can ask a question the next time someone takes awhile to respond.
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*Bump*
I have a question that will be considered a little lengthy in the requirement for the answer but WHY was Julius Caesar killed?