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18,073
The mosaics of the Church of St Stephen in ancient Kastron Mefaa (now Umm ar-Rasas) were made in 785 (discovered after 1986). The perfectly preserved mosaic floor is the largest one in Jordan. On the central panel hunting and fishing scenes are depicted while another panel illustrates the most important cities of the r...
[ { "answer": "Umm ar-Rasas", "question": "Where would the Church of St Stephen be located today?" }, { "answer": "in 785", "question": "When were the mosaics in the Church of St Stephen created?" }, { "answer": "1986", "question": "When were the mosaics in the Church of St Stephen re-...
18,074
The craft has also been popular in early medieval Rus, inherited as part of the Byzantine tradition. Yaroslav, the Grand Prince of the Kievan Rus' built a large cathedral in his capital, Kiev. The model of the church was the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, and it was also called Saint Sophia Cathedral. It was built mai...
[ { "answer": "Grand Prince of the Kievan Rus'", "question": "Yaroslav held what title in medieval Russia?" }, { "answer": "Kiev", "question": "Where did Yaroslav build his Cathedral?" }, { "answer": "the Hagia Sophia", "question": "What was used as a model for the church Yaroslav comm...
18,075
The apse mosaic of the Gelati Monastery is a rare example of mosaic use in Georgia. Began by king David IV and completed by his son Demetrius I of Georgia, the fragmentary panel depicts Theotokos flanked by two archangels. The use of mosaic in Gelati attests to some Byzantine influence in the country and was a demonstr...
[ { "answer": "Georgia", "question": "In what country is the the Gelati Monastery located?" }, { "answer": "king David IV", "question": "Who started construction on the Gelati Monastery?" }, { "answer": "Demetrius I of Georgia", "question": "Who eventually oversaw completion of the Gel...
18,076
The remains of a 6th-century synagogue have been uncovered in Sepphoris, which was an important centre of Jewish culture between the 3rd–7th centuries and a multicultural town inhabited by Jews, Christians and pagans. The mosaic reflects an interesting fusion of Jewish and pagan beliefs. In the center of the floor the ...
[ { "answer": "a 6th-century synagogue", "question": "The remains of what was found at Sepphoris?" }, { "answer": "Jews", "question": "Who were the primary inhabitants of Sepphoris in the 3rd through 7th centuries?" }, { "answer": "pagan", "question": "The mosaic found at Sepphoris dis...
18,077
The synagogue in Eshtemoa (As-Samu) was built around the 4th century. The mosaic floor is decorated with only floral and geometric patterns. The synagogue in Khirbet Susiya (excavated in 1971–72, founded in the end of the 4th century) has three mosaic panels, the eastern one depicting a Torah shrine, two menorahs, a lu...
[ { "answer": "around the 4th century", "question": "When was the synagogue in Eshtemoa constructed?" }, { "answer": "only floral and geometric", "question": "What patterns are present on the mosaic at the synagogue in Eshtemoa?" }, { "answer": "in 1971–72", "question": "When was the s...
18,078
The ban on figurative depiction was not taken so seriously by the Jews living in Byzantine Gaza. In 1966 remains of a synagogue were found in the ancient harbour area. Its mosaic floor depicts King David as Orpheus, identified by his name in Hebrew letters. Near him were lion cubs, a giraffe and a snake listening to hi...
[ { "answer": "figurative depiction", "question": "In Byzantine Gaza, Jews were relaxed on what ban?" }, { "answer": "in the ancient harbour area", "question": "Where were ancient remains of a synagogue found in 1966?" }, { "answer": "King David as Orpheus", "question": "The mosaic fou...
18,079
A 5th-century building in Huldah may be a Samaritan synagogue. Its mosaic floor contains typical Jewish symbols (menorah, lulav, etrog) but the inscriptions are Greek. Another Samaritan synagogue with a mosaic floor was located in Bet She'an (excavated in 1960). The floor had only decorative motifs and an aedicule (shr...
[ { "answer": "a Samaritan synagogue", "question": "A 5th-century building in Huldah is believed to be what?" }, { "answer": "typical Jewish symbols", "question": "What does the mosaic at Huldah contain?" }, { "answer": "Greek", "question": "What language are the inscriptions on the mo...
18,080
Islamic architecture used mosaic technique to decorate religious buildings and palaces after the Muslim conquests of the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire. In Syria and Egypt the Arabs were influenced by the great tradition of Roman and Early Christian mosaic art. During the Umayyad Dynasty mosaic making remain...
[ { "answer": "Muslim", "question": "Who conquered the Eastern Provinces of the Byzantine empire?" }, { "answer": "tile", "question": "What would later become the main Islamic form of wall decoration?" }, { "answer": "Roman", "question": "In Syria and Egypt, other than early Christians...
18,081
The most important early Islamic mosaic work is the decoration of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, then capital of the Arab Caliphate. The mosque was built between 706 and 715. The caliph obtained 200 skilled workers from the Byzantine Emperor to decorate the building. This is evidenced by the partly Byzantine style of ...
[ { "answer": "the Umayyad Mosque", "question": "Where is the most important Islamic mosaic work?" }, { "answer": "Damascus", "question": "Where is the the Umayyad Mosque located?" }, { "answer": "capital of the Arab Caliphate", "question": "What was the significance of Damascus during...
18,083
Some of the best examples of later Islamic mosaics were produced in Moorish Spain. The golden mosaics in the mihrab and the central dome of the Great Mosque in Corduba have a decidedly Byzantine character. They were made between 965 and 970 by local craftsmen, supervised by a master mosaicist from Constantinople, who w...
[ { "answer": "Moorish Spain", "question": "Where are some of the best examples of islamic mosaic work found?" }, { "answer": "Byzantine", "question": "The mosaics in the Great Mosque in Corduba have what kind of style?" }, { "answer": "the Byzantine Emperor", "question": "Who sent the...
18,084
Noted 19th-century mosaics include those by Edward Burne-Jones at St Pauls within the Walls in Rome. Another modern mosaic of note is the world's largest mosaic installation located at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, located in St. Louis, Missouri. A modern example of mosaic is the Museum of Natural History statio...
[ { "answer": "mosaic installation", "question": "The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis holds the largest what?" }, { "answer": "the rest areas", "question": "What along texas interstate Highways contains everyday examples of mosaics?" }, { "answer": "the Museum of Natural History station", ...
18,085
In styles that owe as much to videogame pixel art and popculture as to traditional mosaic, street art has seen a novel reinvention and expansion of mosaic artwork. The most prominent artist working with mosaics in street art is the French Invader. He has done almost all his work in two very distinct mosaic styles, the ...
[ { "answer": "street art", "question": "What has recently seen an expansion of mosaic artwork?" }, { "answer": "the French Invader", "question": "Who is the most famous street artist who works with mosaics?" }, { "answer": "8 bit video game character", "question": "What does the Frenc...
18,086
Portuguese pavement (in Portuguese, Calçada Portuguesa) is a kind of two-tone stone mosaic paving created in Portugal, and common throughout the Lusosphere. Most commonly taking the form of geometric patterns from the simple to the complex, it also is used to create complex pictorial mosaics in styles ranging from icon...
[ { "answer": "Lisbon", "question": "Which city has almost all of its sidewalks in Portuguese pavement?" }, { "answer": "geometric", "question": "What is the most common pattern for Portuguese pavement?" }, { "answer": "Calçada Portuguesa", "question": "Portuguese pavement is known by ...
18,087
The indirect method of applying tesserae is often used for very large projects, projects with repetitive elements or for areas needing site specific shapes. Tiles are applied face-down to a backing paper using an adhesive, and later transferred onto walls, floors or craft projects. This method is most useful for extrem...
[ { "answer": "face-down to a backing paper", "question": "How were larger mosaics usually constructed?" }, { "answer": "gives the maker time to rework", "question": "Why was adding a step i production useful for larger projects?" }, { "answer": "the indirect method", "question": "What...
18,088
The double indirect method can be used when it is important to see the work during the creation process as it will appear when completed. The tesserae are placed face-up on a medium (often adhesive-backed paper, sticky plastic or soft lime or putty) as it will appear when installed. When the mosaic is complete, a simil...
[ { "answer": "when it is important to see the work", "question": "When is the double indirect method of mosaic useful?" }, { "answer": "directly controlling the final result of the work", "question": "What is the most powerful aspect of the double indirect method?" }, { "answer": "1989", ...
18,089
A tile mosaic is a digital image made up of individual tiles, arranged in a non-overlapping fashion, e.g. to make a static image on a shower room or bathing pool floor, by breaking the image down into square pixels formed from ceramic tiles (a typical size is 1 in × 1 in (25 mm × 25 mm), as for example, on the floor of...
[ { "answer": "1 in × 1 in", "question": "What is the typical size of a ceramic mosaic tile?" }, { "answer": "express text", "question": "What is usually the purpose of a tile mosaic in pools?" }, { "answer": "on a shower room or bathing pool floor", "question": "Where is the most comm...
18,090
With high cost of labor in developed countries, production automation has become increasingly popular. Rather than being assembled by hand, mosaics designed using computer aided design (CAD) software can be assembled by a robot. Production can be greater than 10 times faster with higher accuracy. But these "computer" m...
[ { "answer": "high cost of labor in developed countries", "question": "Why has production automation become popular?" }, { "answer": "CAD", "question": "Which software can aid in the design of robotically created mosaics?" }, { "answer": "10 times faster", "question": "How much faster...
18,091
The original Latin word "universitas" refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, corporation, etc." At the time of the emergence of urban town life and medieval guilds, specialised "associations of students and teachers with collective legal rights usually ...
[ { "answer": "Latin", "question": "From what language does Universitas come from?" }, { "answer": "they were self-regulating", "question": "What did a universitas have in common with similar guilds?" }, { "answer": "urban town life and medieval guilds", "question": "Around the beginni...
18,092
An important idea in the definition of a university is the notion of academic freedom. The first documentary evidence of this comes from early in the life of the first university. The University of Bologna adopted an academic charter, the Constitutio Habita, in 1158 or 1155, which guaranteed the right of a traveling sc...
[ { "answer": "academic freedom", "question": "In terms of academics what is a core requirement of a university?" }, { "answer": "University of Bologna", "question": "What was the first university?" }, { "answer": "the Constitutio Habita", "question": "What charter is said to be the fi...
18,093
European higher education took place for hundreds of years in Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools (scholae monasticae), in which monks and nuns taught classes; evidence of these immediate forerunners of the later university at many places dates back to the 6th century. The earliest universities were develop...
[ { "answer": "monks and nuns", "question": "Who presided over classes at a scholae monasticae?" }, { "answer": "monastic schools", "question": "What is a scholae monasticae?" }, { "answer": "Latin Church", "question": "What church is said to be responsible for the formation of univers...
18,094
All over Europe rulers and city governments began to create universities to satisfy a European thirst for knowledge, and the belief that society would benefit from the scholarly expertise generated from these institutions. Princes and leaders of city governments perceived the potential benefits of having a scholarly ex...
[ { "answer": "Greek", "question": "Which ancient texts began to see more study after universities were formed?" }, { "answer": "humanism", "question": "What outlook developed the creation of the university system?" }, { "answer": "to satisfy a European thirst for knowledge", "question...
18,095
The rediscovery of Aristotle's works–more than 3000 pages of it would eventually be translated –fuelled a spirit of inquiry into natural processes that had already begun to emerge in the 12th century. Some scholars believe that these works represented one of the most important document discoveries in Western intellectu...
[ { "answer": "more than 3000 pages", "question": "Roughly how many pages of the works of Aristotle were translated by the 12th century?" }, { "answer": "Western thought", "question": "Richard Dales believes that the work of Aristotle represents the turning point of what?" }, { "answer": "...
18,097
Their endowment by a prince or monarch and their role in training government officials made these Mediterranean universities similar to Islamic madrasas, although madrasas were generally smaller and individual teachers, rather than the madrasa itself, granted the license or degree. Scholars like Arnold H. Green and Hos...
[ { "answer": "Mediterranean universities", "question": "What type of university was an Islamic madrasa akin to?" }, { "answer": "prince or monarch", "question": "What type of individual funded a Mediterranean university?" }, { "answer": "individual teachers", "question": "From where d...
18,098
Many scholars (including Makdisi) have argued that early medieval universities were influenced by the religious madrasahs in Al-Andalus, the Emirate of Sicily, and the Middle East (during the Crusades). Other scholars see this argument as overstated. Lowe and Yasuhara have recently drawn on the well-documented influenc...
[ { "answer": "Al-Andalus", "question": "Madrasas in which specific location are said to have guided the formation of medieval universities?" }, { "answer": "a global context", "question": "Some scholars think that universities come from what, rather than solely local influences?" }, { "an...
18,100
The propagation of universities was not necessarily a steady progression, as the 17th century was rife with events that adversely affected university expansion. Many wars, and especially the Thirty Years' War, disrupted the university landscape throughout Europe at different times. War, plague, famine, regicide, and ch...
[ { "answer": "the Thirty Years' War", "question": "What war most curtailed the spread of universities in the 17th century?" }, { "answer": "University of Paris", "question": "Which university is said to have started faculty governance?" }, { "answer": "the state", "question": "Which e...
18,101
Although the structural model provided by the University of Paris, where student members are controlled by faculty "masters," provided a standard for universities, the application of this model took at least three different forms. There were universities that had a system of faculties whose teaching addressed a very sp...
[ { "answer": "masters", "question": "What were the faculty who supervised students in the University of Paris called?" }, { "answer": "a standard", "question": "The structure of the University of Paris served as what for other universities?" }, { "answer": "specialists", "question": "...
18,103
Although the initial focus of the humanist scholars in the university was the discovery, exposition and insertion of ancient texts and languages into the university, and the ideas of those texts into society generally, their influence was ultimately quite progressive. The emergence of classical texts brought new ideas ...
[ { "answer": "humanist", "question": "Discovery and exposition were examples of the focus of what type of university scholar?" }, { "answer": "the humanities", "question": "A concentration on the study of the self resulted in what field of study?" }, { "answer": "Galen", "question": "...
18,104
There are several major exceptions on tuition fees. In many European countries, it is possible to study without tuition fees. Public universities in Nordic countries were entirely without tuition fees until around 2005. Denmark, Sweden and Finland then moved to put in place tuition fees for foreign students. Citizens o...
[ { "answer": "without tuition fees", "question": "In multiple countries in Europe students can attend a university with what kind if financial burden?" }, { "answer": "around 2005", "question": "Until what year were public universities in nordic nation free of tuition?" }, { "answer": "fo...
18,105
Colloquially, the term university may be used to describe a phase in one's life: "When I was at university..." (in the United States and Ireland, college is often used instead: "When I was in college..."). In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Spain and the German-speaking cou...
[ { "answer": "college", "question": "In Ireland what word is mainly used instead of university?" }, { "answer": "Varsity", "question": "Scotland is said to frequently refer to university as what?" }, { "answer": "uni", "question": "Spain refers to a university in what other way?" },...
18,106
In Canada, "college" generally refers to a two-year, non-degree-granting institution, while "university" connotes a four-year, degree-granting institution. Universities may be sub-classified (as in the Macleans rankings) into large research universities with many PhD granting programs and medical schools (for example, ...
[ { "answer": "two", "question": "A college teaches students for how many years in Canada?" }, { "answer": "non-degree-granting", "question": "What type of institution is a college in Canada?" }, { "answer": "four", "question": "How many years does a degree-granting university in Canad...
18,107
Although each institution is organized differently, nearly all universities have a board of trustees; a president, chancellor, or rector; at least one vice president, vice-chancellor, or vice-rector; and deans of various divisions. Universities are generally divided into a number of academic departments, schools or fac...
[ { "answer": "at least one", "question": "How many vice presidents do most universities have?" }, { "answer": "a board of trustees", "question": "What kind of board does a university commonly have?" }, { "answer": "government-run higher education boards", "question": "Who controls pub...
18,108
The funding and organization of universities varies widely between different countries around the world. In some countries universities are predominantly funded by the state, while in others funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the university must pay. In some countries the vast majority o...
[ { "answer": "varies widely", "question": "How does the financial backing of universities around the world differ?" }, { "answer": "fees which students attending the university", "question": "Outside of state funded schools, and funds coming from donors, how might a university collect funds?" }...
18,109
Universities created by bilateral or multilateral treaties between states are intergovernmental. An example is the Academy of European Law, which offers training in European law to lawyers, judges, barristers, solicitors, in-house counsel and academics. EUCLID (Pôle Universitaire Euclide, Euclid University) is chartere...
[ { "answer": "intergovernmental", "question": "What is a university formed through a bilateral treaty known as?" }, { "answer": "Pôle Universitaire Euclide, Euclid University", "question": "In terms of intergovernmental universities, what is EUCLID?" }, { "answer": "sustainable developmen...
18,110
A national university is generally a university created or run by a national state but at the same time represents a state autonomic institution which functions as a completely independent body inside of the same state. Some national universities are closely associated with national cultural or political aspirations, f...
[ { "answer": "Irish language and Irish culture", "question": "What was a focus of the National University of Ireland during the beginning of Irish Independence?" }, { "answer": "Argentina", "question": "In what nation did the University Revolution occur?" }, { "answer": "1918", "quest...
18,111
In 1963, the Robbins Report on universities in the United Kingdom concluded that such institutions should have four main "objectives essential to any properly balanced system: instruction in skills; the promotion of the general powers of the mind so as to produce not mere specialists but rather cultivated men and women...
[ { "answer": "1963", "question": "In what year did the Robbins report say that universities should have four objectives to remain balanced?" }, { "answer": "the United Kingdom", "question": "What nation did the 1963 Robbins Report focus on?" }, { "answer": "general powers of the mind", ...
18,112
Until the 19th century, religion played a significant role in university curriculum; however, the role of religion in research universities decreased in the 19th century, and by the end of the 19th century, the German university model had spread around the world. Universities concentrated on science in the 19th and 20t...
[ { "answer": "19th", "question": "Ending with what century did religion play a smaller part in the curriculum of universities?" }, { "answer": "the German university model", "question": "what model of university structure was being used throughout the world at the finish of the 19th century?" }...
18,113
By the end of the early modern period, the structure and orientation of higher education had changed in ways that are eminently recognizable for the modern context. Aristotle was no longer a force providing the epistemological and methodological focus for universities and a more mechanistic orientation was emerging. Th...
[ { "answer": "the end of the early modern period", "question": "At the end of what period would universities become alike to contemporary universities?" }, { "answer": "mechanistic", "question": "What type of focus did universities have at the end of the early modern period?" }, { "answer...
18,114
The epistemological tensions between scientists and universities were also heightened by the economic realities of research during this time, as individual scientists, associations and universities were vying for limited resources. There was also competition from the formation of new colleges funded by private benefact...
[ { "answer": "limited resources", "question": "Scientists and universities were competing for what?" }, { "answer": "free", "question": "What type of education did private benefactors hope to provide to the public?" }, { "answer": "an alternative to traditional universities", "questio...
18,116
Regardless of the way the tension between universities, individual scientists, and the scientific revolution itself is perceived, there was a discernible impact on the way that university education was constructed. Aristotelian epistemology provided a coherent framework not simply for knowledge and knowledge constructi...
[ { "answer": "Aristotelian", "question": "What type of epistemology served as the foundation of knowledge constructions and training scholars in universities?" }, { "answer": "autonomy", "question": "The scientific revolution contributed to what, in terms of science?" }, { "answer": "a g...
18,117
Examining the influence of humanism on scholars in medicine, mathematics, astronomy and physics may suggest that humanism and universities were a strong impetus for the scientific revolution. Although the connection between humanism and the scientific discovery may very well have begun within the confines of the univer...
[ { "answer": "the scientific revolution", "question": "The study of humanism among those studying math, astronomy and medicine is said to have caused what?" }, { "answer": "changes in science", "question": "Resisting what caused many scientists to court private benefactors?" }, { "answer"...
18,118
The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes. There was no principle analogous to separation of church and state in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), the same men who were elected public officials might also serve as augurs and pontiffs. Priests married, raised familie...
[ { "answer": "elite", "question": "The members of what class were priests in ancient Rome?" }, { "answer": "Jupiter", "question": "Which God exemplified just rule for the Romans?" }, { "answer": "509–27 BC", "question": "What was the time span of the Roman Republic?" }, { "ans...
18,119
Roman religion was thus practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, "I give that you might give." Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma, although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine and i...
[ { "answer": "faith or dogma", "question": "What characteristics were not inherent in Roman religious practice?" }, { "answer": "social order", "question": "What was brought forth by religion in Rome?" }, { "answer": "household shrine", "question": "What religious feature did each Rom...
18,120
The Romans are known for the great number of deities they honored, a capacity that earned the mockery of early Christian polemicists. The presence of Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became as fundamental as t...
[ { "answer": "great number", "question": "How deities did the Romans have?" }, { "answer": "Greeks", "question": "What group was an influence to Roman culture?" }, { "answer": "religious", "question": "What sort of practices did the Greeks offer to Rome's culture?" }, { "answ...
18,121
Imported mystery religions, which offered initiates salvation in the afterlife, were a matter of personal choice for an individual, practiced in addition to carrying on one's family rites and participating in public religion. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Rom...
[ { "answer": "personal choice", "question": "What was the practice of religion to the Romans?" }, { "answer": "public religion", "question": "What was the standard practice in Roman religious life?" }, { "answer": "mysteries", "question": "What part of Roman religious practice involve...
18,122
As the Romans extended their dominance throughout the Mediterranean world, their policy in general was to absorb the deities and cults of other peoples rather than try to eradicate them, since they believed that preserving tradition promoted social stability. One way that Rome incorporated diverse peoples was by suppor...
[ { "answer": "preserving tradition", "question": "To the Romans what did them think promoted social stability?" }, { "answer": "absorb", "question": "What did the Romans tend to do with local religions and deities in conquered areas? " }, { "answer": "tolerance", "question": "What fac...
18,123
In the wake of the Republic's collapse, state religion had adapted to support the new regime of the emperors. Augustus, the first Roman emperor, justified the novelty of one-man rule with a vast program of religious revivalism and reform. Public vows formerly made for the security of the republic now were directed at t...
[ { "answer": "emperors", "question": "After the Republic collapsed, what addition was made to the religions of Rome?" }, { "answer": "Augustus", "question": "Who was the first Roman emperor?" }, { "answer": "emperor", "question": "For whose well being were public vows made in the emp...
18,124
Rome had a semi-divine ancestor in the Trojan refugee Aeneas, son of Venus, who was said to have established the nucleus of Roman religion when he brought the Palladium, Lares and Penates from Troy to Italy. These objects were believed in historical times to remain in the keeping of the Vestals, Rome's female priesthoo...
[ { "answer": "Aeneas", "question": "What mythical figure did the Romans consider to be semi-divine?" }, { "answer": "Roman religion", "question": "Of what did Aeneas establish the central feature?" }, { "answer": "Vestals", "question": "Who were the keepers of Aeneas's sacred objects?...
18,125
The myth of a Trojan founding with Greek influence was reconciled through an elaborate genealogy (the Latin kings of Alba Longa) with the well-known legend of Rome's founding by Romulus and Remus. The most common version of the twins' story displays several aspects of hero myth. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, had been orde...
[ { "answer": "Romulus and Remus", "question": "What mythical characters were involved in the founding of Rome?" }, { "answer": "hero myth", "question": "What type of story was the Romulus and Remus tale?" }, { "answer": "Rhea Silvia", "question": "Who was the mother of Romulus and Rem...
18,126
Romulus was credited with several religious institutions. He founded the Consualia festival, inviting the neighbouring Sabines to participate; the ensuing rape of the Sabine women by Romulus's men further embedded both violence and cultural assimilation in Rome's myth of origins. As a successful general, Romulus is als...
[ { "answer": "religious", "question": "What type of organization did Romulus establish?" }, { "answer": "Jupiter", "question": "According to myth, what god's temple did Romulus found?" }, { "answer": "spoils taken in war", "question": "What did Romulus offer to Jupiter in the first Ro...
18,127
Each of Rome's legendary or semi-legendary kings was associated with one or more religious institutions still known to the later Republic. Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius instituted the fetial priests. The first "outsider" Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, founded a Capitoline temple to the triad Jupiter, Ju...
[ { "answer": "religious institutions", "question": "To what were the first kings of Rome associated?" }, { "answer": "Jupiter, Juno and Minerva", "question": "To what group of deities did Lucius Tarquinius Priscus establish a temple?" }, { "answer": "Tarquinius Superbus", "question":...
18,128
Rome offers no native creation myth, and little mythography to explain the character of its deities, their mutual relationships or their interactions with the human world, but Roman theology acknowledged that di immortales (immortal gods) ruled all realms of the heavens and earth. There were gods of the upper heavens, ...
[ { "answer": "creation", "question": "What type of myth did Rome not have?" }, { "answer": "immortal gods", "question": "To the Romans who ruled all aspects of heaven and earth?" }, { "answer": "Rome honoured them", "question": "What did the Romans do for those deities that favored Ro...
18,129
Several versions of a semi-official, structured pantheon were developed during the political, social and religious instability of the Late Republican era. Jupiter, the most powerful of all gods and "the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested", consistently personified the div...
[ { "answer": "Jupiter", "question": "To the Romans who was the most powerful of the gods?" }, { "answer": "divine authority", "question": "What did Jupiter personify in regards to Rome's highest offices?" }, { "answer": "Mars and Quirinus", "question": "What gods did Juno and Minerva ...
18,130
The impressive, costly, and centralised rites to the deities of the Roman state were vastly outnumbered in everyday life by commonplace religious observances pertaining to an individual's domestic and personal deities, the patron divinities of Rome's various neighborhoods and communities, and the often idiosyncratic bl...
[ { "answer": "commonplace", "question": "What type of religious practices outnumbered the state observances?" }, { "answer": "lawful Roman", "question": "To what did the mixture of official and individual religious practices pertain? " }, { "answer": "impressive, costly, and centralised"...
18,131
Roman calendars show roughly forty annual religious festivals. Some lasted several days, others a single day or less: sacred days (dies fasti) outnumbered "non-sacred" days (dies nefasti). A comparison of surviving Roman religious calendars suggests that official festivals were organized according to broad seasonal gro...
[ { "answer": "forty", "question": "How many religious celebrations did Rome have?" }, { "answer": "sacred days", "question": " What type of day were there more of in Rome?" }, { "answer": "seasonal", "question": "With what were Roman festivals organized in accordance?" }, { "a...
18,132
Other public festivals were not required by the calendar, but occasioned by events. The triumph of a Roman general was celebrated as the fulfillment of religious vows, though these tended to be overshadowed by the political and social significance of the event. During the late Republic, the political elite competed to ...
[ { "answer": "fulfillment of religious vows", "question": "What type of festivals happened when events warranted them?" }, { "answer": "The triumph", "question": "What is an example of an event organized religious celebration?" }, { "answer": "public display", "question": "In what asp...
18,134
The Latin word templum originally referred not to the temple building itself, but to a sacred space surveyed and plotted ritually through augury: "The architecture of the ancient Romans was, from first to last, an art of shaping space around ritual." The Roman architect Vitruvius always uses the word templum to refer t...
[ { "answer": "ritual", "question": "Around what aspect did the Romans a lot space?" }, { "answer": "augury", "question": "What religious practice did Rome use to determine ritual?" }, { "answer": "templum", "question": "What Roman word was used to refer to the scared precinct?" }, ...
18,135
All sacrifices and offerings required an accompanying prayer to be effective. Pliny the Elder declared that "a sacrifice without prayer is thought to be useless and not a proper consultation of the gods." Prayer by itself, however, had independent power. The spoken word was thus the single most potent religious action,...
[ { "answer": "prayer", "question": "What did each offering require to be valid in Roman religion?" }, { "answer": "useless", "question": "What did Pliny the Elder think that a sacrifice without prayer was?" }, { "answer": "Prayer", "question": "What act alone had power in Roman though...
18,136
Sacrifice to deities of the heavens (di superi, "gods above") was performed in daylight, and under the public gaze. Deities of the upper heavens required white, infertile victims of their own sex: Juno a white heifer (possibly a white cow); Jupiter a white, castrated ox (bos mas) for the annual oath-taking by the consu...
[ { "answer": "daylight", "question": "When did the sacrifices to the deities of the heavens occur? " }, { "answer": "white", "question": "What color was the sacrifice mandated to be for heaven deities?" }, { "answer": "banquet", "question": "What event was held after the sacrifice?" ...
18,137
Chthonic gods such as Dis pater, the di inferi ("gods below"), and the collective shades of the departed (di Manes) were given dark, fertile victims in nighttime rituals. Animal sacrifice usually took the form of a holocaust or burnt offering, and there was no shared banquet, as "the living cannot share a meal with the...
[ { "answer": "nighttime", "question": "When were the gods below and the dead celebrated?" }, { "answer": "dark, fertile", "question": "What type of sacrifice victims were the dark gods offered?" }, { "answer": "burnt offering", "question": "How was the sacrifice to the gods below hand...
18,138
The same divine agencies who caused disease or harm also had the power to avert it, and so might be placated in advance. Divine consideration might be sought to avoid the inconvenient delays of a journey, or encounters with banditry, piracy and shipwreck, with due gratitude to be rendered on safe arrival or return. In ...
[ { "answer": "divine agencies", "question": "What elements had the power of benefit or harm in Roman religion?" }, { "answer": "gratitude", "question": "What was expected when the divine intervention benefited the patron?" }, { "answer": "Divine", "question": "What kind of interventio...
18,139
Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary sacrifice: in one of the many crises of the Second Punic War, Jupiter Capitolinus was promised every animal born that spring (see ver sacrum), to be rendered after five more years of protection from Hannibal and his allies. The "contract" with Jupiter is exceptionall...
[ { "answer": "Extraordinary", "question": "What type of circumstances were called for in times of extreme difficulties?" }, { "answer": "every animal born", "question": "What offering was Jupiter promised during the Second Punic War?" }, { "answer": "Hannibal", "question": "From whom ...
18,140
The exta were the entrails of a sacrificed animal, comprising in Cicero's enumeration the gall bladder (fel), liver (iecur), heart (cor), and lungs (pulmones). The exta were exposed for litatio (divine approval) as part of Roman liturgy, but were "read" in the context of the disciplina Etrusca. As a product of Roman s...
[ { "answer": "entrails", "question": "What were the exta of a sacrifice?" }, { "answer": "disciplina Etrusca", "question": "How were the exta read in Roman religious practice?" }, { "answer": "exta and blood", "question": "What part of the sacrifice were reserved for the gods?" }, ...
18,141
Human sacrifice in ancient Rome was rare but documented. After the Roman defeat at Cannae two Gauls and two Greeks were buried under the Forum Boarium, in a stone chamber "which had on a previous occasion [228 BC] also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings". Livy avoids the word "s...
[ { "answer": "Human", "question": "What type of sacrifice was rare in Rome?" }, { "answer": "Human sacrifice", "question": "What act was repulsive to Romans?" }, { "answer": "buried", "question": "How were sacrifices of humans carried out in Rome?" }, { "answer": "Gaul", "...
18,142
In the early stages of the First Punic War (264 BC) the first known Roman gladiatorial munus was held, described as a funeral blood-rite to the manes of a Roman military aristocrat. The gladiator munus was never explicitly acknowledged as a human sacrifice, probably because death was not its inevitable outcome or purpo...
[ { "answer": "First Punic War", "question": "During what war was the first gladiator munus held?" }, { "answer": "funeral blood-rite", "question": "How was the gladiatorial combat described? " }, { "answer": "death", "question": "What was not the ultimate purpose of gladiatorial rites...
18,143
The small woolen dolls called Maniae, hung on the Compitalia shrines, were thought a symbolic replacement for child-sacrifice to Mania, as Mother of the Lares. The Junii took credit for its abolition by their ancestor L. Junius Brutus, traditionally Rome's Republican founder and first consul. Political or military exec...
[ { "answer": "L. Junius Brutus", "question": "Who was the founder of the Roman Republic?" }, { "answer": "woolen dolls", "question": "What were stand-ins for child sacrifices to Mania?" }, { "answer": "Mother of the Lares", "question": "Who was Mania in Roman religion?" }, { "...
18,144
Officially, human sacrifice was obnoxious "to the laws of gods and men." The practice was a mark of the "Other", attributed to Rome's traditional enemies such as the Carthaginians and Gauls. Rome banned it on several occasions under extreme penalty. A law passed in 81 BC characterised human sacrifice as murder committe...
[ { "answer": "human sacrifice", "question": "What act did Romans view as obnoxious?" }, { "answer": "enemies", "question": "To whom was human sacrifice usually attributed?" }, { "answer": "banned it", "question": "What did Rome do about human sacrifice?" }, { "answer": "murder...
18,145
A pater familias was the senior priest of his household. He offered daily cult to his lares and penates, and to his di parentes/divi parentes at his domestic shrines and in the fires of the household hearth. His wife (mater familias) was responsible for the household's cult to Vesta. In rural estates, bailiffs seem to ...
[ { "answer": "wife", "question": "Which individual in the household was responsible for the Vesta cult?" }, { "answer": "pater familias", "question": "Who was the senior priest of the household in Rome?" }, { "answer": "Aeneas", "question": "Which ancient hero brought the lares cult t...
18,146
Religious law centered on the ritualised system of honours and sacrifice that brought divine blessings, according to the principle do ut des ("I give, that you might give"). Proper, respectful religio brought social harmony and prosperity. Religious neglect was a form of atheism: impure sacrifice and incorrect ritual w...
[ { "answer": "ritualised", "question": "On what kind of system was Roman religious law focused?" }, { "answer": "Religious neglect", "question": "What form of religion was atheism considered to be? " }, { "answer": "harmony and prosperity.", "question": "What results did proper religi...
18,147
Official cults were state funded as a "matter of public interest" (res publica). Non-official but lawful cults were funded by private individuals for the benefit of their own communities. The difference between public and private cult is often unclear. Individuals or collegial associations could offer funds and cult to...
[ { "answer": "state", "question": "What organization payed for the maintenance official cults?" }, { "answer": "private individuals", "question": "Who funded non-official religious cults?" }, { "answer": "own communities", "question": "What group benefited from non- official cults? " ...
18,148
Rome had no separate priestly caste or class. The highest authority within a community usually sponsored its cults and sacrifices, officiated as its priest and promoted its assistants and acolytes. Specialists from the religious colleges and professionals such as haruspices and oracles were available for consultation. ...
[ { "answer": "separate priestly caste", "question": "What was lacking as to the profession of a priest class in Rome?" }, { "answer": "highest", "question": "What authority in a community sponsored religious rites? " }, { "answer": "Specialists", "question": "What type of religious pa...
18,149
In the Regal era, a rex sacrorum (king of the sacred rites) supervised regal and state rites in conjunction with the king (rex) or in his absence, and announced the public festivals. He had little or no civil authority. With the abolition of monarchy, the collegial power and influence of the Republican pontifices incre...
[ { "answer": "rex sacrorum", "question": "Who supervised sacred rites during the era of kings?" }, { "answer": "civil", "question": "What type of authority did the rex sacrorum lack?" }, { "answer": "Republican pontifices", "question": "What group's power increased after the rise of t...
18,151
The Vestals were a public priesthood of six women devoted to the cultivation of Vesta, goddess of the hearth of the Roman state and its vital flame. A girl chosen to be a Vestal achieved unique religious distinction, public status and privileges, and could exercise considerable political influence. Upon entering her of...
[ { "answer": "six", "question": "How many Vestals were there in Rome?" }, { "answer": "hearth", "question": "Of what was Vesta the goddess?" }, { "answer": "vital flame", "question": "Of what were the Vestals protectors?" }, { "answer": "political influence", "question": "...
18,152
A Vestal's dress represented her status outside the usual categories that defined Roman women, with elements of both virgin bride and daughter, and Roman matron and wife. Unlike male priests, Vestals were freed of the traditional obligations of marrying and producing children, and were required to take a vow of chastit...
[ { "answer": "chastity", "question": "What vow was required of Vestals?" }, { "answer": "essential", "question": "How were the Vestals' devotion to Rome's security viewed to be ?" }, { "answer": "buried alive", "question": "What was the punishment for the loss of a Vestal's chastity?"...
18,153
The Vestals embody the profound connection between domestic cult and the religious life of the community. Any householder could rekindle their own household fire from Vesta's flame. The Vestals cared for the Lares and Penates of the state that were the equivalent of those enshrined in each home. Besides their own festi...
[ { "answer": "Vesta's flame", "question": "Where could a householder rekindle the home's flame?" }, { "answer": "Lares and Penates", "question": "For what state artifacts did the Vestals care?" }, { "answer": "Vestalia", "question": "What was the Vestal festival called?" }, { ...
18,154
Augustus' religious reformations raised the funding and public profile of the Vestals. They were given high-status seating at games and theatres. The emperor Claudius appointed them as priestesses to the cult of the deified Livia, wife of Augustus. They seem to have retained their religious and social distinctions well...
[ { "answer": "Vestals", "question": "What group's status was improved by Augustus' religious reforms?" }, { "answer": "seating", "question": "What advantage was there in being a Vestal at games?" }, { "answer": "Livia", "question": "For whose cult were the Vestals appointed as prieste...
18,157
Prodigies were transgressions in the natural, predictable order of the cosmos – signs of divine anger that portended conflict and misfortune. The Senate decided whether a reported prodigy was false, or genuine and in the public interest, in which case it was referred to the public priests, augurs and haruspices for rit...
[ { "answer": "Prodigies", "question": "What were considered to be natural transgressions by the Romans?" }, { "answer": "conflict and misfortune", "question": "Of what were prodigies predictors?" }, { "answer": "divine anger", "question": "What did prodigies show the Romans?" }, {...
18,158
Livy presents these as signs of widespread failure in Roman religio. The major prodigies included the spontaneous combustion of weapons, the apparent shrinking of the sun's disc, two moons in a daylit sky, a cosmic battle between sun and moon, a rain of red-hot stones, a bloody sweat on statues, and blood in fountains ...
[ { "answer": "Livy", "question": "What author wrote of disaster prodigies?" }, { "answer": "lesser victims", "question": "What type of sacrifices were required to expiate the minor prodigies ?" }, { "answer": "greater victims", "question": "Of what did the greater prodigies require in...
18,159
Roman beliefs about an afterlife varied, and are known mostly for the educated elite who expressed their views in terms of their chosen philosophy. The traditional care of the dead, however, and the perpetuation after death of their status in life were part of the most archaic practices of Roman religion. Ancient votiv...
[ { "answer": "educated elite", "question": "From what source does information of Roman thought about the afterlife come?" }, { "answer": "archaic", "question": "What type of practices were those affecting the care of the dead?" }, { "answer": "afterlife", "question": "What did the anc...
18,160
Funeral and commemorative rites varied according to wealth, status and religious context. In Cicero's time, the better-off sacrificed a sow at the funeral pyre before cremation. The dead consumed their portion in the flames of the pyre, Ceres her portion through the flame of her altar, and the family at the site of the...
[ { "answer": "Funeral and commemorative", "question": "What type of rites varied in accordance with status and religion?" }, { "answer": "sow", "question": "What was the grave sacrifice in Cicero's time?" }, { "answer": "less well-off", "question": "What class gave only wine and food ...
18,161
In the later Imperial era, the burial and commemorative practises of Christian and non-Christians overlapped. Tombs were shared by Christian and non-Christian family members, and the traditional funeral rites and feast of novemdialis found a part-match in the Christian Constitutio Apostolica. The customary offers of wi...
[ { "answer": "Christian", "question": "What group's burial practices over-lapped with the Roman's?" }, { "answer": "Tombs", "question": "What items were shared among Christian and non- Christians?" }, { "answer": "alms of food", "question": "What did St Augustine believe that funeral ...
18,162
Roman camps followed a standard pattern for defense and religious ritual; in effect they were Rome in miniature. The commander's headquarters stood at the centre; he took the auspices on a dais in front. A small building behind housed the legionary standards, the divine images used in religious rites and in the Imperia...
[ { "answer": "standard pattern", "question": "How were Roman camps laid out?" }, { "answer": "defense and religious ritual", "question": "For what purpose were Roman camps arranged?" }, { "answer": "Rome", "question": "Of what were Roman camps diminutive versions?" }, { "answe...
18,164
The devotio was the most extreme offering a Roman general could make, promising to offer his own life in battle along with the enemy as an offering to the underworld gods. Livy offers a detailed account of the devotio carried out by Decius Mus; family tradition maintained that his son and grandson, all bearing the same...
[ { "answer": "devotio", "question": "What was a Roman general's most extreme offering?" }, { "answer": "Decius Mus", "question": "What Roman general had a dream of his fate in battle?" }, { "answer": "Roman gladiator", "question": "With what does the devotio link to military ethics?" ...
18,165
The efforts of military commanders to channel the divine will were on occasion less successful. In the early days of Rome's war against Carthage, the commander Publius Claudius Pulcher (consul 249 BC) launched a sea campaign "though the sacred chickens would not eat when he took the auspices." In defiance of the omen, ...
[ { "answer": "Publius Claudius Pulcher", "question": "What general was consul in 249 BC?" }, { "answer": "sea", "question": "What type of campaign did Publius fight?" }, { "answer": "defiance of the omen", "question": "What was Publius's critical mistake in his sea campaign?" }, {...
18,166
Roman women were present at most festivals and cult observances. Some rituals specifically required the presence of women, but their active participation was limited. As a rule women did not perform animal sacrifice, the central rite of most major public ceremonies. In addition to the public priesthood of the Vestals, ...
[ { "answer": "limited", "question": "What was the amount of participation by women in religious observances?" }, { "answer": "animal sacrifice", "question": "What religious act did women not perform?" }, { "answer": "Vestals", "question": "What priesthood was reserved solely for women...
18,167
Excessive devotion and enthusiasm in religious observance were superstitio, in the sense of "doing or believing more than was necessary", to which women and foreigners were considered particularly prone. The boundaries between religio and superstitio are perhaps indefinite. The famous tirade of Lucretius, the Epicurean...
[ { "answer": "superstitio", "question": "What was excessive religious fervor in Rome's religions?" }, { "answer": "superstition", "question": "What was excessive religio equated with in Rome?" }, { "answer": "knowledge", "question": "What was the basis of Roman religion?" }, { ...
18,168
In the everyday world, many individuals sought to divine the future, influence it through magic, or seek vengeance with help from "private" diviners. The state-sanctioned taking of auspices was a form of public divination with the intent of ascertaining the will of the gods, not foretelling the future. Secretive consul...
[ { "answer": "private diviners", "question": "What type of diviners were suspect in Rome?" }, { "answer": "will of the gods", "question": "What was the purpose to be discovered by state sanctioned diviners?" }, { "answer": "foretelling the future", "question": "What action was not to ...
18,169
In the Graeco-Roman world, practitioners of magic were known as magi (singular magus), a "foreign" title of Persian priests. Apuleius, defending himself against accusations of casting magic spells, defined the magician as "in popular tradition (more vulgari)... someone who, because of his community of speech with the i...
[ { "answer": "magi", "question": "What word was used by the Romans for practitioners of magic?" }, { "answer": "Persian priests", "question": "To what did the term magi originally refer?" }, { "answer": "Pliny the Elder", "question": "Who wrote a skeptical work outlining magic and its...
18,170
Lucan depicts Sextus Pompeius, the doomed son of Pompey the Great, as convinced "the gods of heaven knew too little" and awaiting the Battle of Pharsalus by consulting with the Thessalian witch Erichtho, who practices necromancy and inhabits deserted graves, feeding on rotting corpses. Erichtho, it is said, can arrest ...
[ { "answer": "Erichtho", "question": "What witch was reputed to be able to stop the rotation of the heavens?" }, { "answer": "Sextus Pompeius", "question": "Who consulted a witch before the battle of Pharsalus?" }, { "answer": "order of gods", "question": "What natural order was Erich...
18,171
The Twelve Tables forbade any harmful incantation (malum carmen, or 'noisome metrical charm'); this included the "charming of crops from one field to another" (excantatio frugum) and any rite that sought harm or death to others. Chthonic deities functioned at the margins of Rome's divine and human communities; although...
[ { "answer": "Twelve Tables", "question": "What forbid harmful incantations?" }, { "answer": "Chthonic", "question": "What deities were on the edge of Roman religious community? " }, { "answer": "indistinguishable", "question": "What could public rites and magic easily become in some...
18,172
Archaeology confirms the widespread use of binding spells (defixiones), magical papyri and so-called "voodoo dolls" from a very early era. Around 250 defixiones have been recovered just from Roman Britain, in both urban and rural settings. Some seek straightforward, usually gruesome revenge, often for a lover's offense...
[ { "answer": "Archaeology", "question": "What science has confirmed the existence of magic use from early times?" }, { "answer": "defixiones", "question": "What was the term for binding spells in the Roman world?" }, { "answer": "law and justice", "question": "What did the elite use i...
18,173
Rome's government, politics and religion were dominated by an educated, male, landowning military aristocracy. Approximately half Rome's population were slave or free non-citizens. Most others were plebeians, the lowest class of Roman citizens. Less than a quarter of adult males had voting rights; far fewer could actua...
[ { "answer": "aristocracy", "question": "What male group dominated all aspects of Rome?" }, { "answer": "slave or free non-citizens", "question": "Of what class was more than half of Rome's population?" }, { "answer": "plebeians", "question": "What was the lowest class of Roman citize...
18,174
The links between religious and political life were vital to Rome's internal governance, diplomacy and development from kingdom, to Republic and to Empire. Post-regal politics dispersed the civil and religious authority of the kings more or less equitably among the patrician elite: kingship was replaced by two annually...
[ { "answer": "religious and political", "question": "The link between what groups was necessary to Rome?" }, { "answer": "patrician elite", "question": "Where was the basic power in Rome to be found?" }, { "answer": "plebeians", "question": "What group was excluded from high offices ?...
18,175
While the new plebeian nobility made social, political and religious inroads on traditionally patrician preserves, their electorate maintained their distinctive political traditions and religious cults. During the Punic crisis, popular cult to Dionysus emerged from southern Italy; Dionysus was equated with Father Liber...
[ { "answer": "political traditions and religious cults", "question": "What did the patrician electorate keep in spite of a new plebeian nobility? " }, { "answer": "Dionysus", "question": "What cult arrived from southern Italy?" }, { "answer": "Punic crisis", "question": "During what t...
18,176
The Augustan settlement built upon a cultural shift in Roman society. In the middle Republican era, even Scipio's tentative hints that he might be Jupiter's special protege sat ill with his colleagues. Politicians of the later Republic were less equivocal; both Sulla and Pompey claimed special relationships with Venus....
[ { "answer": "pontifex maximus", "question": "What appointment was the start of Cesar's political rise?" }, { "answer": "cultural shift", "question": "What did the Augustan settlement signify in Rome's classes?" }, { "answer": "divinely inspired", "question": "What did the claims of o...
18,177
By the end of the regal period Rome had developed into a city-state, with a large plebeian, artisan class excluded from the old patrician gentes and from the state priesthoods. The city had commercial and political treaties with its neighbours; according to tradition, Rome's Etruscan connections established a temple to...
[ { "answer": "plebeian", "question": "At the end of the regal period, what class was kept out of the state political and priesthood arenas?" }, { "answer": "neighbours", "question": "With whom did Rome have alliances at the end of the regal period?" }, { "answer": "Minerva", "question...
18,178
Rome's diplomatic agreement with her neighbours of Latium confirmed the Latin league and brought the cult of Diana from Aricia to the Aventine. and established on the Aventine in the "commune Latinorum Dianae templum": At about the same time, the temple of Jupiter Latiaris was built on the Alban mount, its stylistic re...
[ { "answer": "Diana", "question": "Whose cult appeared from Africa at the time of the Latin League?" }, { "answer": "Jupiter Latiaris", "question": "To whom was a new temple dedicated on the Alban Mount?" }, { "answer": "Hercules", "question": "What cult was formed at the ars maxima i...
18,179
The introduction of new or equivalent deities coincided with Rome's most significant aggressive and defensive military forays. In 206 BC the Sibylline books commended the introduction of cult to the aniconic Magna Mater (Great Mother) from Pessinus, installed on the Palatine in 191 BC. The mystery cult to Bacchus follo...
[ { "answer": "Magna Mater", "question": "What cult appeared from Pessinus in 206 BC?" }, { "answer": "Bacchus", "question": "What cult was brought in to Rome after the Great Mother cult?" }, { "answer": "186 BC", "question": "In what year did the Senate declare the Bacchus subversive?...
18,180
The spread of Greek literature, mythology and philosophy offered Roman poets and antiquarians a model for the interpretation of Rome's festivals and rituals, and the embellishment of its mythology. Ennius translated the work of Graeco-Sicilian Euhemerus, who explained the genesis of the gods as apotheosized mortals. In...
[ { "answer": "model", "question": "The spread of all things Greek provided what for the interpretation of Rome's religions?" }, { "answer": "Euhemerus", "question": "What writer defined the development of the gods?" }, { "answer": "literate elite", "question": "At the end of the Repub...
18,181
Just as Rome itself claimed the favour of the gods, so did some individual Romans. In the mid-to-late Republican era, and probably much earlier, many of Rome's leading clans acknowledged a divine or semi-divine ancestor and laid personal claim to their favour and cult, along with a share of their divinity. Most notably...
[ { "answer": "divine ancestor", "question": "What did many Romans claim in the Republican era?" }, { "answer": "personal claim", "question": "What style of claim did Romans favor as a link to the gods?" }, { "answer": "Imperial cult", "question": "Of what were such claims of deity rel...
18,182
Towards the end of the Republic, religious and political offices became more closely intertwined; the office of pontifex maximus became a de facto consular prerogative. Augustus was personally vested with an extraordinary breadth of political, military and priestly powers; at first temporarily, then for his lifetime. H...
[ { "answer": "religious and political", "question": "By the end of the Republic, what offices were increasingly joined?" }, { "answer": "Augustus", "question": "What Roman figure was given wide and lifeime powers?" }, { "answer": "unprecedented number", "question": "How many priesthoo...