DÜNYA MEDENİYETLERİNE GİRİŞ - Deneme Sınavı - 7

The social, political, and ethical institutions of the Roman Republic lasted in Rome for about 500 years (or more, as a shadow of itself ). But the ideas of the republic – governmental checks and balances, social stratification, leadership class balanced with rights for all, civic virtue, and military prowess – have since been imitated in one form or another all around the world.

The Romans liked to believe that they were descended in a direct line from Ancient Greece, the major civilization that prevailed before them in Europe and the Middle East.

The empire was split in two, and under attack by barbarians, the power of the mighty Western Roman Empire vanished when the last emperor was forced by a Germanic leader, Odoacer, to abdicate in 476 CE

There are many legends – the most ingrained, two founders suckling as babes on a mother wolf. And then there is the truth. Thus, the city of Rome itself was founded, according to many of the legends, in 753 BCE.

Doğru seçenek C, Etruscans are believed to be from Asia Minor

Doğru seçenek E. Diğer çeldiriciler uygarlığın criterlerinden sayılır

Among the many legends, the most ingrained is about the two founders who are represented as suckling as babes on a mother wolf. Rome was said to have been ruled at first by one of these brothers, Romulus, an Etruscan who crowned himself king. Romans believed that he and his twin brother Remus had been born the sons of a Vestal Virgin. Another view is that the Romans liked to believe that they were descended in a direct line from Ancient Greece, the major civilization that prevailed before them in Europe and the Middle East. Their main legend of origin was recorded in the great work The Aeneid, written by Virgil (70 - 19 BCE). According to this epic poem, Aeneas, a warrior of Troy and son of a prince of Troy and the goddess Athena, was a valiant fighter for the doomed city of Troy, but when the city finally fell to its besiegers, he led a band of his people westward to found, eventually and after much wandering, the city of Rome, a new homeland for his divine nation with its godly origins. Historically, Rome was originally a market town dominated by the Etruscans, migrants who most likely were originally from Anatolia. As a result, the names in all choices except Choice E - Arabs  appear in recounts of the origin of the city Rome. The correct answer is E.

Rome expanded to all of these territories except South Africa and China. Some of these possessions lasted short. For instance, Mesopotamia remained only for three years under the control of the Roman Empire. Much of what is shown the southern frontier of the empire runs into the unoccupied desert. Around the time of Julius Caesar, just before the empire replaced the republic, military conquests had expanded the reach of Rome. At that point, all of Gallia (today’s France and Belgium and parts of Western Germany) was within it, more of North Africa (but not that much) near Carthage, Cyrene (now in Eastern Libya), Syria, Cyprus, the Cilicia region, and the Bithynia region of Northwest Anatolia. Rome never effectively penetrated far to the south in Africa, so only the coastal regions in the north. As for Carthage, in 146 BCE, the siege after the second Punic War proved to be too much for the unfortunate Carthaginians; the destruction of the city of Carthage led to the final scene of the third Punic War. Out of an estimated half a million people in Carthage, only 50,000 survived. They were taken away as slaves by the Romans. The city was burnt to the ground and the ruins ploughed over. A new Roman province, named Africa, was created in the area. To sum up, China and South Africa were not Roman territories. The correct answer is D.

There were six female gods, starting with Juno, who, based on the Etruscan belief, was a moon goddess and originally stood as a representation of women but evolved to become more like the Greek Hera, wife of Zeus. Joining her were Minerva (Athena to the Greeks), Venus (Aphrodite to the Greeks), Diana (Artemis), Vesta (Hestia to the Greeks), and Ceres (Demeter to the Greeks). Thus, the correct answer for Athena is choice A – Minerva.

When Christians refused to pay homage to Roman gods and the dead emperors, seen as gods by the Romans, the empire turned against them and advocating Christianity was punishable by death. When in 64 CE the city burned, the Emperor Nero unfairly blamed the Christians; many Christians were killed based on the false charge. Major persecutions of Christians followed in the early fourth century, led by the co-emperors Diocletian and Galerius, who saw Christianity as a threat to their rule. In 306 CE, Constantine converted to Christianity and became the Roman emperor. In 314, his Edict of Milan ensured tolerance for Christians throughout the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar lived before the emergence of Christianity (born 100 or 102 BCE). The correct answer is C.

Rome was led by Senators who legislated. The city was not to be ruled based on arbitrary decisions taken by a king, an autocrat, but rather on deliberation. The leaders themselves came from a group of advisers that Romulus supposedly had formed to guide him; their descendants became known as the patricians. They became the leading class of Roman citizens, a subgroup of about five percent of the population, and would ultimately constitute the men who were to serve at the helm of Rome for five hundred years during the Republic and, subsequently, the Empire. The importance of the Senate for Roman history cannot be emphasized enough; when looking around Roman monuments that still survive one will see stamped on them SPQR – Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Roman Senate and People). It can be found on coins, weapons, and anything possessed by the state. The correct answer is B.

The plebeians were the non-aristocratic, ordinary class. In the early years, roughly 80 % of the citizens were not patricians but rather plebeians, the lower classes. The plebeians themselves were gradually differentiated by stratification. Those who could not afford to serve as soldiers because they did not have the money to purchase weaponry were called the proletarians. Below them were the poorest of the plebeians, simply considered as numbers, without families or money. The correct choice is D.

An interesting feature of the Roman government was the post of dictator. If there was a crisis at hand, the Romans could appoint a dictator, but his power could only last for six months. This, combined with the allocation of powers to plebeians as well as patricians, helped to guarantee stability while enabling Rome to handle crises. As an example, in 458 BCE Cincinnatus, a poor patrician was working on a small farm when the call from his country came. Although he questioned why he was being chosen, he accepted the request of delegates and was appointed temporary dictator so that he could rescue an army that had been surrounded by the enemy. Cincinnatus formed his army, engaged the enemy, and defeated it – all in fifteen days, seeing Rome through the emergency. He then resigned and returned to the farm, interested only in doing his duty, public service, not in grabbing political power or becoming rich or powerful. The correct answer is A.

Hannibal was a Carthaginian general who became important in Roman history with the second Punic War. Carthaginian victory in Spain was followed by a dramatic drive of the great general, Hannibal, sweeping on from Iberia up through the south of France. He led his army in a huge attack on Italy, flanking the Roman heartland from the west and north. Hannibal brought with him an immense military force, complete with elephants, crossing the Alps. He then descended into Italy, winning huge victories at Lake Trasimene and Cannae, where he destroyed a Roman army twice his size. Rome barely survived because the military cleverly attacked Hannibal’s supply lines back in Spain and France – stretched thin as they already were – and disrupted those lines, keeping reinforcements from reaching Hannibal in Italy. The correct answer is E.

Rome, while not a cultural desert, did not innovate in art, drama, or philosophy. However, Romans were leading in architecture by building beautiful cities and buildings, massive water works, roads that ran long distances, bathhouse, arches and domes. There also came the Roman rule of law, a gift that keeps on giving to civilized humanity to the present day. A uniform system of administration came with the spread of Rome’s domains, bringing tax collectors and others over the huge distances that often separated the capital from the provinces. Similarly, Roman sculpture was frequently found, especially in busts connected with worship of the emperors. The Romans imitated Greek sculpture but wound up with a unique mix, reflecting the huge growth of the empire. Some of their creations of stone and bronze were of the first rank. As Rome grew, did its sculpture, with ever larger works. They grew to be immense and often out of proportion. So, while the Roman civilization did not advance architecture or sculpture notably, it brought construction on a huge scale and built upon Greek and other antecedents, bringing beauty, form and function to the masses. The correct answer is B – Drama.

The leading citizens were able to exclude masses from politics. Besides fighting foreign wars, the masses could be kept occupied, entertained, with the horrible public displays of savagery that occurred in the Circus. There, the masses were appeased through “bread and circuses,” matches in which people were thrown to fight for their lives against wild beasts; or contests in which gladiators fought to the death or were viciously murdered in front of the crowds, often because of a frivolous gesture by spectators; or displays in which conquered people were killed in the public. The correct answer is C.

The Second Punic war gave way to Rome to extend its direct control over much of Italy. The correct answer is A.

The correct answer is C. A and B are about the second stage whereas D and E are related to the third stage.

The correct answer is D, "in 380".

The correct answer is B: "They could check the power of the patricians."