Quiz 042

Episode 42 Quiz

Welcome to the quiz for episode 42: The Beginnings of Roman Literature. See what you remember about Rome’s earliest known authors and stage traditions by clicking START below!

1 / 20

Another name for works of Roman tragedy.

planipes

fabulae praetextae

fabulae atellanae

fabulae crepidatae

fabulae palliatae

2 / 20

Which of the following was NOT a Magna Graecian city?

Thurii

Capua

Cumae

Tarentum

Athens

Neapolis

3 / 20

This period of Roman history lasted form 284-476 CE.

The regal period.

The interregnum.

The principate.

The dominate.

The republic.

4 / 20

This period of Roman history is traditionally said to have lasted from 753-509 BCE.

The regal period.

The principate.

The republic.

The dominate.

The interregnum.

5 / 20

The ancient Latin name for Greek stories adapted for the Roman stage.

fabulae palliatae

fabulae praetextae

fabulae crepidatae

fabulae atellanae

fabulae togatae

6 / 20

In the 360s BCE, Roman plebeians acquired the right to have a consul, and won further victories by securing a cap on interest rates and a limit on private land ownership. And in 364 BCE, Rome

undertook the Cloaca Maxima or "great drain" of the marshy forum.

staged its first ludi scaenici, or "stage games."

erected their first permanent stone theater.

constructed a permanent pons sublicius across the Tiber.

began work on a refurbished circus maximus.

7 / 20

This period of Roman history lasted from about 509-27 BCE.

The principate.

The dominate.

The interregnum.

The republic.

The regal period.

8 / 20

Dated to the early 500s BCE, what was discovered at Lapis Niger suggests that:

Knowledge of animal husbandry came to that part of the peninsula far later than was previously thought.

The earliest Romans migrated to the Italian peninsula from Scandinavia in the 7th century BCE.

Romans were more influenced by Egyptian than Greek religion during this period.

The Romans had kings during this period.

The earliest Romans abstained from wine.

9 / 20

Lapis Niger, a 6th-century BCE shrine unearthed in the Roman forum around the turn of the 20th century, contained which important artifact?

The remains of a horse.

A Latin codex of the Twelve Tables of Roman law.

The remains of a 7th-century BCE king in Etruscan regalia.

The tomb of a Samnite family thought to have been political allies with Rome's final king.

One of the first known inscriptions written in Latin.

10 / 20

This period of Roman history lasted from 27 BCE until 284 CE.

The interregnum.

The dominate.

The principate.

The regal period.

The republic.

11 / 20

240 BCE was a landmark year in Rome’s literary history. What happened during this year?

Virgil completed and performed the Aeneid for the first time for a patrician audience.

The writer Livius Andronicus staged a Greek comedy for a Roman audience.

Rome erected its first permanent stone theater.

A performance of the Iliad was held, with gladiators taking on the roles of Greeks and Romans.

A descendant of Pindar was invited to the forum to perform an ode.

12 / 20

Quintus Ennius wrote his history the Annales using iambic hexameter – the meter of Hesiod, Homer, and many others. Provided that “-” indicates an unstressed foot and “>” indicates a stressed foot, which of the following is a line of iambic hexameter?

-> -> -> -> -> ->

>– >– >– >– >– >–

>– >– >– >– >–

>- >- >- >- >- >-

-> -> -> -> ->

13 / 20

In comparison to Aristophanic or Old Comedy, Greek New Comedy, which Plautus and Terence adapted and emulated,

Was performed without musical accompaniment.

Was less crude and less political.

Was performed entirely in free verse.

Only used a single actor onstage.

Avoided romances between men and women.

14 / 20

Gnaeus Naevius, who lived from about 270-200 BCE, was known for his:

Phaenomena

Trinummus

Theriaca

Phlyaces

Bellum Punicum

15 / 20

Contaminatio is an important term for early Roman drama. What does contaminatio mean?

The use of exotic foreign musical instruments in a Latin play.

The use of audience participation in a play.

The importation of foreign words into a Latin play.

The combination of multiple plays into a single one.

Polyrhythmic meter, or when one actor uses one meter and another in the same scene uses a different one.

16 / 20

The early Roman writer Livius Andronicus, who lived from the 280s down to about 205 BCE, famously translated:

The poems of Sappho.

Homer's Odyssey.

The poems of Archilochus.

Aeschylus' Oresteian trilogy.

Euripides' Bacchae.

17 / 20

This prolific early Roman writer, who lived from about 239-169 BCE, believed he was the reincarnation of Homer, and amidst his other accomplishments, produced the Annals, a massive work of Roman history.

Publilius Syrus

Luscius Lanuvinus

Novius

Quintus Ennius

Caecilius Statius

18 / 20

The first century BCE Roman writer Horace famously wrote that “Captive Greece ____________ .”

was proud and unbowed in her bondage.

grew powerful in her fetters.

was the beginning of Rome's decline.

was the least of Rome's subject peoples.

took her captor captive.

19 / 20

The spoken parts of early Roman comedy were written using iambic senarii, lines that have six feet of iambs. Provided that “-” indicates an unstressed foot and “<" indicates a stressed foot, which of the following is an iambic senarius?

<– <– <– <– <– <–

<- <- <- <- <- <-

-< -< -< -< -<

<- <- <- <- <-

-< -< -< -< -< -<

20 / 20

Which of the following best describes the tibia, the musical instrument most commonly associated with Rome’s early comedy?

A single pan flute made of bone.

An early lute.

A hide drum used to tap out the rhythm of senarii.

A lyre with gut strings and a wooden or terra cotta body.

A slender reed flute played in pairs by a single performer.

Your score is