Q 01/05

Which name did the senators who killed Caesar give themselves?

A) The Praetorians

B) The Liberators

C) The Populares

D) The Decemvirs

Answer · why

B) The Liberators

The Liberators expected the killing to restore the old Republic; instead, anger in the city drove them out of Rome within weeks, and the civil wars th...

Q 02/05

On which date, known by its Roman calendar name, was Caesar killed?

A) The Ides of May

B) The Ides of March

C) The Kalends of April

D) The Nones of June

Answer · why

B) The Ides of March

The Ides of March had come, Caesar joked on his way in to the seer who had warned him about the day; 'Ay, but not gone,' came the reply.

Q 03/05

Which river did Caesar famously cross with his army in January 49 BC?

A) The Po

B) The Rhône

C) The Rubicon

D) The Tiber

Answer · why

C) The Rubicon

The Rubicon marked the border of his province, and no governor could lawfully lead an army past it into Italy, so crossing it was an act of war; the p...

Q 04/05

Caesar's 'the die is cast', famous in Latin, was reportedly spoken in which other language?

A) Etruscan

B) Gaulish

C) Egyptian

D) Greek

Answer · why

D) Greek

Greek: he was apparently quoting a line by the Athenian playwright Menander, and the famous Latin wording comes from a Roman biographer writing more t...

Q 05/05

In Spain, Caesar reportedly lamented that which conqueror had achieved far more by the same age?

A) Alexander the Great

B) Hannibal

C) Cyrus the Great

D) Scipio Africanus

Answer · why

A) Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great. In one telling Caesar brooded over a history of the king; in another he sighed before his statue at Cádiz, then asked to leave hi...