Q 01/05

Which three deities made up the Capitoline Triad, the centre of official Roman religion?

A) Jupiter, Juno and Minerva

B) Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus

C) Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto

D) Mars, Venus and Vulcan

Answer · why

A) Jupiter, Juno and Minerva

The older Archaic Triad was Jupiter, Mars and a third deity; the Capitoline version came under Etruscan influence and shared one temple on the Capitol...

Q 02/05

Which god completed the Archaic Triad alongside Jupiter and Mars?

A) Janus

B) Quirinus

C) Saturn

D) Neptune

Answer · why

B) Quirinus

By the 2nd century BC Romans identified him with the deified Romulus; the Quirinal Hill and the word Quirites, for citizens, share his name.

Q 03/05

Which second king of Rome, a Sabine, is credited with founding Roman religion and its priesthoods?

A) Ancus Marcius

B) Tullus Hostilius

C) Numa Pompilius

D) Servius Tullius

Answer · why

C) Numa Pompilius

Legend says the nymph Egeria advised him; Livy and Ovid's Fasti are the main sources for the stories.

Q 04/05

Who was the mother of Romulus and Remus?

A) Tarpeia, a traitor

B) Lavinia, wife of Aeneas

C) Acca Larentia, a shepherd's wife

D) Rhea Silvia, a Vestal

Answer · why

D) Rhea Silvia, a Vestal

Her usurping uncle Amulius had forced her into the priesthood so she would have no heirs; the god Mars had other ideas.

Q 05/05

What was the name of the shepherd who found the twins with the she-wolf and raised them?

A) Faustulus

B) Amulius

C) Numitor

D) Tatius

Answer · why

A) Faustulus

The cave where the wolf nursed them, the Lupercal, later gave its name to the Lupercalia festival.