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 Venus

C) Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto

D) Mars, Venus and Vulcan

Answer · why

A) Jupiter, Juno and Minerva

Jupiter, Juno and Minerva shared one temple on the Capitoline Hill, a grouping adopted under Etruscan influence; the older Archaic Triad had paired Ju...

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

Quirinus, the Sabine-origin god later identified with the deified Romulus, completed the Archaic Triad; the Quirinal Hill and Quirites, the word for c...

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

Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king, is credited with the calendar, the Vestals, the flamens and the pontiffs; legend says the nymph Egeria advised...

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

Rhea Silvia, a Vestal, was forced into the priesthood by her usurping uncle Amulius so that she would have no heirs; Mars fathered the twins on her an...

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

Faustulus, the royal herdsman, found the twins being suckled in the Lupercal cave below the Palatine and raised them with his wife Acca Larentia.