Q 01/05

What does Felix mean, the Latin name Sulla added to his own after winning Rome's civil war?

A) Fearless

B) Lucky

C) Merciful

D) Victorious

Answer · why

B) Lucky

Lucky is how Sulla saw himself, trusting his good fortune more than his own achievements. He even named his twin children Faustus and Fausta, from the...

Q 02/05

Which famous Roman went into hiding as a young man after refusing Sulla's order to divorce his wife?

A) Mark Antony

B) Cato the Younger

C) Marcus Brutus

D) Julius Caesar

Answer · why

D) Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar had married the daughter of one of Sulla's chief opponents and would not give her up. He was spared only after his relatives and allies ...

Q 03/05

Which Greek festival is said to have shrunk to one footrace because Sulla summoned its athletes to Rome?

A) Olympic Games

B) Pythian Games

C) Isthmian Games

D) Nemean Games

Answer · why

A) Olympic Games

Olympic Games athletes were called to Italy to help celebrate Sulla's eastern victories. Only one sprint is said to have been run at the usual site th...

Q 04/05

Which composer was only sixteen when he wrote Lucio Silla, an Italian opera about Sulla?

A) Rossini

B) Vivaldi

C) Mozart

D) Haydn

Answer · why

C) Mozart

Mozart composed it for Milan, where it opened on 26 December 1772. Its plot takes considerable liberties with history.

Q 05/05

A rival said fighting Sulla meant facing a lion and which other animal, the more troublesome of the two?

A) A wolf

B) A fox

C) A serpent

D) A boar

Answer · why

B) A fox

A fox was the beast the enemy leader Carbo said troubled him more. He said it after Sulla's men had talked an enemy army of forty cohorts into changin...