The West in the World, 4th Edition (Sherman)Chapter 5:
Territorial and Christian EmpiresCritical Thinking Questions- The Pax Romana, 27 B.C.E. –192 C.E.
- What was the Second Triumvirate? How did Octavian emerge as the sole ruler of the empire?
- What was the principate and how did it function? What were the responsibilities of the princeps?
- What changes did Augustus make in the governance of the provinces?
- What aspects of the rule of Augustus and Roman government did Virgil and Livy emphasize?
- What were the defects of Augustus' successors? What kind of leaders followed them?
- What were the consequences of Rome's need to guard borders?
- How did colonists contribute to the effectiveness of Roman rule?
- In what other ways did the Romans maintain a unified empire?
- Life During the Peace of Rome
- What was the relationship between the wealth of the provinces and Roman morality? How did Roman laws seek to control morality?
- What were Roman attitudes about sex? How did such attitudes affect the birth rate?
- Why did civic life move from the Forum to the arena?
- How did the games exemplify and perpetuate Roman virtue?
- Crisis and Transformation, ca. 192 – 400
- What were the threats to the empire that appeared following the rule of Septimius?
- What were the economic problems of this period? Consider both causes and effects.
- How did Diocletian address the administrative, military, and economic problems plaguing the empire?
- What changes in the Roman Empire accompanied the founding of Constantinople?
- The Longing for Religious Fulfillment
- What were the basic principles of Stoicism? Neoplatonism?
- How did people participate in the various mystery cults?
- How did Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots deal with the difficulties of maintaining a separate Jewish identity in the Roman world?
- What ideas did Jesus promote? Which of his ideas were new, and which relied upon older sources? What were those sources?
- What role did the apostles play in the Jesus movement? How did different apostles approach their role in distinct ways?
- Why was Paul of Tarsus so crucial to the Jesus movement?
- What happened after the destruction of the Second Temple?
- How did Christianity spread?
- From Christian Persecution to the City of God, ca. 64 – 410
- How did Constantine support Christianity? What was the impact of his patronage?
- What happened to the church once the empire embraced Christianity?
- What were some of the disagreements among Christians about Christianity itself? Were they resolved? If so, how?
- What was Augustine's position on the relationship between church and state?
- How did Christianity transform the daily life of Romans?
- The Holy Life
- What were some of the alternative paths to spiritual perfection that people undertook starting in the fourth century?
- What were relics? What part did they play in saints' cults?
- Why were saints' cults important? What was the extent of their influence?
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