Quiz Questions for Chapter 1

I give my students short quizzes at the beginning of each week. It’s a sure-fire way to get them to read the assigned chapter on time. Writing the quizzes is a dreary business, but it's pedagogically effective, and I have made it somewhat less burdensome by giving many more quizzes (14) than the students need (10). This helps the students improve their final quiz grade (if they take all 14, only the best 10 count), and it helps me by eliminating the need for make-up quizzes. (Each quiz has ten questions.)

In any case, I’ll post here the questions I’ve used, chapter by chapter. On my quizzes, I also have map questions (from a map of modern Europe) and questions from lectures, but I’ll post here only the textbook questions. Feel free to use them. As you’ll notice, I’ve not given the answers in the hope that any student who encounters these will be inspired to do the reading and research necessary to obtain the answer.

Which of the following statements about the “fall of Rome” is accurate?

(a) only the Western empire “fell.”

(b) it was caused by lead poisoning.

(c) even a vibrant economy could not prevent it.

The term “hagiography” means the

(a) adulation of the emperor.

(b) claim of Rome to primacy over the Church.

(c) writing of saints’ lives.

St Augustine died in

(a) 330.

(b) 430.

(c) 530.

Early Christians debated

(a) the balance between humanity and divinity in Jesus.

(b) the place of Greco-Roman pagan ideas in Christian theology.

(c) both of the above.

(d) neither of the above.

Which of the following statements about the Pax Romana (or Roman Peace) is true?

(a) it lasted from c. 31 BCE to 180 CE.

(b) it was brought about by the triumph of Christianity.

(c) it happened only in the Eastern Empire.

Wergild, compurgation, and ordeal are terms associated with barbarian

(a) metal-work.

(b) law.

(c) kinship.

As you can see, these are straightforward. I aspire to questions that cannot be answered without exposure to the chapter but otherwise easily can. So, for example, the St Augustine question might look picky, but it really isn't given the extensive coverage of him (in text, in bio, in photo) in the chapter.