Building Works

Question 1

What is the significance of the Aqueduct of Gaius and Claudius? [Pliny]

Answer 1

It is considered “there has been no more remarkable achievement in the whole world”

Question 2

How many temples did Augustus restore in 28BC? [Res Gestae]

Answer 2

82 temples

Question 3

What did Augustus promise to set up according to Virgil?

Answer 3

“Three hundred great shrines”

Reference from Virgil’s Aeneid, 8.714

Question 4

What lake did Claudius drain? [Suetonius]

Answer 4

Fucine Lake

Question 5

What harbor did Claudius build to secure food supply? [Suetonius and Ostia inscription]

Answer 5

Harbor at Ostia

Question 6

What famous quote is attributed to Augustus regarding the state of Rome? [Suetonius]

Answer 6

“I found Rome built of bricks; I leave it clothed in marble”

Question 7

What did Agrippa construct during Augustus’s reign? [Res Gestae]

Answer 7

Fountains, cisterns, and reservoirs

Question 8

What does Velleius Paterculus say about Tiberius’ public buildings?

Answer 8

He mentions “wonderful public buildings,” including a temple to Augustus and restoring the theatre of Pompey

Contrast with Tacitus’ view on Tiberius’ stinginess

Question 9

What is Josephus’s perspective on Gaius’s public buildings?

Answer 9

He says Gaius built “no great public buildings”

Josephus’s bias due to Gaius’s persecution of Jews

Question 10

How did the great fire impact Nero’s building projects? [Pliny]

Answer 10

Allowed Nero to build the Domus Aurea (Golden House)

Question 11

What was the height of the Colossus of Nero? [Pliny]

Answer 11

100 feet tall

Question 12

What does Tacitus suggest about the great fire started during Nero’s reign?

Answer 12

Nero may have started the fire to rebuild parts of Rome

Tacitus also notes that some building regulations benefitted the city

Question 13

What is Suetonius’s belief regarding Nero and the fire?

Answer 13

He believes Nero “brazenly set fire to the city”

Reflects on the differing accounts of the fire’s origin