| A | B |
|---|
| Mylae | Rome's first naval victory |
| Aegates Islands | battle that ended the 1st Punic War |
| Pyrrhus of Epirus | first brought elephants to Italy |
| corvus | draw bridge that allowed Roman soldiers to board ships and fight a land battle on sea |
| Cannae | one of Rome's worst military defeats ever; happened in 216 BC at hands of Hannibal |
| Zama | victory by Scipio Africanus that ended the 2nd punic war in 202 BC |
| Scipio Aemelianus | sacked Carthage in 146 BC to end 3rd Punic War |
| Metaurus River | battle where Hasdrubal was defeated |
| Regelus | Roman general captured after the battle of Tunis who was tortured to death (rolled down a hill in a barrel full of nails) |
| Hasdrubal | brother of Hannibal beheaded by Romans |
| Marius | leader of the Populares, defeater of the Gauls, who was elected consul 7 times |
| Sulla | leader of the Optimates who eventually defeated the forces of Marius and became dictator; died of worms |
| Gracchi brothers | became tribunes of the plebs and pushed for land reforms before being killed by thugs |
| Cynocephalae & Pynda | victories over Macedonian kings; ultimately gave Romans control of Greece |
| Attalus III of Pergamum | left his kingdom (modern Turkey) to Rome in his will |
| Optimates | party that favored the aristocracy |
| Populares | party the favored commoners |
| 1st Triumvirate | Crassus, Pompey and Caesar--power sharing alliance formed in 60 BC |
| Pompey | gained fame defeated pirates in Mediterranean and Mithradates; later defeated by Caesar in Civil War |
| Crassus | put down revolt of Spartacus in 70 BC; known for his wealth |
| Spartacus | Thracian gladiator who lead a massive slave revolt in 70 BC |
| Carrhae | disastrous defeat of Romans by Parthians in 53 BC |
| Vercingetorix | chieftan of the Averni defeated at Alesia and Gergovia; greatest Gallic foe of Caesar |
| Pharsalus | battle where Caesar defeated Pompey to end the Civil War in 46 BC |
| Mithradates of Pontus | killed off all the Romans in his territories in the Asiatic Vespers |
| Cleopatra | Egyptian queen who became lover of both Caesar and Marc Antony |
| Brutus and Cassius | lead the conspiracy to kill Caesar |
| Commentarii de Bello Gallico | Caesar's book about the Gallic Wars |
| Alea iacta est | the die is cast--said by Caesar when crossing the Rubicon to begin the Civil War |
| Boudica | queen of Iceni who led a rebellion in Roman Britain |
| Cicero | most famous Roman orator; uncovered the Catilinarian Conspiracy; killed by M. Antony and had his head and hands nailed to the Rostra |
| Drusus | brother of Caligula who ate his own mattress while starving to death |
| Petronius | satrical writer during rule of Nero who committed suicide by slitting his wrists in the bath tub |
| Valerian | first Roman emperor to be captured in battle and die in captivity; he was flayed and had his skin dyed purple |
