Venice, while a city in Italy, was not ever the seat of the Roman Empire, so it would not be a good choice. Gaul was the name of the Roman province that encompassed much of modern day France and Germany, not a city at all, so that would not be the best answer. Beijing is a city in China and was never held by the Roman Empire, so that would not be the best choice here. London was founded by the Romans but it was never a large civic center for them, so that too would not be the correct answer. Lastly, Constantinople was named after Constantine and was where he moved the capitol of the empire, so that would be the best choice.

Judaism, while having a sizable following in parts of the Roman Empire, was not mentioned in the edict of Milan, so that would not be the best answer. Islam was founded by the prophet Muhammad several centuries after the Edict of Milan, so that would not be the best choice. Zoroastriansim did not have a particularly notable following in Rome nor was it mentioned in the Edict, so that too would not be the best choice. Buddhism was similarly not a religion followed extensively in the Roman Empire nor was it mentioned in the Edict, so it would not be the correct answer. Finally, the Edict of Milan specifically decreed tolerance for Christianity, so that would be the best answer here.

The Patricians was the term used for the ruling class of the Republic, so that would not be the best choice here. The Aristocracy was not a term that was in use during the period, and when it was popular it referred to a ruling class also, so that too would not be the best choice. The Third Estate was a term used in 18th century France to refer to the common people, so that too would not be a good answer here. Lastly, Plebeians was the term specifically used for the citizen-commoners of the Republic, so that would be the best choice.

The Plebeians was the term used for the citizen-commoners of the Roman Republic, so that would not be the best choice. The Aristocracy was not a term in use during the Roman Republic, so that would not be a good answer here. The Brahmans were at the top of the Indian caste system, so they too would not be the best answer. Finally, the Patricians were the ruling class of the Republic that the Senate was drawn from, so that would be the best answer here.

The Italian Peninsula’s first settlers, who arrived between 1000 and 675 CE and who would later establish the Roman and Villanovan cultures, were first drawn to the region by the lure of the Tiber River. The River offered the promise of an easy mode of transportation, as well as a supply of water and fresh seafood. These early settlers congregated around the Tiber on the area’s series of hills and set up a string of small villages, which would later become the great city of Rome. These hills (the most favored of which were the Capitoline, the Palatine, and the Esquiline) offered the perfect defensive positioning and allowed the Latins to gradually amass control of the Tiber River and the surrounding region from a naturally protected base.

Below the Tiber River was a large marshy plain, prone to flooding. During the tenth and ninth centuries, this area was used as a cemetery and necropolis – hence its original name: the Sepulcretum (aka “the place of tombs”). Later on, the Sepulcretum would be covered over and the marshes drained by the Etruscans to make way for the iconic Roman Forum, which would in turn become the heart of the city of Rome and the entire Roman Empire. (It is perhaps ironic that one of the most innately Roman symbols – the Forum – was initially erected by another culture.)

According to historians and ethnologists, path dependence is the process by which different groups of people, through repeated contact and interaction, eventually coalesce together to form an ethnic group. The early settlers of the area around the Tiber River and the Roman hills underwent this process and gradually evolved into what we today recognize as the Latin (aka Roman) ethnicity. Originally, these individuals were members of various tribes and other scattered affiliations but through a prolonged period of sustained interactions – including agricultural and trade contacts, social mingling, and intermarriage – they fused together and developed a common sense of shared identity and origins. The Latins also subsumed some of the cultural identifiers of a few ethnic groups who were present before their arrival, most notably the Villanovans and the Etruscans.

The region immediately north of the city of Rome was home to rather large natural deposits of valuable metals, most notably copper and iron. Although these copper and iron caches had first been discovered by the Villanovans and the Etruscans, the Latins did not begin to exploit these resources in earnest until around 1000 BCE (perhaps due to prior Etruscan dominance of the area). Not only were these metal deposits inherently valuable in themselves, but their importance was heightened by their relative scarcity – the Italian Peninsula was not particularly rich in metallic resources and so the copper and iron fields around Rome were doubly vital due to this rarity. Some historians point to the Latins’ acquisition of these two metals as a key stepping stone towards the founding of the Roman Empire. 

The precise geographic and ethnic origins of the Etruscans remain unknown, despite many decades of determined research on the part of historians, archeologists, and anthropologists. This ambiguity is further complicated by the presence of various cultural influences all throughout the vast canon of Etruscan art and architecture, as well as the far-flung international trade networks cultivated by the Etruscans. We do know that the Etruscans frequently traded with both the ancient Phoenicians and Greeks and their artwork bears traces of Mediterranean, Asian, and Grecian styles and techniques. While historians have recently attempted to solve this enduring mystery by testing the DNA of various unearthed Etruscan bodies, unfortunately all DNA tests have so far proved inconclusive.

In the late seventh century BCE, the Etruscans, as the undisputed top power on the Italian Peninsula, consolidated their control over the region around the fledgling city of Rome. They remained in control here until 509 BCE, when the early Romans rose up in rebellion and toppled their Etruscan overlords. After having secured their freedom, the Romans set about erecting their own system of government: the famous Roman Republic, which lasted until the outbreak of civil warfare in 100 BCE. The Republic was governed by two consuls, who were elected by the Senate each year; power was further divided between the Senate and a larger assembly, which was intended to represent all citizens and was organized on the basis of tribal (later familial) affiliation.