PrepTest 83, Section 2, Question 23
The traditional view of the Roman emperor Caligula as a cruel and insane tyrant has been challenged by some modern historians. They point out that little documentation of Caligula's alleged cruelty or outrageous behavior survives from the time of his reign and that the histories that have come down to us were written by his enemies.
The traditional view of the Roman emperor Caligula as a cruel and insane tyrant has been challenged by some modern historians. They point out that little documentation of Caligula's alleged cruelty or outrageous behavior survives from the time of his reign and that the histories that have come down to us were written by his enemies.
The traditional view of the Roman emperor Caligula as a cruel and insane tyrant has been challenged by some modern historians. They point out that little documentation of Caligula's alleged cruelty or outrageous behavior survives from the time of his reign and that the histories that have come down to us were written by his enemies.
The traditional view of the Roman emperor Caligula as a cruel and insane tyrant has been challenged by some modern historians. They point out that little documentation of Caligula's alleged cruelty or outrageous behavior survives from the time of his reign and that the histories that have come down to us were written by his enemies.
Which one of the following, if true, adds the most support for the challenge from the modern historians?
There is less documentation of any sort from Caligula's reign than from the reigns of most other Roman emperors of Caligula's era.
People who have lived under someone regarded as a cruel tyrant are more likely to view that person unfavorably than favorably.
The specific outrageous acts attributed to Caligula in Roman documentation are very similar to acts attributed in earlier writings to other rulers alleged to be cruel tyrants.
The little documentation that survives from Caligula's reign indicates that the Roman people believed Caligula to be crueler than other emperors who were widely thought to be tyrants.
There is ample documentation of modern tyrants being responsible for outrageous acts worse than those attributed to Caligula.
Explanations
This is a tricky question. And a great example of why Strengthen questions can be tough: correct answers are often subtle at best and it's challenging to predict them given the wide array of things that could add evidence to the argument.
As always, start with the conclusion: Some modern historians challenge the view that Caligula was a cruel, insane tyrant. Next, the evidence: The modern historians argue this view because (1) we have little documentation of Caligula's cruelty from the time of his reign and (2) the documentation we do have comes from his enemies.
I don't have any strong predictions, here. So I'm going into the answer choices and reminding myself to have a high bar for what I pick.
Nah, I can't pick this answer. All we really get from this is that we don't know much about Caligula's reign. This doesn't add evidence to the case that he wasn't a cruel tyrant, just that we could probably better evaluate other rulers.
Nope. Can't pick this either. All this tells me is that, if Caligula was a tyrant, he was probably viewed unfavorably. Next.
Subtle, but yes. This is going to be the answer. This suggests that, in the absence of other evidence from the time of his reign, those writing histories about Caligula (his enemies) probably made erroneous allegations about him modeled after allegations made about previous tyrants. In other words, they copied the unfavorable narrative written about another emperor to paint a negative picture of Caligula, even if he wasn't actually tyrannical.
No way. This is a weakener.
Nah, totally out of scope. What do modern tyrants have to do with evaluating Caligula's cruelty?
0 Comments