1 If you had lived in the Roman Empire, where would you rather have lived—in the towns or in the countryside? Explain why?
Ans. I would have liked to live in towns of the Roman empire as it had better sources of earning and facility to fight with natural calamities that occurred frequently.
In Roman city, there was such a structure which was quite strong to fight with the daily lives problems. Because towns were coming under the territory of city and they had been aided by the people who belonged to the political and business related fields.
2. Compile a list of some of the towns, cities, rivers, seas and provinces mentioned in this chapter, and then try and find them on the maps. Can you say something about any three of the items in the list you have compiled?
Ans.
Continents: Europe, North Africa.
Island: Sicily
Rivers: Nile, Rhine, Danube, Sind
Sea: Mediterranean, Caspian, Black sea, Aegean sea.
Provinces: Gaul, Numidia, Tunisia, Macedonia, etc.
Towns and Cities: Constantinople, Naples, Damascus, Alexandria and Rome. (See NCERT Page 59)
Description of three items compiled in the list:
- Rivers helped in providing irrigation facilities for agriculture.
- Seas and oceans helped in the promotion of trade and commerce.
- Towns and cities were the main centers of economic, social and political activities of the empire.
3. Imagine that you are a Roman housewife preparing a shopping list for household requirements. What would be on the list?
Ans. As a Roman housewife, I would like to include the following items in my list, while preparing a shopping list for household requirements-Roman glass painting, curtains, kitchen appliances, bed sheet, cushion cover, toys, furniture and other modem appliances of daily life.
4. Why do you think the Roman government stopped coining in silver? And which metal did it begin to use for the production of coinage?
Ans. The Roman government stopped coining in silver because the Spanish silver mine became empty, thus causing dearth of silver in the Roman empire. Now the Roman government began to use gold for the production of coinage.
5. Suppose the emperor Trajan had actually managed to conquer India and the Romans had held on to the country for several centuries. In what ways do you think India might be different today?
Ans. Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programmes and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean world.
As per the above passage, we can conclude if India had been conquered by Trajan, he would have been the greatest ruler and extended philanthropic rule all over India. There must be absence of democratic ideas and democratic rights in India. The division of society will be on the basis of Roman society.
6. Go through the chapter carefully and pick out some basic features of Roman society and economy which you think make it look quite modem.
Ans. Another modem feature, we found from Roman economy was that there were very strong trading relations from across the Roman empire’s provinces, which shows that Roman economy was also very strong and provided the revenue to its government.
7. Which were the two powerful empires that ruled over most of Europe?
Ans. The two powerful empires that ruled over most of Europe were Rome and Iran.
8. Which sea separates the continents of Europe and Africa?
Ans, Mediterranean Sea separates the continents of Europe and Africa.
9. Which rivers made boundaries of the Roman empire from the north side?
Ans. The boundaries of the Roman empire were surrounded by two great rivers, the Rhine and the Danube.
10. What is another name of the third century in the Roman empire?
Ans. The third century of the Roman empire was also called the ‘Early empire’.
11. Which languages were used for administrative purposes in the early empire of Roman civilization?
Ans. For the purpose of administration, Latin and Greek were the most widely used languages.
12. Which languages were spoken in upper classes in east and west of the early empire of Rome?
Ans. The upper classes of the east spoke and wrote in Greek, those of the west in Latin.
13. Who had established the regime in 27 BCE?
Ans. The regime was established by Augustus in 27 BCE. He was the first emperor in 27 BCE.
14. In which languages was Roman history written?
Ans. Most of the Roman history was written in Greek and Latin languages by people from a senatorial background.
15. What was the system to judge the behavior of Emperor in the Roman Empire?
Ans. The Emperors were judged by how they behaved towards the Senate.
16. How the Romans had formed their army structure?
Ans. The Romans had a paid professional army where soldiers had to put in a minimum of 25 years of service.
17. What do you mean by the ‘Augustan age’?
Ans. The ‘Augustan age’ meant the reign by Augustus from 27 BCE to 14 CE. His reign is remembered for peace.
18. What were the great urban centers that lined the shores of the Mediterranean?
Ans. The great urban centers that lined the shores of the Mediterranean were Carthage, Alexandria and Antioch.
19.How was the jurisdiction system structured in Italy in the Roman Empire?
Ans. In the Roman empire there was an urban center with its own magistrates, city council and a ‘territory’ containing villages which were under its jurisdiction.
20. Who were the main players in the political history of the empire?
Ans. The emperor, the aristocracy and the army were the three main players in the political history of the empire.
21. Who was Tiberius?
Ans. Tiberius was the second in the long line of Roman Emperors. His span of rule remained from 14 GE to 37 CE. He was the adopted son of Augustus.
22. How many emperors ruled in the third century of Rome?
Ans. Twenty-five emperors ruled in the third century of Rome.
23. Which type of family was in Roman society?
Ans. In Roman society there was nuclear form of family.
24. What was the position of slaves in Roman society in the third century?
Ans. Slaves were included in the family in Roman society.
25. What was the legal right of property of women after marriage in Roman society in the third century?
Ans. The wife did not transfer to her husband’s authority but retained full rights in the property of her natal
family.
26. How had the marriages been solemnized in Roman society in the third century?
Ans. Marriages were generally arranged. Women were subject to domination by their husbands.
27. Who was Augustine?
Ans. Augustine was the great Catholic bishop who spent most of his life in North Africa.
28. What was the status of father in Roman families?
Ans. Father had substantial legal control over their children.
29. Which languages had been used for writing and reading in Rome during third century?
Ans. Coptic was spoken in Egypt, Punic and Berber in North Africa, Celtic in Spain and the north-west.
30. Which language had been used for translation of the Bible?
Ans. Coptic was used for translation of the Bible by the middle of the third century.
31. What were Amphorae?
Ans. Liquids like wine and olive oil transported in containers were called ‘Amphorae’.
32. What was Dressel 20 in Spain?
Ans. The Spanish olive oil of the middle of the third century was mainly carried in a container that was called ‘Dressel 20.
33. Which countries had been exporters of wine and olive oil in the later fifth and sixth centuries?
Ans. In the later fifth and sixth centuries, the Southern Asia Minor (Turkey), Syria and Palestine became major exporters of wine and olive oil.
34. What was exported to Rome by Sicily and Byzacium?
Ans. Sicily and Byzacium exported large quantities of wheat to Rome.
35. Which kind of currencies were used in the monetary system of the first three centuries in Rome?
Ans. Silver and gold based currencies were used in the monetary system of the first three centuries in Rome.
36. What does ‘Late antiquity’ mean?
Ans. Late antiquity’ is the term used to describe the final and attractive period in the evolution and break-up of the Roman empire.
37. What was the traditional religious culture of the classical world, for both Greek and Roman?
Ans. The traditional religious culture of the classical world for both Greek and Roman had been Polytheism
38. What does Frankincense mean?
Ans. Frankincense is the European name for an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes.
39. Who was Diocletian?
Ans. Diocletian was an emperor who ruled from 284-305 in the fourth century.
40. What was the system of income in early fifth century in Rome?
Ans. Many of the Roman households received an income of four thousand pounds of gold per year from their
properties.
41. Who was Olympiodorus?
Ans. Olympiodorus was a writer, an historian and an ambassador in the early fifth century.
42. What did Emperor Anastasius build in the late-fifth-century?
Ans. The Emperor Anastasius built the eastern frontier city of Dara in less than three weeks by attracting labor from all over the East by offering high wages in the late-fifth- century.
43. What was Papyrus?
Ans. The ‘Papyrus’ was a reed-like plant that grew along the bank of the river Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce a writing material that is paper.
44. What were the textual sources used for?
Ans. Textual sources include histories of the period written by contemporaries. These were usually called ‘Annals.
45. Tell the name of two phases of the Roman Empire.
Ans. The Roman Empire can broadly be divided into two phases, i.e. Early Empire and Late Empire.
46. What were the dynasties that ruled Iran in the third century?
Ans. The Parthians and later the Sasanians ruled Iran in the third century.
47. What does the ‘civil war’ refer to?
Ans. Civil war refers to armed struggles for power within the same country.
48. What was ‘Denarius’?
Ans. The Denarius was a Roman silver coin containing about 4 y gm of pure silver.
49. How had Emperor Gallienus ruled?
Ans. The Emperor Gallienus (253-68) consolidated their rise to power by excluding senators from military command and reorganized the army.
50. Which territory was covered by the Roman Empire?
Ans. The Roman Empire covered most of Europe and a large part of the fertile crescent and North Africa.
51. What do documentary sources include?
Ans. Documentary sources include mainly inscriptions and papyrus.
52. Which area had been controlled by Iran?
Ans. Iran controlled the whole area including south of the Caspian Sea down to eastern Arabia and sometimes large parts of Afghanistan also
53. What was the role of army in Roman empire?
Ans. The army was the largest single organized body of around 60,000 forces by the fourth century and it certainly had the power to determine the fate of emperors in Roman empire.
54. What is the history of Byzantium?
Ans. Byzantium was the creation of a second capital at Constantinople. It is at the site of modern Istanbul in Turkey which is surrounded on three sides by the sea.
55. Write about literacy rate in the Roman Empire.
Ans. It is certain that rate of literacy was casual and varied greatly between different parts of the empire. Literacy was widespread among certain categories such as soldiers, army officers and estate managers.
56. What do you mean by ‘Principate’?
Ans. The regime established by Augustus, the first Emperor, in 27 BCE was called the ‘Principate’.
57. What was the fiction kept alive about Augustus?
Ans. Augustus was the sole ruler and the only real source of authority. The fiction was that he was only the ‘leading citizen’ not the absolute ruler.
58. How did corruption come in administrative system in the late Roman bureaucracy?
Ans. In the late Roman bureaucracy, the higher and middle echelons, was a comparatively affluent group because it drew the bulk of its salary in gold and invested much of it in buying up assets like land. There was, of course, a great deal of corruption especially in the judicial system and in the administration of military supplies.
59. How slaves were treated after murder of Lucius Pedanius by his slave Secundus? What was the reaction of crowd at that time?
Ans. After the murder of Lucius Pedanius by his slave Secundus, ancient custom required that every slave residing under the same roof must be executed. But the crowd gathered to save the innocent lives and riots began. The Senate house was overwhelmed. Inside, there was feeling against excessive severity, but the majority opposed any change. However, a huge crowd was ready with stones and torches but prevented the order from being carried out.
60. What does ‘Post – Roman’ mean in the 540’s?
Ans. The general prosperity was especially marked in the East where population was still expanding till the sixth century, despite the impact of the plague which affected the Mediterranean in the 540’s. In the West, by contrast, the empire fragmented politically as Germanic groups from the North took over all the major provinces and established kingdoms that are best described as ‘Post-Roman’.
61. Who was Columella?
Ans. Columella, a first-century writer who came from the south of Spain, recommended that landowners should keep a reserve stock of implements and tools, twice as many as they needed to improve the better situation of laborers.
62. What had occurred after Prophet Muhammad’s death by 642?
Ans. By 642, barely ten years after Prophet Muhammad’s death, large parts of both the Eastern Roman and Sasanian empires had fallen to the Arabs in a series of confrontations. Though, those conquests, which eventually a century later extended up to Spain, Sind and Central Asia, began in fact with the subjection of the Arab tribes by the emerging Islamic state, first within Arabia and then in the Syrian desert on the fringes of Iraq.
63. What is Frankincense?
Ans. Frankincense is the European name for an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes. It is tapped from Boswellia trees by slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to harden. The best quality of it came from the Arabian peninsula.
64. Define the territorial position of the Roman empire.
Ans. The continents of Europe and Africa are separated by a sea, called the Mediterranean that stretches all the way from Spain in the west to Syria in the east and it was the heart of Rome’s empire. To the north, the boundaries of the empire were formed by two great rivers, the Rhine and the Danube and to the south, by the huge expanse of desert called the Sahara. This vast stretch of territory was the Roman empire.
65. What do you know about Augustus? Explain.
Ans. Augustus was the founder of the Roman empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BCE until his death in 14 CE. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the Plebeian Octavii family. In 44 BCE he was adopted posthumously by his maternal great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar following Caesar’s assassination. Together with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory at Phillipi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among them and ruled as military dictator.
Lepidus was kept into exile and stripped of his position and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Augustus in 31 BC.
After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the outward facade of the free Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. In reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and those of tribune and censor. It took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his rule. He rejected monarchial titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis (“First Citizen”). The resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire.
66. How was the reign of Augustus by 27 BC? Discuss.
Ans. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana (The Roman Peace). Despite continuous wars or imperial expansion on the empire’s frontiers and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession, the Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries. Augustus dramatically enlarged the empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanded possessions in Africa and Germania, and completed the conquest of Hispania.
Beyond the frontiers, he secured the empire with a buffer region of client states, and made peace with the Parthian empire through diplomacy. He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, and also the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.
Augustus died in 14 AD at the age of 75. He might have died from natural causes. He was succeeded as emperor by his adopted son (also steps on and former son-in-law), Tiberius.
67. Explain the system of administration governed by politicians of senatorial rank in Rome.
Ans. In ancient Rome, provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls. A later exception was the province of Egypt, incorporated by Augustus. After the death of Cleopatra it was ruled by a governor of equestrian rank only, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition as Egypt was considered Augustus’s personal property, following the tradition of earlier, hellenistic kings.
The territory of people who were defeated in war might be brought under various forms of treaty, in some cases entailing complete subjection. The formal annexation of a territory created a “province” in the modern sense of an administrative unit that was geographically defined. Republican provinces were administered in one-year term by the consuls and praetors who had held office the previous year.
Rome started expanding beyond Italy during the First Punic War. The first permanent provinces to be annexed were Sicily in 241 BC and Sardinia in 237 BC. Military expansionism kept increasing the number of these administrative provinces, until there were no longer enough qualified individuals to fill the posts.
The terms of provincial governors often had to be extended for multiple years, and on occasion the Senate awarded imperium even to private citizens, most notably Pompey The Great. Prorogation undermined the republican constitutional principle of annual elected magistracies, and the amassing of disproportionate wealth and military power by a few men through their provincial commands was a major factor in the transition from a republic to imperial autocracy.
68. What was the policy of education in the Roman empire?
Ans. Education in the Roman empire contributed to the social mobility that characterized the earlier period of Imperial history known as the Principate.
Education was available only for those who could pay for it, since there was no state- supported system of schools with public funding.
A higher rate of literacy is indicated among military personnel than among the general population. Educated women were not unusual, and there was an expectation that upper-class girls would at least attend primary school, probably in the same classes as boys. Only an elite few, regardless of gender, went on to receive secondary education.
Modest number of slaves were educated and they played a key role in promoting education and the culture of literacy. Teachers, scribes, and secretaries were likely to be slaves. The education of slaves was not discouraged, and slave-children might attend classes with the children of their masters. Book stores were already well-established in Rome by the beginning of the Imperial period, and are found also in urban centers of the provinces.
Books were expensive, but by the later period, popular genres of literature indicated reading for pleasure among non-elites. Emperor sponsored libraries that were to some extent public, and a wealthy individual might donate a library for a community, or accumulate impressive private collections to which in-house scholars might be attached. Literacy is thought to have declined in late antiquity during the transition away from the classical institutions and practices that supported it.
69. How was the infrastructure during the Roman empire?
Ans. The infrastructure system in ancient Rome was complex. A system of thirteen Roman aqueducts provided the inhabitants of Rome with water of varying quality, the best being reserved for potable supplies. Water was used in public baths and in latrines. Inferior types of latrine systems have been found in many places, such as house steads, a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and elsewhere that flushed waste away with a stream of water. Romans used sea sponges on a stick and dipped in vinegar after defecation.
The Romans had a complex system of sewers covered by stones. They recycled public bath waste water by using it as part of the flow that flushed the latrines. Terracotta piping was used in the plumbing that carried waste water from homes. The Romans were the first to seal pipes in concrete to resist the high water pressures developed in siphons and elsewhere. Beginning around 5th century BC, city officials called aediles supervised the sanitary systems. They were responsible for the efficiency of the drainage and sewage systems, the cleansing and paving of the streets, prevention of foul smells, and general oversight of brothels, taverns, baths, and other water supplies. Roman rubbish was often left to collect in alleys between buildings in the poor districts of the city. It sometimes became so thick that stepping stones were needed.
The empire of Rome, especially the city itself, had a huge demand for water. The average Roman consumed over 200 gallons of water per day. Wealthy households had water supplied to their settlements unlike many poor who could not afford this. Even these people enjoyed the luxuries of Rome’s public baths, fountains, and public toilets equipped with sinks.
River Tiber was the city’s main water source before any aqueducts were constructed. As the population of Rome increased, however, the Romans taste for water became too much for the river to supply.
The paved roads were all constructed so they would require minimal amount of repair and provide a very smooth surface for travelling.
70. How was economic scenario of the Roman empire?
Ans. The Roman economy was underdeveloped and underachieved, as subsistence agriculture, urban centers that consumed more than they produced in terms of trade and industry, low status artisans, slowly developing technology, and lack of economic rationality.
Some cities were known for particular industries or commercial activities, and the scale of building in urban areas indicates a significant construction industry. Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that suggest elements of economic rationalism and the Empire was highly monetized. Although the means of communication and transport were limited in antiquity, transportation in the 1st and 2nd centuries expanded greatly, and trade routes connected regional economies.
Economic dynamism opened up one of the avenues of social mobility in the Roman empire. Social advancement was thus not dependent solely on birth, patronage, good luck, or even extraordinary ability. Although aristocratic values permeated traditional elite society, a strong tendency toward plutocracy is indicated by the wealth requirements for census rank. Prestige could be obtained through investing one’s wealth in ways that advertised it appropriately: grand country estates or town houses, durable luxury items such as jewels and silver ware, public entertainments, funerary monuments for family members or co-workers, and religious dedication such as altars. Guilds and corporations provided support for individuals to succeed through networking, sharing sound business practices, and willingness to work.