Q 1 – 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.
Q 2 – Which sea separates the continents of Europe and Africa?
Mediterranean Sea separates the continents of Europe and Africa
Q 3 – Which rivers made boundaries of the Roman empire from the north side?
The boundaries of the Roman empire were surrounded by two great rivers, the Rhine and the Danube.
Q 4 – What is another name of the third century in the Roman empire?
The third century of the Roman empire was also called the ‘Early empire’
Q 5 – Which languages were used for administrative purposes in the early empire of Roman civilization?
For the purpose of administration, Latin and Greek were the most widely used languages.
Q 6 – Which languages were spoken in upper classes in east and west of the early empire of Rome?
The upper classes of the east spoke and wrote in Greek, those of the west in Latin.
Q 7 – Who had established the regime in 27 BCE?
The regime was established by Augustus in 27 BCE. He was the First emperor in 27 BCE
Q 8 – In which languages was Roman history written?
Most of the Roman history was written in Greek and Latin languages by people from a senatorial background.
Q 9 – What was the system to judge the behavior of Emperor in the Roman Empire?
The Emperors were judged by how they behaved towards the Senate.
Q 10 – How the Romans had formed their army structure?
The Romans had a paid professional army where soldiers had to put in a minimum of 25 years of service.
Q 11 – What do you mean by the ‘Augustan age’?
The ‘Augustan age’ meant the reign by Augustus from 27 BCE to 14 CE. His reign is remembered for peace.
Q 12 – What were the great urban centers that lined the shores of the Mediterranean?
The great urban centers that lined the shores of the Mediterranean were Carthage, Alexandria and Antioch.
Q 13 – How was the jurisdiction system structured in Italy in the Roman Empire?
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.
Q 14 – Who were the main players in the political history of the empire?
The emperor, the aristocracy and the army were the three main players in the political history of the empire.
Q 15 – Who was Tiberius?
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.
Q 16 – How many emperors ruled in the third century of Rome?
Twenty-Five emperors ruled in the third century of Rome.
Q 17 – Which type of family was in Roman society?
In Roman society there was nuclear form of family
Q 18 – What was the position of slaves in Roman society in the third century?
Slaves were included in the family in Roman society.
Q 19 – What was the legal right of property of women after marriage in Roman society in the third century?
The wife did not transfer to her husband’s authority but retained full rights in the property of hernatal family.
Q 20 – How had the marriages been solemnized in Roman society in the third century?
Marriages were generally arranged. Women were subject to domination by their husbands.
Q 21 – Who was Augustine?
Augustine was the great Catholic bishop who spent most of his life in North Africa.
Q 22 – What was the status of father in Roman families?
Father had substantial legal control over their children
Q 23 – Which languages had been used for writing and reading in Rome during third century?
Coptic was spoken in Egypt, Punic and Berber in North Africa, Celtic in Spain and the north-west.
Q 24 – Which language had been used for translation of the Bible?
Coptic was used for translation of the Bible by the middle of the third century
Q 25 – What were Amphorae?
Liquids like wine and olive oil transported in containers were called ‘Amphorae’.
Q 26 – What was Dressel 20 in Spain?
The Spanish olive oil of the middle of the third century was mainly carried in a container that was called ‘Dressel 20.
Q 27 – 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.
Q 28 – What was exported to Rome by Sicily and Byzacium?
Sicily and Byzacium exported large quantities of wheat to Rome.
Q 29 – Which kind of currencies were used in the monetary system of the first three centuries in Rome?
Silver and gold-based currencies were used in the monetary system of the First three centuries in Rome.
Q 30 – What does ‘Late antiquity’ mean?
‘Late antiquity’ is the term used to describe the final and attractive period in the evolution and break-up of the Roman empire.
Q 31 – What was the traditional religious culture of the classical world, for both Greek and Roman?
The traditional religious culture of the classical world for both Greek and Roman had been Polytheism.
Q 32 – What does Frankincense mean?
Frankincense is the European name for an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes.
Q 33 – Who was Diocletian?
Diocletian was an emperor who ruled from 284-305 in the fourth century.
Q 34 – What was the system of income in early Fifth century in Rome?
Many of the Roman households received an income of four thousand pounds of gold per year from their properties.
Q 35 – Who was Olympiodorus?
Olympiodorus was a writer, an historian and an ambassador in the early fifth century
Q 36 – What did Emperor Anastasius build in the late-Fifth-century?
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.
Q 37 – What was Papyrus?
The ‘Papyrus’ was a reed-like plant that grew along the bank of the river Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce writing material that is paper.
Q 38 – What were the textual sources used for?
Textual sources include histories of the period written by contemporaries. These were usually called ‘Annals.
Q 39 – Tell the name of two phases of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire can broadly be divided into two phases, i.e. Early Empire and Late Empire.
Q 40 – What were the dynasties that ruled Iran in the third century?
The Parthians and later the Sasanians ruled Iran in the third century.
Q 41 – What does the ‘civil war’ refer to?
Civil war refers to armed struggles for power within the same country.
Q 42 – What was ‘Denarius’?
The denarius was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War c. 211 BC to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the Antoninianus.
Q 43 – How had Emperor Gallienus ruled?
Emperor Gallienus (253-68) consolidated their rise to power by excluding senators from military command and reorganizing the army.
Q 44 – Which territory was covered by the Roman Empire?
The Roman Empire covered most of Europe and a large part of the fertile crescent and North Africa.
Q 45 – What do documentary sources include?
Documentary sources include mainly inscriptions and papyrus.
Q 46 – Which area had been controlled by Iran?
Iran controlled the whole area including south of the Caspian Sea down to eastern Arabia and sometimes large parts of Afghanistan also.
Q 47 – What was the role of army in Roman empire?
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.
Q 48 – What is the history of Byzantium?
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.
Q 49 – Write about literacy rate in the Roman Empire.
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 o¨cers and estate managers.
Q 50 – What do you mean by ‘Principate’?
The regime established by Augustus, the ¦rst Emperor, in 27 BCE was called the ‘Principate’.
Q 51 – What was the ¦ction kept alive about Augustus?
Augustus was the sole ruler and the only real source of authority. The Action was that he was only the ‘leading citizen’ not the absolute ruler.
Q 52 – How did corruption come in administrative system in the late Roman bureaucracy?
In the late Roman bureaucracy, the higher and middle echelons, were a comparatively affluent group because it drew the bulk of their 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.
Q 53 – How slaves were treated after murder of Lucius Pedanius by his slave Secundus? What was the reaction of crowd at that time?
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.
Q 54 – What does ‘Post – Roman’ mean in the 540’s?
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’
Q 55 – Who was Columella?
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.
Q 56 – What had occurred after Prophet Muhammad’s death by 642?
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, ¦rst within Arabia and then in the Syrian desert on the fringes of Iraq.
Q 57 – What is Frankincense?
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.
Q 58 – Define the territorial position of the Roman empire.
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.
Q 59 – What does the term ‘Republic’ refer to in the history of the Roman empire?
The Republic was the name for a regime in which the power lay with the Senate, a body dominated by a small group of wealthy families who formed the ‘nobility’. The Republic represented the government of the nobility, exercised through the body called the Senate. The Republic lasted from 509 BCE to 27 BCE, when it was overthrown by Octavian, the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar.
Q 60 – How army was the important key institution of imperial rule in the Roman empire?
The Roman had a paid professional army where soldiers had to put in a minimum of 25 years of service. The existence of paid army was a distinctive feature of the Roman empire. It was an organized body in the empire by the fourth century and had the power to determine the fate of emperors. The soldiers would trouble for better wages and service conditions. These agitations often took the form of revolt.
Q 61 – What was the policy of taxation in the Roman empire?
The great urban centers of the Mediterranean were the base of the grand system of the Roman empire. It was through the cities that ‘government’ was able to tax the regional countrysides which generated much of the wealth of the empire. The local upper classes actively collaborated with the Roman state in administering their own territories and raising taxes from them.
Q 62 – How had the Roman survived their lives during famine?
The famine for many successive years in many provinces had clearly displayed for men of any understanding of the effect of malnutrition in generating illness. So the city- dwellers, collected and stored enough grain for the next year immediately after the harvest, carried off all the wheat, barley, beans and lentils, and left the peasants various kinds of pulses after taking quite a large proportion of these to the city. After consuming what was left during the winter, the country people had to resort to unhealthy foods in the spring. They ate twigs, shoots of trees and bushes and roots of inedible plants.
Q 63 – What was the typical form of marriage in the third century of Rome?
Males married in their late twenties or early thirties; while women were married in the late teens or early twenties. There was an age gap between husband and wife. As a result, there was inequality. Marriages were generally arranged, and there is no doubt that women were often subject to domination by their husbands. Divorce was relatively easy and needed no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage by either husband or wife.
Q 64 – How was the economic condition in the early Roman empire?
The empire had a substantial economic infrastructure of harbors, mines, quarries, brickyards, olive oil factories, etc. Wheat, wine and olive-oil were traded and consumed in huge quantities, and they came mainly from Spain, the Gallic provinces, North Africa, Egypt and to a lesser extent, Italy where conditions were suitable for these crops. Liquids like wine and olive oil were transported.
Q 65 – The emperor of the state XYZ ordered to stop the practice of slavery and warned the people to strictly follow the orders to make his state an ideal model for others. What values does he exhibit?
The emperor of the state shows social and moral values. He understood that freedom is the fundamental right of every human being. He also set an example for the other emperors by facilitating slaves. He was a kind ruler who thought for the people, they had same feelings and rights in common society. He had courage to Fight with others for his subject to provide equal rights.
Q 66 – Precious metals increase greed and inflation. What values do government show to stop it from the society?
Had precious metals been in the market, it would have increased the greed of the people to accumulate and preserve for personal purposes. This causes in§ation in the market and will create a hazardous situations for the poor and middle-class families. Government shows its moral and social values and has to come forward to convince the people that, metals are only things of uses. They satisfy needs of the people. Rather than keeping and preserving it, let it be in the market as currency for maintaining economy of nation so that ordinary people may not suffer.
Q 67 – What do you think about the importance of Latin and Greek languages in the Roman empire?
“Greek East” and “Latin West” are the terms that are used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world, especially the eastern regions where Greek was the lingua franca, and the western parts where Latin Filled this role. During the Roman empire a division had persisted between Latin and Greek-speaking areas. This division was encouraged by administrative changes in the empire’s structure between the third and Fifth centuries, which led ultimately to the establishment of separate Eastern and Western Roman empires.
Latin and Greek were the dominant languages of the Roman empire. The language of the ancient Romans was Latin, which served as the “language of power”. Latin was omnipresent in the Roman empire as the language of the law courts in the West, and of the military everywhere. A great number of Roman citizens would have lacked Latin, though they were expected to acquire at least token knowledge, and Latin remained a marker of “Romanness”.
Greek had become a shared language around the Eastern Mediterranean and into Asia Minor as a consequence of the conquests of Alexander the Great. The “linguistic frontier” dividing the Latin West and the Greek East passed through the Balkan peninsula. Educated Romans, particularly those of the ruling elite, studied and often achieved a high degree of §uency in Greek, which was useful for diplomatic communications in the East even beyond the borders of the empire. The use of Greek at the international level was one condition that enabled the spread of Christianity, as indicated for example by the choice of Greek. With the dissolution of the empire in the West, Greek became the dominant language of the Eastern Roman empire.
Q 68 – What do you know about Augustus? Explain.
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 Octavia 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.
Q 69 – 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?
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.
Q 70 – How was the economic scenario of the Roman empire?
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 a 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 townhouses, durable luxury items such as jewels and silverware, public entertainments, funerary monuments for family members or coworkers, 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.
A major difference between the two superpowers and their respective empires was that the Roman Empire was culturally much more diverse than that of Iran. The Parthians and later the Sasanians, the dynasties that ruled Iran in this period, ruled over a population that was largely Iranian. The Roman Empire, by contrast, was a mosaic of territories and cultures that were chiefly bound together by a common system of government. Many languages were spoken in the empire, but for the purposes of administration Latin and Greek were the most widely used, indeed the only languages.
The upper classes of the east spoke and wrote in Greek, those of the west in Latin, and the boundary between these broad language areas ran somewhere across the middle of the Mediterranean, between the African provinces of Tripolitania (which was Latin speaking) and Cyrenaica (Greek-speaking). All those who lived in the empire were subjects of a single ruler, the emperor, regardless of where they lived and what language they spoke.
Q 71 – (i) How would you differentiate the Roman Empire from Iran?
(ii) Name two dynasties who ruled over Iran during this period.
(iii) Which empire was bound together by a common system of government and why?
Ans. (i) The Roman Empire was entirely different from Iran on the ground of cultural activities.
(ii) These dynasties were the Parthians and the Sasanians
(iii) Roman Empire was bound together by a common system of government as compared to Iranian Empire. In the Roman Empire common people subjected to one ruler.
Doctor Galen on how Roman Cities Treated the Countryside:
The famine prevalent for many successive years in many provinces has clearly displayed for men of any understanding of the effect of malnutrition in generating illness. The city-dwellers, as it was their custom to collect and store enough grain for the whole of the next year immediately after the harvest, carried off all the wheat, barley, beans, and lentils, and left the peasants various kinds of pulse- after taking quite a large proportion of these to the city. After consuming what was left in the course of the winter, the country people had to resort to unhealthy foods in the spring; they ate twigs and shoots of trees and bushes and bulbs and roots of inedible plants.
Q 72– (i) What did the city dwellers do?
(ii) What does the given passage depict?
(iii) How was ancient Roman society divided?
(i) The city dwellers collected and stored su¨cient grain for the whole of the next year.
(ii) It depicts the ill effects of famine which resulted in a shortage of food.
(iii) Ancient Roman society was divided into three classes. These were:
The Patrician
The Plebeian
The Slaves
The late Roman bureaucracy, both the higher and middle echelons, was a comparatively affluent group because it drew the bulk of its salary in gold and invested much of this in buying up assets like land. There was of course also a great deal of corruption, especially in the judicial system and in the administration of military supplies. The extortion of the higher bureaucracy and the greed of the provincial governors were proverbial. But the government intervened repeatedly to curb these forms of corruption – we only know about them in the first place because of the laws that tried to put an end to them, and because historians and other members of the intelligentsia denounced such practices.
This element of ‘criticism’ is a remarkable feature of the classical world. The Roman state was an authoritarian regime, in other words, dissent was rarely tolerated and government usually responded to protest with violence (especially in the cities of the East where people were often fearless in making fun of emperors). Yet a strong tradition of Roman law had emerged by the fourth century, and this acted as a brake on even the most fearsome emperors. Emperors were not free to do whatever they liked, and the law was actively used to protect civil rights. That is why in the later fourth century it was possible for powerful bishops like Ambrose to confront equally powerful emperors when they were excessively harsh or repressive in their handling of the civilian population.
Q 73 – (i) What was the main reason for corruption in the administration of the Roman Empire?
(ii) What was the role of the Roman government in handling corruption that was widespread among the higher bureaucracy and provincial governors?
(iii) What do you know about the law system of the Roman Empire?
Ans. (i) The extortion of the higher bureaucracy and the greed of the provincial governors were the main reasons of corruption.
(ii) The government intervened repeatedly to control corruption. The Roman state was an authoritarian regime, dissent was rarely tolerated and government usually responded to protest with violence.
(iii) Roman law had emerged by the fourth century, and this acted as a brake on even the most fearsome emperors. They were not free to do, whatever they liked, and the law was actively used to protect civil rights. That is why in the later fourth century it was possible for powerful bishops like Ambrose to confront equally powerful emperors when they were excessively harsh or repressive in their handling of the civilian population.
Q 74 – If you had lived in the Roman Empire, where would you rather have lived – in the towns or in the countryside? Explain why.
In the roman empire one would have preferred to live in the towns due to:
(i) Availability of better facilities as compared to the countryside.
(ii) Towns apart from governance were centers of art, learning and various intellectual activities.
(iii) During the time of famine, townspeople would not suffer food scarcity.
(iv) Cities provided the populations with a much higher level of entertainment.
(v) Unlike the countryside which was subject to exploitation by the aristocracy and other wealthy
persons, towns were centers of affluence and culture.
Q 75 – Compile a list of some of the towns, cities, rivers, seas and provinces mentioned in this chapter, and then try and f ind them on the maps. Can you say something about any three of the items in the list you have compiled?
Towns: Alexandria, Carthage, Pompeii, Cairo, Mecca
Rivers: Rhine, Danube, Euphrates
Seas: Black Sea, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea
Provinces: Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Gallic
Alexandria: It was the port city and its ports were handled by Jewish merchants. They traded directly which can be seen from the letters preserved in the Geniza collection. The merchants of Alexandria also exported to Europe.
Black Sea: It is between Southeastern Europe and Western Asia. It was one of the busy waterways at that time. The trades were held among Central Asia to the east, Mesopotamia to the south, and Greece to the south-west by this route the Mediterranean Sea: In the 6th century, Iranians had established control over major parts of the Assyrian empire which leads to the development of trade networks along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Greek cities and their colonies benefited from improvements in trade. It is enclosed by three sides of land.
Q 76 – Imagine that you are a Roman housewife preparing a shopping list for household requirements. What would be on the list?
Being a roman housewife, I would like to include bread, butter, milk, eggs, meat, spices, oil, pulse etc. while preparing a list of household requirements.
Q 77 – Why do you think the Roman government stopped coining in silver? And which metal did it begin to use for the production of coinage?
Roman government stooped the coining in silver and began to use gold for coinage because silver was limited and the mines of silver were exhausted due to over-excavation.
Q 78 – Suppose the emperor Trajan had actually managed to conquer India and the Romans had held on to the country f or several centuries. In what ways do you think India might be different today?
If roman emperor Trajan had actually managed to conquer India, India would be different today on the following aspects:
(i) Changes in art, architecture, literature and law as were evident even in the case of Indo-Greek.
(ii) Exchange of ideas, roman law would have helped the growth of Indian law.
(iii) Conversion and Christianization.
(iv) Concept of public baths and entertainment.
(v) Slavery would probably have become more rampant as roman society was known to use slave labour in every sector- agriculture, mining , handicrafts etc.
(vi) Indian agriculture would have benefitted from roman diversified application of water.
(vii) The hitherto caste and class differences would have been further stratified.
(viii) The pattern of Indian trade , would probably have undergrown vast changes.
Q 79 – Go through the chapter carefully and pick out some basic features of Roman society and economy which you think make it look quite modern.
Basic features of the Roman society:
(i) The concept of amusement.
(ii) Prevalence of vast diversity in religious cults.
(iii) The considerable legal rights women enjoyed in owning and managing property.
(iv) Divorce was relatively easy and needed no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage by either husband or wife.
Basic features of the Roman economy:
(i) Preference to live in urban centers.
(ii) Cities as the bedrock of the imperial system.
(iii) Disputes between the rich and poor.
(iv) Widespread use of money, such as silver denarius, and gold solidi.
(v) Competition amongst regions for control of the markets in olive oil.
Q 80 –How was the infrastructure during the Roman empire?
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 them in vinegar after defecation.
The Romans had a complex system of sewers covered by stones. They recycled public bath wastewater by using it as part of the flow that flushed the latrines. Terracotta piping was used in the plumbing that carried wastewater 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 the 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, the 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’s 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 traveling.