Roman Empire/ Classical Era

Economy, Society and Cities:

 Empire started as small city farmers and developed into an powerful and
extensive empire.
 At peak of it time the Rome was the largest city with million inhabitants
 Cities of Rome had some features like high rise apartment blocks, busy
streets etc.
 Roman Empire contained 2000 cities
 Cities ran their own affairs as communities
 Every city should be surrounded by wall made of stone
 Roman cities had public drains and sewer to get the waste out of city
 City was surrounded by hamlets and villages

Agriculture:

 Roman economy was based on Agriculture

 Roman people cultivated grains, vines and olives
 They kept sheep and goats
 Many wealthy owners developed slave runned plantation
 As the population grew larger , then the grains were imported from
oversees
Trade and Industry:
 Long distance trade was more extensive than any other era of 19th century
 The expansion in trade encouraged the development of farms and estates
growing crops for export
 Roman emperor Augustus created the system of grain fleets which carried
grain from Egypt and north Africa to Rome.
 The increase in trade brought the most advanced financial system in
ancient world
 Banking had been practiced in Rome
 Modern style stock and shares were are reported by historian
 The financial industry continued to be active into the imperial period,
financing the grains fleet

INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT:
 The copper mines were built in Roman Era
 Most industrial production took place in the small workshops of potters,
blacksmith and carpenters
 Slaves were used as the workforce

EDUCATION:
 Young children of both sexes attended the school run by slaves or ex-slaves.
 Schools were made in public places
 Children were taught reading, writing and arithmetic by rote learning
 older girls were excluded from schools and educations.
 Boys were taught Latin and Greek grammer.
 Some teachers attracted students from all over the empire
 Two institution of higher education in Athens, in Greece, the Academy( by
Plato) and the Lyceum ( by Aristotle)
Homes:
 Earlier housed were small wattles and daub cottages with thatched roofs.
 Early roman building were single story
 Later, houses were add with gardens, fountains and pools
 All roman houses had toilets

LEISURE:
 Romans enjoyed dinning with friends, eating , drinking etc.
 For educated peoples, reading was a common habbit
 Public entertainment was also to be had at theters

ROMAN LAW:
 Greeks developed legal codes and romans followed them
 In mid 5th century they published 12 tables of law
 Roman law guraneted all citizens a fair trial
 The law protected the basic rights of humans

CULTURE and ARTS:

 Roman art was related to greek art
 They made paved roads

LITERATURE:
 Roman literature is written in Latin language
Philosophy:
 Epicureanism( life is without hope so one should live life daily in a positive
manner)
 Neoplatonism( belived in god ,that someone created this universe)

Technology and Sciene:

 Roman road ran 100s of miles
 Romans were the first to use engineering for grinding corn
 They built water mills