Test: An Empire Across Three Continents- 2 - UPSC MCQ

The roman empire covered a vast stretch of territory that included most of Europe as we know it today and a large part of the fertile crescent and north Africa.

Textual sources include histories of the period written by contemporaries (these were usually called annals because the narrative was constructed on a year-by-year basis), letters, speeches, sermons, laws, and so on.

The Romans and Iranian empires lay next to each other, separated only by a narrow strip of land that ran along the river Euphrates.

This sea is called the Mediterranean, and a sea that stretches all the way from Spain in the west to Syria in the east was the heart of Rome’s empire. Rome dominated the Mediterranean and all the regions around that sea in both directions.

There was a huge expanse of desert called the Sahara in the south of the empire. 

Iran controlled the whole area south of the Caspian sea down to eastern Arabia and sometimes large parts of Afghanistan as well.

A significant difference between the two superpowers and their respective empires was that the roman empire was culturally much more diverse than that of Iran.

The upper classes of the east spoke and wrote in greek.

The regime established by Augustus, the first emperor, in 27 BCE was called the principate.

Senate had controlled Rome earlier in the days when it was a republic.

Most of the Roman histories that survive in Greek and Latin were written by people from a senatorial background.

These agitations often took the form of mutinies if the soldiers felt let down by their generals or even the emperor.

The senate hated and feared the army because it was a source of often unpredictable violence, especially in the tense conditions of the third century when the government was forced to tax more heavily to pay for its mounting military expenditures.

Tiberius, the second in the Roman emperor, was not the natural son of Augustus, the ruler who founded the principate, but Augustus adopted him to ensure a smooth transition.

The Augustan age is remembered for the peace it ushered in after decades of internal strife and military conquest.

The denarius was a Roman silver coin containing about 4 gm of pure silver.

Gallienus forbade senators from serving in the army or having access to it to prevent control of the empire from falling into their hands.

Shapur I, the Iranian ruler, claimed he had annihilated a Roman army of 60,000 and even captured the eastern capital of Antioch.

The Romans were forced to abandon much of the territory beyond the Danube.

Augustine was the great catholic bishop who spent most of his life in North Africa.