Important Questions: An Empire Across Three Continents | History Class 11 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Q1: What are the sources worth reckoning about Roman and Iranian empires?
Ans: These are:

• Textual sources including accounts of contemporary historians,
• Documentary sources including inscriptions and papyri, and
• Material remains including the things discovered by archaeologists through excavation and field surveys.

Q2: Mention the area controlled by Iran.
Ans: It was extended from the south to the Caspian sea down to eastern Arabia and larger parts of Afghanistan.

Q3: What do you understand by the term Princeps?
Ans: It was a Latin term meaning leading citizen i.e.’ the first citizen of the empire or the emperor.

Q4: What was seen specifically in the Roman empire?
Ans: It was its diverse culture yet bound together by a common system of government. Briefly, it can be stated that there was unity in diversity in terms of the diverse culture of people.

Q5: What was the specific or chief organ of government in the Roman empire?
Ans: It was the army. As the available records of contemporary history state, there was a vast army consisting of six lakh soldiers in the fourth century. This organ of government had the power to determine the fate of emperors.

Q6: What do you understand by gender in connection with Roman society?
Ans: The term ‘gender’ incorporates in its scope; the family structure and other similar institutions of society in connection with the Roman empire.

Q7: What meaning the term culture reflects on the culture of people during the Roman empire existed from the first to third half-century?
Ans: It is meant by and implied to diverse nature of society learned about seven different languages including Greek and Latin both accepted as administrative languages or it may be stated that these languages patronized by the then rulers.

Q8: What is the condition of Egypt during the period of the sixth century under Justinian, the ruler of the Roman empire?
Ans: It was a densely settled part of the empire in the fifth and sixth centuries than it would be even in the twentieth-century i.e. in the modern period. Income from taxes from those regions was worked out over 2.5 million solidi (gold coin) per year. It was equivalent to 35,000 pounds of gold.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q9: It is told that some specific events and circumstances add new words to the vocabulary. Can you state the event that added the term Draconian? Please, explain.
Ans: Yes, “Draconian” a specific term got popularity owing to Draco, the Greek lawmaker in the Roman empire. He, during the early sixth century B.C.E., had recommended a law in 398 C.E., which referred to workers being branded so they could be recognized if and when they run away and try to hide. It was gross inhuman treatment with the laborers i.e. the main active and sensitive part of the project/ work. Hence, the pains inflicted upon laborers by branding so severe and harsh to mankind would have accumulated and said law, we see added to the dictionary since then for all kinds of rules, regulations, decrees, orders, implications, and ordinances equally implied.

Q10: Describe the living standard of Aristocrat’s (nobles) during the Roman empire.
Ans: These were those rich people called members to the senate in government like councilors of modem period. They owned a medium city like big area with all affluent and appurtenance facilities and ease. Hippodromes, fora, temples, fountains, and different kinds of baths were essential components to their possession. Every councilor had an income of 4,000 pounds of gold per annum from their properties not including grain, rice, and other produce which, if sold, would have exchanged for at least 1500 pounds. The second class people came into being when Gallienus imposed a prohibition on the recruitment of senators into the army in order to prevent control of the empire from falling into their hands. Their income was one thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of gold per year. It has been mentioned by Olympiodorus, the historian of that period.

Q11: Who was Nero and why is he famous even today?
Ans: Nero was a Roman citizen known to the Greek language and one of the extremists among the slaves/workers/workmen coerced and tortured badly by their factory owners, land-owners, and senators. He led the motion violently when a slave convicted as the murderer of Lucius Pedanius Secundus was being taken to execute under the order of the senate. He rebuked the population for watching deafly; the injustice, so severe practiced on the slaves. The crowd was ready to attack senators and the jailor got blows of stones and was tortured in their hands. This was the first mass agitation led by Nero.

Q12: Describe some less-advanced states under the Roman empire.
Ans: Numidia (modem Algeria) witnessed transhumance during the Roman empire. There were pastoral and semi-nomadic communities. Transhumance was the regular animal movement of the herdsmen between the higher mountain regions and low lying ground in search of pasture for sheep and other flocks. They had oven-shaped huts (Papalia) with them, all portable. In Spain, the villages called Costella was inhabited by the Celtic speaking peasantry. However, with the expansion of Roman estates in North Africa, the pastures of these communities were drastically reduced and their movements more tightly regulated.

Q13: Discuss the traditional religious culture of Greek and Roman under the Roman empire.
Ans: Both Greek and Roman were poly-theist. There were numerous cults in which gods like Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, and Mars and several Greek and eastern deities worshipped in thousands of temples, shrines, and sanctuaries throughout the empire. The above were mainly Roman/Italian gods. Polytheists had no common name or label to describe themselves. Judaism was diverse within the Jewish communities of late antiquity. Bishops were orthodox type and used to criticize the common Christians for beliefs and practices they did thereupon. They made a very rigid set of beliefs and practices.

Q14: Who were humiliates?
Ans: Humilores was the term incorporating jointly all lower classes of the Roman society. They conferred a rural labor force of which many were permanently employed on the large, estates, workers in industrial and mining departments, migrant workers for the grain and olive harvests, and building industry i.e. construction of houses, public-houses including palaces. Self-employed artisans were better fed than wage laborers (in big cities) including slaves.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q15: Outline the Roman administration, the structure of society, Gender, literacy, culture, and economic expansion under the Roman empire.
Ans: We would like to answer this question under the following sub-heads:

1. Administration: It was an aristocracy form of government. The administration was done through provinces under a single emperor. Organs of the Roman government were the emperor, the senate (wealthy families mostly landowners), and the army (equities consisting of ship owners, bankers, traders, and landowners). These were knights and categorized under middle class) viz. three organs. Tacitus, the contemporary writer says that the middle class was a client to the great senatorial houses. The fourth organ was that of Humiliores (i.e. lower class). It was consisting of plebs Sordida addicted to the circus and theatrical displays and finally, the slaves.
Early administration was called Principate alias aristocracy in which emperor was Princep (leading citizen) not the absolute ruler but actually, such was only a facade as it was the emperor who had exercised the real power of administration. Senate was powerful till it was a republic. Senate was consisting of the wealthiest families of Roman and later, Italian descent, mainly landowners. Senators only had written the Roman histories. There were also emperors who behaved with suspicion or brutality and violence against the senatorial class but even after efforts made skilfully, this class could not bring back the days of the republic i.e.; the period when it had absolute powers to rule. Urban centers were developed and the large chunk coffer constituted income from taxation on provinces, urban centers, and the villages.
2. Gender: It was witnessed that women were given independent legal rights to the effect that they were made heir to the property of their natal family, entitled to own and manage the property at their will, and independent property owner on their father’s death. Those were not transferred to their husbands’ authority after marriage. They were made free to divorce their husbands or their husbands would free to divorce them and it needed no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage. Despite so many legal rights given, male domination was all apparent as Saint Augustine, the bishop had described the coercive treatment of his father to his mother. Perhaps that was because of the large gap between the marriageable age of boys and girls i.e. 30 years and 19 years respectively.
3. Literacy: Advertisements and graffiti (wall writing) in Pompeii reveals that there was casual literacy. The papyri survived in hundreds, disclose documents such as contracts were written by professional scribes. The general public was illiterate but soldiers, army officers, and estate managers were well educated to tackle their affairs. Greek, Latin, Celtic, Aramaic, and Coptic were the languages. The former two were widely used and patronized by the emperor. The latter was mostly in oral form as no script till then developed.
4. Culture: Diversity of religious cults and local deities is witnessed all through the Roman empire. There were languages like Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Coptic, and Celtic, etc. Greek and Latin, there was diversity in styles of dress and costume, the food people ate, their forms of social organization (tribal/non-tribal) and their patterns of the settlement were also of diverse nature. Aramaic was the dormant language group of the Near East (west of the river Euphrates).
5: Economic expansion: The economic infrastructure of the Roman empire was consisting of harbors, mines, quarries, brickyard, and olive oil factories. Major trading items were wheat, wine, and olive oil. Wine and olive oil were transported in containers called amphorae. Spanish olive oil of this period was mainly carried in a container called Dressel-20. Prices of commodities were determined on perfect competition as for instance, Spanish producers had captured the markets for olive oil from their Italian counterparts. North Africa subsequently became a major producer of olive oil. During the later fifth and sixth centuries, the Aegean, southern Asia Minor (Turkey), Syria, and Palestine became major exporters of wine and olive oil. Producer regions of the Roman empire were Campania (Italy), Sicily, Fayum (Egypt), Galilee, Byzantium (Tunisia), southern Gaul (Gallia Narbonensis), and Baetica (Southern Spain). The writers like Strabo and Pliny had stated this fact. Less advanced territories were the villages like Numidia (Algeria) and Castella. Transhumance was in vogue, as these communities were that of herdsman.

There were well-organized commercial and banking networks, water-powered milling-technology, the use of hydraulic mining techniques, and the industrial sector developed in the first and second centuries. The Papyri survived from later centuries (i.e. 4th to 7th century) reveals an affluent society where money was in extensive use and rural estates generated vast incomes in gold. Only Egypt contributed taxes of over 2.5 million solidi (gold coin) roughly equal to 35,000 lbs. of gold.

6: Social Hierarchies: Hierarchy of society can be mentioned as

• senators (Patres),
• leading members of the equestrian class,
• section of people attached to the great houses,
• plebs Sordida (lower class) and
• slaves.

Italian families were two-third of the total number of senators. The first two groups above (i.e. senators and equities) were merged into one in the early part of the fourth century under emperor Constantine I. Half of all families were of African or eastern origin. The middle class was that of government servants, the army as also ship-owners, traders, and 1 banker. The lower class was collectively known as humiliates. This class comprised of the rural labor force, industry and mine workers, seasonal workers in the agriculture and construction industry, self employed artisans, and slaves. Silver coins were exhausted in the fourth century and gold coins circulated. Constantine founded this new monetary system on gold. There was enormous income from the industrial and mining sectors also as Constantine preferred the promotion of cottage industries.
Thus, we see how an empire across three continents had survived for more than six hundred years. It was a common type of administration wherein diverse cultures, religions, languages, etc. made their imprints, on the pages of history. Coercion and torture of the labor class were, however, pathetic and it finally, gave birth to the revolutionaries like Nero who shattered the system of slavery in spite of it was favored blindly by the senate. During the early seventh century, we see a reduction in this trend after the Jewish war.

Q16: How independent were women in the Roman world? Compare the situation of the Roman family with the family in India today.
Ans: Women were independent the most in the Roman empire with the right to get a share in their father’s property and became independent property owners on her father’s death. The Dowry system was also prevalent in that society. Thus, women were two ways benefited. We can state that married couples were not one financial entity but two, and the wife enjoyed complete legal independence. She was free to get a divorce from her husband only through the notice of intent to dissolve the marriage. The marriageable age for males was their late twenties or early thirties while it was late teens or early twenties for the females. It means boys were eligible to marriage after twenty-five while it was eighteen or nineteen for the girls.
Thus, a large gap between husband and wife and would have encouraged a certain inequality. Mostly arranged marriages were solemnized but women were often subjected to domination by their husbands. Augustine, the bishop of the North African city of Hippo writes that his mother was regularly beaten by his father and that most other wives in that small town had similar bruises to show. Father had substantial legal control over their children viz. they were free to kill their unwanted children e.g. such children would be left to die by leaving them out in the cold.
Indian Succession (Reforms) Act, 2005 has also provided women in India, right to get a share in their fathers’ properties equal to their siblings. Divorce cases are also piling up at the courts of this country. Women have been given reservations on 33% of the assembly and parliament seats including at the level of local self-government viz. village, block, and district levels (Panchayati Raj).

Q17: Who were plebs Sordida? Do you see they resemble modem film stars and sportsmen? How?
Ans: In context to the Roman empire, plebs Sordida were the unkempt lower class people but addicted to circus and theatre display including slaves. Their activities were confined to observe the moods of their owners mostly senators and keep them at mirth. There were no laws preventing their execution on the displeasure of their owners. Thus, that section of society was of the least value and even today, these activities are called pastimes i.e. merely for recreation at leisure and these people are like soothsayers in Shakespearean plays.
The theatrical quality, however, has preferred by the public to the extent, one may see one or more lessons on text-books recommended by NCERT by virtue of their keen observation of society and its instincts soaked into the ocean of western culture and cunning manners. Travesty of words and dialogues, the electronic media has technically sorted and pseudo trends are being implanted into human minds.
The logic for such are invincible in globalization and trying to create a universal soul that would make humanity universal. We are thus, soon, going to be universal-men once described by our culture as “Ayam Nijah Paroveti Ganana Laghuchetsam, Udara Caritanamatu Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.” No doubt, it is a renaissance but just reverses the cycle of the renaissance that had begun since thirteenth century C.E. from Italy.

Q18: What period, you would say or the contemporary historian had stated as “Late Antiquity”, why would have this phrase used for, explain.
Ans: It was the period around the fourth to seventh centuries. The term “antiquity” is archaeological and denotes the period around the modern and the past i.e. medieval period. Several natural and economic changes were witnessed by this period about that of three centuries. Constantine and Diocletian were the emperors of that period. It was Diocletian who inserted division of power in army and civilians including senators. He curtailed the territories less productive and minimal importance in view of defense i.e. strategy.
Constantine on his part had reinforced the division of power made by his predecessor viz. Diocletian and is remembered for circulation of gold coin solidus weighing 4.5 grams. This measure brought economic stability. the empire as there was no dearth of supply from North Africa. He established his second capital at Byzantium (Istambul in Turkey at present) and named I Constantinople (i.e. the palace of the emperor Constantine). Cotta industries got patronage of these two rulers and factories mainly h of oil presses and glass factories, was established.

Q19: The text has referred to three writers whose work is used to say something about how the Romans had treated their workers. Can you identify them? Record the section for yourself and describe any two methods the Romans used to control labor.
Ans: Yes, those three writers were-Tacitus, Columella, and Pliny the Elder.
Tacitus writes on labor controlling networks. He states the slaves were misbehaved and tortured to the extent, they sometimes committed the murder of their owners. He has written that a City Perfect (as of today’s Mayor or Chief Councillor) was murdered by one of his slaves which ultimately, resulted in riots, so uncontrolled as the slaves besieged the senate-house. However, the convict was executed. It shows the senators did not take notice of so grave a situation. No laws reducing punishment were passed particularly, made for the slaves.
The slaves were sometimes grouped into gangs or smaller teams and sternly supervised. As per Columella, another historian of that period, most groups were made in each group of ten slaves. The Natural History writer, Pliny who was also Elder (councilor) to administration, states that slaves were chained together by their feet so that they could save the expenditure incurred on supervision and a permanent measure to keep them busy with the work so assigned to them. He further states, a seal was put upon the workmen’s apparel and they had to wear a mark or a net with a close mesh on their heads.
Agricultural labor was also in a pathetic state and the same conditions prevailed when we talk of workers in factories and workshops. A law was passed in 398 C.E. allowing branding upon the body of laborers/ workmen so that they would be recognized if and when they run away and try to hide. Private employers began doing contracts in term of debts when they would provide the laborers/workers at the time of joining for a period of 25 years ahead and thus, debt bondage oppressed their instincts to the extent, they tolerated every draconian treatment and had surrounded them in servitude although they were free.

Q20: Discuss the Roman bureaucracy during early fifth-century C.E.
Ans: It was an 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 corruption in the judicial and administration of military supplies. Bureaucrats were extorting animals and provincial governors were corrupt. As historians and other members of the intelligentsia condemned these practices, the government passed time to time several legislations to curb the corrupt practices. Olympiodoriis, the historian of that period has mentioned that a number of laws were passed in order to abolish corrupt practices. The government being autocratic responded to protest with violence in the cities of the East.
The law passed by the fourth century C.E. imposed restrictions on the arbitrary tendencies of the emperor as it provided protection to civil rights. For an instance, Ambrose, the powerful Bishop protested sternly against the repressive measures they practiced on the civilian population.