Chapter 3 An Empire Across Three Continents Solutions
Question - 1 : - If you had lived in the Roman Empire, where would you rather have lived—in the towns or in the countryside? Explain why?
Answer - 1 : -
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.
Question - 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?
Answer - 2 : -
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.
Question - 3 : - Imagine that you are a Roman housewife preparing a shopping list for household requirements. What would be on the list?
Answer - 3 : -
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.
Question - 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?
Answer - 4 : -
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.
Question - 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?
Answer - 5 : -
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.
Question - 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.
Answer - 6 : -
We found that in Roman society women were quite financially independent in spite of getting married but got share of property from her natal house. It was the main feature of Roman society. This feature shows us that women were holding a strong status in the society.
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.