As a Roman housewife, my shopping list for household would include wine, wheat, barley, beans and lentils and frankincense.
One would have preferred to live in the towns in the Roman Empire, because the cities could withstand the famines and droughts with its abundant food storage than the countryside. Cities were also centers of the imperial power with many opportunities for works in the administration and military.
(i) The monetary system of the late empire shifted from the silver-based currencies to gold, because the Spanish silver mines were exhausted.
(ii) The Roman government ran out of sufficient stocks of the metal to support its monetary system with silver coins.
(iii) Constantine introduced the new monetary system based on gold, and there were a huge circulation of gold coins throughout late antiquity.
Basic features of Roman society:
(i) The nuclear family was one of the more modern features of Roman society.
(ii) The idea of the public baths was another modern element.
(iii) Regarding the institution of marriage, wife did not transfer her dowry to her husband’s authority but retained full rights in the property of her natal family.
(iv) Women enjoyed full property rights, and became an independent property owner on her father’s death.
(v) Divorce was an easy process; it needed no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage by either husband or wife.
Basic features of the Roman economy:
(i) Diversified applications water power around the Mediterranean and the use of hydraulic mining techniques, and water-powered milling technology
(ii) Well-organised commercial and banking networks and the widespread use of money in silver and gold
If the Roman Emperor, Trajan had actually managed to conquer India, the country would be different today on following aspects:
(i) Changes in language, culture, literature, art and architecture, and administration and legal laws.
(ii) Close cultural interaction; conversion into Christianity, and the cultural influence of Hinduism on the Roman Empire
(iii) Legal protection and property rights for Indian women
(iv) The cruel institution of the Roman slavery would have taken root in India.
(v) The idea of public baths would have been adopted.
(vi) India would have benefitted from the Roman engineering skills in building massive aqueducts to carry water, the use of hydraulic mining techniques, and water-powered milling technology.
(vii) The olive oil production and wine consumption would have become part of Indian food culture.
Towns: Alexandria, Carthage, Pompeii, Cairo, Mecca
Cities: Naples, Sicily, Galilee, Campania
Rivers: Guadalquivir, Rhine, Euphrates, Danube
Seas: Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Caspian Sea
Provinces: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Gallic
Campania: The best kinds of wine came from Campania.
Sicily: It, along with Byzacium, exported large quantities of wheat to Rome.
Mediterranean Sea: It was the heart of Rome’s empire. Rome dominated the Mediterranean and all the regions around that sea.
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