An Empire Across Three Continents: AHSEC Class 11 History

Summary

The Roman Empire spread across Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. It was shaped by strong rulers, a structured society, and a system of governance that kept control over vast lands. Latin and Greek were the main languages, and the empire had a mix of cultures and traditions. It was divided into provinces, each ruled by officials under the emperor’s authority. Trade flourished, and cities played a key role in administration and commerce.

The empire was founded on military strength. Augustus, the first emperor, established a system called the Principate, where he ruled as the leading citizen rather than an outright king. The Senate, made up of wealthy landowners, still had some influence but could not challenge the emperor’s power. The army was central to maintaining control and could even decide who became emperor. Soldiers served for long periods, and their loyalty was crucial to rulers. Over time, many emperors came from the provinces, not just Italy.

Rome’s economy relied on agriculture, trade, and slavery. Large estates produced food for cities, and merchants transported goods across the Mediterranean. Olive oil, wine, and wheat were commonly traded. Some provinces, like Egypt and North Africa, became important suppliers of food. Roads and ports were built to support commerce. Slaves worked in households, farms, and even businesses. However, by the later period, free labor became more common, as maintaining slaves was costly.

Cities were centers of power. Wealthy citizens funded public buildings, such as baths, theatres, and temples, to show their generosity. Rome, the capital, was home to grand structures like the Colosseum, where gladiators fought. Public entertainment was frequent, with races and theatre performances keeping the people engaged. Education was mainly for the rich, and literacy rates varied across the empire.

Women had some legal rights, especially in property ownership, though their lives were controlled by male family members. Marriage was often arranged, and wives were usually younger than their husbands. The father had authority over the household, including children and slaves. Society was divided into different classes, with senators and equestrians at the top, followed by the middle class and common people. Slaves and poor laborers had the least privileges.

The empire faced challenges in the third century. External threats came from Germanic tribes and the Persian Empire. Internally, economic troubles and frequent changes of rulers weakened stability. Civil wars erupted as military leaders fought for power. The empire was later divided into western and eastern parts. The western empire collapsed under attacks from invaders, while the eastern half, known as Byzantium, survived for centuries.

Christianity became important in the later years of the empire. Originally, Romans worshipped many gods, but over time, Christianity spread. Emperor Constantine adopted it as the official religion, changing the religious landscape. Eventually, the empire’s eastern territories fell to Islamic expansion, marking the end of Roman rule in those regions.

Textbook solutions

Answer in Brief

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: One crucial advantage of living in a city was simply that it might be better provided for during food shortages and even famines than the countryside. City-dwellers, as it was their custom to collect and store enough grain for the whole of the next year immediately after the harvest, carried off all the wheat, barley, beans and lentils, and left to the peasants various kinds of pulse. After consuming what was left in the course of the winter, the country people had to resort to unhealthy foods in the spring. Public baths were a striking feature of Roman urban life, and urban populations also enjoyed a much higher level of entertainment. For example, one calendar tells us that spectacula (shows) filled no less than 176 days of the year. Therefore, I would rather have lived in the towns.

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: A list of some towns, cities, rivers, seas, and provinces includes:

Towns/Cities: Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Antioch, Carthage, Alexandria, Constantinople, Ephesus, Ctesiphon, Edessa, Hippo, Vindonissa
Rivers: Euphrates, Rhine, Danube, Nile, Guadalquivir
Seas: Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Red Sea
Provinces/Regions: Europe, North Africa, Fertile Crescent, Hispania (Spain), Gaul (Gallic Provinces), Syria, Macedonia, Campania, Sicily, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Numidia (Algeria), Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Sahara, Asia Minor (Turkey), Byzacium (Tunisia), Galilee, Baetica (southern Spain)

Here is something about three items:

(i) Mediterranean Sea: The continents of Europe and Africa are separated by this sea that stretches all the way from Spain in the west to Syria in the east. It was the heart of Rome’s empire. Rome dominated the Mediterranean and all the regions around that sea in both directions, north as well as south.
(ii) Rome: The Senate had existed in Rome for centuries. Free labour was extensively used on public works at Rome. Sicily and Byzacium exported large quantities of wheat to Rome. Monte Testaccio in Rome is said to contain the remnants of over 50 million amphorae vessels.
(iii) Egypt: The papyrus reed-like plant grew along the banks of the Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce a writing material. Coptic was spoken in Egypt. Egypt was one of the main sources of wheat, wine and olive-oil traded and consumed in the empire. The Fayum in Egypt was reputed for exceptional fertility.

3. Imagine that you are a Roman housewife preparing a shopping list for household requirements. What would be on the list?

Answer: Wheat, wine and olive-oil were traded and consumed in huge quantities. City-dwellers collected wheat, barley, beans and lentils. Therefore, a shopping list might include wheat, wine, olive oil, barley, beans, lentils, and perhaps pottery.

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: The Roman government stopped coining in silver because the Spanish silver mines were exhausted and the government ran out of sufficient stocks of the metal to support a stable coinage in silver. It began to use gold for the production of coinage, and Constantine founded the new monetary system on gold, which circulated widely throughout late antiquity.

Answer in a Short Essay

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: If the Romans had conquered and held India for centuries, several aspects of Indian life might look different today:

Administration and Law: The Romans had a highly organized administrative system with provinces, governors, and a strong emphasis on law and taxation. India might have seen the imposition of Roman administrative structures, potentially influencing the development of its own regional governance systems. Roman legal principles, particularly concerning property and contracts, could have blended with or altered existing Indian legal traditions.
Economy and Trade: India was already known for trade with Rome, but direct Roman rule would have likely intensified this. Roman coinage might have become widespread, potentially impacting local economies. The Romans managed large-scale resource extraction like mines and quarries; similar approaches could have been applied to Indian resources. The Roman emphasis on infrastructure like roads might have led to different patterns of internal connectivity in India. The vast Roman demand could have significantly shaped Indian agricultural and artisanal production.
Society and Language: Roman society had its own distinct classes and a strong emphasis on the nuclear family, alongside specific legal rights for women regarding property. Interactions between Roman social norms and the existing Indian social structures, including the caste system, could have led to complex changes. Latin and Greek, the languages of Roman administration and culture, might have influenced Indian languages, particularly in administrative and trade contexts, perhaps similar to the later influence of Persian or English.
Culture and Religion: The Romans often brought their architectural styles, public baths, and urban planning concepts to conquered territories. We might see remnants of Roman-style cities or buildings in India. Religiously, while the Romans were often tolerant, the integration into an empire that eventually adopted Christianity could have meant a much earlier and more widespread introduction of Christianity to India. The interaction between Roman polytheism and India’s diverse religious landscape (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) would also have been significant.
Military: Roman military presence, veteran settlements, and recruitment practices could have introduced new demographic elements and influenced martial traditions in various regions of India.

6. Go through the chapter carefully and pick out some basic features of Roman society and economy which you think make it look quite modern.

Answer: Some basic features of Roman society and economy which make it look quite modern are:

(i) One of the more modern features of Roman society was the widespread prevalence of the nuclear family. Adult sons did not live with their families, and it was exceptional for adult brothers to share a common household.

(ii) Roman women enjoyed considerable legal rights in owning and managing property. In law the married couple was not one financial entity but two, and the wife enjoyed complete legal independence. Divorce was relatively easy and needed no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage by either husband or wife.

(iii) Rates of casual literacy varied greatly between different parts of the empire. For example, in Pompeii, there is strong evidence of widespread casual literacy. Walls on the main streets of Pompeii often carried advertisements, and graffiti were found all over the city.

(iv) The empire had a substantial economic infrastructure of harbours, mines, quarries, brickyards, olive oil factories, etc.

(v) There were diversified applications of water power around the Mediterranean as well as advances in water-powered milling technology, the use of hydraulic mining techniques in the Spanish gold and silver mines and the gigantic industrial scale on which those mines were worked, the existence of well-organised commercial and banking networks, and the widespread use of money.

(vi) The Roman agricultural writers paid a great deal of attention to the management of labour. There was a general presumption among employers that without supervision no work would ever get done, so supervision was paramount. To make supervision easier, workers were sometimes grouped into gangs or smaller teams. Columella recommended squads of ten. Pliny the Elder condemned the use of slave gangs as the worst method of organising production, mainly because slaves who worked in gangs were usually chained together by their feet.

Extras

Additional questions and answers

1. When did Augustus establish the Principate?

Answer: The regime established by Augustus, the first emperor, in 27 BCE was called the ‘Principate’.

Q. What is a conscripted army?

Answer: A conscripted army is one which is forcibly recruited; military service is compulsory for certain groups or categories of the population.

Q. Define Civil War.

Answer: Civil war refers to armed struggles for power within the same country, in contrast to conflicts between different countries.

Q. Who succeeded Augustus as emperor?

Answer: Tiberius (14-37 CE), the second in the long line of Roman emperors, succeeded Augustus. Augustus adopted him to ensure a smooth transition, as Tiberius was not his natural son.

Q. Name the two major rivers forming the northern boundary of the Roman Empire.

Answer: To the north, the boundaries of the empire were formed by two great rivers, the Rhine and the Danube.

Q. What was papyrus?

Answer: The ‘papyrus’ was a reed-like plant that grew along the banks of the Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce a writing material that was very widely used in everyday life.

Q. Who were the Parthians and Sasanians?

Answer: The Parthians and later the Sasanians were the dynasties that ruled Iran during the period of the Roman Empire. The Sasanians, who called themselves such, emerged as a new and more aggressive dynasty in Iran in 225, succeeding the Parthians. They ruled over a population that was largely Iranian.

Q. What was the official language of the western Roman Empire?

Answer: The upper classes of the west spoke and wrote in Latin, and Latin was used for administration in the western parts of the empire, such as the African province of Tripolitania.

Q. What language was primarily used in the eastern Roman Empire?

Answer: The upper classes of the east spoke and wrote in Greek, and Greek was used for administration in the eastern parts of the empire, such as the African province of Cyrenaica.

Q. Who was Trajan?

Answer: Trajan was a Roman emperor who reigned from 98-117 CE. His reign saw the greatest extent of the Roman Empire following his conquests in the East around 115 CE. He conducted a major campaign of expansion involving the occupation of territory across the Euphrates between 113-17 CE, marching down the river to Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital, and then to the head of the Persian Gulf, though this territory was abandoned by his successors.

Q. What were amphorae?

Answer: Amphorae were containers used in the Roman Empire to transport liquids like wine and olive oil. Fragments and sherds of a very large number of these survive, and archaeologists can reconstruct their precise shapes, tell what they carried, and say exactly where they were made by examining the clay content and matching the finds with clay pits.

Q. What is transhumance?

Answer: Transhumance is the herdsman’s regular annual movement between the higher mountain regions and low-lying ground in search of pasture for sheep and other flocks. It was widespread in the countryside of Numidia (modern Algeria).

Q. Who was Saint Augustine?

Answer: Saint Augustine (354-430) was the bishop of the North African city of Hippo from 396. He was a towering figure in the intellectual history of the Church and tells us that his mother was regularly beaten by his father. Bishops like Augustine were the most important religious figures in a Christian community and were often very powerful. From one of his recently discovered letters, we learn that parents sometimes sold their children into servitude for periods of 25 years.

Q. What was the solidus?

Answer: The solidus was a new monetary denomination introduced by the emperor Constantine. It was a coin of 4½ gm of pure gold. Solidi were minted on a very large scale, their circulation ran into millions, and they outlasted the Roman Empire itself. Constantine founded the new monetary system on gold, replacing the earlier silver-based currencies, and there were vast amounts of gold in circulation throughout late antiquity.

Q. Who was Diocletian?

Answer: Diocletian was the main Roman ruler from 284-305, heading the ‘Tetrarchy’. Due to overexpansion, he ‘cut back’ by abandoning territories with little strategic or economic value. Diocletian also fortified the frontiers, reorganised provincial boundaries (reorganising the empire into 100 provinces around 297), and separated civilian from military functions, granting greater autonomy to the military commanders (duces), who became a more powerful group.

Q. Define polytheism.

Answer: The traditional religious culture of the classical world, both Greek and Roman, was polytheist. That is, it involved a multiplicity of cults that included both Roman/Italian gods like Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and Mars, as well as numerous Greek and eastern deities worshipped in thousands of temples, shrines and sanctuaries throughout the empire. Polytheists had no common name or label to describe themselves. Polytheism did not disappear overnight with Christianisation, especially in the western provinces.

Q. What is Judaism?

Answer: Judaism was the other great religious tradition in the Roman empire, besides polytheism. However, Judaism was not a monolith, and there was a great deal of diversity within the Jewish communities of late antiquity.

Q. When was Christianity made the official religion of the Roman Empire?

Answer: Christianity was made the official religion in the fourth century, following the emperor Constantine’s decision. The ‘Christianisation’ of the empire in the fourth and fifth centuries was a gradual and complex process.

Q. Who established Constantinople?

Answer: The emperor Constantine established the city of Constantinople in 324 CE. He created it as a second capital at the site of modern Istanbul in Turkey (previously called Byzantium), surrounded on three sides by the sea.

Q. Describe the extent of the Roman Empire at its peak.

Answer: 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. Rome dominated the Mediterranean Sea and all the regions around it, both north and south. To the north, the empire’s boundaries were formed by the rivers Rhine and Danube; to the south, by the vast Sahara desert. At its peak in the second century, following Trajan’s conquests in the East around 115 CE which marked its greatest extent, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to the borders of Armenia, and from the Sahara to the Euphrates and sometimes beyond. It included regions like Spain, the Gallic provinces, North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Britain.

Q. What was the Principate and who initiated it?

Answer: The Principate was the regime established by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 BCE. Although Augustus was the sole ruler and the real source of authority, the fiction was maintained that he was merely the ‘leading citizen’ (Princeps in Latin), not an absolute ruler, primarily out of respect for the Senate, which had controlled Rome during the Republic. Augustus, previously known as Octavian, founded the Principate.

Q. Explain the significance of inscriptions as documentary sources.

Answer: Inscriptions are a key type of documentary source for Roman historians. They were usually cut on stone, which means a large number have survived over time. These inscriptions, found in both Greek and Latin, provide direct evidence from the period.

Q. Who were the main rivals of the Roman Empire?

Answer: The main rivals of the Roman Empire were the Iranians. For much of their history, the Romans and Iranians fought against each other. Their empires lay next to each other, separated mainly by a narrow strip of land along the river Euphrates. The dynasties that ruled Iran during this period were the Parthians and later, from 225 CE, the more aggressive Sasanians. These two superpowers, Rome and Iran, had divided up most of the world known to the Chinese as Ta Ch’in (roughly the west).

Q. What was the impact of Trajan’s eastern campaign?

Answer: Trajan’s campaign involved marching down the Euphrates to Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital, and then to the head of the Persian Gulf in 116 CE. This campaign resulted in the greatest extent of the Roman Empire around 115 CE. However, this occupation of territory across the Euphrates between 113-17 CE was ultimately fruitless and the territory was abandoned by Trajan’s successors.

Q. Mention two important features of Roman urban life.

Answer: Two important features of Roman urban life were public baths and a high level of entertainment. Public baths were a striking feature of Roman urban life. Urban populations also enjoyed a much higher level of entertainment; for example, one calendar tells us that spectacula (shows) filled no less than 176 days of the year.

Q. Describe briefly the economic significance of the Mediterranean for Rome.

Answer: The Mediterranean Sea was the heart of Rome’s empire. Rome dominated the Mediterranean and all the regions around that sea in both directions, north as well as south. The great urban centres that lined its shores were the true bedrock of the imperial system, facilitating taxation and administration. Trade in goods like wheat, wine, and olive oil occurred in huge quantities across the Mediterranean.

Q. What were the consequences of the third-century crisis?

Answer: The third century brought the first major signs of internal strain. From the 230s, the empire found itself fighting on several fronts simultaneously against a new aggressive dynasty in Iran (the Sasanians) and Germanic tribes or tribal confederacies moving against the Rhine and Danube frontiers. The period from 233 to 280 saw repeated invasions of provinces stretching from the Black Sea to the Alps and southern Germany. Consequently, the Romans were forced to abandon much of the territory beyond the Danube. Emperors of this period were constantly in the field against ‘barbarians’. The rapid succession of emperors, with 25 emperors in 47 years, was an obvious symptom of the strains faced by the empire during this crisis.

Q. Discuss briefly the role of women in Roman property rights.

Answer: Roman women enjoyed considerable legal rights in owning and managing property. By the late Republic, the typical form of marriage was one where the wife did not transfer to her husband’s authority but retained full rights in the property of her natal family. While the woman’s dowry went to the husband for the duration of the marriage, the woman remained a primary heir of her father and became an independent property owner on her father’s death. In law, the married couple was not one financial entity but two, and the wife enjoyed complete legal independence.

Q. List two prominent economic regions of the Roman Empire and their products.

Answer: Two prominent economic regions known for exceptional fertility and their products were:

(i) Campania in Italy: Known for producing the best kinds of wine.
(ii) Baetica (southern Spain): Known for producing olive oil, which came mainly from numerous estates along the banks of the river Guadalquivir.

Q. Explain the decline in the use of slave labour after the first century.

Answer: As warfare became less widespread with the establishment of peace in the first century, the supply of slaves tended to decline. Consequently, users of slave labour had to turn either to slave breeding or to cheaper substitutes such as wage labour, which was more easily dispensable. Unlike hired workers, slaves had to be fed and maintained throughout the year, which increased the cost of holding this kind of labour. Free labour was extensively used on public works at Rome precisely because an extensive use of slave labour would have been too expensive. These considerations were based on hard economic calculation rather than sympathy for the slaves. This is probably why slaves are not widely found in the agriculture of the later period, at least not in the eastern provinces.

Q. How did Romans supervise their agricultural labourers?

Answer: Among Roman employers, there was a general presumption that without supervision no work would ever get done, so supervision was paramount, for both free workers and slaves. To make supervision easier, workers were sometimes grouped into gangs or smaller teams. Columella, a first-century writer, recommended squads of ten, claiming it was easier to tell who was putting in effort and who was not in work groups of this size. However, Pliny the Elder condemned the use of slave gangs as the worst method of organising production, mainly because slaves who worked in gangs were usually chained together by their feet. Some industrial establishments enforced even tighter controls, such as requiring workers in frankincense factories to wear sealed aprons and masks or nets, and to remove all clothes before leaving. A law of 398 also referred to workers being branded so they could be recognised if and when they ran away and tried to hide.

Q. What was the Roman approach to debt bondage?

Answer: Many private Roman employers cast their agreements with workers in the form of debt contracts to be able to claim that their employees were in debt to them and thus ensure tighter control over them. An early, second-century writer tells us, ‘Thousands surrender themselves to work in servitude, although they are free.’ In other words, a lot of the poorer families went into debt bondage in order to survive. From one of the recently discovered letters of Augustine, we learn that parents sometimes sold their children into servitude for periods of 25 years. Rural indebtedness was widespread; for example, in the great Jewish revolt of 66 CE, the revolutionaries destroyed the moneylenders’ bonds to win popular support.

Q. Briefly describe the monetary reforms of Constantine.

Q. Who were the humiliores in Roman society?

Answer: The humiliores were the vast mass of the lower classes in the late Roman Empire, known collectively by this name, which literally means ‘lower’. They comprised a rural labour force, many permanently employed on large estates; workers in industrial and mining establishments; migrant workers supplying labour for harvests and building; self-employed artisans said to be better fed than wage labourers; a large mass of casual labourers, especially in big cities; and many thousands of slaves still found across the western empire.

Q. Name two Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman territories.

Answer: Two Germanic tribes, or tribal confederacies, that began to move against the Roman frontiers were the Alamanni and the Franks.

Q. Briefly describe the religious transformation of the late Roman Empire.

Answer: The late Roman Empire, specifically the period of late antiquity from the fourth to seventh centuries, saw momentous developments in religious life. The traditional polytheist religious culture, involving multiple Roman, Italian, Greek, and eastern deities worshipped in thousands of temples and shrines, faced a transformation. Judaism was another great religious tradition within the empire, itself diverse. The Emperor Constantine decided to make Christianity the official religion. This ‘Christianisation’ in the fourth and fifth centuries was a gradual and complex process; polytheism did not disappear overnight, especially in the west. Boundaries between religious communities became less fluid as powerful bishops leading the Church worked to enforce a more rigid set of beliefs and practices. The rise of Islam in the seventh century also marked this period of cultural and religious ferment.

Q. What impact did the Arab expansion have on the Roman and Iranian empires?

Answer: The expansion of Islam, beginning in Arabia, led to what has been called the greatest political revolution in ancient world history. By 642, within about ten years of Prophet Muhammad’s death, large parts of both the eastern Roman (Byzantine) and the Sasanian (Iranian) empires had fallen to the Arabs in a series of stunning confrontations. These conquests eventually extended much further, reaching Spain, Sind, and Central Asia a century later. For example, the Visigothic kingdom in Spain, a post-Roman state, was destroyed by the Arabs between 711 and 720.

Q. Discuss the sources historians use to reconstruct the history of the Roman Empire.

Answer: Roman historians have a rich collection of sources to go on, which we can broadly divide into three groups: (a) texts, (b) documents and (c) material remains. 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. Documentary sources include mainly inscriptions and papyri. Inscriptions were usually cut on stone, so a large number survive, in both Greek and Latin. The ‘papyrus’ was a reed-like plant that grew along the banks of the Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce a writing material that was very widely used in everyday life. Thousands of contracts, accounts, letters and official documents survive ‘on papyrus’ and have been published by scholars who are called ‘papyrologists’. Material remains include a very wide assortment of items that mainly archaeologists discover (for example, through excavation and field survey), for example, buildings, monuments and other kinds of structures, pottery, coins, mosaics, even entire landscapes (for example, through the use of aerial photography). Each of these sources can only tell us just so much about the past, and combining them can be a fruitful exercise, but how well this is done depends on the historian’s skill!

Q. Describe the social structure of the early Roman Empire.

Answer: Tacitus described the leading social groups of the early empire as follows: senators (patres, lit. ‘fathers’); leading members of the equestrian class; the respectable section of the people, those attached to the great houses; the unkempt lower class (plebs sordida) who, he tells us, were addicted to the circus and theatrical displays; and finally the slaves.

Q. What was the nature and role of the Roman army?

Answer: Next to the emperor and the Senate, the other key institution of imperial rule was the army. Unlike the army of its rival in the Persian empire, which was a conscripted army, the Romans had a paid professional army where soldiers had to put in a minimum of 25 years of service. Indeed, the existence of a paid army was a distinctive feature of the Roman Empire. The army was the largest single organised body in the empire (600,000 by the fourth century) and it certainly had the power to determine the fate of emperors. The soldiers would constantly agitate for better wages and service conditions. 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 government was forced to tax more heavily to pay for its mounting military expenditures. The emperor, the aristocracy and the army were the three main ‘players’ in the political history of the empire. The success of individual emperors depended on their control of the army, and when the armies were divided, the result usually was civil war. The army was strongly wedded to the principle of succession based on family descent.

Q. How did succession to the Roman throne typically occur?

Answer: Succession to the throne was based as far as possible on family descent, either natural or adoptive, and even the army was strongly wedded to this principle. For example, Tiberius (14-37 CE), the second in the long line of Roman emperors, was not the natural son of Augustus, the ruler who founded the Principate, but Augustus adopted him to ensure a smooth transition.

Q. Explain the significance of the urban centres to Roman administration.

Answer: The great urban centres that lined the shores of the Mediterranean (Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch were the biggest among them) were the true bedrock of the imperial system. It was through the cities that ‘government’ was able to tax the provincial countrysides which generated much of the wealth of the empire. This means that the local upper classes actively collaborated with the Roman state in administering their own territories and raising taxes from them. A city in the Roman sense was an urban centre with its own magistrates, city council and a ‘territory’ containing villages which were under its jurisdiction. One crucial advantage of living in a city was simply that it might be better provided for during food shortages and even famines than the countryside.

Q. How did provincial upper classes gain prominence in Roman political life?

Answer: Throughout the second and third centuries, it was the provincial upper classes who supplied most of the cadre that governed the provinces and commanded the armies. They came to form a new elite of administrators and military commanders who became much more powerful than the senatorial class because they had the backing of the emperors. As this new group emerged, the emperor Gallienus consolidated their rise to power by excluding senators from military command, forbidding them from serving in the army or having access to it, in order to prevent control of the empire from falling into their hands. In the late first, second and early third centuries the army and administration were increasingly drawn from the provinces, as citizenship spread to these regions and was no longer confined to Italy. These trends reflected the general decline of Italy within the empire, both political and economic, and the rise of new elites in the wealthier and more urbanised parts of the Mediterranean, such as the south of Spain, Africa and the east.

Q. Discuss the characteristics of the nuclear family in Roman society.

Answer: One of the more modern features of Roman society was the widespread prevalence of the nuclear family. Adult sons did not live with their families, and it was exceptional for adult brothers to share a common household. On the other hand, slaves were included in the family as the Romans understood this.

Q. Explain the role and rights of Roman women in marriage and property management.

Answer: By the late Republic, the typical form of marriage was one where the wife did not transfer to her husband’s authority but retained full rights in the property of her natal family. While the woman’s dowry went to the husband for the duration of the marriage, the woman remained a primary heir of her father and became an independent property owner on her father’s death. Thus Roman women enjoyed considerable legal rights in owning and managing property. In law the married couple was not one financial entity but two, and the wife enjoyed complete legal independence. Divorce was relatively easy and needed no more than a notice of intent to dissolve the marriage by either husband or wife. On the other hand, whereas males married in their late twenties or early thirties, women were married off in the late teens or early twenties, so there was an age gap between husband and wife and this would have encouraged a certain inequality. Marriages were generally arranged, and women were often subject to domination by their husbands.

Q. Describe the diversity of languages and cultures within the Roman Empire.

Answer: The Roman Empire was culturally much more diverse than that of Iran; it was a mosaic of territories and cultures chiefly bound together by a common system of government. Many languages were spoken in the empire, but for administration, Latin and Greek were the most widely used. The upper classes of the east spoke and wrote in Greek, those of the west in Latin. The cultural diversity was reflected in many ways: in the vast diversity of religious cults and local deities; the plurality of languages spoken; the styles of dress and costume, the food people ate, their forms of social organisation (tribal/non-tribal), and their patterns of settlement. Aramaic was the dominant language group of the Near East, Coptic was spoken in Egypt, Punic and Berber in North Africa, Celtic in Spain and the northwest. Many of these linguistic cultures were purely oral until scripts were invented for them. Armenian, for example, only began to be written as late as the fifth century. Elsewhere, the spread of Latin displaced the written form of languages that were otherwise widespread, notably Celtic, which ceased to be written after the first century.

Q. What factors contributed to the economic prosperity of the Roman Empire in the early centuries?

Answer: The first and second centuries were by and large a period of peace, prosperity and economic expansion. The ‘Augustan age’ is remembered for the peace it ushered in after decades of internal strife and centuries of military conquest. The empire had a substantial economic infrastructure of harbours, mines, quarries, brickyards, olive oil factories, etc. Wheat, wine and olive-oil were traded and consumed in huge quantities, coming mainly from Spain, the Gallic provinces, North Africa, Egypt and Italy. Spanish olive oil, for example, was a vast commercial enterprise that reached its peak in the years 140-160. Furthermore, diversified applications of water power, advances in water-powered milling technology, hydraulic mining techniques in Spanish mines worked on a gigantic industrial scale, well-organised commercial and banking networks, and the widespread use of money all indicate the sophistication of the Roman economy during this period.

Q. Explain the reasons behind the success of Spanish olive oil producers.

Answer: Spanish producers succeeded in capturing markets for olive oil from their Italian counterparts. This would only have happened if Spanish producers supplied a better quality oil at lower prices.

Q. Discuss the relationship between large Roman estates and pastoral communities.

Answer: Large expanses of Roman territory were in a much less advanced state. For example, transhumance was widespread in the countryside of Numidia (modern Algeria). These pastoral and semi-nomadic communities were often on the move, carrying their oven-shaped huts (called mapalia) with them. As Roman estates expanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities were drastically reduced and their movements more tightly regulated.

Q. Why did Roman employers prefer wage labourers over slaves in certain contexts?

Answer: As warfare became less widespread with the establishment of peace in the first century, the supply of slaves tended to decline and the users of slave labour thus had to turn either to slave breeding or to cheaper substitutes such as wage labour which was more easily dispensable. In fact, free labour was extensively used on public works at Rome precisely because an extensive use of slave labour would have been too expensive. Unlike hired workers, slaves had to be fed and maintained throughout the year, which increased the cost of holding this kind of labour.

Q. Describe two methods Romans used to control workers.

Answer: Two methods Romans used to control workers are:

(i) Supervision was paramount, for both free workers and slaves. To make supervision easier, workers were sometimes grouped into gangs or smaller teams. Columella recommended squads of ten, claiming it was easier to tell who was putting in effort and who was not in work groups of this size.
(ii) A law of 398 referred to workers being branded so they could be recognised if and when they run away and try to hide. Many private employers also cast their agreements with workers in the form of debt contracts to be able to claim that their employees were in debt to them and thus ensure tighter control over them.

Q. What economic role did freed slaves play in Roman society?

Answer: Freedmen, that is, slaves who had been set free by their masters, were extensively used as business managers. Masters often gave their slaves or freedmen capital to run businesses on their behalf or even businesses of their own.

Q. Explain the significance of gold coinage in late Roman monetary policy.

Answer: The monetary system of the late empire broke with the silver-based currencies of the first three centuries because the Spanish silver mines were exhausted and the government ran out of sufficient stocks of the metal to support a stable coinage in silver. Emperor Constantine founded the new monetary system on gold. His chief innovation was the introduction of a new denomination, the solidus, a coin of 4½ gm of pure gold that would outlast the Roman Empire itself. Solidi were minted on a very large scale and their circulation ran into millions. This contributed to monetary stability, which, along with an expanding population, stimulated economic growth. The late Roman bureaucracy drew the bulk of its salary in gold and invested much of this in buying up assets like land. In relatively affluent societies like Egypt, money was in extensive use, and rural estates generated vast incomes in gold. For example, Egypt contributed taxes of over 2½ million solidi a year in the reign of Justinian.

Q. Discuss the main social groups identified by Tacitus in Roman society.

Answer: Tacitus described the leading social groups of the early empire as follows:

(i) Senators (patres, lit. ‘fathers’)
(ii) Leading members of the equestrian class
(iii) The respectable section of the people, those attached to the great houses
(iv) The unkempt lower class (plebs sordida) who, he tells us, were addicted to the circus and theatrical displays
(v) Finally, the slaves.

Q. How did the rise of Christianity influence the Roman Empire?

Answer: The rise of Christianity brought momentous developments in the religious life of the Roman Empire, particularly from the fourth century when Emperor Constantine decided to make it the official religion. The ‘Christianisation’ of the empire was a gradual and complex process. Polytheism did not disappear overnight, especially in the western provinces, where Christian bishops waged a running battle against beliefs and practices they condemned. Powerful bishops, who now led the Church, made repeated efforts to rein in their followers and enforce a more rigid set of beliefs and practices, making the boundaries between religious communities much more fluid than they had been previously. This growing influence is also seen in the ability of powerful bishops like Ambrose, in the later fourth century, to confront equally powerful emperors when they were excessively harsh or repressive in their handling of the civilian population. However, even Christianity, when it emerged and triumphed as the state religion, did not seriously challenge the deeply rooted institution of slavery.

Q. Describe the administrative reforms introduced by Diocletian.

Answer: Faced with the consequences of overexpansion, Emperor Diocletian (284-305) initiated significant changes to the structure of the state. He ‘cut back’ by abandoning territories with little strategic or economic value. Diocletian also fortified the frontiers, reorganised provincial boundaries (reorganising the empire into 100 provinces in 297), and separated civilian from military functions. This separation granted greater autonomy to the military commanders (duces), who consequently became a more powerful group.

57. What changes occurred in Roman society during the period known as Late Antiquity?

Answer: Late antiquity, broadly the fourth to seventh centuries, was the final, fascinating period in the evolution and break-up of the Roman Empire, marked by considerable cultural and economic ferment.

Culturally, the period saw momentous developments in religious life, with Emperor Constantine making Christianity the official religion, and the rise of Islam in the seventh century.
Administratively, changes began with Diocletian’s reforms (abandoning territory, fortifying frontiers, reorganising provinces, separating civilian/military functions). Constantine consolidated these, introduced the gold solidus, and created a second capital at Constantinople, leading to a rapid expansion of the governing classes.

Economically, there was monetary stability and population growth stimulating economic expansion, considerable investment in rural establishments (including industrial installations like oil presses and glass factories, and newer technologies like screw presses and multiple water-mills), and a revival of long-distance trade with the East. This led to strong urban prosperity, new forms of architecture, and an exaggerated sense of luxury. The ruling elites became wealthier than ever before. Society in places like Egypt was relatively affluent, with extensive use of money and vast incomes in gold from rural estates. Large parts of the Near Eastern countryside became more developed and densely settled.

Social structures shifted. By the late empire, the senators and equites had merged into a unified and expanded aristocracy, often of African or eastern origin. This aristocracy was enormously wealthy but often less powerful than purely military elites from non-aristocratic backgrounds. A ‘middle’ class emerged, consisting of persons in imperial service (bureaucracy, army) and prosperous merchants and farmers, sustained largely by government service and state dependence. Below them were the humiliores, the vast mass of the lower classes, comprising rural labourers, industrial and mining workers, migrant workers, self-employed artisans, casual labourers, and numerous slaves, particularly in the west.

Politically, the empire fragmented in the West as Germanic groups established ‘post-Roman’ kingdoms, foreshadowing the ‘medieval’ world. In the East, the empire (increasingly known as Byzantium) remained united and prosperous, reaching an imperial highpoint under Justinian, despite renewed wars with Sasanian Iran. The expansion of Islam from Arabia starting in the 630s led to the conquest of large parts of both the eastern Roman and Sasanian empires by 642.

Legally, a strong tradition of Roman law emerged by the fourth century, acting as a brake on emperors and actively used to protect civil rights.

Additional MCQs

1. Which three continents did the Roman Empire span?

A. Europe, Asia, Africa
B. Asia, Africa, Australia
C. Europe, Africa, Antarctica
D. Europe, Asia, America

Answer: A. Europe, Asia, Africa

Q. Which regions were included in the territories of the Roman Empire?
A. Europe, Fertile Crescent, North Africa
B. Europe, India, South Africa
C. North America, Europe, Asia
D. Europe, Scandinavia, Australia

Answer: A. Europe, Fertile Crescent, North Africa

Q. Which three groups of sources do historians use to study Roman history?
A. Texts, Documents, Remains
B. Coins, Myths, Paintings
C. Maps, Diaries, Sculptures
D. Letters, Novels, Inscriptions

Answer: A. Texts, Documents, Remains

Q. Which writing material, made from a reed‐like plant, was widely used in ancient Rome?
A. Papyrus
B. Parchment
C. Vellum
D. Bamboo

Answer: A. Papyrus

Q. Which two empires ruled over Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East from the birth of Christ until the early part of the seventh century?
A. Rome and Iran
B. Rome and Greece
C. Persia and Egypt
D. Greece and Egypt

Answer: A. Rome and Iran

Q. Which narrow strip of land separated the Roman and Iranian empires?
A. Euphrates
B. Nile
C. Tigris
D. Danube

Answer: A. Euphrates

Q. What is the name of the sea at the heart of the Roman Empire?
A. Mediterranean
B. Adriatic
C. Aegean
D. Black

Answer: A. Mediterranean

Q. Which two rivers formed the northern boundary of the Roman Empire?
A. Rhine and Danube
B. Tiber and Po
C. Seine and Thames
D. Euphrates and Tigris

Answer: A. Rhine and Danube

Q. Which desert marked the southern boundary of the Roman Empire?
A. Sahara
B. Gobi
C. Kalahari
D. Arabian

Answer: A. Sahara

Q. At which century is the division between the early and late Roman Empire generally placed?
A. Third century
B. First century
C. Fifth century
D. Second century

Answer: A. Third century

Q. Which two languages were used for administration in the Roman Empire?
A. Latin and Greek
B. Latin and Aramaic
C. Greek and Coptic
D. Greek and Punic

Answer: A. Latin and Greek

Q. Which language was used by the upper classes in the eastern part of the Empire?
A. Greek
B. Latin
C. Aramaic
D. Coptic

Answer: A. Greek

Q. What was the regime established by Augustus in 27 BCE called?
A. Principate
B. Republic
C. Empire
D. Tetrarchy

Answer: A. Principate

Q. How was Augustus portrayed under the Principate?
A. As a leading citizen
B. As a senator
C. As a consul
D. As a general

Answer: A. As a leading citizen

Q. Which key institution, along with the emperor and Senate, was essential to imperial rule?
A. The army
B. The clergy
C. The market
D. The forum

Answer: A. The army

Q. What type of army did Rome maintain?
A. Paid professional
B. Conscription only
C. Citizen militia
D. Volunteer force

Answer: A. Paid professional

Q. What was the minimum period of service required in the Roman army?
A. 25 years
B. 10 years
C. 15 years
D. 30 years

Answer: A. 25 years

Q. Approximately how many soldiers did the Roman army have by the fourth century?
A. 600,000
B. 100,000
C. 250,000
D. 1,000,000

Answer: A. 600,000

Q. Which year, known for a rapid succession of emperors, is notorious in Roman history?
A. 69 CE
B. 44 CE
C. 212 CE
D. 312 CE

Answer: A. 69 CE

Q. Who was adopted by Augustus to ensure a smooth succession?
A. Tiberius
B. Nero
C. Caligula
D. Trajan

Answer: A. Tiberius

Q. Which emperor launched a campaign across the Euphrates between 113 and 117 CE?
A. Trajan
B. Hadrian
C. Septimius Severus
D. Diocletian

Answer: A. Trajan

Q. Which site in Rome contains the remains of over 50 million amphorae?
A. Monte Testaccio
B. Palatine Hill
C. Circus Maximus
D. Capitoline Hill

Answer: A. Monte Testaccio

Q. What is the name given to the container used for Spanish olive oil at its peak?
A. Dressel 20
B. Amphora X
C. Olive Jar
D. Testaccio

Answer: A. Dressel 20

Q. Which of the following were major urban centres in the Roman Empire?
A. Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch
B. Rome, Paris, London
C. Athens, Berlin, Vienna
D. Constantinople, Madrid, Lisbon

Answer: A. Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch

Q. Which crisis marked the first major internal strain in the Roman Empire?
A. Third-Century Crisis
B. Punic Wars
C. Social War
D. Crisis of the Republic

Answer: A. Third-Century Crisis

Q. In which decade did the internal strains, known as the Third-Century Crisis, begin?
A. 230s
B. 190s
C. 270s
D. 310s

Answer: A. 230s

Q. Which dynasty emerged in Iran in 225 CE?
A. Sasanians
B. Parthians
C. Ottomans
D. Safavids

Answer: A. Sasanians

Q. Which Iranian ruler claimed to have defeated a Roman army of 60,000?
A. Shapur I
B. Cyrus
C. Darius
D. Xerxes

Answer: A. Shapur I

Q. Which groups invaded the Roman frontiers between 233 and 280 CE?
A. Alamanni, Franks, Goths
B. Huns, Vandals, Slavs
C. Persians, Egyptians, Syrians
D. Celts, Britons, Saxons

Answer: A. Alamanni, Franks, Goths

Q. Which legal right did Roman women retain after marriage?
A. Property ownership
B. Voting rights
C. Military command
D. Senate membership

Answer: A. Property ownership

Q. At what stage of life were Roman women typically married?
A. Late teens
B. Early thirties
C. Mid-thirties
D. Childhood

Answer: A. Late teens

Q. At what stage of life were Roman men typically married?
A. Late twenties
B. Early teens
C. Late teens
D. Early forties

Answer: A. Late twenties

Q. Which historical figure reported personal evidence of domestic abuse in his family?
A. Augustine
B. Pliny
C. Galen
D. Columella

Answer: A. Augustine

Q. Which ancient city provides clear evidence of widespread casual literacy through advertisements and graffiti?
A. Pompeii
B. Alexandria
C. Rome
D. Carthage

Answer: A. Pompeii

Q. In which region do hundreds of surviving papyri provide evidence of formal documentation?
A. Egypt
B. Greece
C. Italy
D. Gaul

Answer: A. Egypt

Q. Which language group dominated the Near East west of the Euphrates?
A. Aramaic
B. Latin
C. Greek
D. Coptic

Answer: A. Aramaic

Q. Which language was widely spoken in Egypt during the Roman period?
A. Coptic
B. Aramaic
C. Punic
D. Celtic

Answer: A. Coptic

Q. Which language ceased being written after the first century as Latin spread?
A. Celtic
B. Greek
C. Coptic
D. Punic

Answer: A. Celtic

Q. Which liquids were commonly transported in amphorae in the Roman economy?
A. Wine and olive oil
B. Milk and water
C. Juice and beer
D. Oil and vinegar

Answer: A. Wine and olive oil

Q. During which years did Spanish olive oil production reach its peak?
A. 140–160
B. 50–70
C. 200–220
D. 80–100

Answer: A. 140–160

Q. Which regions later dominated the export of wine and olive oil after 425 CE?
A. Eastern provinces
B. Western provinces
C. Northern provinces
D. Southern provinces

Answer: A. Eastern provinces

Q. Which fertile region in Italy was renowned for its excellent wine?
A. Campania
B. Tuscany
C. Lombardy
D. Veneto

Answer: A. Campania

Q. What is the term for the seasonal movement of herdsmen in search of pasture?
A. Transhumance
B. Nomadism
C. Migration
D. Herders’ shift

Answer: A. Transhumance

Q. What were the hilltop villages of northern Spain called?
A. Castella
B. Villas
C. Burgs
D. Forts

Answer: A. Castella

Q. In the Roman economy, in what capacity were slaves and freedmen often employed?
A. Business managers
B. Tax collectors
C. City governors
D. Military commanders

Answer: A. Business managers

Q. Which agricultural writer advised keeping twice as many tools as needed?
A. Columella
B. Pliny
C. Galen
D. Tacitus

Answer: A. Columella

Q. Which historian condemned the use of slave gangs chained together by the feet?
A. Pliny the Elder
B. Tacitus
C. Augustine
D. Olympiodorus

Answer: A. Pliny the Elder

Q. What ancient custom required the execution of all slaves in a household after a murder?
A. Execution of co-residents
B. Public trial
C. Exile of the family
D. Flogging penalty

Answer: A. Execution of co-residents

Q. Which emperor introduced the solidus, a gold coinage, around 310 CE?
A. Constantine
B. Diocletian
C. Trajan
D. Hadrian

Answer: A. Constantine

Q. Which city did Constantine found as a new capital in 324 CE?
A. Constantinople
B. Rome
C. Antioch
D. Alexandria

Answer: A. Constantinople

Q. Which emperor recovered Africa from the Vandals in 533 CE?
A. Justinian
B. Anastasius
C. Theodosius
D. Constantine

Answer: A. Justinian

Q. What term describes the period of cultural transformation from the fourth to the seventh centuries?
A. Late Antiquity
B. Renaissance
C. Middle Ages
D. Classical Age

Answer: A. Late Antiquity

Q. Which religion did Constantine make the official religion of the Empire?
A. Christianity
B. Judaism
C. Zoroastrianism
D. Paganism

Answer: A. Christianity

Q. What major change regarding citizenship occurred in 212 CE?
A. All free inhabitants became citizens
B. Only senators were citizens
C. Citizenship was restricted by birth
D. Only military men became citizens

Answer: A. All free inhabitants became citizens

Q. Which conflict occurred between 66 and 70 CE, resulting in the capture of Jerusalem?
A. Jewish revolt
B. Gallic Wars
C. Punic War
D. Iberian War

Answer: A. Jewish revolt

Q. Which event took place in 410 CE that greatly shocked the Roman world?
A. Sack of Rome
B. Fall of Constantinople
C. Battle of Adrianople
D. Invasion of Gaul

Answer: A. Sack of Rome

Q. In which year did Arab forces invade Spain?
A. 711
B. 698
C. 633
D. 661

Answer: A. 711

Q. Which Persian ruler reigned from 241 to 272 CE?
A. Shapur I
B. Shapur II
C. Khusro I
D. Khusro II

Answer: A. Shapur I

Q. Which emperor reigned from 284 to 305 CE and established the Tetrarchy?
A. Diocletian
B. Constantine
C. Trajan
D. Tiberius

Answer: A. Diocletian

Q. Which emperor is renowned for consolidating monetary reform and founding Constantinople?
A. Constantine
B. Diocletian
C. Justinian
D. Hadrian

Answer: A. Constantine

Q. Which inscription by an Iranian ruler boasts of annihilating a 60,000-strong Roman army?
A. Shapur I’s inscription
B. Darius’ decree
C. Cyrus’ edict
D. Xerxes’ proclamation

Answer: A. Shapur I’s inscription

Q. At which battle in 378 CE did the Goths inflict a crushing defeat on Roman armies?
A. Adrianople
B. Actium
C. Zama
D. Philippi

Answer: A. Adrianople

Q. Which temple was destroyed in Alexandria in 391 CE?
A. Serapeum
B. Pantheon
C. Parthenon
D. Temple of Jupiter

Answer: A. Serapeum

Q. In which year did the Ostrogoths establish a kingdom in Italy?
A. 493
B. 410
C. 533
D. 568

Answer: A. 493

Q. During which years did the bubonic plague outbreaks occur in the Roman Empire?
A. 541–570
B. 400–430
C. 310–340
D. 600–630

Answer: A. 541–570

Q. Around which year was the Prophet Muhammad born?
A. 570
B. 610
C. 630
D. 650

Answer: A. 570

Q. Which Persian ruler invaded eastern Roman territories between 614 and 619 CE?
A. Khusro II
B. Shapur II
C. Khusro I
D. Darius

Answer: A. Khusro II

Q. Which event in Muhammad’s life occurred in 622 CE?
A. Hijra (departure to Medina)
B. First revelation
C. Conquest of Mecca
D. Battle of Badr

Answer: A. Hijra (departure to Medina)

Q. Between which years did the first phase of the Arab conquests take place?
A. 633–642
B. 600–610
C. 650–660
D. 700–710

Answer: A. 633–642

Q. Which dynasty ruled in Syria from 661 to 750 CE?
A. Umayyad
B. Abbasid
C. Fatimid
D. Seljuk

Answer: A. Umayyad

Q. In which year did the Arabs capture Carthage?
A. 698
B. 711
C. 642
D. 661

Answer: A. 698

Q. Which revolt in Judaea is recorded as having occurred in 66 CE?
A. Jewish revolt
B. Bar Kokhba revolt
C. Maccabean revolt
D. Samaritan revolt

Answer: A. Jewish revolt

Q. Which major monetary change occurred when silver coinage was abandoned?
A. Adoption of gold coinage
B. Introduction of bronze coins
C. Switch to copper coins
D. Use of iron currency

Answer: A. Adoption of gold coinage

Q. Which empire reconquered Africa and Italy in the mid-sixth century?
A. Byzantine
B. Persian
C. Ottoman
D. Frankish

Answer: A. Byzantine

Q. Who was the first Roman emperor?
A. Augustus
B. Tiberius
C. Nero
D. Caligula

Answer: A. Augustus

Q. Who succeeded Augustus and reigned from 14 to 37 CE?
A. Tiberius
B. Trajan
C. Hadrian
D. Septimius

Answer: A. Tiberius

Q. Who reigned from 98 to 117 CE?
A. Trajan
B. Hadrian
C. Diocletian
D. Constantine

Answer: A. Trajan

Q. Who reigned from 117 to 138 CE?
A. Hadrian
B. Tiberius
C. Nero
D. Augustus

Answer: A. Hadrian

Q. Who reigned from 193 to 211 CE?
A. Septimius Severus
B. Trajan
C. Diocletian
D. Constantine

Answer: A. Septimius Severus

Q. Which emperor, reigning in the 260s, reorganised the army?
A. Gallienus
B. Diocletian
C. Hadrian
D. Tiberius

Answer: A. Gallienus

Q. Which emperor reigned from 408 to 450 CE?
A. Theodosius II
B. Constantine
C. Justinian
D. Diocletian

Answer: A. Theodosius II

Q. Who reigned from 490 to 518 CE?
A. Anastasius
B. Constantine
C. Septimius
D. Trajan

Answer: A. Anastasius

Q. Who reigned from 527 to 565 CE?
A. Justinian
B. Diocletian
C. Hadrian
D. Tiberius

Answer: A. Justinian

Q. Which Iranian ruler reigned from 531 to 579 CE?
A. Khusro I
B. Shapur I
C. Khusro II
D. Darius

Answer: A. Khusro I

87. Which emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire reigned from 610 to 641 CE?

A. Heraclius
B. Constantine
C. Justinian
D. Theodosius

Answer: A. Heraclius

Ron'e Dutta

Ron'e Dutta is a journalist, teacher, aspiring novelist, and blogger who manages Online Free Notes. An avid reader of Victorian literature, his favourite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. He dreams of travelling the world. You can connect with him on social media. He does personal writing on ronism.

Get notes of other classes and subjects

NBSE	SEBA/AHSEC
NCERT	TBSE
WBBSE/WHCHSE	ICSE/ISC
BSEM/COHSEM	Custom Notes for Teachers
MBOSE	Question Papers

Notify change in syllabus/books	Sell PDFs of your books
Request notes not available now	Share PDFs of question papers