An empire across 3 continents ch2
ROMAN EMPIRE-covered europe,west asia and north africa.economy workers on slave
labour,5th century it started falling apart in the west but was prosperous in
east.they have rich collection of texts(include histories of the period written by
the contemporaries,usually called annals because they were written on yearly basis)
,documents(inscriptions and papri,papri is a reed like plant tht grew around Nile
river it was used for writing,the scholars who published them were called
papryrologists)a and material remains(archeologists discover them,example
buildings,coins ets).
2 POWERFUL EMPIRES RULED OVER MOST OF EUROPE,NORTH AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST BETWEEN
THE PERIOD OF CHRIST TO EARLY 7TH CENTURY,THE EMPIRES WERE ROMAN EMPIRE AND
IRAN,BOTH WERE RIVALS AGAINST EACH OTHER,THEY LAY NEXT TO EACH OTHER they were
separated by a strip of land near river Euphrates.
Europe and Africa were separated b y a a sea that stretches from Spain in the west
of Syria in the east,the sea is Mediterranean sea also called the heart of Roman
Empire as it connected Europe and Africa and also helped in trade.roman dominated
the Mediterranean Sea and also the regions around it.The north of the empire had 2
rivers rhine and Danube,to the south there is Sahara dessert.
IRAN-mostly ruled over middle east from the Euphrates to afganistan,south had
capstan sea.these 2 empires ruled most of the world and the Chinese called this Ta
ch’in.
THE EARLY EMPIRE-
Roman Empire is divided into 2 parts,early and late.the main part of the 3rd
century is early empire and after 3rd century its the late empire.Roman Empire was
more diverse than that of Iran empire because iran mostly ruled Iranian people.the
parthians and Sassanians ruled iran during this time,ruled over. Population that
was mostly Iranians.the Roman Empire was a monastic of territories and cultures
that were bounded together b y a common government.
In Roman Empire many languages were spoken but for legal use and administration
Latin and Greek was used.the upper class of the east spoke and wrote in Greek,the
people of west used Latin,Africans spoke Latin and Cyrenaica spoke Greek.all the
people were ruled by one ruler no matter the way of speaking or living.
Romans first had the republic rule(509 bc to 27 bc) in which the power is with the
senate(a group with rich people or nobility),Octavian came in power,he was the
adopted son of julius Caesar later changed his name to Augustus.he changed republic
to principate rule(single ruler will rule)this was done in 27 bce.Augustus was a
sole ruler,but he kept a fiction that he was just a leading citizen and not a sole
ruler,he kept this fiction because of respect of senate.slowly Italian landowners
also started including themselves in the senate.most of the history in Greek and
Latin was written by the senate people,because this the empowers were judged by how
they behaved towards the senate,the worst of emperors were hostile ets to the
senatorial class.another key institution was the army,Iranian army was
recruited(forcefully)whereas romans were not recruited,people i. The army could
come by their choice and had to serve for 25 yrs and were paid.the army was the
single largest body in the empire with 600,000 people by the fourth century and
hence had the power to decide who becomes the king.the soldier could protest for
better wages and could go against the emperor or the general if they felt that the
army was let down.senate hated and feared the army because army could be violent
anytime,3rd century government was forced to tax more heavily to pay for military
expenditure.the emperor,aristocracy and army were the 3 main players.the success of
an emperor depended on how well he kept his army,if army was divided then it caused
civil wars.69 ce,4 emperors changed,the succession of the throne was based on the
family descent,either the son could be natural or adoptive,army also strongly
believed in this.during the reign of Augustus there were rarely any wars.once war
was with trajan in 113-17ce because he wanted to conquer the area around
Euphrates.Augustus age was the age of peace.the Roman Empire wanted to get
vast,this was accomplished by absorbing dependent kingdoms into the roman
territory.the east was full of such kingdoms but the ones which were on the west of
Euphrates were taken over by the Roman Empire in 2nd century.most of the kingdoms
ROMAN EMPIRE-covered europe,west asia and north africa.economy workers on slave
labour,5th century it started falling apart in the west but was prosperous in
east.they have rich collection of texts(include histories of the period written by
the contemporaries,usually called annals because they were written on yearly basis)
,documents(inscriptions and papri,papri is a reed like plant tht grew around Nile
river it was used for writing,the scholars who published them were called
papryrologists)a and material remains(archeologists discover them,example
buildings,coins ets).
2 POWERFUL EMPIRES RULED OVER MOST OF EUROPE,NORTH AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST BETWEEN
THE PERIOD OF CHRIST TO EARLY 7TH CENTURY,THE EMPIRES WERE ROMAN EMPIRE AND
IRAN,BOTH WERE RIVALS AGAINST EACH OTHER,THEY LAY NEXT TO EACH OTHER they were
separated by a strip of land near river Euphrates.
Europe and Africa were separated b y a a sea that stretches from Spain in the west
of Syria in the east,the sea is Mediterranean sea also called the heart of Roman
Empire as it connected Europe and Africa and also helped in trade.roman dominated
the Mediterranean Sea and also the regions around it.The north of the empire had 2
rivers rhine and Danube,to the south there is Sahara dessert.
IRAN-mostly ruled over middle east from the Euphrates to afganistan,south had
capstan sea.these 2 empires ruled most of the world and the Chinese called this Ta
ch’in.
THE EARLY EMPIRE-
Roman Empire is divided into 2 parts,early and late.the main part of the 3rd
century is early empire and after 3rd century its the late empire.Roman Empire was
more diverse than that of Iran empire because iran mostly ruled Iranian people.the
parthians and Sassanians ruled iran during this time,ruled over. Population that
was mostly Iranians.the Roman Empire was a monastic of territories and cultures
that were bounded together b y a common government.
In Roman Empire many languages were spoken but for legal use and administration
Latin and Greek was used.the upper class of the east spoke and wrote in Greek,the
people of west used Latin,Africans spoke Latin and Cyrenaica spoke Greek.all the
people were ruled by one ruler no matter the way of speaking or living.
Romans first had the republic rule(509 bc to 27 bc) in which the power is with the
senate(a group with rich people or nobility),Octavian came in power,he was the
adopted son of julius Caesar later changed his name to Augustus.he changed republic
to principate rule(single ruler will rule)this was done in 27 bce.Augustus was a
sole ruler,but he kept a fiction that he was just a leading citizen and not a sole
ruler,he kept this fiction because of respect of senate.slowly Italian landowners
also started including themselves in the senate.most of the history in Greek and
Latin was written by the senate people,because this the empowers were judged by how
they behaved towards the senate,the worst of emperors were hostile ets to the
senatorial class.another key institution was the army,Iranian army was
recruited(forcefully)whereas romans were not recruited,people i. The army could
come by their choice and had to serve for 25 yrs and were paid.the army was the
single largest body in the empire with 600,000 people by the fourth century and
hence had the power to decide who becomes the king.the soldier could protest for
better wages and could go against the emperor or the general if they felt that the
army was let down.senate hated and feared the army because army could be violent
anytime,3rd century government was forced to tax more heavily to pay for military
expenditure.the emperor,aristocracy and army were the 3 main players.the success of
an emperor depended on how well he kept his army,if army was divided then it caused
civil wars.69 ce,4 emperors changed,the succession of the throne was based on the
family descent,either the son could be natural or adoptive,army also strongly
believed in this.during the reign of Augustus there were rarely any wars.once war
was with trajan in 113-17ce because he wanted to conquer the area around
Euphrates.Augustus age was the age of peace.the Roman Empire wanted to get
vast,this was accomplished by absorbing dependent kingdoms into the roman
territory.the east was full of such kingdoms but the ones which were on the west of
Euphrates were taken over by the Roman Empire in 2nd century.most of the kingdoms
