The Romans Flashcards
Intellectual contribution
Engineers - had roads, constructed monumental architecture (Colosseum, aqueducts).
Studied the humanities. Children in school all day.
Had a strong army. Ruled by kings, then by a republic, then an empire.
Built big houses with bathrooms and fountains.
Poor lived in dirty houses.
Grew turnips, had animals, ate eggs.
Impact of physical geography
Bordered by Mediterranean Sea.
Good land for agriculture near the sea and the Tiber River.
Art forms
Similar art to the Greek. Sculpted and wrote literature.
Had their own jewelry, clothing, shoes.
Built Chariots.
Built large houses with elaborate fountains and bathrooms.
Traditions (religious beliefs)
Polytheistic.
Class society: Patricians (powerful landowners), Plebians (most of populations, servants), and Slaves.
Christianity became popular during latter part of their dominance.
Emphasized the bible as the word of god.
Had Chariot races, Gladiator games.
Trade and commerce.
Inflation plagued the civilization as well as excessive taxation. Created own money system.
Traded with the “world”.
Agriculture was, and always remained, the main productive basis.
Used slaves to cultivate the land and agriculture to remain productive.
