The economy, society, culture... of Ancient Rome

2. INDEX
1. The economy of Ancient Rome.
1.1. Economic activities.
1.2. Roman cities.
2. Society in Ancient Rome: free men, slaves, and the family.
3. Roman culture.
3.1. Roman law.
3.2. Language and literature.
3.3. Roman religion.
4. Roman architecture: temples, roads, aqueducts, circuses…
5. Roman art.
5.1. Sculpture.
5.2. Painting and mosaics.

3. 1.1. Economic activities.
Roman civilization stands out for the prosperity of their
economic activities developed in various fields:
agriculture, livestock, mining, craftwork and trade.
We can differentiate between:
1. THE ECONOMY OF ANCIENT ROME.
ECONOMIC
ACTIVITIES
In the
countryside
Agriculture Livestock
In the city
Craftwork Trade

4. In the countryside.
Main characteristics:
 All farmland (and mines too) belonged to the state, which divided
it up among individuals for them to exploit. There were large villes.
 There were improvements in farming technology: better tools and
irrigation systems, which improved efficiency and harvest.
 The main crops farmed: wheat, grapes and olives.
 The main livestock farmed: goats, sheep, cows and horses.

5.  TOOLS
Plough and animal draught, such as oxen
 IRRIGATION SYSTEM
Irrigation canal Aqueduct of Segovia
Plough - AradoAnimal draught – Animal de tiro

6. In the city.
Cities where important economic and commercial centres:
• Most artists had their workshops in the cities.
• Some of the most common products produced were: weapons,
textiles, farming tools and pottery.

7. TRADE
 The economic dynamism of the countryside and Roman cities
gave a boost to trade, so it developed intensely.
 The main goods traded: agricultural products, craftwork,
minerals and slaves, among others.
 There was trade not only within the Empire but also with some
places outside the Empire, so we can talk about:
• Some provinces specialised in producing certain
goods. For instance, Egypt was an important
producer of wheat and Hispania produced
minerals.
Domestic
trade
• From the Germanic territories, the Empire
obtained some products, such as leather, wood and
slaves.
• From Africa, gold, ivory and slaves, too.
• From the East, perfumes and other luxury products.
Foreign trade

8. THE EXPANSION OF THE ROMAN COMMERCE
Economic activities were favored by the territorial expansion.
The three main factors that allowed commerce to expand were:
Military conquest: allowed Rome to acquire wealth
and slaves and colonise new territories, allowing
trade to flourish and the stability to the Empire.
Land and sea travel: communicate between the
different parts of the Empire was easy thanks to an
excellent network of roads and ports.
A single currency: in Roman territories existed a
common currency. The most common coin was the
silver denarius, although there were other, such as
the sextercio.

9. TRADE ROUTES IN ANCIENT ROME
“All roads lead to Rome”

11. 1.2. Roman cities
 Roman cities were the main economic and commercial
centres, and were the political administration was located, too.
 The cities layout was based on the roman military camps
(castras). As the Romans were very well organised, they planned
their cities carefully:
There was a main road that went from north to south called the
cardo. The main road from east to west was called the
decumanus. The rest of the roads were parallel to these two
main roads, so they made a grid.
Where the cardo crossed the decumanus, there was a big
square, called the forum, one of the most important buildings.

12. Image of a military camp.
You can see the similarity with the picture of Roman city that you have in your book (pag.103)

13. Look at this interesting video to learn more about Roman cities!!!
You have the video available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4TGtaj5eb0

14.  Now, you are going to do the exercise number 5 of page
103.
For it, you have to go to the next link
http://mostamazingenglishclassroomblog.blogspot.co
m.es/.
There, you will find a post called Roman cities, with all
the instructions for doing well the exercise.

15. THE END
THANKS YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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LINK:
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