An Empire across Three Continents NCERT Notes for Class 11 History Chapter 3

Class 11 History Chapter 3 An Empire across Three Continents

Textbook	NCERT
Board	CBSE Board, UP board, JAC board, HBSE Board, Bihar Board, PSEB board, RBSE Board, UBSE Board
Class	11th Class
Subject	History
Chapter	Chapter 3
Chapter Name	An Empire across Three Continents
Topic	An Empire across Three Continents NCERT Notes for Class 11 History Chapter 3
Medium	English
Especially Designed Notes for	CBSE, ICSE, IAS, NET, NRA, UPSC, SSC, NDA, All Govt. Exam

NCERT Notes for Class 11 History Chapter 3 An Empire across Three Continents, (History) exam are Students are taught thru NCERT books in some of state board and CBSE Schools. As the chapter involves an end, there is an exercise provided to assist students prepare for evaluation. Students need to clear up those exercises very well because the questions with inside the very last asked from those.

Ncert notes for class 11 history chapter 3: An Empire across Three Continents Pdf

Introduction

The Roman empire covered a vast stretch of territory that included most of Europe, Fertile Crescent and North Africa. In this chapter we shall discuss how this empire was organised, the political forces and the social groups of that time. The empire was rich in local cultures and language and women had a strong legal position. At the same time the economy was run on slave labour which denied freedom to substantial number of persons. From the fifth century, the empire fell apart in the West, but remained prosperous in its Eastern part.

NCERT Notes for Class 11 History Chapter 3 An Empire across Three Continents

Class 11 History Chapter 3 An Empire across Three Continents

The two most powerful empires

• The two empires that ruled between the birth of Christ and 630 CE were Rome and Iran.
• They ruled over most part of Europe, North Africa and Middle East.
• The Romans and Iranians were neighbours, separated by narrow strip of land that ran along the river Euphrates.
• They were rivals and fought against each other for much of their history.
• The major difference between two superpowers was that the Roman empire was much more diverse than that of Iran.
• The Parthians and later the Sasanians dynasties ruled Iran in this period. They ruled over a population of Iran that was largely Iranian.
• Iran controlled the whole area, South of the Caspian sea down to Eastern Arabia and sometimes large parts of Afghanistan.
• These two superpowers had divided up most of the world that was called Ta Chin (roughly the West) by Chinese.

Roman Empire

• The Roman Empire can broadly divide into two phases-Early Roman Empire and Late Roman Empire.
• The whole period down to the main part of the 3^rd century can be called the ‘early empire’. The period after 3^rd Century can be called the ‘late empire’.

Difference between the Roman Empire and Iranian Empire

Major difference between the Roman and Iranian Empires were:

• Roman Empire had a diverse population as compared to that of Iran.
• The Parthians and Sasanians dynasties, that ruled Iran in this period, ruled largely over the Iranian population.
• Whereas the Roman Empire was a variety of territories and cultures bound by the common system of govt.
• Many languages were spoken in the Roman Empire, but for the administrative purposes only Greek and Latin were used.
• The upper class of east spoke Greek and those in the western part spoke Latin.
• All the people in the Roman Empire were subjects of single ruler, the emperor, irrespective of where they lived and what language they spoke.

The early Roman Empire

• Augustus became first emperor of Roman empire and the regime established by him in 27 BCE was called the Principate.
• Though, Augustus was the sole ruler and only real source of authority, but Roman History mentions that he was only the leading citizen (Princeps in Latin), not the absolute ruler.
• This was done to show respect to the Senate (the body which controlled Rome earlier when it was a Republic).
• Senate was a body representing the aristocracy i.e. wealthiest families of Roman and later mainly landowners of Italian descent.
• Most of the Roman histories that survive in Greek and Latin were written by people from Senate background.
• So emperors were judged on their behaviour towards Senate. Emperors were judged worst if they were hostile (bitter) to Senatorial class.
• Emperor and Senate were at the top and next to them was the army.

Features of Roman Army

• The Army which was a paid and professional army where soldiers had to put up twenty five years of service.
• The existence of paid army was a distinctive feature of the Roman Empire.
• The army was the largest single organized body of the Roman Empire.
• It had the power to decide the fate of the emperors.
• Soldiers would constantly agitate for better wages and service conditions which often would turn into mutinies.
• The Senate hated and feared the army, because it was a source of unpredictable violence.
• Thus, it can be said that the emperor, the aristocracy, and the army were the three players in the political history of the empire.

Role of the Army

• The success of individual emperor was depended on their control of the army.
• If armies were divided, it would result in a civil war.
• In 69 CE, there was civil war when four emperors ascended the throne in quick succession, while the first two centuries were peaceful and stable.

Succession to the throne in the Roman Empire

• Family descent, either natural or adoptive, was the decisive factor in the succession to the throne in the Roman Empire.
• The army was also wedded to this concept. For e.g. For example, Tiberius, the second emperor was not the natural son of Augustus but he adopted Tiberius to ensure a smooth transition

The Augustan age

• External warfares were less common in first two centuries because empire inherited by Tiberius from Augustus was already so vast.
• It brought peace after decades of internal strife and centuries of military conquest.
• External warfare was also much less common in the first two centuries.

Extension of Roman Direct Rule

• The gradual extension of Roman direct rule was accomplished by absorbing a whole series of dependent kingdoms from Near East into Roman provincial territory.
• By early second century, kingdoms which were West of the Euphrates were annexed up by the Rome.
• These kingdoms were extremely wealthy. For example, Herod’s kingdom yielded 5.4 million denarii (a Roman silver coin containing about 4½ gm of pure silver) per year, equal to over 125,000 kg of gold.
• All the territories of the empire except Italy were organised into provinces and subjected to taxation.
• During its peak in the second century, the Roman empire stretched from Scotland to the borders of Armenia and from the Sahara to the Euphrates and sometimes beyond.

Administration of the vast Roman Empire

• The vast Roman Empire was controlled and administered with the help of urbanization.
• All the territories of the empire were organized into provinces and were subject to taxation.
• Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch that lined the shores of Mediterranean were the foundations of the imperial system.
• It was through these cities that the government was able to collect tax from the provincial countryside which generated much of the wealth.
• This shows that the local upper class was actively involved with the Roman state in administering their own territories and collecting taxes from them.
• Throughout the second and third century the provincial upper classes provided experienced officers that administered the provinces and commanded the army.
• Thus, they became the new elite of the Roman Empire. They controlled the army and looked after the provincial administration.
• They became much more powerful than the senatorial class because they had the backing of the Emperors.
• Emperor Gallienus consolidated their rise to power by excluding senators from military command. He did this in order to prevent control of the empire from falling in to their hands.

Cities of Roman Empire

• According to Romans, a city was an urban centre with its own magistrates, city council and a territory containing villages which were under its jurisdiction.
• One city was not in the territory of other city as like villages.
• The villages could be upgraded to the status of city and vice-versa generally as a mark of favour from the emperor.

Advantages of living in the city of Roman Empire

• The advantage of living in the city was that it might be better provided for during food shortages and famines in the country side.
• The cities had public baths and the urban population enjoyed a higher level of entertainment

The Third- Century Crisis

• The first and second centuries were a period of peace, prosperity and economic expansion. But the third century was a period of crisis.
• From 230s, empire was fighting on several fronts simultaneously.
• In 225, new dynasty called Sasanians emerged in Iran.
• They were more aggressive and within 15 years they expanded rapidly in the direction of the Euphrates.
• The Germanic tribes (barbarians) began to move against the Rhine and Danube frontiers.
• From 233 to 280 saw repeated invasions.
• The Romans were forced to abandon much of the territory beyond the Danube as emperors were fighting in the battlefield.
• The quick succession of emperors (25 emperors in 47 years) is a sign of strain faced by the empire in the 3rd century. 

Gender, Literacy, Culture

Early Roman Society 

• Roman empire was a group of territories and cultures that were mainly bound together by a common system of government.
• Many languages were spoken in the empire but Greek and Latin were used for the purpose of administration.
• The upper classes of the East spoke and wrote in Greek and those from West in Latin. 
• All those who lived in the empire were subjects of the emperor, regardless of where they lived and what language they spoke. 

Structure of Family

• There was widespread prevalence of nuclear family.
• Adult sons did not live with their parents and it was exceptional for adult brothers to share a common household.
• Slaves were however included in the family.

Status of women

• The women enjoyed considerable legal rights in owning and managing property.
• They were married off in the late teens or early thirties.
• Arrange marriage was the general norm.
• women were often subject to domination by their husbands
• Wives were even beaten up by their husbands.
• 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.
• Women remained a primary heir to father’s property after marriage.
• They could become independent property owners after their father’s death.
• Divorce was easy for both men as well as women.

Literacy

• The rate of literacy varied greatly between different parts of the empire.
• Literacy was widespread in army officers, estate managers and soldiers
• Casual literacy i.e. the use of writing in everyday life existed and it varied from place to place.
• There was a wall in pompeii which carried advertisements and graffiti, which indicates high level of casual literacy.
• On the other hand, in Egypt forma documents such as contracts were usually written by professional scribes and they gave information about who is unable to read and write.
• Literacy was more widespread in Egypt among soldiers, army officers and estate managers.

Cultural diversity

• Culture Roman empire was known for its cultural diversity. It has vast diversity of:
• religious cults and local deities, plurality of languages spoken,
• the styles of dress and costume,
• the food people ate,
• the forms of social organisation (tribal/non-tribal) of people and their patterns of settlement.

Language

• Aramaic was dominant language group of the Near East (at least West of the Euphrates), Coptic was spoken in Egypt, Punci and Berber were spoken in North Africa and Celtic was spoken in Spain and the North-West.
• But many of these linguistic cultures were purely oral, until a script was invented for them. For example, Armenian began to be written as late as the fifth century, whereas there was already a Coptic translation of the Bible by the middle of the third century.
• In other areas, spread of Latin language displaced the written form of languages such as Celtic, which ceased to be written after the first century

Economic Expansion of Early Roman Empire 

• The Roman Empire had substantial economic infrastructure of harbours, mines, quarries, brickyards, olive oil factories etc.
• Goods for trade consisted mainly wheat, wine and olive oil and they came from Spain, the Gallic provinces, north Africa, Egypt and Italy. The conditions for these crops were best in these regions.
• Wine and olive oil were transported in containers called amphorae.
• Archaeological remains of these of over 50 million vessels were found at Monte Testaccio in Rome.

Olive Oil Economy

• Olive oil was a vast commercial enterprise that reached its peak in the years of 140-160 AD.
• It was mainly carried in a container called Dressel 20 (named after the archaeologist who discovered it).
• It can be inferred that Spanish olive oil was widely circulated. 
• The success of Spanish olive growers was then repeated by North African producers in the third and fourth centuries.
• Later, after 425, North African dominance was broken by the East.
• In the later fifth and sixth centuries, the Aegean, Southern Asia Minor (Turkey), Syria and Palestine became major exporters of wine and olive oil, On the other hand, the containers from Africa declined in Mediterranean markets.
• The economic prosperity in these regions was mainly dependent on effective organisation of the production, transport of particular good and on the quality of those goods.

Regions of Fertility and Wealth

• The Roman empire included many regions that had a reputation for exceptional fertility.
• According to writers Strabo and Pliny, Campania in Italy, Sicily, the Fayyum in Egypt, Galilee, Byzacium (Tunisia), Southern Gaul (called Gallia Narbonensis), and Baetica (Southern Spain) were the most densely settled or wealthiest parts of the empire.
• The best kind of wines came from Campania, large quantities of wheat was exported to Rome from Sicily and Byzacium.
• In the Roman Empire water power was very efficiently used around Mediterranean and there were advances in the water powered milling technology, the use of hydraulic mining techniques in Spanish gold and silver mines.
• Well organised commercial and banking networks existed.
• Widespread use of money indicates that the Roman Empire had sophisticated economy.

Underdeveloped Regions

• The large expenses of Roman territory were in a much less advanced state.
• Transhumance was widespread in the country side of Numidia(Modern Algeria)
• As Roman estates expanded in North Africa, the pastures of those communities were drastically reduced and their movements more tightly regulated.
• Even in Spain the north was economically much less developed.
  • In these areas peasantry who were Celtic-speaking lived in hilltop villages known as castella.

Controlling of Workers in the Roman Empire

• Slavery was an institution deeply rooted in Ancient Roman world.
• Though slavery was institutionalized and was greatly used as labour but it was not always slaves that performed labour in the Roman economy.
• As peace was established in the first century, the supply of slaves declined and users of slave labour had to turn to slave breeding or cheaper substitutes such as wage labour which were easily replaced.
• Most of the time free labour was used, as slaves had to be provided with food and maintained throughout the year which proved expensive.
  • This is the reason for using free labour on public works at home.
• On the other hand ,slaves and freedmen were extensively used in jobs where labour was not required in large number that is as business managers
• There was a presumption that without supervision no work would ever get done.
  • So supervision was most important for both freed slaves and slaves.
• For a better supervision the slaves were grouped into gang of ten.
  • So that it could be easy to see who is putting in effort and who is not.
• This method was criticised by Pliny the Elder.
• He was of the opinion that the slave gangs were the worst method of organizing production because slaves who worked in gangs were usually chained together by their feet.
• Although all this look harsh yet similar principles of labour control are being enforced in most of the factories in the world today.
• Debt contracts were a type of agreements between the private employees and their workers.
  • In these debt contracts it was claimed that the employees were in debt to their employers and as a result were under tighter control.
  • A large number of families went in to debt bondage in order to survive.

Conditions of Labour

Some industrial establishments in the empire enforced tighter controls over their labour. The condition of labour during Roman empire was as follows:

• The Elder Pliny described conditions in the frankincense factories (officinae) of Alexandria that no amount of supervision was considered sufficient. 
• A seal was put upon the workmen’s clothes, they had to wear a mask or net with a close mesh on their heads and before they left the premises they had to take off all their clothes.
• A famous edict of the early third century tells about Egyptian peasants leaving their villages in order not to engage in agricultural work, since agricultural labour was very disliked job among people. 
• 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 made agreements with workers in the form of debt contracts. Thus, employers could claim that their employees were in debt to them and thus ensure tighter control over them.
• According to an early second century writer, many poor families went into debt bondage in order to survive. In recently discovered letters of Augustine, it was learnt that parents sometimes sold their children into bondage for periods of 25 years.
• Rural indebtedness was even more widespread. For example, in the great Jewish revolt of 66 CE, the revolutionaries destroyed the moneylenders’ bonds to win popular support

Social Hierarchies

• Tacitus, a senator and Roman historian has described the social hierarchy of the early empire.
• To him, in the early Roman Empire Senators were at the top.
• Next were the leading members of equestrian classes.
• Respectable section of the people who were attached to the great houses was next in the social order
• Then was the untidy lower classes and slaves came to the bottom.
• In the early third century, about half of all senators came from Italian families.
• In the fourth century by the time of Constantine I, the Senators and equities had merged in to an expanded aristocracy and at least half of the families were of Eastern or African origin.
• Like Senators, most ‘knights’ were landowners, but unlike Senators many of them involved in business activities like shipping, trade and banking.
• This late Roman aristocracy was very wealthy but was less powerful than purely military elites who came entirely from non-aristocratic background.
• Next in the social hierarchy was the middle class.
  • It consisted of persons working in bureaucracy and army, prosperous merchants and farmers.
• According to Olympiodorus, a historian of the early 5^th century, the aristocracy based in the city of Rome received annual incomes up to 4,000 pounds of gold from their estates.
• They also consumed grain, wine and other produce which, if sold, would have amounted to 1/3 of the income in gold.
  • The income of the households at Rome of the second class was one thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of gold.
• Below the middle class were the vast class collectively known as humiliores.
  • Literally it means ‘lower’.
• They consisted of rural labourers , workers in industrial and mining establishments; migrant workers who worked for the grain and olive harvests and building industry; self employed artisans, who were in better condition than the wage workers; a large number of casual labourers employed in big cities, and finally the slaves.

Monetary system of the late empire

• The monetary system broke down in the late empire because Spanish silver mines were exhausted and the government ran out of stock of the metal to support a stable coinage in silver.
• This is also led to the introduction of a new denomination in gold, the solidus.

Roman bureaucracy of the late Roman Empire

• The bureaucracy of the late Roman Empire both at higher and middle level was affluent as it drew much of its salary in gold and invested in buying land.
• There was corruption in the administration of judiciary and military supplies.
• The extortion by higher bureaucracy and the provincial governors was common.
• But the government intervened repeatedly to stop these forms of corruption.
• Laws were made to put and end to them.
• Historians and other members of intelligentsia denounced such practices.
• The Roman emperors were not free to do anything as they liked.
• By the 4^th century the tradition of Roman law acted as a brake and was actively used to protect civil rights.
• Because of these laws powerful bishops could deal with powerful emperors when they were extremely harsh on civilian population.

Late Antiquity

• Late antiquity is the term used to describe the final, fascinating period in the evolution and break-up of the Roman Empire and refers from the fourth to seventh centuries.
• The period saw considerable changes in cultural, economic, and administrative levels.

Changes effected by the Emperor Diocletian in administration

• The changes in structure of state began with the emperor Diocletian(284-305 CE).
• He cut back the over-expanded empire by leaving territories with little strategic or economic value.
• He fortified frontiers, recognized provincial boundaries and separated civilian from the military functions.
• He granted greater autonomy to the military commanders who became powerful.
  • Constantine consolidated some of these changes and added others of his own.

Innovations of Emperor Constantine I

• The most important innovations of Constantine were in the monetary sphere.
  • He introduced Solidus, a coin weighing 4 ½ gm of pure gold.
  • These coins were minted in millions.
• The other innovation was the creation of a second capital at Constantinople.

Changes in the economic life.

• The late Antiquity period witnessed considerable change in economic life.
• Monetary stability and an expanding population stimulated economic growth.
• Archaeological record shows investments in rural establishments, including industrial installations like oil presses and glass factories, in newer technologies such as screw presses and multiple water-mills.
• The period also saw a revival of the long- distance trade. All this led to strong urban prosperity.

Outcomes due to Changes in State

• These changes led to strong urban prosperity which was visible in the new forms of architecture and an exaggerated sense of luxury.
• Ruling elites became more wealthier and powerful than before.
• Hundreds of papyri from Egypt shows that there was a relatively affluent society where money was used extensively and rural estates generated vast incomes in gold.
• Large parts of near eastern countryside were more developed and densely settled in fifth and sixth centuries than in twentieth century.

Changes in the religious life

• There were significant changes in the religious life.
• Emperor Constantine declared Christianity as official religion of the Roman empire.(4^th century)
• Seventh century was associated with the rise of Islam The traditional religious culture of the classical world, both Greek and Roman, had been polytheist. they believed in Roman\Italian gods like Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and Mars.
• Along with this, they also worshipped numerous Greek and Eastern deities in thousands of temples, shrines and sanctuaries throughout the empire.
• Polytheists had no common name or label to describe themselves.
• The other religions in the empire were Judaism and Islam.
• Judaism was other great religious tradition in the empire. Judaism was not a monolith (society that lacks variety) as there was a great diversity within the Jewish communities of late antiquity.
• Thus, the Christianisation of the empire in fourth and fifth centuries was a gradual and complex process.
• The Religious leaders, powerful bishops who led the Church enforces a rigid set of beliefs and practices to control their followers.
• This created rigid boundaries between different religious communities which were absent in fourth century.

Decline of the Roman Empire

• The Roman Empire was divided in to eastern and western halves in the fourth century C.E.
• During the late antiquity period, the general prosperity was especially marked in the East.
• In the Eastern Roman empire, population was still expanding till the 6^th century, despite the impact of the plague which affected the Mediterranean in the 540s.
• On the other hand in the West, the empire was politically fragmented.
• The East remained united under Emperor Justinian,the reign of Justinian is important for the great prosperity and imperial ambition.
• Justinian recaptured Africa from the Vandals in 533. He also recovered Italy from the Ostrogoths but this left Italy devastated and paved the way for the Lombard invasion. 
• There were wars between Rome and Iran during the 7^th century.
• The East Roman Empire came to be known as Byzantium.
• The expansion of Islam has been called the greatest political revolution in the history of the ancient world.
• Large parts of the Roman and Iranian Empires had fallen into the hands of the Arabs.
• Nomadic tribes in frontier areas such as Goths, Visigoths, Vandals and others attacked the Roman Empire in the west by the 5^th century C.E.
• The Germanic groups established their own kingdoms within the empire.
• With the prompting of the Christian Church, a Holy Roman Empire was formed from some of these kingdoms from the 9^th century CE.

Ncert notes for class 11 history chapter 3: An Empire across Three Continents Timeline

Rulers	Events
284-305 the Tetrarchy; Diocletian main ruler	c. 310 Constantine issues new gold coinage(the solidus) 312 Constantine converts to Christianity 324 Constantine now sole ruler of empire; founds city of Constantinopole
312-37 Constantine	354-430 Life of Augustine, bishop of Hippo
309-79 reign of Shapur II in Iranians	378 Goths inflict crushing defeat on Roman armies at Adrianople 391 Destruction of the Serapeum (temple of Serapis) at Alexandria 410 Sack of Rome by the Visigoths 428 Vandals capture Africa
408-50 Theodosius II (compiler of the famous ‘Theodosian Code’)	434-53 Empire of Attila the Hun 493 Ostrogoths establish kingdom in Italy 533 -50 Recovery of Africa and Italy by Justinian
490-518 Anastasius	541-70 Outbreaks of bubonic plague 568 Lombards invade Italy c. 570 Birth of Muhammad
527-65 Justinian	541-70 Outbreaks of bubonic plague
531-79 reign of Khusro I in Iranians	568 Lombards invade Italy c.570 Birth of Muhammad
610-41 Heraclius	633-42 First and crucial phase of the Arab conquests; Muslim armies take Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq and parts of Iran 661-750 Umayyad dynasty in Syria 698 Arabs capture Carthage 711 Arab invasion of Spain.

Ncert notes for class 11 history chapter 3: An Empire across Three Continents Notes

The early Roman Empire

• Augustus became first emperor of Roman empire and the regime established by him in 27 BCE was called the Principate.
• Though, Augustus was the sole ruler and only real source of authority, but Roman History mentions that he was only the leading citizen (Princeps in Latin), not the absolute ruler.
• This was done to show respect to the Senate (the body which controlled Rome earlier when it was a Republic).
• Senate was a body representing the aristocracy i.e. wealthiest families of Roman and later mainly landowners of Italian descent.
• Most of the Roman histories that survive in Greek and Latin were written by people from Senate background.
• So emperors were judged on their behaviour towards Senate. Emperors were judged worst if they were hostile (bitter) to Senatorial class.
• Emperor and Senate were at the top and next to them was the army.

Features of Roman Army

• The Army which was a paid and professional army where soldiers had to put up twenty five years of service.
• The existence of paid army was a distinctive feature of the Roman Empire.
• The army was the largest single organized body of the Roman Empire.
• It had the power to decide the fate of the emperors.
• Soldiers would constantly agitate for better wages and service conditions which often would turn into mutinies.
• The Senate hated and feared the army, because it was a source of unpredictable violence.
• Thus, it can be said that the emperor, the aristocracy, and the army were the three players in the political history of the empire.

Ncert notes for class 11 history chapter 3: An Empire across Three Continents Summary

• The two most powerful empires
• The two empires that ruled between the birth of Christ and 630 CE were Rome and Iran.
• They ruled over most part of Europe, North Africa and Middle East.
• Roman Empire
• The Roman Empire can broadly divide into two phases-Early Roman Empire and Late Roman Empire.
• The early Roman Empire
• Augustus became first emperor of Roman empire and the regime established by him in 27 BCE was called the Principate.
• Though, Augustus was the sole ruler and only real source of authority, but Roman History mentions that he was only the leading citizen (Princeps in Latin), not the absolute ruler.
• Features of Roman Army
• The Army which was a paid and professional army where soldiers had to put up twenty five years of service.
• The army was the largest single organized body of the Roman Empire.
• Succession to the throne in the Roman Empire
• Family descent, either natural or adoptive, was the decisive factor in the succession to the throne in the Roman Empire.
• The Augustan age
• It brought peace after decades of internal strife and centuries of military conquest.
• External warfare was also much less common in the first two centuries.
• Extension of Roman Direct Rule
• The gradual extension of Roman direct rule was accomplished by absorbing a whole series of dependent kingdoms from Near East into Roman provincial territory.
• Administration of the vast Roman Empire
• The vast Roman Empire was controlled and administered with the help of urbanization.
• All the territories of the empire were organized into provinces and were subject to taxation.
• Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch that lined the shores of Mediterranean were the foundations of the imperial system.
• Cities of Roman Empire
• According to Romans, a city was an urban Centre with its own magistrates, city council and a territory containing villages which were under its jurisdiction.
• Advantages of living in the city of Roman Empire
• It might be better provided for during food shortages and famines in the country side.
• The cities had public baths and the urban population enjoyed a higher level of entertainment.
• The Third- Century Crisis
• The first and second centuries were a period of peace, prosperity and economic expansion. But the third century was a period of crisis.
• From 233 to 280 saw repeated invasions.
• The quick succession of emperors (25 emperors in 47 years) is a sign of strain faced by the empire in the 3rd century. 
• Early Roman Society 
• Roman empire was a group of territories and cultures that were mainly bound together by a common system of government.
• Structure of Family
• There was widespread prevalence of nuclear family.
• Adult sons did not live with their parents and it was exceptional for adult brothers to share a common household.
• Status of women
• The women enjoyed considerable legal rights in owning and managing property.
• They were married off in the late teens or early thirties.
• Literacy
• The rate of literacy varied greatly between different parts of the empire.
• Literacy was widespread in army officers, estate managers and soldiers
• Cultural diversity
• It has vast diversity of: religious cults and local deities, plurality of languages spoken, the styles of dress and costume,the food people ate, their patterns of settlement.
• Language
• Aramaic was dominant language group of the Near East (at least West of the Euphrates), Coptic was spoken in Egypt, Punci and Berber were spoken in North Africa and Celtic was spoken in Spain and the North-West.
• Olive Oil Economy
• Olive oil was a vast commercial enterprise that reached its peak in the years of 140-160 AD.
• It was mainly carried in a container called Dressel 20.
• Controlling of Workers in the Roman Empire
• Slavery was an institution deeply rooted in Ancient Roman world.
• Though slavery was institutionalized and was greatly used as labour but it was not always slaves that performed labour in the Roman economy.
• Conditions of Labour
• A seal was put upon the workmen’s clothes, they had to wear a mask or net with a close mesh on their heads and before they left the premises they had to take off all their clothes.
• Social Hierarchies
• In the early Roman Empire Senators were at the top, Next were the leading members of equestrian classes, Respectable section was next in the social order, lower classes and slaves came to the bottom.
• Roman bureaucracy of the late Roman Empire
• The bureaucracy of the late Roman Empire both at higher and middle level was affluent as it drew much of its salary in gold and invested in buying land.
• Late Antiquity
• Late antiquity is the term used to describe the final, fascinating period in the evolution and break-up of the Roman Empire and refers from the fourth to seventh centuries.
• Innovations of Emperor Constantine I
• The most important innovations of Constantine were in the monetary sphere.
  • He introduced Solidus, a coin weighing 4 ½ gm of pure gold.
• The other innovation was the creation of a second capital at Constantinople.
• Changes in the economic life.
• Monetary stability and an expanding population stimulated economic growth, investments in rural establishments, including industrial installations like oil presses and glass factories, in newer technologies such as screw presses and multiple water-mills.
• Changes in the religious life
• Emperor Constantine declared Christianity as official religion of the Roman empire.(4^th century)
• Seventh century was associated with the rise of Islam The traditional religious culture of the classical world, both Greek and Roman, had been polytheist. they believed in Roman\Italian gods like Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and Mars.
• Decline of the Roman Empire
• The Roman Empire was divided in to eastern and western halves in the fourth century C.E.
• There were wars between Rome and Iran during the 7^th century.
• The expansion of Islam has been called the greatest political revolution in the history of the ancient world.

Ncert notes for class 11 history chapter 3: An Empire across Three Continents Points to be remember

Points To Be Remember

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Ncert notes for class 11 history chapter 3: An Empire across Three Continents FAQs

Ques. What do you understand by An Empire across Three Continents ?

Ans. The Roman empire covered a vast stretch of territory that included most of Europe, Fertile Crescent and North Africa. In this chapter we shall discuss how this empire was organised, the political forces and the social groups of that time. The empire was rich in local cultures and language and women had a strong legal position. At the same time the economy was run on slave labour which denied freedom to substantial number of persons. From the fifth century, the empire fell apart in the West, but remained prosperous in its Eastern part.