Ancient Roman Economy

Warm-up Get out your Bartering worksheet from yesterday and continue to work on it. You can work independently and don’t need to move to work with the person you worked with yesterday. Finish as much as you can! Also, get out your Roman Economic HW

What was the Roman economy primarily based on? agriculture 2. What social class seems to have been a huge part of the Roman Empire’s economy? Slaves id nearly all the work! They worked in the fields and mines, practiced medicine, tutored children, ran stores and delivered mail. 3. Why didn’t farmers have much reason to increase their grain production? More crops = more taxes (and the extra crops went to feed the poor and the army)

What was a major factor in the Roman Empire wanting to expand their land territory? More territory meant more farmland to grow more grain and feed their citizens. 5. What imports impacted the quality of life for Romans? China: silk Africa: ivory and wild animals India: cotton and spices Spain and Britain: metals Germany: amber gems 6. What was the largest industry in the Roman Empire? mining 7. How did this industry help the Empire? It provided stones for building projects and metal for tools and weapons.

What other small industries were there in the Roman Empire? Pottery, glassware, weapons, tools, jewelry, and textiles (cloth or woven fabric) Romans traded on both land and sea. Their roads allowed for fast movement of goods, people and ideas. What was challenging about trading over land? Transporting large loads by land was slow and expensive. It could become dangerous because of raids and bad weather. What were the positives of trading over water? Shipping goods over water was cheaper and easier than travel by land (especially after Augustus consolidated the navy and got rid of the pirates). 12. The Romans had one of the world’s most developed system of coinage. What was put on coins was used to sell ideas about the Empire to its people.