AGRS 10B Quiz 11

• What does Trajan's Column show?

  Spiraling relief sculptures "narrate" Trajan's campaigns in Dacia (modern Romania)
• The Palatine Hill

  A zone for imperial residences
• Why was the Flavian Amphitheater built?

  Built by Vespasian to make area of Golden House public again.
• Estimates of population of Rome in Imperial Period:

  1 million people
• True or False: Rome was likely the largest city on the planet

  True
• What was required for the population of Rome?

  Massive amounts of food
• What were the major sources of grain in feeding Rome?

  North Africa and Egypt
• What was "Annona"?

  Grain provided by state to 200,000 people
• Was there enough grain to feed another person?

  Yes, sustenance for 400,000 inhabitants
• What were the grains calculated at?


  Calculated at 30 million gallon of grain a year
• Was "Annona" targeted towards poorest?

  No, some signs of inheritance of right and ability to sell it
• Who was excluded from receiving "Annona"?

  Slaves and freedmen excluded by law
• What else instead of grain was given away?

  The olive oil vessels of Monte Testaccio
• What did one calculation represent in terms of oil?

  170,000 tons of olive oil imported between c. 50 BCE and 250 CE)
• What were some stable isotope studies?

  Measuring carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen
• What were some conclusions after studying Rome's isotope?

  Found that diets were varied, generally reliant on grains (wheat, barley), and geography matters.
• Why does geography matter in terms of Rome's isotope levels?

  A community near river had consumed freshwater fish, community near sea had evidence of higher marine fish consumption
• What were some other examples of invisible Romans?

  Non-human animals
• What did isotope studies indicate in terms of domesticated animals?

  Indicate consumption of domesticated animals (especially sheep and pg meat)
• What were exotic animals imported for?

  Exotic animals imported across imperial networks for display (and killing)
• What was another form of invisible Romans (to the naked eye)?

  Diseases (viral, bacteria, parasites)
• In order to keep their population at 1 million, what was likely of Romans?

  Likely required 20,000 new Romans every year
• What were there constant levels of in Rome to keep the population up?

  Constant high levels of migration
• What was another form of keeping the population rate high in Rome?

  Some unfree: enslaved people were brought to Rome
• Ancient DNA

  Sequencing from DNA fragments preserved in bone (new technology, less than 20 years old)
• What was one way to determine mix of population?

  Proximity to DNA of other ancient people buried in places in earlier periods
• What is another way to determine mix of population?

  Proximity to DNA of modern inhabitants of particular places
• Did the comparator populations show races?

  No, do not show us races or exactly what people would have looked like.
• What was a Roman custom in terms of slaves?


  If an enslaved person killed their enslaver, every enslaved person in household was executed
• What people were prominent in Italian cities during Roman period?

  Freedmen were prominent in Italian cities during Roman period
• What were freedmen involved in?

  Freedmen were involved in commerce
• What was also key to imperial administration?

  Freedmen of emperor functioned as state bureaucracy, especially in early empire.
• Who was Marcus Aurelius?

  Emperor in 161, but not alone
• Who was Lucius Verus?

  Adoptive brother also was granted imperium and tribunician power power
• After facing Parthian threat, what did Lucius Verus do?

  Waged war in Mesopotamia in 165
• Who was the most famous doctor of the Roman Empire?

  Galen
• What were the symptoms of this new plague?

  skin blisters, black diarrhea, stomach upset, internal ulcers
• What did the census figures from Egypt depict about Villages in the Nile Delta?

  lost between 33 and 95 percent of inhabitants in mid-late 160s
• How did the Village of Soknopaiou Nesos decrease in population?

  From 244 men to 169 men in a year
• What was Apollo the god of?

  Oracles and healing