Many different things were grown in the Roman countryside, but the most commonly grown crops reflected their diet. This included grains such as wheat, barley, and spelt, which were used for making bread, as well as grapes for wine and olives for oil.

Rome was easier to unite than Greece because it had less mountainous terrain.

Because of its geography, Italy was much easier to unify than Greece. Unlike Greece, Italy is not broken up into small, isolated valleys. In addi- tion, the Apennine Mountains, which run like a backbone down the length of the Italian peninsula, are less rugged than the mountains of Greece.

Benefits of Rome’s location Rome’s location offered several advantages. One of the advantages was the protection of the hills and mountains found in the peninsula. Two major group of mountains found in Italy were very important on the development of ancient Rome.

What were the advantages of Rome’s location? The hills to protect the people from floods and attacks and the Tiber River for water.

Romans got some of their alphabet from the Etruscans. The Romans identified their gods with those of the Greeks. The adopted Greek heroes and legends as their own. They obtained many types of weapons from other countries.

The Apennine Mountains run north to south along the length of the Italian peninsula. The Apennine Mountains made it difficult for people to cross from one side of the peninsula to the other. These two mountain chains helped to protect Rome from outside attacks.

Hannibal (or Hannibal Barca) was the leader of the military forces of Carthage that fought against Rome in the Second Punic War. Hannibal, who almost overpowered Rome, was considered Rome’s greatest enemy.

The Alps and Apennine mountain ranges were natural barriers that helped protect Rome from invasions and provided strategic locations during war time. The Alps provided a roadblock that forced invaders to move through narrow passages allowing Romans time to prepare and attack.

Rome Divides into Two In 285 AD, Emperor Diocletian decided that the Roman Empire was too big to manage. He divided the Empire into two parts, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. Over the next hundred years or so, Rome would be reunited, split into three parts, and split in two again.

The consul

In the early stages of Rome, the plebeians had few rights. All of the government and religious positions were held by patricians. The patricians made the laws, owned the lands, and were the generals over the army. Plebeians couldn’t hold public office and were not even allowed to marry patricians.

Plebeians were average working citizens of Rome – farmers, bakers, builders or craftsmen – who worked hard to support their families and pay their taxes. Unlike the more privileged classes, most plebeians could not write and therefore they could not record and preserve their experiences.

Plebeians were the working class of Ancient Rome. They typically lived in three-or-four story apartment houses called insulae. The insulae were often crowded where two families would have to share a single room. There were no bathrooms in the apartments, so a pot was often used.

In British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand and South African English, the back-formation pleb, along with the more recently derived adjectival form plebby, is used as a derogatory term for someone considered unsophisticated or uncultured.

A Plebeians’ breakfast mostly consisted of dry bread dipped into wine. Rarely there were raisins or olives in the bread. Their dinner mainly consisted of porridge made of vegetables, or chunks of fish for the main entree. Asparagus was usually the side with a fig for dessert.