HI101 Lecture Notes - Crisis Of The Third Century, Civitas, Imperial House Of Japan
Document Summary
A lot of the major cities are located on rivers. Early kingdoms and provinces were also bounded by rivers. Easiest way to mark boundaries between one state and the other. So large that orders to be known from one side to the other: by ship, took a number of weeks, never 100% guaranteed the order would be received. Roads were built: so the army could travel. If the empire was a honeycomb, the civitas was a cell. The army was the biggest budget unit for the empire. Troops would be stripped from one area to another. To support the army was a large reason. States were larger: they had to much power. Could buy their way out of taxation. Bribe officials if they were breaking the law. Persians, rhine frontier, "barbarians", tribal units: persians and the romans fought for centuries, perpetual war. 5% precious metal: silver coins were made out of bronze, coated in silver.
