Rome

            
             People often think of Rome as simply a country of romance; the past, however, explains a different truth. We often examine the past not only out of curiosity, but also as a blueprint of time. The following is guide to Rome's past, as Rome had many different intriguing parts of civilization: agriculture, occupation specialization, class stratification, state government, urbanism and long distance trade are traits that are apparent in every civilization. Some study this for hobby; most study it as a guide to what we should do in the future. .
             Agriculture .
             About ninety percent of the people in the Roman world lived by farming, as they understood the need to rotate crops. In fertile valleys north and south of Rome, farmers grew such grains as wheat, rye, and barley. However, they created their surplus with grapes and olives. Olives or olive oils were in great demand because people used it from flavoring to oil in lamps. They left half of every field unplanted each year so the soil would be enriched for a crop the next year. Few small landowners could afford that practice. On hillsides and in less fertile soil, they planted olive groves, vineyards, and grazed sheep and goats. Yet Roman farmers also raised pigs, cattle, and poultry. As the empire expanded, farms in Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa supplied Rome with many agricultural products (they worked on small plots). It is noted that the farming was left to the men and the women were not involved in the labor, though women were involved in overseeing the slave labor later. .
             Rome introduced the practice of viticulture, the process of cutting grapevines down by fifty percent. Before vines were planted, the land had to be ploughed, dug, and prepared for irrigation. The vines were then planted in trenches and supported by small trees. The vineyard was dug over three times, then irrigated, and manured. A normal vineyard would be around sixty acres, and would be worked by sixteen slaves.