The Roman Empire covered a vast stretch of territory that included most of Europe as we know it today and a large part of the Fertile Crescent and North Africa. The Roman empire embraced a wealth of local cultures and languages; that women had a stronger legal position then than they do in many countries today; but also that much of the economy was run on slave labour, denying freedom to substantial numbers of persons. From the fifth century onwards, the empire fell apart in the west but remained intact and exceptionally prosperous in its eastern half. Roman historians have a rich collection of sources to go on, which we can broadly divide into three groups: (a) texts, (b) documents and (c) material remains. Textual sources include letters, speeches, sermons, laws, and histories of the period written by contemporaries. These were usually called ‘Annals’ because the narrative was constructed on a year-by-year basis. Documentary sources include mainly inscriptions and papyri. Inscriptions were usually cut on stone, so a large number survive, in both Greek and Latin. The ‘papyrus’ was a reedlike plant that grew along the banks of the Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce sheets of writing material that was very widely used in everyday life. Thousands of contracts, accounts, letters and official documents survive ‘on papyrus’ and have been published by scholars who are called ‘papyrologists’. Material remains include a very wide assortment of items that mainly archaeologists discover (for example, through excavation and field survey), for example, buildings, monuments and other kinds of structures, pottery, coins, mosaics, even entire landscapes. Each of these sources can only tell us just so much about the past, and combining them can be a fruitful exercise, but how well this is done depends on the historian’s skill!

11)

Which of these statements is NOT true?

SSC CGL 2020

A)

Texts, documents and material remains were the main sources for the historians.

B)

Inscriptions were carved in Greek and Latin.

C)

Archaeologists make discoveries through excavations.

D)

The Roman empire flourished longer in the west.

12)

Who were papyrologists?

SSC CGL 2020

A)

People who processed papyrus into sheets

B)

Scholars who published documents

C)

Farmers who cultivated papyrus

D)

People who surveyed the reed like plants along the Nile

13)

Much of the economy in the Roman empire was run on:

SSC CGL 2020

A)

slave labour

B)

scholars

C)

women

D)

archaeologists

14)

Documentary sources of the history of Roman empire include:

SSC CGL 2020

A)

pottery

B)

inscriptions

C)

sermons

D)

landscapes

15)

Which of these are NOT material remains?

SSC CGL 2020

A)

Mosaics

B)

Monuments

C)

Coins

D)

Annals

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

 The drainage systems of India are mainly controlled by the broad relief features of the subcontinent. Accordingly, the Indian rivers are divided into two major groups: the Himalayan rivers; and the Peninsular rivers. Apart from originating from the two major physiographic regions of India, the Himalayan and the Peninsular rivers are different from each other in many ways. Most of the Himalayan rivers are perennial. It means that they have water throughout the year. These rivers receive water from rain as well as from melted snow from the lofty mountains. The major Himalayan rivers are the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. These rivers are long, and are joined by many large and important tributaries. A river along with its tributaries may be called a river system. The two major Himalayan rivers, the Indus and the Brahmaputra originate from the north of the mountain ranges. They cut through the mountains making gorges in the upper course. The perennial Himalayan rivers have long courses from their source to the sea. They perform intensive erosional activity in their upper courses and carry huge loads of silt and sand with their swift current. In the middle and the lower courses, these rivers form meanders, oxbow lakes, levees and many other depositional features in their floodplains as their speed slackens. They also have well developed deltas. A large number of the Peninsular rivers like the Godavari, Kaveri and Krishna are seasonal, as their flow is dependent on rainfall. During the dry season when it doesn’t rain, even the large rivers have reduced flow of water in their channels. The Peninsular rivers have shorter and shallower courses as compared to their Himalayan counterparts. However, some of them originate in the central highlands and flow towards the west. Most of the rivers of peninsular India originate in the Western Ghats and flow towards the Bay of Bengal.

16)

The word ‘seasonal’ rivers in the passage means:

SSC CGL 2020

A)

rivers that never go dry in any season

B)

rivers whose flow is dependent upon rainfall

C)

rivers that change their course in every season

D)

rivers that flood in every season

17)

Which of these is NOT a Himalayan river?

SSC CGL 2020

A)

Indus

B)

Godavari

C)

Ganga

D)

Brahmaputra

18)

Himalayan rivers are never dry because they:

SSC CGL 2020

A)

have a shorter and shallower course

B)

are dependent on rainfall only

C)

are fed by glaciers and rainfall

D)

originate in the Western Ghats

19)

The drainage systems of India are controlled by:

SSC CGL 2020

A)

relief features

B)

erosional activity

C)

tributaries of rivers

D)

depositional features

20)

‘Slackened speed’ suggests:

SSC CGL 2020

A)

average speed

B)

tremendous speed

C)

maximum speed

D)

reduced speed