Prime Time 2, Coursebook

Roman money (Unit 7) Reading: It’s all about the money a) Read part one of the interview about money in ancient Rome. Interviewer: Hello again Professor Barker. Professor: Hello. Interviewer: Last time we talked about school life in ancient Rome. Today we’re going to talk about money in ancient Rome. Professor: Yes, that’s right. Interviewer: So, what did the Roman people pay with? Professor: The Romans had different coins made from bronze, silver and gold. Of course, the gold ones were worth the most. Interviewer: I see. What about the first kind of Roman coins. What did they look like? Professor: Well, throughout the centuries of the Roman Empire, there were lots of different coins. However, the first type of coin in ancient Rome was made of copper and its shape wasn’t round, but square. Interviewer: Really? How do we know that? Professor: Over the last centuries, archeologists have found many coins from Roman times. Interviewer: So there were square coins first. And what about round coins? Professor: The first type of round Roman coins is called ‘aes grave’. It means ‘heavy bronze’ because they were made of bronze and they were very heavy. One coin weighed about 300 grams. Interviewer: Interesting. What other important information is there about Roman money? … b) Match the sentence halves. 1. The Romans means ‘heavy bronze’ in English. 2. ‘Aes grave’ round at the beginning, but they were square. 3. Coins weren’t the Roman Empire had many different types of coins. 4. Throughout time 1 had coins made of different types of metal; for example, gold. c) Listen to part two of the interview. d) Listen again and take notes. Write down three facts from the interview. 1. 273hz3 Info 100 BC = 100 years “ B efore C hrist” 100 AD = 100 years after the birth of Christ (AD means “ A nno D omini” in Latin = in the year of our Lord) i 1 2.29 8qz49x 132 16 Unit Fact detectives one hundred and thirty-two Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv