Ancient Rome

The civilization of ancient Rome was at one time the mightiest on the planet. Yet it, too, like any other civilization, began as one small settlement.

In 753 B.C., the city of Rome was founded, on the Tiber River, in what is now central Italy. Some people say that the twins Romulus and Remus fought each other for the right to found a capital city and that Romulus, who won the fight by killing his brother, founded Rome. Other people say that the settlers just called it Rome. Whatever the true story is, it is lost to history.

Rome soon attracted many people, and the city grew larger, both because the large city attracted people in search of adventure and wealth and because Roman warriors captured people from nearby settlements and brought them home to Rome.

The leaders of Rome at this time were kings. The last king of Rome was Tarquin the Proud.

In the early 6th Century B.C., Rome became a republic. This meant that a group of people, called the Senate, made the laws for the people of Rome. (And the civilization this time had grown quite a bit, including colonies.)

An early struggle developed between ">patricians and plebeians (common people) over laws. The result was the Twelve Tables, a set of laws carved into rock so everyone would know what the laws were and to whom they applied.

Journal/Reflection :

What did you learn from the reading? What parts were the most interesting to you and why?

The Roman Empire

War as a Way of Life

Rome's neighbors both had things the Romans wanted and wanted things the Romans had. This resulted in many wars.

Some of the most famous of these early wars were between Rome and Carthage. They were three in all, and they were called the Punic Wars (from the Roman word for Carthaginian).

Carthage at that time was the capital of a large civilization that had cities and colonies all around the Mediterranean Sea. The first dispute arose over Sicily, an island off the coast of Roman territory. The result was the First Punic War, won by Rome.

One of the results of this war was the Roman invention of the corvus, a device that would change the course of history. The corvus was a wooden plank that was carried on a ship and used to lock two ships together so soldiers could cross from one ship to another and fight hand-to-hand. The Carthaginians were better sailors and bigger ships, but a Roman ship would get close to a Carthaginian ship and then lock the two together, allowing Roman soldiers (who were better at hand-to-hand fighting) to turn a naval battle into a land battle.

The Carthaginian commander at that time was Hamilcar Barca, whose son Hannibal became one of the most famous generals in human history.

Journal/ Reflection :

What did you learn from the reading? What parts were the most interesting to you about the Roman Empire and why? (5-7 sentences)

The Fall of Rome

Caesar and Civil Wars

The three members of the Triumvirate soon became jealous of each other and fought for control of the government. The winner was Julius Caesar, who was such a champion of the people and of the army that he was made dictator for life by the Senate.

Jealous of his popularity and afraid of his ambitions, a group of Senators (including Marcus Brutus, whom Caesar thought was one of his best friends) killed Caesar in 44 B.C.

In the power struggle that followed, three men took the reins of government: Marc Antony, Caesar's right-hand man; Octavian, Caesar's step-son; and Lepidus, an important leader. This was the Second Triumvirate.

This, too, resulted in a power struggle, with Octavian defeating Marc Antony and declaring himself emperor. He renamed himself Augustus Caesar, and the Roman Empire was born.

Roman conquests followed after this for hundreds of years. The main reason was that the Roman soldiers were better-trained, better-equipped, and better-fed than their opponents. Germanic tribe after Germanic tribe soon found themselves conquered, invited to join the Empire, and even serving in the Imperial Army. The borders of Roman civilization soon stretched from Scotland to the Middle East.

Empire's Rise and Fall

A succession of emperors did both great and terrible things (often at the same time). Some of the most important emperors were these:

Trajan, who built great structures in and around Rome, including a huge Forum and a great wall along the Rhine River, in what is now Germany;
Hadrian, who built great structures in Rome and elsewhere, including Hadrian's Wall, a massive stone wall that divided Roman Britain from Scotland.
Marcus Aurelius, who won great victories over the German tribes and also became known as a philosopher-king for his famous writings;
Constantine, who became known for introducing tolerance of Christianity tfor moving the capital of the empire to Constantinople, in what is now Turkey. (He named this city after himself.)

Despite these successes, the Roman Empire soon grew too large to control. More and more generals lost more and more territory to Germanic tribes and other invaders. Rome itself was sacked by Alaric and the Visigoths in A.D. 410. The traditional date of the Fall of the Western Empire is 476, when Odoacer the Barbarian defeated the Roman legions defending their capital and installed himself on the throne of the empire.

(The Empire had, by this time, been divided into two parts: Eastern and Western. The Eastern part, with its capital at Constantinople, survived for hundreds of years after the "fall" of the Western part. This part of the Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire.)

Journal/ Reflection:

What do you think Rome could have done to prohibit its fall? If you were the leader of Rome, what would you have done differently?

Answer using 10 sentences

Ancient Rome Videos

Questions and Answers

Introduction to Ancient Rome Song

1.Who is Caesar and how did he die?

-He is a dictator of Rome. Caesar got murdered by emperors.

-Answers

Life of Roman Soldiers

1.What year did the Roman Empire become successful?

-15 C.E.

2.Describe the life of Servius Felix.

-Enlisted as a soldier and is a son of a poor farmer.

3.How long is the service of a Roman Soldier?

-25 years

4.What tools do soldiers have to carry to build a camp?

-spade, saw, pickaxe, and basket

5. What is the leader of a "century" called?

- “Centurion”

The Colosseum and Roman Sea Battles

1.What happens in the Colosseum?

- gladiators duel, animals fight, chariots race around the arena, and staged naval battles

2.Why do they flood it?

-they flood the Colosseum to be able to stage naval battles

3.What is the Colosseum a symbol of?

-Rome’s Power in the Ancient World

4.How was the grand opening of the Colosseum celebrated and who funded it?

-100 days of Games also including parades, musical performances, public executions, and gladiatorial combat.

-The emperor funded it.

5.What are possible ways to flood the arena?

-a giant aqueduct was inverted into the arena

-the same system of chambers used to drain the arena were also used to fill it

The Fall of Rome

1.What things were the Romans good at?

-technology and art

2.How did the Golden Lions make people bow to them?

-lions would roar

3.Who went and rebelled against the Romans?

-Alexios

-Constantinople

4.How did the Roman Empire end?

-Crusaders conquered a huge part of the empire

5.How was the Byzantine Empire born?

-Scholars renamed the group Byzantines .