Year 9
Unit 3 - Ancient Rome
Lesson 1 - The founding of Rome - myth and reality
In ancient times, many different peoples occupied much of the land we now call Italy. Almost 3000 years ago, a town began to develop on the banks of the river Tiber. This city was Rome and it was to grow gradually in importance until it eventually became the centre of a powerful empire. Ancient Rome was to take over from Greece as the most powerful military and cultural force in Europe. Although the Romans easily conquered the Greeks; they admired and copied many aspects of Greek culture. The Romans, in turn, had a powerful influence on the development of the later culture of Europe. The founding of Rome - the myth The origins of Rome are most famously associated with the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were brought up by a friendly wolf. |
‘Long ago and in a faraway country lived Venus. She was the goddess of love and beauty. She had a son called Aeneas. She was very proud of him. He had fought bravely in defending his city, Troy, against its enemies. But when Troy was captured, Aeneas had to flee for his life. He made a long voyage by land and sea and eventually reached the beautiful plain of Latium in Italy. Here he married the King's daughter and founded a kingdom of his own.
Many, many years passed, and the kingdom entered troubled times. Numitor, one of Aeneas' descendants, was now King. His daughter Rhea had just given birth to twin sons called Romulus and Remus. Their father was Mars, the mighty god of war. It should have been a happy time for Numitor. But his wicked brother Amulius wanted his kingdom and drove Numitor out of the country. Amulius ordered his soldiers to throw the babies Romulus and Remus into the River Tiber. But the babies didn't drown. They were washed ashore. A she-wolf heard them crying, took them away and cared for them alongside her cubs. Later they were discovered by a shepherd, who carried the boys home and looked after them as if they were his own children.
The boys grew up strong and brave, and with their help their grandfather, King Numitor, won back his throne from his brother. Romulus then began to build a city of his own. He chose a place where the River Tiber could be crossed, surrounded by seven hills overlooking the river. But Remus made fun of him and the city he was building. The twins fought each other and Remus was killed. But Romulus carried on building. And when he finished his city he became its first King. The city was called Rome. After reigning as King for forty years, Romulus mysteriously disappeared in the darkness of a great storm and became a god.'
The rule of the kings
For hundreds of years, Rome and the Latins were dominated by a people who lived both to the north and south of them. These people were known as the Etruscans and they were much more powerful than the Latins. For this reason all the kings of Rome were Etruscans. Rome became larger and much stronger under these kings; but many Latins hated having their city ruled by outsiders. The last king was a ruler called Tarquin the Proud or in Latin (and much more interestingly) Tarquinius Superbus. By this time the Etruscans were less powerful than they once had been and finally, in 509 BC, the Latins succeeded in driving Tarquin from their city. The people of Rome disliked Tarquin so much, that they vowed never again to have a king rule their city. They decided therefore to set up a government of the people, which they referred to as a republic.
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Across the Mediterranean Sea, just a few hundred miles away, lay the great North African city of Carthage which had been founded many hundreds of years earlier by a people called the Phoenicians. You can see the Carthaginian Empire marked on the map below.
The Carthaginians traded all over the Mediterranean. The Romans were trying to expand their trade, but the Carthaginians treated the Roman traders as pirates and sank their ships. The Carthaginians also controlled much of Sicily which was a fertile corn-growing area. It was only a matter of time before Rome went to war against Carthage. The Romans referred to these wars as the Punic Wars. Punic was the Latin word for Phoenician. 1. Watch the short video opposite. Why were the Carthaginians such an important power in the ancient world? |
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The second Punic war, 218 - 201 B.C.
The second war was dominated by the deeds of a famous Carthaginian general named Hannibal. Since he was a boy, Hannibal dreamt of punishing Rome for its harsh treatment of Carthage in the first Punic war. Now, as leader of the Carthaginian army in Spain, he planned a daring attack on Italy and against the city of Rome itself. Hannibal got together a great army of 100,000 men and 37 war elephants. But how could he successfully attack a heavily defended republic such as that of Rome? 3. Look at the diagram below. What problems did Hannibal face in trying to attack Rome? |
The Alps
Hannibal could not march along the well guarded coast road to Italy. So he took the only possible route, over the Alps, even though it was winter. It was a treacherous path. Neither the soldiers nor the animals could tell where they were treading in the deep snow. Those that stepped wide of the path fell down the cliff to certain death. Hannibal got his soldiers to cut a path out of the snow. After a day the path was wide enough for the packhorses and animals. It took three days to get the elephants through. Hannibal had started his campaign with 100,000 soldiers; 60,000 climbed the Alps with him, but only 23,000 reached Italy. 4. Do you think that Hannibal's crossing of the Alps was a success? Explain your answer. |
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Have a close look at the map of the Roman Republic. All the place names are in Latin, as the Romans would have called them. Most of the names are similar or even identical to the names we are familiar with today. This shows the long term influence of Rome and the Latin language. But there are some names that are very different to today.
Activity 1 See if you can find out what the Romans called: Cadiz, Lyon, Marseille, the Black Sea and the River Rhine. Do you know what the Romans called Nyon? Rome's territories grew in size as a result of successful wars. But wars and conquests brought their own set of problems. |
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Recently the BBC produced a dramatic reconstruction of the life of Julius Caesar. (See left)
Activity 2 Watch the first 15 minutes of the film. This deals with Julius Caesar's military successes in Gaul and his decision to return to Rome to 'reform' the republic. How accurate (reliable) do you think this film is likely to be? Try to think of two reasons why it is likely to be quite accurate but also two reasons why it might not be completely accurate. |
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'On 15 March, 44 BC Caesar was due to speak to the Senate. Despite feeling so ill that morning that he almost could not attend, Caesar entered the Senate house at the time appointed. As was usual, all the senators rose to their feet as a mark of respect for their leader. While this was happening, Brutus and some other senators took up positions behind Caesar's chair, while others approached as if to greet him. Suddenly, a senator named Cimbar grabbed Caesar's robe, while Casca stabbed him in the neck. Most senators looked on in shock while the rest of the assassins suddenly produced knives from under their cloaks. The assassins surrounded Caesar. They pushed him this way and that and began to stab him furiously. Brutus, whom Caesar had loved as a son, stabbed him in the groin. The dying Caesar was then pushed against the statue of his old rival, Pompey, which was soon covered in blood. Caesar had received a total of twenty-three stab wounds.'
Source: Greek writer, historian and philosopher, Plutarch writing in the century after the death of Caesar. He is considered to be reliable source of information. |
At the height of its Empire, Rome became one of the largest, most beautiful and most powerful cities in the world. It contained up to one million people, which was a huge population by the standards of the time. It also contained numerous magnificent public buildings. Most of these were constructed during the early period of the empire. Augustus, the first emperor, boasted that he found Rome a city of bricks and changed it into one of marble.
1. Arriving in Rome Many visitors to Rome arrived by boat at the port of Ostia. To most visitors it would have been busier than anything they will have experienced before. The writer Aelius Aristides described the scene in the 2nd century AD: ‘So many merchant ships arrive in Rome with cargoes from everywhere, at all times of the year that the city seems like the worlds warehouse. The arrival and departure of ships never stops -it's amazing that the sea, not to mention the harbour, is big enough for all these merchant ships’. |
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2. Aqueducts, public baths and toilets
As Romans of old walked through some of their streets, they occasionally passed under high stone arches which supported what might appear to be bridges. These were not bridges, but aqueducts. They carried on them thick, cement pipes which brought water from the hills into the city. There were at least nine of these remarkable structures running through ancient Rome. The longest was over sixty kilometres long and all the aqueducts combined are thought to have brought more than half a million litres of water per minute into the city. When the water reached the city, it was stored first in large tanks called cisterns. |
'I live above a public bath house. It is dreadful. We have the muscle-men doing their physical exercises and grunting and groaning as they swing heavy weights around. I can also hear the slap-slap of the lazy ones taking a cheap massage. Then there is the fellow who loves to sing in the bath, as well as the ones who make great splashes as they jump noisily into the water. '
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4. The Colosseum
At the edge of the Forum stood a public building next to a huge statue, called "Colossus". Therefore, this building was referred to as the Colosseum, though its official name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, as it had been the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who had ordered its construction. This was the largest amphitheatre in all of the Roman Empire. Like all amphitheatres, it was the venue for public "games", which usually took the form of gladiators fighting each other - and wild animals - to the death. The Colosseum is another reminder of the extraordinary building skills of the ancient Romans. It could hold 50,000 people. All of these could be evacuated in a little over three minutes through eighty separate exits called vomitoria. The floor of the amphitheatre could be flooded with water, so that even mock sea battles took place to entertain the crowd. A huge cloth canopy, suspended on poles from the tops of the walls, was used to shade spectators and performers from the heat of the sun. This reconstruction gives you a good idea of how it worked. |
5. The Circus Maximus
Not far from the Colosseum was an even larger sporting venue. This was the Circus Maximus, in which up to 250,000 people were known to attend chariot racing - ancient Rome's most popular sport. Everybody from the Emperor to the poorest Roman might attend the races (though of course the Emperor and other important people would have special track-side seats). Unlike in the Colosseum, women and men were allowed to sit together, so it was a good place to go on the ancient Roman equivalent of a ‘date’. But chariot racing could sometimes be rather dangerous - and not only for the charioteers. Different teams of charioteers had fanatical supporters who sometimes fought each other after the races. Accidents could also happen. The worst accident took place during the reign of the Emperor Nero, when a huge section of the tiers of timber seating collapsed. It was said that 1,112 people died in the accident and in the stampede for the exits which followed. |
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Download a copy of the worksheet here
Next imagine you and a friend are visitors to ancient Rome in 2nd century AD. Using your completed table to help you, describe a day’s visit to the city. One of you should be an optimist and write a positive account about what you have seen. The other should be pessimist who can only see the negative. Afterwards you should compare your accounts and prepare a role play of your city break in Rome! The example on the right should give you some ideas about what to say, what you might argue about and how you might dress and add props. |
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Pompeii was a prosperous Roman town of about 20,000 people. Surrounded by strong walls, it contained shops and bars, public baths and temples, houses and beautiful villas. Its streets were typically Roman - straight and well paved. At the heart of the town was the Forum - a great open space which was kept free from carts and other wheeled traffic. Near one corner of the Forum was a fine basilica (which was used as a law court and a trading centre). Across the street from the basilica stood a beautiful temple to the god Apollo. Nearby was an even finer temple dedicated to Jupiter, leader of the Roman gods. At one corner of the town stood a large amphitheatre, where the inhabitants were entertained by gladiator fights and other such events. |
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Activities - How useful is the film as evidence about what happened in Pompeii in August A.D.79?
Watch the BBC documentary ‘Pompeii: the Last day’.
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Activity
1. Where did timber, wine, fishpaste and papyrus come from? Did most goods come by water or by road? 2. Make a table with four columns. At the top of each column write the words food, building, clothing and luxuries. Read through each of the imports and decide which, if any of the four columns it goes into. |
Good communications between Rome and the provinces were essential. They were provided by sea routes and the roads the Romans built. Such an efficient road system meant that the Roman army could travel very quickly to a trouble spot, or to put down a rebellion. When Julius Caesar was leading his Roman army to conquer Gaul, he travelled 800 miles in just eight days.
The army One army was organised into legions. There were about 30 in the whole Empire. Each legion was made up of 60 centuries, each with 80 men called legionaries. |
Centurions were in charge of the centuries. Each legion also had 120 cavalry. There were 150,000 legionaries in total. The soldiers in the legions served for sixteen years. They had to be Roman citizens, and most of them were volunteers. More and more, recruits came from the provinces where the legions were serving. Many were the sons of ex-soldiers who had settled there. For all these reasons, men became very proud of their legion.
The auxiliaries were army units were made up of conquered armies and friendly tribes. The soldiers served for 25 years. They were not Roman citizens, but received citizenship at the end of their service. Many were volunteers, recruited in the province where the unit was stationed. Their armour and weapons were similar to the legionaries’, but of inferior quality. Altogether, there were about 227,000 auxiliaries in the Empire, including some cavalry. |
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Activity - Why was the Roman army so powerful? 3. Watch the film about the Roman legionnaire. It contains a lot of details about various aspects about the Roman army and the life of its soldiers, but I want you to focus on one question in particular, 'why was the Roman army so successful. As you watch the film, make some notes and use these notes write the following paragraph: Five reasons why the Roman army was so successful. You might need to watch the film a couple of times because it does cover a lot of information very quickly. |
How the Empire grew
As we have seen, the Roman army was very large and highly disciplined. For many centuries it was almost unbeatable in battle. Roman soldiers, when they were not at war, were employed to build a great network of high quality roads. These Roman roads held the Empire together. They encouraged trade and allowed Roman legions to move rapidly throughout the Empire. The Romans always strengthened the lands they conquered with forts, strongly defended towns and even long and high stone walls. (See right, Hadrian's Wall today in the north of England) The Romans were usually very effective rulers of the territories they conquered. The empire was divided into provinces, each of which was ruled by a Governor. The Romans, through often ruthless rulers, were usually wise enough not to try to force conquered peoples to abandon their own customs, religions and languages. Once people in the provinces had paid their taxes to Rome and obeyed the Emperor, the Romans would usually allow them to pursue their own ways of life. Conquered lands provided heavy taxes and soldiers for Rome and its rulers. As Rome conquered more land, its finances and armies grew larger. This allowed it to conquer even more territory and resulted in the empire growing larger and larger. |
Political reasons - From AD 180, Rome was ruled by a line of emperors who were mostly weak rulers. Because the emperors were weak, the Roman army began to interfere in the running of the state. Army leaders even began to murder emperors, to choose new ones and later to murder them. In one eighty-year span, more than forty emperors ruled. Some survived only for a few months and many were murdered. Such chaos in government was partly responsible for the decline and fall of ancient Rome.
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Economic reasons - Taxes increased, especially to pay for the army which had begun to interfere more and more in the running of the empire. Ordinary Romans eventually found themselves paying about a third of their incomes in taxes and another third on rent. Some farmers abandoned their land because they could not afford to pay their taxes. Food production fell, so the price of even basic food rose rapidly. When the barbarians finally invaded, people did little to defend the empire. Many preferred to be under barbarian rule.
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Social reasons - The size of the population began to decline due to disease and food shortages (see above). The difference between the lives of the rich and those of the poor became more noticeable. The rich became richer and poor, poorer. Rome didn't seem as fair as it once had been and people became less proud of being Roman, they felt less patriotic. This was increasingly true of soldiers who were less and less likely to be Roman citizens and more interested in simply earning money.
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Military - With no strong emperor to take charge, armies made up of foreign soldiers and rivalry for power, civil wars became common within the empire. As these wars weakened the empire, outside enemies dared to threaten its boundaries. The Romans called these people barbarians. The Franks attacked Gaul. The Persians raided Asia Minor. Tribesmen attacked the Roman cities of North Africa. Far to the east, in the continent of Asia, lived a warlike tribe called the Huns. About AD 360, this tribe had begun to move west, conquering all before them.
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Activity 2 - How could the decline of the Roman Empire have been prevented?
Having studied how the Empire grew and why it declined you are now an expert! Imagine you could go back in time to AD 117, what four pieces of advice would you give the new Emperor Hadrian in order to avoid the decline of his empire? It is important that you provide political, economic, social and military advice. When you have finished you can watch John Green explain the decline of the Roman Empire. Crash Course is made for older students and you will find it difficult, how much can you understand of the first five minutes? |
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Our concluding lesson looks at the long-term consequences of the Roman Empire and the ways in which it still influences our world today. As Monty Python famously illustrated (right) the Romans were responsible for many significant contributions to civilisation. For example, many roads in Europe still follow the old lines of Roman roads which really did all lead to Rome.
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Some of our most important cities were founded by the Romans like Lausanne or Seville in Spain, Maastricht in the Netherlands, or Bratislava in Slovakia.
Some places still take their names from their Roman name, e.g. London from Londinium, Florence from Florentia and Pamplona from Pompaelo. |
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In this video Adam Hart-Davis looks at a range of things the Romans developed, some of which we have already studied. He examines the military innovation and war machines. He looks closely at the roads and we find out what it actually takes to build one of these. The programme covers how they built amphitheatres and race tracks and spread sports throughout the empire. He looks at how they pioneered the mass production of glass and double glazing, and as we have already seen, they created enormous aqueducts that fed water from distant sources into the heart of their cities and bath houses, created clever heating systems, and flushing toilets.
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For example, the calendar we use today, with 365 days in a year, is based on the one developed by Julius Caesar, the Julian calendar, introduced in 46 BC. The Julian calendar split the year for the first time into 365 days, divided into 12 months, with a leap day added to February every four years. It was revised in 1582 to the Gregorian calendar. In many languages months of the year take their names from the Roman months and some days of the week are named after Roman gods. (See right)
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