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TITLE OF LESSON PLAN:
Rome's Influence
LENGTH OF LESSON:
One class period
GRADE LEVEL:
6-8
SUBJECT AREA:
Ancient History
CREDIT:
George Cassutto, social studies teacher, North Hagerstown High School, Hagerstown, Maryland.
OBJECTIVES:
Students will understand the following:
1. The Roman Empire, even after its decline, had massive influences on the rest of the world—from
city planning to daily vocabulary.
MATERIALS:
For this lesson, you will need:
Several college-level dictionaries
Photocopier
PROCEDURE:
1. Impress upon students that although the Roman Empire did decline and fall, its influence on
everyday life in the United States is never ending. Remind students that Rome, for example, has
influenced the form of government we've chosen, the buildings we build, and the language we speak,
read, write, and hear. Explain that in this activity students will concentrate on the major influence the
language of ancient Rome—Latin—has had on our daily English vocabulary.
2. List the following 40 English words on the board or on a handout for each student:
ambulatory
amicable
animate
annual
aquatic
auditorium
aviation
calorie
carnivore
casual
circumference
colossal
consul
contemporary
corporation
deity
domination
egotist
equinox
fatuous
fortify
function
inhabit
legion
linguistics
lunatic
manual
medieval
neutral
normal
oratorical
paternity
plebeian
ridiculous
scientific
senate
sinuous
territory
vacant
verbatim
3. Divide the class into several small groups, and assign each group an equal number of words from
the list. One member of each group should act as secretary, dividing a piece of paper into four
columns. Have the secretary list the words assigned to that group in the first column on the left. Give
the students a three-part assignment:
- Look up each English word in a college-level dictionary in order to determine what Latin word or
word part the English word comes from. (The secretary should write that Latin word or word part in
the second column.)
- Learn the English meaning of the Latin word or word part. (The secretary should write the meaning
in the third column.)
- Come up with another English word that derives from the same Latin word or word part. (The
secretary should write that word in the fourth column.)
Some groups may prefer to rotate these three tasks, besides writing up the list, among themselves as
they proceed from word to word; other groups may prefer assigning roles that students will keep
throughout the project.
4. You may opt to use the term rootin this lesson. You can define rootas a word part that cannot stand
alone as an English word but that, rather, takes a prefix or a suffix or both to form an English word.
Make sure students understand that not only Latin but Greek and many other languages have
influenced English vocabulary; the focus in this lesson, however, is on the influence of Latin.
5. Make copies of each group's work to distribute to all students in the class. That is, all students
should wind up with 40 words—the Latin from which they derive, the English meaning of the Latin,
and 40 other English words related to the initial 40.
6. .
ADAPTATIONS:
Adaptations for Older Students:
Give the students an opportunity to figure out for themselves how to divide the 40-word list among
themselves in order to finish the activity as efficiently as possible. Consider, also, asking older
students to come up with two related English words, not one, for every word on the list.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. By what standards do historians consider a nation to be a world power? At what point in its history
did Rome become a world power? What are some of the potential responsibilities of such a label?
2. Many of the world's large cities—from ancient Rome to modern-day New York City—have
developed in similar ways and for similar reasons. What features do most large cities share? How do
many cities develop in terms of layout, economy, and population? Discuss possible reasons why
people have chosen to live in cities throughout history.
3. Speculate about one psychological or sociological explanation why Rome had gladiators and why
Roman citizens enjoyed watching “the games.” Hypothesize what forms “the games” take today. Why
have these activities evolved into their modern-day counterparts?
4. What was the effect of having paved roads on everyday life in Rome and its provinces? Discuss
what life would be like if there were no roads or highways between American cities today.
5. How did the growth of the slave economy ultimately damage the empire and its livelihood? How
was Roman slavery different from the kind of slavery that existed in the United States during the
1800s?
6. The imperial government provided “bread and circuses” to keep the Roman masses happy. What
steps do modern governments like that of the United States take to prevent uprisings by the people?
EVALUATION:
Before photocopying and distributing the lists, check each group's work, indicating which columns
and rows each group may have to adjust. You may want students to use the 40 words and the related
words over the course of a few days and then give a spelling and vocabulary test.
EXTENSION:
Tour Guide
Have the students develop a map that shows the layout of a typical Roman city. Instruct them to
include all of the common structures and elements one might find in a city under Roman rule during
the first century B.C. Then instruct students to imagine that a Roman travel agency has hired them to
lead tourists through the city. Ask students to write the script for a guided tour of the Roman city they
laid out. If time allows, have students locate photographs or draw sketches of the sites marked on their
map. (An alternative to two-dimensional paper-and-pencil maps is three dimensional wood or clay
maps.)
An Economic Atlas of the Roman Empire
Have your students create a single, large wall map of the Roman Empire at its height. Then break
students into small groups, and have them research the economy of one of the nations that Rome
conquered and absorbed into its empire. Have the students identify the products that their assigned
nation contributed to the Roman economy. Allow students to present their findings to the class by
labeling the wall map with symbols that identify the primary products of the region they were
assigned. For example, they can create symbols for wine, barley, wheat, slaves, olive oil, water, and so
on.
SUGGESTED READINGS:
Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome
Chris Scarre. Penguin, 1995.
This detailed atlas traces the rise and fall of the “first great multinational state.” Through maps, charts,
pictures, and text, the reader can study the provinces, cities, trade, economy, building and
construction, arms, frontier defenses, and wars of the Roman Empire. You can use the detailed
timelines to gain an overview of the empire.
Ancient Rome: History of a Civilization That Ruled the World
Annamaria Liberti and Fabio Bourbon. Stewart Tabori & Chang, 1996.
Read this oversized, magnificent book to learn about the rise of ancient Rome. Learn about Rome's
architecture, politics, culture, customs, legal and building systems, and town-planning problems and
successes. You will begin to understand Rome's lasting social, cultural, military, and political
influence.
WEB LINKS:
ArtsEdNet: Exploring Ancient Worlds
Four online resources from the Getty Education Institute for the Arts which features a middle school
interdisciplinary unit on based on Trajan, a virtual reality tour of Trajan's forum, an online exhibit of
art from Greece and Rome, and more.
http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/
The WebChronology Project
This collection of hyperlinked chronologies developed by students and instructors at North Park
University shows a nice example of what students can create. Offers great basic information on
Roman History under the “Mediterranean Basin” heading.
http://www.northpark.edu/acad/history/WebChron/
Dead Romans
Contains information about Roman coins and architecture and allows you the opportunity to tour
Roman ruins.
http://www.iei.net/~tryan/deadroma.htm
Pompeii Forum Project
An architectural and archaeologically based look at Pompeii urban design with lots of pictures and
descriptions of Pompeii.
http://pompeii.virginia.edu/pompeii/index.html
Roman Ball Games
This site will allow teachers to glean ideas for teaching students how to play ball games from the
ancient Roman times.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/romeball.html
VOCABULARY:
assimilating
The process of absorbing one cultural group into another so that they have a common identity.
Context:
Rome had a genius for assimilating different peoples into the empire, a skill dating back to its
beginnings.
barbarians
To Romans, any group of people found outside the Roman world, usually on the fringes of the empire.
Context:
Rome had a talent for assimilating barbarians into its diverse culture.
city-state
In ancient times, the city-state was any urban center that maintained its own political identity,
leadership, and sovereignty. It is the forerunner to the modern nation-state.
Context:
Before long, the empire expanded well beyond the limits of a modest city-state.
displacement
The act of taking the place of another, especially using underhanded tactics.
Context:
The returning soldiers were forced into the cities due to the slave labor being used to tend their farms,
resulting in a massive peasant displacement.
Gauls
Inhabitants of the area now covered by modern-day France.
Context:
One hundred thousand Gauls were taken prisoner and enslaved by Roman forces as the empire
expanded.
ACADEMIC STANDARDS:
Grade Level:
6-8, 9-12
Subject Area:
world history
Standard:
Understands how major religious and large-scale empires arose in the Mediterranean basin, China,
and India from 500 B.C. to A.D. 300.
Benchmarks:
Benchmark 6-8:
Understands shifts in the political framework of Roman society (e.g., major phases in the empire's
expansion through the first century A.D.; how imperial rule over a vast area transformed Roman
society, economy, and culture; the causes and consequences of the transition from republic to empire
under Augustus in Rome; how Rome governed its provinces from the late republic to the empire; and
how innovations in ancient military technology affected patterns of warfare and empire building).
Benchmark 6-8:
Understands the significant individuals and achievements of Roman society (e.g., the major legal,
artistic, architectural, technological, and literary achievements of the Roman Republic; the influence
of Hellenistic cultural traditions; the accomplishments of famous Roman citizens [e.g., Cincinnatus,
the Gracchi, Cicero, Constantine, Nero, Marcus Aurelius]).
Benchmark 9-12:
Understands the political legacy of Roman society (e.g., influences of the Roman constitution on the
modern U.S. political system).
Grade Level:
6-8, 9-12
Subject Area:
world history
Standard:
Understands major global trends from 1000 B.C. to A.D. 300.
Benchmarks:
Benchmark 6-8:
Knows the different forms of slavery or coerced labor in various empires (e.g., the Han Empire, the
Maurya Empire, the Greek city-states, the Roman Empire).
Benchmark 9-12:
Understands shifts in the political framework of Roman society (e.g., major phases in the empire's
expansion through the first century A.D.; how imperial rule over a vast area transformed Roman
society, economy, and culture; the causes and consequences of the transition from republic to empire
under Augustus in Rome; how Rome governed its provinces from the late republic to the empire; how
innovations in ancient military technology affected patterns of warfare and empire building).
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