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SKIT-ANCIENT ROME
N1: Now it is time to learn about one of the greatest ancient civilizations: Rome.
N2: Let’s contact the spirits of the ancient Romans. Oh spirits, come and tell us about ancient Rome!
N1: Look!, I see something!
N2: No one else has that shape! I would recognize it anywhere!
N1: It is Italia! The spirit of Italy! And she has little Sicilia (Sicily) with her!
ITALIA: Yes, it is I, Italia! If you want to understand the Romans, first you must understand me, the land of Italy!
N2: Tell us about yourself, Italia!
ITALIA: First, I am, obviously, shaped like a giant, high heeled boot, which seems to be kicking the island of Sicily,
which is shaped like a football.
SICILIA: Ouch!
ITALIA: My top is sheltered by the mountains called the Alps, My toe and heel slice into the Mediterranean Sea.
My position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea made me a perfect location for controlling both the eastern
and western halves of the Mediterranean.
N1: Are you a mountainous land, like the land of Greece?
ITALIA: I have a range of mountains, called the Apennine Mountains, which run the full length of my eastern side,
but they are not as high or rugged as the mountains of Greece. Trade and travel were easier in my land than in
Greece. My strategic position in the center of the Mediterranean Sea, and my rich, rolling farmland were important
advantages.
N2: So is everything about you advantageous, Italia?
ITALIA: No, I have disadvantages, like every other land. The Alps in the north separate me from the rest of
Europe. That was both good and bad. Sometimes the Alps protected me from attack. But there are passes
through the Alps, and sometimes invaders streamed through these passes and attacked me. Also my beautiful
coastline, which was an advantage most of the time, was sometimes a disadvantage. Sometimes pirates raided me
from the sea.
N2: What about rivers. Do you have rivers?
ITALIA: Yes!, The Po River in my northern region lies in a rich, fertile valley. The Arno and Rubicon are smaller,
but also important. Tiber River, which runs through my middle, is where my greatest city, Rome,was founded. Here
is my friend, the spirit of the Tiber River.
FATHER-TIBER: The city of Rome was founded, in west-central Italy, in the region called Latium, along my banks
at a place where there were 7 hills. The location was about 20 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea, which
made it less open to attack by pirates. Rome was founded at a place where I, the Tiber River, was shallow, and was
easy to cross.
N2: Will you tell us how Rome was founded?
FATHER –TIBER: Shall I start with the myth or with the historical fact?
N1: Isn’t historical fact more important than myth, father Tiber?
FATHER-TIBER: Not necessarily! Both are important. Myths are sometimes even more important because they
tell us what the ancient people believed about themselves. They are a window into the minds and hearts of the
people. The great Roman poet Virgil wrote the epic poem, The Aeneid, which told about how Aeneas, a Trojan,
came to Italy.
VIRGIL: Long ago, about 1250BC, there was a great war between Greece and Troy. The Greeks won, and burned
the city of Troy. After the Greeks destroyed the city, Aeneas, who was a cousin of the royal family of Troy,
escaped along with his old father, his small son, and a small group of tired, ragged refugees.
AENEAS: I am Aeneas! I carried my old crippled father on my shoulders, and led my little son by the hand through
the smoke of the burning city of Troy. My wife followed, but unfortunately she got lost in the smoke and confusion,
and was killed by a Greek soldier. So I, along with my father and son, and a few other ragged survivors escaped
from Troy. We sailed around the Mediterranean, had many adventures. We were ship-wrecked on the coast of
north Africa where I had a passionate love affair with Dido, Queen of Carthage.
N1: Did you stay in Carthage with Dido?
AENEAS: No, Jupiter sent me a message that I must leave and sail to Italy, where it was my destiny to found a
new race of people. So I left her. Alas, she killed herself because of her grief.
N2: What happened next?
AENEAS: I settled in Italy, and married an Italian princess. My son Ascanius eventually founded a town called
Alba Longa. The famous twins, Romulus and Remus, were born there about 400 years later.
N1: You mean you were a Trojan! Weren’t the Trojans the enemies of the Greeks!
AENEAS: That’s the whole point, don’t you see! My story tells you how the Romans viewed themselves. While the
Romans admired the art and literature of the Greeks, they viewed them with suspicion . They saw themselves as
more practical and direct, and more concerned with law and justice. They identified themselves with me, Aeneas,
and with the Trojans, that city that was so terribly mistreated by the Greeks! They saw themselves as a
resurrected Troy.
N2: That’s fascinating. Now where do Romulus and Remus fit in?
LIVY: I am Livy, a Roman historian who wrote a history of Rome. I started with the legend of Romulus and Remus.
About 800BC, many generations after Aeneas and the Trojans settled in Italy, there was a good king of Alba
Longa, named Numitor. He was overthrown by his wicked brother Amulius. Listen to the story:
AMULIUS: I have overthrown my brother Numitor and imprisoned him, and now I rule Alba Longa. However, my
brother has a daughter, Rhea Silvia. I must make sure that she does not have sons that will try to overthrow me. I
will make her a “Vestal Virgin”, a priestess to the goddess Vesta, so she will never marry and have children!
LIVY: That is what Amulius did, but the god Mars saw Rhea Silvia, and fell in love with her. He came to her, and
she conceived and bore two fine little boys, Romulus and Remus!
AMULIUS: My niece has has two little boys! I will order one of my servants to throw them in the Tiber River!
Servant throw the babies in the river!
SERVANT: (to himself) I don’t have the heart to actually throw them in the river. I’ll put them in a basket and set
them here in this shallow area.
FATHER TIBER: I, father Tiber, will save these little boys, I will gently bring the babies to the shore.
LIVY: So that is what Father Tiber did. There on the shore, a mother wolf found Romulus and Remus! Listen:
MOTHER WOLF: What sweet babies! I will carry them to my den and care for them! (Mother Wolf takes the babies)
LIVY: So the boys were cared for by a Mother Wolf, and she became one of the most important symbols of Rome.
The Romans saw themselves as a lot like wolves, fierce fighters but also nurturing. Like wolves, Romans saw
themselves as pack animals, intensely loyal to the pack. After a while, a shepherd came along and saw the boys.
SHEPHERD: What fine boys! I have no children, so I will take these babies home to my wife, and we will raise
them as our own.
LIVY: So, Romulus and Remus grew up. Eventually they found out about their true identity.
ROMULUS: We will overthrow our cruel uncle, and put our kind old grandfather back on the throne of Alba Longa.
Then we will build a city of our own, at the spot where the Mother Wolf found us.
LIVY: That is what Romulus and Remus did. Now comes the dark and bloody part of the story. Listen:
ROMULUS AND REMUS: We will both build towns.
ROMULUS: I will build my city here on the Palatine hill, where the Mother Wolf found us. Look, brother, I have
started building my city wall!
REMUS: Your city wall is so small that I can jump right over it! (Remus mockingly jumps over Romulus’s wall).
LIVY: Romulus and Remus got in a fight, and Romulus killed his brother Remus. Then Romulus finished building his
city, and named it “Rome”, after himself. The year was 753BC. REMEMBER THAT YEAR, 753BC. That was the year
Rome was founded, and it became the “year one” in the Roman dating system.
N2: Is that the true story? Did all that really happen?
LIVY Well, maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that, but the story is very famous, and it tells us a lot about the
Romans and how they viewed themselves.
PAUSE: ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Use the map in your book on page 150 to label the mountains and rivers of Italy. Alps, Apennines, Po, Arno,
Rubicon, Tiber, Sicily. Place the city of Rome on the map.
2. What natural advantages does the land of Italy have?
4. Who was Virgil? Who was Aeneas? Where did Aeneas come from? Where did he settle? What does the story of
Aeneas tell us about how the Romans viewed themselves?
5. Who were Romulus and Remus? What does the story of Romulus and Remus tell us about how the Romans
viewed themselves?
N1: Now tell us what archeologists have to say about the early people of Italy
ITALIA: Sure! Around 2000BC, a wave of new people migrated into Italy. They were a branch of the IndoEuropean people. They were related to the people who settled in Greece, as well as to the Indo-Aryans who
migrated into India. They originally came from the area that is now southern Russia, north of the Black and Caspian
Seas. Some of these Indo-Europeans settled in central Italy became known as the Latin people, and their language
was Latin. The Latin people were the ancestors of the Romans.
N2: When and where was the city of Rome founded?
ITALIA: There were Latin people living in villages near the Tiber river, about 20 miles inland from the west coast
of the Mediterranean Sea, at a place where there were 7 hills. Sometime around the year 753BC, these villages
united to form the town of Rome.
N1: What were the advantages of this location?
ROMA: I am Roma, the spirit of the city of Rome. My location had several advantages. I was founded at a shallow
place on the Tiber River, where it was possible to ford the river. I was about 20 miles inland from the sea, close
enough for sea trade, but far enough from the coast to be safe from pirates. My 7 hills were a pleasant location.
N2: How was the early town of Rome governed?
ROMA: At first, Rome was ruled by Kings. There were a series of 7 kings. According to legend, the first king was
Romulus himself. The stories of the early kings of Rome are a mixture of fact and legend. What we know with a bit
more certainty, however, is that the last king of Rome was an Etruscan. The Etruscans came from the region
north of Rome.
ETRUSCAN: We, the Etruscans, taught the Romans much. We were good engineers. We taught the early Romans
how to build arches. We also taught them how to build roads, dig sewers and drain marshy land. Using what they
learned from us, the early Romans dug the great sewer called the “CLOACA MAXIMA” which drained the marshy
area between the 7 hills. That’s where the forum, the center of the city of Rome, was built.
N2: Did the Etruscans teach the Romans anything else?
ETRUSCAN: Yes! We also taught the early Romans how to write! We had an alphabet, which we had gotten from
the Greeks, which the Greeks had gotten from the Phoenicians. The Romans took our alphabet, modified it and
used it for their language, which was Latin. The alphabet you use today is almost exactly like the Roman alphabet.
N1: So Etruscans and Latins lived in early Italy. The Etruscans lived in the northern part, and the Latins lived in
the west-central region, which was called Latium. Were there any other groups of people in early Italy?
GREEK: Yes, there were also Greeks living along the coast of southern Italy. Remember how the Greeks sent out
groups to form colonies in other lands? There were Greek colonies along the coast of southern Italy and on Sicily!
SICILIA: Yes, there were Greek colonies on me, too!
N2: Did the Greeks of southern Italy teach the early Romans anything?
GREEK: Yes, we Greeks gave the Romans a lot of ideas about their gods. The Romans had gods that were a lot like
our gods. For instance, the Roman god Jupiter was a lot like our god Zeus. The Roman goddess Juno was a lot like
our goddess Hera. The Roman goddess Venus was a lot like our goddess Aphrodite. The Roman god Mars was a lot
like our Ares, and so on. The Romans took many of our stories, and applied them to their gods.
N1: This is a lot of information to absorb. Maybe we better stop here.
N2: Thank you for telling us about ancient Rome! Farewell, Italia!
ANSWER:
6. People from what large ethnic and linguistic group came into Italy in about 2000BC?
7. Who were the Latin people? Where did the settle? What was their language? What group of people were
descended from the Latins?
8. Where was the city of Rome founded? How many hills were there? What was the traditional date of the
founding of Rome?
9. What were the advantages of its location?
10. How was the early town of Rome governed?
11. Who were the Etruscans and where did they live? What did they teach the Romans?
12. Where in the region of Italy did Greeks live? What did the early Romans learn from these Greeks?
Ch7, Sec 1
A. Roman R___________ (509BC-27BC): Official Name: Senate & P_________ of Rome, __ __ __ __
`
1. 509BC, the Romans overthrew their last king & set up a government they a R________
2. R_______: a government in which the people vote for representatives, who run the state.
3. Roman Society:
a. P_________-upper class, who were born into upper class families
b. Pl___________- everyone else, including middle class and common people
c. *S______________- number grew drastically in 100sBC
d. *E______________- upper middle class added in 100sBC
4. Roman Republican Government – very complicated
a. S__________-about 300 members; originally all from the P________ class
(later P could be members). Set foreign policy. Advised the C_________.
b. Officials
1) 2 C________: most powerful position. Each had v_____ power over the other.
V____ power was an example of C_____ & B________
Symbol of authority: “fasces” & special ivory stool
2) P___________: judges, presided in courts. Number varied, often 8
3) C___________: counted and registered citizens; oversaw public morals
4) Ae__________: supervised public places, public games, grain supply.
5) Q___________: financial officers.
6) T___________: elected by Pl________ to represent them. Sat in Senate
& had v____ power over actions in government that were not in the
interest of the Pl_________.
7) ****D__________****: Appointed only when Rome was in a serious crisis.
Held absolute power for up to ___ months.
c. A_______________: actually several different assemblies.
Assemblies: Elected officials. Voted to accept or reject laws and policies,
such as war or peace.
B. “CONFLICT OF THE ORDERS” : about 509BC-300BC
(the Roman “Civil Right” movement”)
1) In the early time of the Republic, P_________ controlled the government &
Pl___________had few rights, but the Pl______ gradually gained = rights.
2) 494BC Pl__________ gained the right to elect their own representatives,
calledTr___________, who sat in the Senate and had v____ power over any policy that
was against the interests of the Pl___________.
3) 450BC: The Pl________ forced the P__________ to write down the laws of Rome,
called the Laws of the __ __ Tables, and set them up in the Forum,
so everyone could know what they were.
4) 445BC: Interm_______ between P______ & Pl________ became legal.
5) 367BCPl__________ gained the right to be elected C____________;
342BC, one of the 2 C______________ had to be a Pl____________.
6) 300BC: ½ the official Pr____________ had to Pl_________.
C. EARLY ROMAN ARMY
1) Every adult male c_________ age 17-47 who owned land was required to serve in the
Roman army when necessary.
2) Soldiers were called L_________________
3) Major units of the army:
L_________ - about 4800
C_______________- about 80
4) Discipline
was very strict; usually enforced by soldiers themselves.
But Sometimes the most extreme punishment, called d________
was imposed: killing 1 soldier in every _ _ as a punishment for
cowardice.
D. EARLY EXPANSION OF ROMAN RULE
1) In the early times, Rome did not attack first, but if another group of people
attacked the Romans, they fought and fought until they won!
2) Between 509-265BC Rome fought numerous wars with other people in I_______, until
Rome had conquered all of I_______