Download Ancient Rome Notes - Siuslaw School District

ANCIENT ROME
Origins of Rome (page 2)
Story #1: Twins Romulus and Remus were
raised by a wolf, and built the city. They
fought, Romulus killed Remus, and became
Rome’s first king.
Story #2: A young prince, a survivor of the
massacre at Troy, came from there and started
the city of Rome.
Story #3: A village on the Tiber river developed
over time into the city of Rome, then the
kingdom, and finally the empire.
 Rome borrowed a lot from other cultures,
like from the Etruscans (toga, art) and the
Greeks (alphabet, gods).
P.4 GOVERNMENT & SOCIAL STRUCTURES
 For first 500 years, Rome was a
republic: citizens select leaders who then
make the laws.
 Social Classes of Rome:
consuls = two or three men who would
run the government.
Consuls
Senators
Patricians
(upper class/rich)
Plebians
(lower classes)
Slaves
Rome Battles Carthage (page 5)
-Carthage was a powerful city-state in North
Africa.
-Carthage had the best navy, but Rome copied
their navy and became better.
-Hannibal, a general from Carthage, invaded
Roman territory and nearly took Rome. He
lost, though, when he went back to defend
Carthage.
-After 100 years, split into 3 wars (the Punic
Wars), Rome finally defeated Carthage:
 killed all the men
 tore down the city
 sowed salt into their fields
 put the women and children of
Carthage into slavery
This made Rome the dominant power of the
Mediterranean.
Page 7
End of the Republic / Hail Caesar!
 After 500 years as a republic, things
changed.
 It all started with Julius Caesar.
 Caesar was a Roman general who was
known for his successful conquest of Gaul
(France) and invasion of England.
 Julius Caesar took his army into Italy and
fought a series of battles against the other
Consul of Rome, Pompey.
 Caesar wins the battles and takes control of
Rome as the dictator.
 After a few years there is fear by some he
will proclaim himself the 1st ever Emperor
of Rome, so a group of Senators assassinate
him.
 This sparks a long civil war that eventually
leads to Caesars nephew, Octavius,
becoming the first emperor of Rome,
changing his name to Caesar Augustus.
9
Roman Legions
 For hundreds of years, Rome had a citizen army.
People served a few years, then go back to being
a regular citizen.
 Armies started to pull troops from conquered
territories, not loyal to Rome.
 Armies, like Caesars, became more loyal to their
commander than Rome. Led to rebellions like
his.
 As soon as Rome was ruled by an Emperor, he
took control of pay for troops, and had them
swear loyalty to him, not to the Republic.
 Eventually, fewer and fewer citizens were
becoming soldiers, and more and more of the
troops were hired mercenaries from the
conquered lands.
 Troops used tall shields, worked in tight units,
were well disciplined. They wore helmets, used
a medium-size sword called a “gladius.”
 They often had little or no armor, bore standards
with pride, and used music to communicate.
10
Roman Legion Picture
(Draw picture regarding Roman Legions)
S
P Q R
Senātus Populusque Rōmānus
Meaning:
"The Senate and
People of Rome"
Pages 11 - 13
The Emperors of Rome
When J. Caesar died there was a long civil war.
At the end of it, Rome had its first Emperor.
Augustus Caesar was the first emperor (27BC
to 14AD). Here is what he did:
 Established 40 years of peace & growth.
“Pax Roma” or “Roman Peace”. Longest
time of peace Europe had ever known.
 One currency ($) from Rome with his pic.
 Thousands of miles of paved roads. (“All
Roads Lead To Rome”)
 Built many many bridges, temples, baths,
aqueducts.
 Expanded the empire to twice its size.
Other good Emperors:
 Claudius: Rebuilt treasury, undoing
damages of Caligula, built massive
aqueducts, and brought England into the
empire.
 Trajan: Expanded the empire to its largest
size & massive building projects with peace
in Rome.
 Hadrian: Rebuilt infrastructure, established
boundaries of the Empire. (Hadrian’s Wall =
Britannia (England))
 Marcus Aurelius: Kept empire together by
leading armies.
Bad Emperors of Rome…
o Caligula: killed political opponents, opened
brothel in the palace, forced himself on any
woman he wanted including his own family,
and believed he was a god.
o Commodus: no interest in ruling, turning this
over to thugs. Disgraced himself by fighting
like a gladiator in the arena.
o Nero: murdered his mother & wife, took
senators' property & severely taxed the people
to build his golden palace. Played lyre while
Rome burned, blamed Christians for fire, had
thousands of them killed.
p. 15 & 16
ROMAN ACHIEVEMENTS
Eleven Things Rome gave us:
1. Aqueducts: Water to support 1 million
people with running water, sewer system,
and baths.
2. Concrete: Building material that’s still
around 2,000 years later.
3. Latin Language: Became the root
language for most European languages,
including English/Spanish/French.
4. Entertainment: Built modern style
stadiums like the Coliseum (gladiators –
50-80 thousand spectators) and Circus
Maximus (horse racing – 150,000
spectators) in Rome for public spectacles.
5. Welfare: Money and food for the poor,
often to buy votes.
6. Bound Books: Move from scrolls to books
like those we use today.
7. Paved Roads: Thousands of miles for
transportation of people and goods.
8. Roman Arches: Led to revolution in
architecture and what was possible to
build.
9. Julian Calendar: The way of keeping track
of time that we use today.
10.Legal System & Government: We copied
much of our legal and government
systems from them, including a Senate &
having separate Civil & Criminal courts.
11.Christianity: Key part of birth and death
story of Jesus. At first Rome discriminated
against, even executed, Christians. Then a
Roman Emperor, Constantine, converted
to Christianity, followed by many Romans,
until Christianity was the official religion
of the Roman Empire.
Page 18/19
Roman Gladiators
 Gladiators fought in arenas across the
Roman Empire. The largest arena was the
Coliseum in Rome.
 Half of the gladiators were usually slaves,
criminals, or prisoners of war. The rest were
volunteers, looking for money and fame.
They usually spent several years in gladiator
school, training, before competing.
 There were many types of gladiators. The
armor, weapons, and opponents they fought
depended on what type they were.
Example: Bestiarius specialized in fighting
animals (bears and lions).
 Dramatic music played while they fought.
 It’s believed they fought barefoot and had
strict rules to follow.
 Most of the time, at the end of a fight, a
gladiator that lost was spared.
P.20/22
Roman Empire Splits
 The Empire was huge, tough to manage.
 In 285 AD, Emperor Diocletian split the
empire into east and west, with an emperor
over each.
 In 314 AD, Emperor Constantine reunited
east and west into one empire again. He
moved the capital to the city Byzantium,
which was renamed Constantinople.
 In 337 AD, Constantine died, and the empire
was broken into 3 parts, each ruled by one
of his sons.
 In 364 AD, Emperor Valentinian took control
and split the empire into east and west
again.
 Emperor Theodosius I, reunited the empire
once again, but when he died in 395 AD, the
empire was split for good by his two sons,
with an emperor in Rome, and an emperor
in Constantinople.
p.22-24
The Fall of the Roman Empire
 Fall of Rome happened over many years.
 Rome was conquered and sacked by
barbarians under Alaric in 410 AD.
 In 476 Barbarians took Rome again,
overthrew the emperor, and there was no
more emperor, or empire (in the West).
 How was this possible?
1. Too big to govern (get food, supplies,
laws, people, ideas to distant areas took
too much time).
2. Roman legions were, more and more,
made up of barbarians, who were more
loyal to their commanders than Rome.
3. There was a 50 year period where 41
people were emperor. Most were
corrupt (in it to make money and give
themselves more power – not for good
of Rome). The empire was not stable.
4. The East was richer and stronger, so
when the Empire split the West lost the
best part of the Empire.
 The empire lived on in the east, in
Constantinople, calling themselves Roman,
but are better known as the Byzantine
Empire.
 This empire lived on for another 1000 years.
 Besides Constantine, the greatest Byzantine
emperor was Justinian:
temporarily added some of what
used to be the Western Empire back,
including Rome
preserved roman laws and traditions
built the Haghia Sophia, the largest
Christian church in the world at the
time
p.25-28
Rome: Miscellaneous Information
o In 79AD a major Roman city, Pompeii, was
destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Many
died.
o The Romans spoke Latin, the root
language of many modern languages.
o Romans were very religious. Many had
shrines in their homes, called larariums,
where they worshipped the gods.
o The greatest temple in Rome was the
Pantheon, which was dedicated to all of
the gods.
o Half-man, half-goat people are most
closely associated to the Roman god
Faunus.
o Vulcan was the Roman god of
Blacksmithing and fire.
o Janus was the Roman god who had two
faces.
o Castor and Pollux are known as the
“Heavenly Twins”, and have the Gemini
constellation names after them.
o In Roman legend, Horatius saved Rome by
defending the last bridge into Rome
against the Etruscans.
o Even when gambling was illegal in Rome,
it was still legal during chariot races.
o A sacramentum was a Roman military
oath.
o A cohort was a group of 500 soldiers.
o Roman soldiers were often paid in salt
rather than gold, which they then traded
for supplies they wanted/needed.
o The great playwright, Shakespeare, more
than 1,000 years after the Roman Empire
fell, based four of his plays on Roman
rulers/leaders (the best known is called
“Julius Caesar”).