Download The Legacy of the Roman Empire

The Legacy of the
Roman Empire
Big Ideas…
1. At its height in 117 C.E., The
Roman Empire spanned the
whole of the Mediterranean
world, from northern Africa to
the Scottish border, from Spain
to Syria. (see p. 7 and map on
p. 9)
The Roman Empire began to decline
for a variety of reasons
a. Political instability—corrupt leaders who did not
care about the people, only themselves
b. Economic and Social problems—Citizens had
to pay for Rome’s huge armies and these taxes
hurt the economy. Many people did not have
jobs, and the wealthy people owned slaves.
Some leaders like Nero and Caligula wasted
lots of money. A rise in crime made people
unsafe.
The Roman Empire began to decline
for a variety of reasons
c. Rome became too big to defend. The leaders
could not communicate with each other
quickly, and Germanic tribes from the north
began invading.
3. In 330 C.E. the emperor
Constantine moved his capital
850 miles away to Byzantium
(Turkey). This split the empire
in half, and Rome became the
capital of the Western part of
the empire.
3. More Germanic tribes kept
invading, and began looting the
city of Rome. Finally in 476, the
last emperor was driven from his
throne. The western half began to
dissolve into different tribes
4. Roman art lived on, through its
murals, mosaics and frescos.
The domes, arches and vaults
live on in our architecture, and
the aqueducts and roads live on
in our engineering.
4. Many of our words today come
from Latin, Rome’s official
language. Our calendar comes from
the Romans, and many of our laws
are based on Roman law.
5. Rome was one of the first empires
to try democracy. They believed that
people had natural rights (life, liberty,
happiness) and that these rights
should be protected by a government.
Citizens were protected by these laws,
and were supposed to show loyalty to
their government in exchange