Download The Coliseum

The Aeneid is an epic poem by a poet
named Virgil about a Trojan man named
Aeneis and his adventures.
Aeneis’s
relatives are the people credited with
settling in Italy and founding the city of
Rome.
The Trojans wanted to take the horse
inside their protective city walls, but it was
too big to fit through their gate. The
Trojans took down part of their wall
leaving them vulnerable to attack, took
the horse inside and celebrated their
victory over the Achaeans. That night, the
Achaean soldiers hidden in the belly of the
horse exited the horse and began burning
the city of Troy to the ground. The rest of
the Achaean army came back and helped
finish the battle.
The common people of Rome, known as
the plebeians didn’t think it was fair that
they patricians made all of the laws and
rules without their input. They staged a
protest, kind of like a strike, called the
Struggle of Orders during which many
plebeians left Rome and set up tents and a
camp outside of the city and refused to
work.
The Trojan War happened in ancient times
around 1200 B.C. in Anotolia (modern day
Turkey). It was a war over land between the
Achaeans (the Greeks) and the Trojans (the
Romans). The Achaeans were trying to
conquer the city of Troy (for land) and
rescue a woman named Helen of Troy
(according to legend). The Achaeans won
the war by tricking the Trojans, but Aeneis,
part of his family, and some other refugees
escape the burning city and sailed across to
finally settle in Italy.
The Trojan war had been going on for 10
years when the Acheans came up with a
clever way to beat their enemy. They
built a large monument of a horse that
could hide a group of Achean soldiers
inside. The Achean army then pretended
to leave Turkey, making the Trojans think
they had won the war. The Acheans left
behind the horse and a decoy soldier who
tricked the Trojans into believing that it
was an offering to the goddess Athena.
The Roman form of government that
developed was called the Roman Senate.
Originally the senate was run only by the
patricians who were wealthy noblemen.
Each year, the senate chose two consuls to
lead the senate together.
The Trojan Horse
After the Struggle of Orders, the patricians
agreed to share power in the Roman
Senate by allowing the plebeians to elect
representatives to the Senate as well. They
also agreed to write down all of the laws
of Rome and post them throughout the
Roman Empire so that there were no
secrets and the laws were fair. They
chiseled them in stone and hung them up
calling them the Twelve Tables of Law.
Veni, Vidi, Vici!
I came, I saw,
I conqured!
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was one of the greatest
emperors of Rome. He began as a general
in the Roman Legion but became dictator
of Rome for life, until he was murdered by
a group of jealous senators.
After the death of Caesar, two men came
to power in Rome, a general and
politician named Mark Antony and
Caesar’s adopted grandson, Octavian. At
first the two men agreed to share power
and rule Rome together.
The Roman Legion was very well trained
and took the best ideas, strategies, and
weapons from the civilizations they
conquered. For example, they learned to
use fighting formations from the Greeks.
They developed one called the Tortoise
Formation.
During their shared rule of Rome, Mark
Antony traveled to Egypt and fell in love
with the ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra. The
two planned to invade Rome and rule
over it as king and queen. This led to a
naval battle called the Battle of Actium
which Octavian won. Octavian became
sole ruler of Rome and was renamed
Emperor Augustus.
Three weapons used by the Roman Legion
were the pilum, which is a long spear
designed by the Romans, the scorpion,
which is a machine that fires arrows at
great speeds and for great distances, and a
ballista which throws a stone, kind of like
a cannon ball, only smaller, at the enemy.
The Roman army was called the Roman
Legion. Soldiers were called Legionnaires.
Soldiers for the Roman Legion could come
from any part of the Roman Empire to
serve.
One of the most Famous of Rome’s
buildings is the Coliseum. The Coliseum is
a large stadium called an amphitheater.
The Coliseum could hold over 50,000
people and had four different levels of
seating.
It was mainly used for
entertainment such as gladiator battles and
chariot races. Gladiators would come out
and battle each other or a fierce animal
such as a lion. The Gladiators would be
required to fight to the death, which is
called mortal combat.
A wall built by Emperor Hadrian to keep
out invaders from the north of Britania.
The wall was 73 miles long and had gates
The Pax Romana was a time of relative and towers, called milecastles, so that the
peace in Rome during which many of the legionnaires could protect the territory of
temples, roads, bathhouses, and aqueducts Britania.
were built. It lasted for about 200 years.
The Coliseum
The Pantheon is famous temple to all of
the Greek gods built by Emperor Hadrian
in Rome. The temple has a huge dome
over a round room called a rotunda. In
the center of the dome there is an opening
to the sky called an oculus. The temple
was designed to remind Romans of the
heavens and as a way to stay connected to
the gods.
aqueduct
The Pantheon
Roman bath-houses were an important
part of Roman citizens social life. Most
Romans went to the bath-houses daily,
after work, to exercise, bathe, and then
socialize or be entertained. The warm
baths were heated by a special furnace
called a hypocaust, designed by the
Romans. Included in the larger bathSome of the aqueducts travel across large houses were things such as gardens,
arches above ground, but most are tunnels libraries, and food courts.
or channels underground.
“ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME”
The Roman Empire also built Milestones
along the roads that told how far it was
from the major cities to the capital city of
Rome.
Roman aqueducts were built to supply
fresh water to the large cities of the
Roman Empire. The aqueducts were large
tunnels about 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall
through which ground water could flow
out of the hills and mountains nearby.
The longest aqueduct was over 59 miles
long. The aqueducts had to be carefully
constructed so that they always sloped
down hill, so the water would run
towards the city.
The Romans built roads from nearly all of
the major cities that they conquered that
became part of the Roman Empire. The
roads were made to last by starting with a
packed down layer of sand or clay, then
putting a layer of crushed stones that
harden when they dry, then putting a
layer of gravel to allow for drainage and
finally putting flat, smooth stones on top.
Many of the roads also had ditches along
side for drainage.
a plan to trick the Trojans
The Trojan War
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Roman Senate
The Trojan Horse
(picture)
The Trojans fall for the trick
Julius Caesar
The Twelve Tables of Law
The Struggle of Orders
The Roman Legion/Legionnaires
The Battle of Actium
Octavian/Mark Antony
Coliseum
Roman weapons
tortoise formation
Hadrian’s Wall
The Pax Romana
The Coliseum
(picture)
Roman Aqueducts
The Pantheon
(picture)
The Pantheon
Building Roman Roads
Roman bath houses
aqueduct
Milestones
Roman Roads
(picture)