Ancient Rome

  • End project: test over ancient Rome

    Essential questions:

    What contributions did Ancient Rome make to modern society?

  • What eventually led to the fall of Rome? What causes major civilizations to collapse and decline?

  • How was the Roman Republic founded and organized?

  • Julius Caesar: Military general and statesman who played a critical role in the rise of the Roman Empire.

  • Augustus: The first emperor of Rome, known for establishing the Pax Romana.

  • Cicero: Renowned orator and philosopher who significantly influenced Roman philosophy and politics.

  • Rome was from 625 BCE - 476 AD, marked by significant political and military expansion, cultural achievements, and the eventual transition from a Republic to an Empire.

  • Rome eventually turned into the Ottoman Empire.

  • Rome took the concept of democracy and turned it into a representative democracy, kind of piggybacking off of Greece.e

  • Origin story of Rome: According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BCE by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who were said to be the sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rhea Silvia. As the story goes, after a series of conflicts, Romulus became the first king of Rome, establishing its early political structure and laying the groundwork for future governance.

    Amulusus ordered Remus and Romulus to be killed, so he took them to the banks of the river and left them to die. However, they were saved by a she-wolf who nurtured and raised them until they were discovered by a shepherd named Faustulus, who later brought them into his home. As they grew, Romulus and Remus would go on to lead a series of adventures, ultimately culminating in Romulus killing Remus in a dispute, which solidified Romulus's position as the sole ruler and founder of the city of Rome.

  • Become adults, they start to learn their origins.

  • And the significance of their lineage, which fueled their ambition to establish a great city. Driven by a desire for power and recognition, they decided to found a new settlement, leading to the famous founding of Rome on the Palatine Hill.

  • They didn’t want the crown after taking over amulus and they went into the hills of “latium” and decide to build their civilization and they split to both developing their distinct communities, with Romulus focusing on the strategic advantages of the Palatine Hill while Remus preferred the Aventine Hill, thus leading to rivalry and conflict over their visions for the future of their civilization.

  • Rome is located on the coast of the Tyrrhenian and Mediterranean seas in the best part of the Italian peninsula, which allowed for significant trade, military advantages, and cultural exchange with other civilizations.

  • It was this good because mountains and coastlines surrounded it.

  • Greeks spread into the southern part of Italy and Sicily.

  • The Etruscans were the original Romans and were native to northern Italy.

  • Early inhabitants of Rome were peacefully living in small villages and towns.

  • The Roman Forum was like the downtown markets

  • inalal king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus,

    • signed the first treaty with Carthage, the two leading powers in the Mediterranean. Inhumane to the Roman people

  • Two social groups start to arise, which are the patricians and the plebeiansPatricianss thought they were entitled to all of their rights

  • consuls- two individuals elected to lead the military + government with limited power and one-year terms. The Senate was an oligarchic branch of government with a legislative and administrative function. 300 members were all patricians who had a large influence over foreign and domestic policy

  • In times of war, a dictator is appointed who becomes the leader in the army, has the power to make laws, holds a 6-month term, and is chosen by the consuls and elected by the

  • The Twelve Tables were the first legal code of rRome

  • After the end of the Punic Wars, Rome entered the age of development and prosperity

  • They continued to expand their empire

  • expanded upon technologies and internal improvement

  • they created lasting architecture + public works

  • became the most technologically advanced civilization the world has ever seen

  • golden age of Rome was after the Punic Wars

  • Rome put all their money

  • The Roman Coliseum was built under the Roman Empire

  • Rome became the most advanced civilization at the time

  • Rome made the first kind of cement or concrete

  • had different mosaics

The Triumvirate

  • The triumvirate had three people leading an alliance to take control of Rome.

  • The rise of a powerful general, named Gaius Julius Caesar

  • The triumvate consisted of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus

  • Crassus funded everything

  • The people of Rome started to push Caesar to become the sole consul because they loved him.

  • Pompey betrays Caesar because he is jealous of how much Caesar is loved, but then Julius Caesar rose to power by winning the civil war against Pompey.

Gaius Julius Caesar

  • Julius called himself the dictator after winning the war against Pompey

  • He was seen as a man of Rome, beloved by the people

  • Rumors say that when Caesar came in to help Cleopatra that they had a child

The Ides of March

  • The 74th day on the Roman calendar

  • Several religious observances

  • known as a day when Romans must pay their debts

  • On this day, a group of people in the Senate came together and is stabbed 23 times on the Senate floor

  • They killed him because they didn’t want to give him all that power

Ceaser Agustus

  • Julius Caesar’s “great nephew,” He, changed his name to Octavian, which means “son of god.”

  • He pushed Rome into an era called the Pax Romana,

  • printed gold coins with his face on them

  • He was the emperor of Rome when Jesus was persecuted

Rome at its height

  • Pax Romana is the height of Rome

  • height of Rome is factors such as power, wealth, and land

  • Rome during the Pax Romana was at its peak of imperialism

Rome falling

  • bad leaders (entitled, selfish, do things for themselves)

  • over expansion

  • Corruption in the government

  • taxation and massive debt

  • disease (plague, famine)

  • inflation

  • declined politically

  • declined economically farmers cant afford to produce

  • farmers not being able to afford to produce made famine and death and hunger

  • social decline with things such as slavery

  • attendance in children going to school started to drop

  • people only joined the military for money but there wasn’t any money

  • diocletian thought he was the one who needed to save rome

  • he did this by using the idea of splitting them in half

  • after he tried to do reforms he split rome into the western and eastern empire and the western was shown as the superior empire-

  • the first chirstian ruler who led the eastern roman empire and

  • made the edict of Milan which was making persecution of Christians illegal and made chirstians benevolent

  • he made Christianity the official religion of eastern rome

  • changed the capital of the roman empire from rome to byzantium

  • changed Istanbul to the name constantinople

  • the western empire was unable to hold off Germans

  • emperor agustulus was defeated in 476 CE

  • the eastern roman empire continued on for another 1000 years

  • they took on a different approach and was more middle eastern

  • eastern roman empire changed its name to the holy roman empire

  • 300 years later they changed their name to the byzantine empire

  • around 1453 the byzantine empire falls to the ottoman empire

  • the ottoman empire ended in 1922