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RomeWritten by Tracey Ann Schofield

Photos by Philip Baird

Illustrated by Gary Mohrman

Teaching & Learning Company1204 Buchanan St., P.O. Box 10

Carthage, IL 62321-0010

http://www.socialstudies.com/ebooks.html

ii TLC10309 Copyright © Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010

Cover and interior photos by www.anthroarcheart.orgCopyright © 1999 Philip Baird ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Copyright © 2002, Teaching & Learning Company

ISBN No. 1-57310-309-8

Printing No. 987654321

Teaching & Learning Company1204 Buchanan St., P.O. Box 10Carthage, IL 62321-0010

The purchase of this book entitles teachers to make copiesfor use in their individual classrooms only. This book, or anypart of it, may not be reproduced in any form for any otherpurposes without prior written permission from the Teaching& Learning Company. It is strictly prohibited to reproduce anypart of this book for an entire school or school district, or forcommercial resale. The above permission is exclusive of thecover art, which may not be reproduced.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

This book belongs to

________________________________________

ForewordWelcome to the wonderful world of Ancient Rome: a time of brilliant military strategy, world domination, bloodygladiatorial contests, chariot racing, all-powerful emperors, unsurpassed hygiene and remarkable feats of engineer-ing that continue to influence the way we build, work and live today. This resource book is filled with information,

hands-on activities, thought-provoking questions and fabulous facts that will help students discover, explore andunderstand the contributions that Ancient Roman farmers, politicians, engineers, architects, lawyers, military strate-

gists, doctors and merchants all made to modern society and the profound and lasting impression that the Romanpeoples left on our lives.

AcknowledgementsThanks to Shari Lee for taking a trip to Italy just as I was about to undertake this book and for the use of the

invaluable reference materials she collected on her travels. Thanks also to my kids, who took so much interest inmy painstaking progress, and to my Mom, my valiant proofreader. A special thanks to Robynne Eagan and

Michaela Murphy—my ancient civilizations coauthors—and everyone at the Teaching & Learning Company fortheir limitless patience and understanding. As the familiar adage goes, “Rome was not built in a day.”

It would seem, however, that it was built in less time than it took me to write this book!

DedicationThis book is dedicated to the hardworking, ingenious and fastidious peoples of Ancient Rome,

without whom we might never have had the luxury of hot baths and flush toilets!

TLC10309 Copyright © Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010 iii

Table of ContentsThe Rise of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Politics & Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Mighty Roman Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Agriculture/Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Food & Drink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Beauty & Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Personal Hygiene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Art & Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Health, Healing & Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Literature & History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

The Decline of the Roman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Detailed Roman Time Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Appendix: Kings, Consuls & Emperors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

iv TLC10309 Copyright © Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010

Dear Teacher or Parent,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Ancient Rome: a time of brilliant military con-quests, world domination, deified emperors, bloody gladiatorial contests, impeccablehygiene, spectacular buildings, incredible wealth, lavish extravagance, infamous glut-tony and remarkable feats of engineering that continue to influence the way we build,work and live today.

With Exploring Ancient Civilizations: Rome as your guidebook to the past, you willexplore the ancient Roman world from monarchy to republic to empire and follow thetriumphs of the mighty Roman army as it conquers territories in the four corners ofthe known world. Along the way you will thrill to an exhilarating chariot race at theCircus Maximus; quail before a bloody battle between murderous gladiators at theColosseum; witness the power of the legionaries as they lay siege to yet another for-eign city; hold your breath as wealthy men gamble small fortunes on the toss of thedice; see an aqueduct in action as it brings fresh water from the countryside into cityfountains and public “flush” toilets; visit a bathhouse where people of all classessweat in the steamy caldarium and chill out in the frigidarium; observe domesticslaves as they bathe their pampered masters and dress them in the complicatedfolds of a toga; join well-wishers at a wedding ceremony; marvel at the intricate workof a tile layer as he creates a mosaic with colored tesserae; watch a haruspex exam-ine the organs of a sacrificial animal to determine the will of the gods; and attend asumptuous banquet where revelers dine on calf brain with rosehip custard.

Exploring Ancient Civilizations: Rome is a comprehensive resource guide filled withinformation, hands-on activities, thought-provoking questions and fabulous facts thatwill help students discover, explore and understand the contributions that AncientRoman farmers, merchants, politicians, engineers, architects, lawyers, military strate-gists and doctors made to modern society—and the profound and lasting impactthat the peoples of Ancient Rome had on our lives.

Sincerely,

Tracey Ann Schofield

TLC10309 Copyright © Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010 5

The Rise of Rome

The seeds of magnificent Ancient Rome werescattered on seven peaceful wooded hills alongthe banks of the Tiber River in central Italia

(“calf land”) more than 2700 years ago. From itsearly days as a modest thatched hut settlement offarmers and shepherds on the Palatine Hill, Romegrew to rule an enormous and architecturally splendidempire that stretched from northern England to NorthAfrica.

Before the Romans conquered the Italian peninsula, itwas inhabited by a variety of people of different ori-gins, languages and traditions. Of these, theEtruscans were the most powerful and advanced. TheEtruscan civilization flourished in central Italy fromabout 800-300 BC and reached its peak during the 7th

and 6th centuries BC. As Etruscan power expanded

north and south, the Etruscans moved into the city ofRome which had spread from the Palatine Hill, to theEsquiline Hill and then gradually, as the marshy val-ley floors were drained, to the remaining five hillsand surrounding lowlands. The Etruscan kings ruledthe growing city from 625-509 BC, expanding its ter-ritory and doubling its population. Great publicbuilding was undertaken: the 12-foot thick brickServian Wall, which replaced earlier timber and earthdefenses; the magnificent Temple of Jupiter on theCapitoline Hill; Rome’s first aqueduct and sewer, theAqua Appia and the Cloaca Maxima; the city’s mainsquare, the Forum Romanum; and the chariot racingcircuit, the Circus Maximus. The Etruscan kingsremained in power until 509 BC, when TarquiniusSuperbus (Tarquin the Proud) was expelled and Romebecame a republic.

www.anthroarcheart.org Copyright © 1999 Philip Baird ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Fabulous Facts

When the Etruscans uncovered ahuman skull during construc-

tion of the Temple of Jupiter, theyinterpreted it as a sign that Romewould become the capital of theworld. They were right. By the 1st

century AD Rome was the center ofan empire that governed 50 millionpeople on three different continents.Rome was the most magnificent cityin the world, studded with the opu-lent buildings of emperors keen topromote their civic generosity andmilitary victories.

One of the oldest cities in theworld and continuously inhab-

ited since its founding more than2700 years ago, Rome has served asthe cultural center of the world twicein its history, first as the capital ofthe Roman Empire and then as theheadquarters of the Roman CatholicChurch. Today, Rome is a thriving,cosmopolitan city, where residentsand visitors move freely in the shad-ow of a magnificent past.

6 TLC10309 Copyright © Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010

The Founding Myth of RomeAccording to legend, Romulus and Remus, the infant twin sons of Mars(and Rhea Silvia, the daughter of Numitor, rightful king of Alba Longa),were thrown into the Tiber River by their evil great uncle Amulius, theunlawful king. They washed ashore at the base of the Palatine Hill, andwere rescued by a she-wolf who fed the boys with her own milk until ashepherd found them and took them home. The boys—strong, naturalleaders—grew up among the herdsmen of the hills by the Tiber River.After a chance meeting with their grandfather, they agreed to helpNumitor reclaim the throne. Leading the shepherds, they attacked andkilled Amulius. Numitor was restored as king. The twins were princesin Alba Longa, but they missed the hills terribly, and decided to returnhome to establish a city of their own. Remus favored Aventine Hill, butRomulus liked Palatine Hill. As Romulus staked out the boundary of hiscity, Remus became outraged. He crossed the boundary line and in theensuing fight, was killed by Romulus. The new city, established in 753BC, was named Rome, in honor of Romulus. The image of a she-wolfsuckling two boys has been a symbol of Rome for more than 2500 years.

Try ThisAs a class, compare the map of Ancient Rome below to a modern mapin an atlas of the same area. What are the similarities? What are the dif-ferences?

Construct a Time LineConstruct a time line using some of the important dates in the DetailedRoman Time Line on pages 45-46.

Note: The history of Ancient Rome covers a period of more than 1000 years. At its height, in117 AD, the Roman Empire extended for thousands of miles in all directions and included peo-ples from England and northern Europe, Africa, the Mediterranian and the Near East. Theempire was so vast that, at the same time, Roman citizens might be shivering under a blanket ofsnow in northern Britain and sweating beneath the scorching sun on an Egyptian desert.Romans lived differently, according to where and when they were born. Historians divide Romeinto nine distinct periods: Early Rome (800BC-500BC), Republican Rome (500BC-50BC),Imperial Rome (50BC-AD300), Early Christian Rome (AD300-AD700), Medieval Rome(AD700-AD1350), Renaissance Rome (AD1350-AD1550), Baroque Rome (AD1550-AD1750),Rome during Unification (AD1750-AD1850) and Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Rome(AD1900-present). This book focuses on Ancient Rome—Early, Republican and Imperial—anddaily life in a typical Italian or southern European town during that time.

Servian W

all

QuirinalHill

ViminalHill

EsquilineHill

CaelianHill

PalatineHill

CapitolineHill

AventineHill

CircusMaximus

CloacaMaxima(Forum)

Tiber River

Aqua Appia


Politics & Citizenship

At no time was Ancient Roman society very fair.In each of its three historical periods a definitesocial hierarchy existed: the Monarchy, the

Republic and the Empire.

The Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic emerged after the monarchyand the rule of the seven kings came to an end in 509BC. It lasted for almost 500 years. Instead of a sin-gle individual, Republican Rome was ruled by twoelected officials, called consuls. The consuls werechosen from the ranks of the Senate, and assembly of300 powerful and wealthy citizens who took it uponthemselves to represent the Roman people. (Any cit-izen who wanted his voice heard had to persuade asenator to speak on his behalf.) At first the Senatewas dominated by a few rich, aristocratic fami-

lies—the patricians—who had existed under the monarchy as an advisory council to the king and hadthus inherited the king’s powers. Eventually, howev-er, a wealthy class of plebeians (common citizens)arose. The power of the plebeians grew, and by 287BC they shared equally in government. Senators,who were voted into office (they used campaign tac-tics similar to those today to gain office, includinghaving their names emblazoned on walls in thebusiest parts of town), were the Roman lawmakers.They were frequently the subject of corruptioncharges, however, and made and repealed laws—not to better society—but to solidify their own popularity.

There was a provision that allowed for rulers to takeon emergency powers and become dictators in times



of crisis, and this clause contributed to the demise of the RomanRepublic. By 146 BC, Rome was the greatest power in theMediterranean. A century later, the mighty Roman armies had van-quished their enemies and conquered lands as far away as Spain andAfrica. The city of Rome was known as the Caput Mundi: the head ofthe world. But with the expansion of the empire came civil war as ambi-tious generals fought for sole control. The troops felt more loyaltytoward their generals than to distant politicians, and the armies battledviciously amongst themselves. One of the most powerful and famous ofthese generals, Julius Caesar, took advantage of the loophole clause, andin 44 BC, with the backing of his huge army, marched to Rome to pro-claim himself dictator for life. Order was restored to the empire onlybriefly. Caesar was assassinated in the senate one month later, and theempire was once again plunged into civil war. The fighting lasted 17years, until Caesar’s nephew and adopted son, Octavian, seized controlof the empire in 31 BC. More powerful than the consuls and the senatecombined, in 27 BC Octavian—who assumed the titleAugustus—became Rome’s first emperor.

The Roman EmpireThe first and possibly the greatest Roman emperor, Augustus was a bril-liant politician and a shrewd leader. He knew that the Romans hated theidea of a monarchy. While holding the power of Rome squarely in hisown hands, he proclaimed a restoration of the old republic—with him-self as first citizen—and invited the senate and the Republican rulingclasses to share with him the task of administering the empire. But the“new republic” was just a smokescreen. The senate, heart of the repub-lican government, did not control the emperor; the emperor controlledthe senate. Augustus ruled solely and wisely for the next 27 years,reforming the state and restoring peace to the Roman world. When hedied in AD 14, he passed the throne to his adopted son Tiberius. Romewas ruled by emperors for the next 400 years.

By the second century AD, Rome controlled the known world fromBritain to Syria, and the Roman Empire was at its peak. Roman emper-ors were given sweeping powers and were even worshiped as gods.Some lived simply and ruled fairly, but others were flamboyant, violentand cruel. Although much revered and feared, emperors were surround-ed by enemies and could trust no one, least of all their own families. InImperial Rome, people were divided into three classes: Roman citizens,non-citizen provincials, freedmen (freed slaves) and slaves. Citizens(patricians and plebeians) were further divided into ranks. The wealthi-est of citizens became members of the senate. Consuls, other magis-trates, and provincial governors were chosen from among its members.The next level of citizens, the equestrians (also rich men), served in thearmy and administration. The plebeians, many of them farmers and mer-chants, were the lowest ranking citizens. It was, however, possible tochange rank in Roman society: equestrians could become senators, andthe ancestors of many Roman citizens were slaves. Even people of hum-ble birth could aspire to become emperor—provided they had amassedgreat personal wealth or had the support of the army.

Fabulous Facts

During the Republic, governmentdecisions were made, on the

advice of the senate, by elected con-suls (leaders) and people in the fol-lowing “departments”: praetors(justice), quaestors (finance), aediles(public works) and censors (censusand public morals).

Only men could be Roman citi-zens; women, slaves and for-

eigners were excluded from politicaldecision making.


Roman Civic FirstsThe Romans were the first to introduce many ideas that are still pop-ular today, including:

. . . government by means of laws (both written and unwritten). In450 BC, the Romans issued the Twelve Tables, one of the earliestwritten legal codes. It laid out the procedures to be followed bymagistrates whether they were ruling on patrician (upper class) orplebeian (lower class) issues. In AD 534, Emperor Justinian com-piled codes that still serve as the basis of Western law.

. . . magistrates’ courts. Crimes and grievances were heard inmagistrates’ courts. (Punishment was often in the form of compen-sation rather than retribution, and there were few prison sentences,however the death sentence—for such crimes as stealing and trea-son—was common. (Popular methods of execution were death bysword, axe, stoning and crucifixion.) Some criminals, even if theywere Roman citizens, were condemned to slavery.

. . . fire-fighting brigades. Firefighting has been a recognizedcareer since 24 BC. In the days of Ancient Rome, firefighters hadtwo essential pieces of equipment: an axe and a bucket. Axes arestill used for the same purpose: to break a structure into pieces tocontain a fire. Buckets were filled with water and passed from handto hand to put out flames. If the fire was burning out of control, longhooks with ropes were used to pull down entire buildings to create afirebreak and prevent the blaze from spreading. Firefighting tacticswere not radically changed until the 17th century, when hoses andpumps were invented.

. . . police forces. The first police force, called the PraetorianGuard, was established in Ancient Rome. The officers were theemperor’s personal bodyguards. They wore special uniforms andwere well paid for their work. The only armed soldiers allowedwithin the walls of the city of Rome, the guards were very powerful.They even intervened in politics, once by assassinating the EmperorCaligula and electing his successor, Claudius.

. . . passports. The Romans issued a “certificate of safe conduct”to ensure the safe passage of merchants and political envoys withinthe borders of the empire and beyond. The certificate was shown tothe ruler of each country and carried the full protection of Rome.

SlaveryThe everyday running of the Roman Empire was dependent on slav-ery, and Ancient Rome had a huge slave population. People wereenslaved in different ways: through the courts, by being born toslave parents and by war. Slaves served their masters as farm labor-ers and domestic helpers (even helping family members to bathe anddress!) or were sent to toil in workshops, factories and mines. In AD100, a wealthy family might have had as many as 500 slaves. Somefamilies treated their slaves well and considered them part of thefamily—these slave children might be brought up and educated withtheir owner’s children—and slaves who provided excellent servicemight earn their freedom. Slaves had few rights, however, and manywere harshly treated and led miserable lives.

Fabulous Facts

Historians estimate that morethan one-third of Rome’s people

were slaves, many of whom werebranded on the forehead or leg toidentify them as the property of theirowners.

The most highly prized slaves wereGreek. Often better educated

than their Roman masters, theseslaves served as secretaries, tutorsand doctors. Although some slaveswere downtrodden, others were welltreated. Some were even powerful,and for a long time the emperor’sslaves and freedmen (ex-slaves) ranthe civil service.

On the large estates of wealthylandowners, there was consid-

erable disagreement as to how slavesshould be treated. Some favoredkindness and felt that a contentedand well-rewarded slave would workharder and be more dedicated to thefarm. Others regarded their slavesas little more than farm tools, to besold like worn-out oxen when theywere too old or too sickly to be of anyfurther use.


The Mighty Roman Army

The mighty Roman Empire was built and sus-tained on the back of the mighty Roman army,arguably one of the most successful armies in

history. Unlike earlier civilizations and most of itscontemporary adversaries, Rome was able to raise andmaintain a massive centrally controlled fightingforce—one that was better organized, better equippedand better disciplined than any other that had comebefore. With the combined strength of its citizen army(the legions), auxiliary troops (non-Romans) and largenaval fleet, Rome was able to achieve an unparalleledlevel of military efficiency and to amass and defend avast empire.

The Roman LegionsThe army of the Roman Empire was divided intosome 25 to 35 groups, called legions, each of whichcomprised about 5000 foot soldiers or legionaries.Each legion was divided into groups of 80 sol-diers—centuries—which were commanded by a cen-turion. Six centuries made a cohort, and there were 10

cohorts in a legion. (The math appears to be offbecause a legion’s first and best cohort contained 10centuries. As well, each cohort had six centurions, sixmilitary tribunes selected from among the Romannobles and a legion commander. Including cavalry,special troops and sanitary personnel, a legion at fullstrength actually comprised more than 6000 men.)

The first Roman soldiers were conscripts, called upfrom wealthy families in times of war and responsiblefor supplying their own weapons. This changed asRome grew and became more prosperous.Legionaries in the Roman army—all citizens—signed up voluntarily for a 20-year term and served assalaried professionals. For the first time in history sol-diering was regarded as a proper occupation and sol-diers were paid a regular wage. Rigorously trained,brutally disciplined and very well armed, legionarieswere an impressive fighting force. They were theheart of the Roman army and the brunt of battle wastheirs to bear. Their life was hard—soldiers risked


Fabulous Facts

Each numbered legion had a nick-name, such as “Victorious” or

“Lightning,” and was led into battle bysoldiers carrying standards—decoratedpointed-tipped wooden poles, orjavelins, that symbolized the honor andbravery of the legion. Standards weredecorated with emblem, or vexilla, of thelegion—golden eagles (the symbol ofJupiter), golden crowns (awarded to thefirst soldiers to climb enemy walls),signs of the zodiac, hands, wreaths andbanners—and were to be protected at allcosts.

Mounted troops, or cavalry, dividedinto groups of 500 to 1000 soldiers

called alae, backed up the legionaries.Among the highest paid of Roman sol-diers (partly because they had to pay forand equip their own horses), the auxil-iary cavalry were the eyes of the army,patrolling, scouting ahead of thelegions, guarding their flanks in battleand chasing down defeated and fleeingenemies. Because Italians were not ablehorsemen, the army raised regiments inareas where it was customary to fight onhorseback: Gaul (ancient France),Holland and Thrace (Bulgaria).

While on the march, legionaries car-ried much more than their armor,

helmet and weapons. Each had a heavyshoulder pack complete with a tool kit(including a mattock for digging ditchesand a turf cutter for building earthenramparts), a dish and pan, a thickwoolen cloak, a basket, a chain andthree days’ food rations. The packweighed at least 90 pounds (40 kg), andhad to be carried up to 20 miles (30 km)a day. (Legionaries were often referredto as “Marius’ Mules,” after the generalwho started the practice.) After a longand exhausting day of marching, theweary soldiers had to dig defenses andbuild a fresh camp each night.Rectangular in shape, the camp was aportable, fortified city, protected by aditch and an earth bank lined withwooden stakes.


death in battle, fearsome corporal punishment (sentries who left their postwere beaten to death) and were prohibited from marrying (although mosthad “unofficial” wives and children)—but legionaries were tough andwell rewarded for their service. Indeed, many less fortunate citizenschose a career in the army for its benefits: a good standard of living andthe opportunity to learn a trade, such as construction. Upon discharge,legionaries were given a monetary payout or a piece of land. Most chosethe land and settled down as farmers.

There were also auxiliary soldiers serving as adjuncts to the Roman army.Recruited from within the ranks of non-Roman peoples living within theEmpire, the auxiliaries were organized in cohorts of 500 or 1000 soldiersunder the command of a Roman officer. Auxiliaries were paid less thanlegionaries and served for five years longer, but they received Roman cit-izenship for themselves and their families upon discharge, which gavethem important legal rights and privileges.

Try ThisMake your own class standard out of an old broom handle or other simi-lar pole. Divide into groups. Each group is responsible for making oneunique vexilla to add to the “javelin.” Paint your vexilla with awater/white glue mixture (equal parts water and glue) and press tissuepaper onto and around your emblem while the glue is still wet. When dry,coat with another layer of the water/glue mixture (and tissue paper if nec-essary). Use paints to decorate the dry vexilla if desired. Attach the indi-vidual emblem to the class standard with tape, rubber bands, string orwater/white glue and tissue paper.

Armor and WeaponsRoman legionaries were well armed. They carried a dagger, called apugio, which was worn on the left and a short and deadly doubled-edgedsword, called a gladius—used for stabbing and slashing—on the right.They also used spears or javelins, called pilums—capable of piercing bothshield and armor. The lighter of these was used for throwing and theheavier was used for thrusting at close range. The blades and tips of aRoman soldier’s weapons were made of iron or steel, with wooden shaftsand wooden or bone hand grips.

To protect themselves, legionaries wore armor over a coarse woolen tunicwhich reached to mid-thigh. The cingulum, an apron of decorated leatherstrips and a soldier’s badge of office (which also gave some protection tothe groin during battle and made a jangling noise that intimidated theenemy) was worn with the tunic at all times. Early in Rome’s history, afoot soldier’s armor was a mail shirt or a fabric shirt covered with sever-al thousand bronze scales that were stapled in rows and laced in place.Officers wore a cuirass, a bronze casing that protected the chest and back.By about AD 35, the mail shirt had been replaced by iron plate armor.The metal sections were joined by hooks or leather straps. The armor wasflexible but heavy and soldiers had to help one another dress. Officerswore varying crests to show their rank. Bronze and iron helmets protect-ed the sides of the head and the neck. Centurions and other officers worecrests on their helmets so that their men could see them and follow them

Fabulous Facts

The “turtle” tactic, or testudo for-mation, was used by Roman sol-

diers when they were attacked.Groups of soldiers would gather insquares. The outer layer of soldierswould hold their shields out in frontof them to form a protective bandaround the group. The soldiers insidethe square would lock their shieldstogether over their heads. Crouchingbeneath their protective “shell,” thesoldiers could advance safely as aunit.

After a significant victory, theemperor was granted a “tri-

umph.” He led his soldiers throughRome with their prisoners (soon tobe slaves) and booty (which financedthe splendor of Rome, filled theemperor’s pockets and paid thetroops’ wages), while the peoplecheered. Captured enemy leaderswere strangled during the cere-monies.


during battle. Legionaries also carried shields. Made with layers of woodglued together and covered in leather and linen, these shields had a metalcover over the central handle, which could be used to hit an enemy.

Try ThisDivide into two teams: the Turtles and the Foxes. Provide each memberof the Turtles with a cardboard or tagboard shield. Provide each memberof the Foxes with five (wadded paper) missiles. Ask the Turtles to assumea testudo formation. Have the Foxes advance towards the Turtles hurlingtheir paper missiles. How well protected are the Turtles? Do any missilesget through the Turtles’ shell?

The Roman army was as important in times of peace as it was in times ofwar. Having acquired most of their empire by the beginning of the 1st

century AD, Roman soldiers were employed to subdue uprisings andguard the frontiers of their conquered lands. Wars were fought not to gainnew territory, but to keep invaders out of the Roman provinces. Thelegions were still the backbone of the army, but the auxiliary regiments—infantry and cavalry—assumed an increasingly important role. It wastheir job to patrol and guard the thousands of miles of frontier that nowexisted around the Roman Empire and their strong military presence wasoften enough to discourage uprisings and invasions.

For many Roman soldiers, war accounted for a small part of their militarycareers. When not actively engaged in battle, soldiers lived like ordinarycitizens, as farmers or traders. Even when stationed in forts far fromRome, the soldiers expected—and therefore built—all the amenities ofhome, including baths, amphitheaters and aqueducts. Wooden structureswere replaced by stone buildings. Well-paid soldiers provided a readymarket for local farmers and traders and settlements developed next toforts. Many of these grew into cities, such as York, in England, andCologne, in Germany, and as soldiers married local women and raisedfamilies in these fort settlements, the union of conqueror and conqueredfurther entrenched Roman culture in outlying areas and helped to consol-idate and unify the empire.

Consider this . . .The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote “wherever the Roman conquers,there he dwells.” Not only did the Romans live in the provinces they con-quered but they also settled there. They introduced Roman ways of life:language and dress; religion and extravagant entertainment; good roads,aqueducts and public baths. The conquered peoples learned to live like theRomans. The Romans firmly believed that their way of life was the bestin the world and that they were doing the vanquished a favor by showingthem the right way to live.

Think about a modern conflict. Do both sides think that their way is thebest way? Choose one side or the other, according to your beliefs and val-ues. Why do you believe that the side you have chosen is the right side?Is your attitude about your society and the rightness of your way of lifevery different from the way Romans viewed themselves and their way oflife?


Religion

The Romans worshiped many different gods andgoddesses. Rooted in the rural world of shep-herds and farmers, Roman religion was very

practical. The idea was to keep peace with the gods.Winning their favor promised increased yields at har-vesttime and protected the family from misfortune.There were gods for every activity and aspect of life.(One goddess, Cardea, watched over door hinges!)Household gods, called lars, protected the home. Ashousehold priest, it was the duty of the father toensure that the entire family paid homage to thehousehold god each day. All Romans were expectedto worship and offer sacrifices to the important godsof the Roman state, such as Jupiter, and to the divineguardian spirit of the emperor.

Many Roman gods and goddesses were borrowedfrom the Ancient Greeks and renamed: Zeus becameJupiter, Ares became Mars and Aphrodite becameVenus. Others were adopted from conquered peoples:Mithras from Persia, Cybele from Anatolia and Isisfrom Egypt. Generally, the Romans tolerated thebeliefs of others. The Christians were an importantexception. Because Christians were mono-theistic(believed in only one god), they refused to make sac-rifices to the Roman gods. As a result, the Romansregarded them as dangerous non-believers who putRome in peril by offending the gods. AlthoughChristianity was spreading slowly through the empire by the 1st century AD, its followers were per-secuted by the Romans until 312 AD when the


Fabulous Fact

The persecution of Christiansbegan after the great fire that

devastated the capital of Rome in 64AD during Nero’s reign as emperor.The Romans believed the fire to be adivine punishment and blamed thedisaster on the Christians’ refusal toworship the emperor and the stategods. The emperor Diocletian insist-ed that everyone worship the tradi-tional gods, and Imperial edictsordered the destruction of churches,the burning of the scriptures and sac-rifices to the pagan gods.


Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. In 313 AD, by the Edictof Milan, Constantine made Christianity the official state religion.

Gods and GoddessesEach of the gods and goddesses had their own spheres of interest. Hereare a few:Apollo: god of the sun. The most benevolent of all gods, Apollo wasknown by the same name to both the Greeks and the Romans.Bacchus: (like the Greek god Dionysus) god of wine (and fertility).Ceres: god of the harvest.Cupid: (like the Greek god Eros) winged god of love. The son of Venus,Cupid carried a magic bow and arrow capable of making couples fallhopelessly in love.Diana: (like the Greek goddess Artemis) goddess of the hunt.Juno: (like the Greek goddess Hera) patron goddess and protector ofwomen, especially during childbirth. The wife of Jupiter, the maternalfigure of Juno was usually shown seated with a peacock at her side. Shewas originally the goddess of the moon and the queen of heaven.Jupiter: (like the Greek god Zeus) all-powerful god of the sky. Jupiterwas chief of the Roman gods, and was said to reside in the great templeon the Capitoline Hill in Rome where he could oversee the honor of theempire. Symbolized by the eagle and the thunderbolt, the Romansbelieved he showed his anger by hurling lightning at the Earth.Mars: (like the Greek god Ares) god of war. Mars was usually depictedas a powerful soldier clad in full armor. The second most powerful godafter Jupiter, Mars was also associated with agriculture.Mercury: messenger of the gods and the god of merchants.Minerva: (like the Greek goddess Athena) goddess of wisdom. Minervawas often depicted in a warlike stance to symbolize the power of theempire and often decorated the shields and armor of the legionaries.Saturn: god of farmers.Venus: (like the Greek goddess Aphrodite) goddess of love, beauty andfertility, and said to be the divine ancestor of the family of Julius Caesar.Venus is almost always shown naked or semi-clothed and is depicted asa beautiful young woman.Vesta: goddess of the sacred fire.

The Roman CalendarMany of the Roman months—Latin words from which the currentEnglish names are derived—were named after gods and goddesses:Maritius (March), Aprillis (April), Maius (May), Junius (June), Julius(July—originally Quintilis, meaning “fifth,” and later renamed in honorof Julius Caesar) and Augustus (August—originally Sextilis, meaning“sixth,” later renamed in honor of Emperor Augustus). The rest of themonths were named for their place in the calendar: September (seventh),October (eighth), November (ninth), December (tenth). Januarius,named for the god Janus, and Februarius, named after an ancient purifi-cation feast, were added later.

Fabulous Facts

Most emperors were declaredgods after their death.

(Emperor Augustus and his wifeLivia were both deified.)

The inner organs were removedfrom sacrificed animals and

examined by a special priest called aharuspex. The haruspex interpretedthe will of the gods by the conditionand shape of an organ. A deformedorgan was a very bad sign. At theconclusion of the inspection, theorgans were chopped up and left onthe altar or burned so their smokewould ascend to the heavens andplease the gods. The meat wascooked and served to the faithful at asacrificial banquet.

Augurs looked at the flight path ofbirds, the pattern of lightning

and even the way sacred chickens ateto decipher the mood of the gods. Ageneral named Claudius Pulcheronce took some sacred chickens tosea with him. When they refused toeat (a bad sign), he became enragedand threw them overboard. Soonafter he suffered a terrible defeat,which was blamed on his treatmentof the chickens.


Although it has been modified, the calendar we use today is based on theRoman calendar of the 8th century BC. The first Roman calendar hadonly 10 months and 304 days. The last month was extended for about 60days until a new cycle began in the heavens. In 712 BC, King Numaadded Januarius and Februarius to the year and changed the length of themonths. By 46 BC, the Roman calendar was out of sync with the seasonsby about 90 days. Julius Caesar adjusted the calendar so that it wouldrepeat annually and stay in closer step with the solar year. (To catch up,that particular year had 445 days.) Caesar’s calendar, the Julian or OldStyle calendar, had 365 days, with 30 or 31 days every month except forFebruary, which had 28. Because the solar year was actually 3651/4 days,Caesar created the leap year, adding one extra day—February 29—everyfourth year.

Temples and OraclesRomans were fearful of the gods and made offerings and sacrifices towin their favor, ask for help or offer thanks. Offerings came in all shapesand sizes, from coins and brooches to silver statues. (Emperor Augustuspromised Mars a new temple if the god helped him avenge the death ofCaesar. The remains of the Temple of Mars the Avenger are still visiblein Rome today.) Worshippers also sacrificed food and drink (mainlymilk, honey and wine) and burned incense on altars. Animal sacrificeswere common, and ranged from a single bird to an entire herd of cattle.There were few full-time priests; most were dignitaries for whom priest-hood was one of many civic duties. Because the empire was so vast, theRomans needed a divine central figure as a focus for their worship andloyalty. The emperor was the high priest of Rome. His title was PontifexMaximus, or “chief bridge builder,” because he bridged the gap betweenthe people and the gods. Temples dedicated to emperors were erected allover the empire.

Consider this . . .It is sometimes difficult to understand that a scientific people can also besuperstitious. In Ancient Rome, rational and irrational thought existedside by side. The Romans used scientific principles to build architectur-al superstructures, yet believed that a charm worn around the neck couldward off evil.

We are the most scientifically and technologically advanced society inthe history of the world, but superstitious beliefs persist. List all of thesuperstitions that you have ever heard. Given your understanding of sci-ence, could these be true? Could a black cat crossing your path reallybring you bad luck? Even if your head tells you there is no sciencebehind a superstition (there is no scientific principle to support the notionthat knocking on wood can prevent something from happening), doesyour heart still make you go through the motions?


Education

Most Roman children never attended school.Boys learned a trade from their father or weretrained to fight with swords in preparation for

a military career, and learned sums by trading at mar-ket stalls. Girls learned household skills from theirmother in preparation for marriage. For the lucky few,sons and daughters of wealthy Roman citizens, grow-ing up consisted of play and education. Some weretaught by their father. Others had private tutors. Stillothers went to small schools to learn the basics: math-ematics, reading and writing. Good students might goon to study history, poetry, music and public speaking.Although few girls received more than a basic educa-tion, sons of the nobility continued their studies,preparing for a career in law or government. Armedwith an abacus and a wax tablet, children would set

out for school before sunrise, stopping to eat at abreakfast bar on the way. School ran from dawn untilnoon.

Students practiced their writing on reusable beeswaxtablets. Fine writing was done on papyrus scrolls orthin sheets of wood with pens (made from reeds, boneor bronze) and ink (made with powdered soot or lamp-black mixed with water and kept in glass, pottery ormetal inkpots).


Fabulous Facts

Writing surfaces varied accord-ing to the importance of the

messages conveyed. The finest bookswere written on vellum, sheets ofwafer-thin animal skin (usually kidor lamb) which had a beautiful writ-ing surface and was very durable.Egyptian papyrus, paper made fromreed fibers, was used for importantlegal documents. Everyday texts werewritten on reusable wax tablets orthin and inexpensive leaves or wood.The discharge ticket of a gladiatorwho had earned his freedom mightbe written on a bone.


Try ThisMake a reusable wax writing tablet in a small jewelry box lid lined withtinfoil. Ask an adult to melt wax in a pot on the stove and pour the liq-uid into your frame. While you are waiting for the wax to harden, usesandpaper to file the end of a craft stick to a dull point. Use the pointedend of your craft stick “stylus” to scratch a message in the hardened wax;use the blunt end of the stylus to “rub out” mistakes and old messages.

Consider this . . .Roman students who made mistakes or behaved badly were often beaten.

How have things changed in the classroom since Roman days? If youwere beaten when you acted out in class or made an error, how wouldyour feelings about school change? Do you think the fear of corporalpunishment made Roman children behave differently than childrentoday? Do you think Roman children made fewer mistakes or just tookfewer chances?

Latin Language and AlphabetAlthough people spoke many languages across the Roman Empire, Latin(in the west) and Greek (in the east) were the languages used by govern-ment, for international communication and for trading purposes. It wasthe Romans that first introduced writing to northern Europe, and theLatin alphabet is used there today. The Latin alphabet contained only 22letters (I/J and U/V were not distinguished and W and Y did not exist).The Romans wrote millions of texts, from impressive inscriptions chis-eled in stone to private letters scrawled on wax tablets, from elegantpoems and histories meticulously inked on papyrus scrolls to tradeaccounts scratched on broken pots. Yet, most ordinary people were illit-erate. Reading and writing were luxuries that few could afford and, in aworld without printing presses and laser copiers, books—which wereboth rare and expensive—had to be copied by hand.

Consider this . . .The English language and other European languages such as French andSpanish contain a large number of words of Latin origin. Look at thewords in the Roman phrase, “Brevis esse laboro, obscurus.” Do you rec-ognize any of them? Translated into English the phrase means, “I striveto be brief, and I become obscure.” The word brief is derived from bre-vis, the word labor from laboro, and the word obscure from obscurus.

Does your school have a motto? Does the motto derive from Latin? Themotto of Port Perry High School (in Port Perry, Ontario, Canada) is Exobscuritate ad lucem, which means, “Out of the darkness toward thelight.” Have you ever heard any other Latin phrases? Open the dictionaryat random and scan the page. How many words originated in Latin?


(Hint: If you see the letters Lat. at the beginning of the definition, youhave found a word of Latin origin.) How close is the English word to itsLatin relative? Would you be able to figure out the English word by look-ing at the Latin word?

Try ThisMake your own bedroom door nameplate frieze using Roman capitals—A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Z. Cut out a cardboardrectangle large enough to hold all the letters of your name. Use tape androlled paper towel or tissue paper to shape the Roman capitals that spellyour name. Place the letters on the card and tape in place. Mix equalparts white glue and water and use a paintbrush to paint the mixture overthe card and your letters. Press tissue paper on the card and over your let-ters. Cover with another coat of the glue/water mixture. While it is stillwet, push the frieze into some sand. Allow the frieze to stand for twominutes (no longer) then dump off the excess sand.

Roman NumeralsUnlike the Arabic numbers we use today, Roman numerals were writtenas strings of symbols that were added together. I was 1, V was 5, X was10, C was 100 and so on. (The number 4 can be written as IV or IIII.)Large numbers were awkward, complicated to figure out and cumber-some to write which made arithmetic difficult. For example, written inRoman numerals our number 1776 is MDCCLXXVI. Yikes!

Try ThisSome modern watch and clock faces still use Roman numerals. Trydrawing a clock face using Roman numerals. If you feel like an addi-tional challenge that combines Latin capitals and Roman numerals, useyour street name and number to make a frieze for your home or schoolusing the technique described above. If you live at 14 Bruce Street, yourfrieze would look like this: XIV BRVCE STREET. If you prefer thescratch method to the relief method, make a wax tablet (as previouslydescribed) using the lid of a shoe box. Scratch your address into the waxonce it has hardened in the box lid.


Agriculture/Commerce

The first Romans were shepherds and farmers, and althoughRoman life came to be centered in great cities, most peoplelived and worked in the countryside. It was the farm workers

who produced the food and materials required to fuel the cities, andthroughout Rome’s history agriculture was the most important sec-tor of the economy. Many farms were small, subsistence operations,where retired soldiers grew olives and vegetable; kept bees for honeyand raised chickens, geese, goats and perhaps a cow or pig to feedtheir families. Others were large estates owned by wealthy Romansand worked by peasants and slaves. These enormous, lucrative com-mercial farms produced grains (wheat, barley, oats and rye), fruits,vegetables (celery, cabbage, leeks and lentils), olive oil (for cookingor burning in lamps), honey (for sweetening) and grapes (for wine)to be sold in local markets or exported, and many boasted their ownolive presses, reaping machines and grain storage facilities. Raisinglivestock for meat, dairy products and leather was big business andhuge, slave-run cattle ranches popped up across the empire. Farming


Fabulous Fact

As the empire grew, Rome neededhuge amounts of food and mate-

rials to feed and clothe its urbanpopulations. It turned increasingly toimports to satisfy this demand: grainfrom Sicily, Egypt and Africa; oilfrom Spain and Africa; and luxurygoods, such as incense, spices andsilk, from China and Southeast Asia.Many other goods were exportedfrom one end of the empire to theother. Provinces rich in marble, met-als, linen or wool, exported to thoselacking in resources.


was a hard, backbreaking way of life for countless Roman men, womenand children, who worked the land, grew crops, tended vines and live-stock, and managed olive groves and woodlands from dawn until dusk.Compared to modern farming methods, Roman tools and techniqueswere primitive and inefficient: oxen were used for plowing, grain washarvested by sickle and flour was ground by hand.

The Romans were also skilled craftsmen. Almost all were men, and mostwere slaves or freedmen. The most talented craftsmen, even if they wereslaves, could make a lot of money selling specially commissioned piecesto rich clients. Craftsmen worked in a wide variety of materials: metals,such as gold, silver, lead and iron (and bronze, an alloy made out of cop-per, tin and sometimes zinc); bone; glass and clay. All over the empire,the skills of the blacksmith were in constant demand, and smiths forgediron tools, weapons and pots. Other metalworkers were fine artists, fash-ioning intricate pieces of jewelry in precious metals. Bone was used bythe Romans like we use plastic today. Purchased from the butcher, freshanimal bone could be finely carved into everyday items such as knifehandles, needles, hairpins and combs, and special items like sword hilts,gaming pieces and dice, and the inlay on wooden boxes. From theSyrians, the Romans learned how to blow glass. Although glass had beenmade for centuries, glass blowing was quick, easy and inexpensive andit allowed for the widespread production and use of glass bottles, flasksand decorative items. There were pottery workshops through the empireand in some areas, pottery was a large-scale industry. Clay pots weremade the same way as they are today: by turning and shaping wet clayon a wheel and baking it in a kiln.

Consider this . . .Even when glass was no longer a luxury, broken bits were collected,melted down and made into new pieces. Glass bottles with handles wereused to trade valuable liquids, but once empty they were often used tostore food in the Roman kitchens.

Just as we are today, the Romans were concerned about recycling,reusing and reducing. Why do we bother with the Three Rs? Do youthink our reasons are the same or different than those of the AncientRomans? (In your discussion, consider limited resources, cost, pollution,etc.)


The ForumEvery large Roman town had a market square, called a forum (from theLatin word foris, which means “outside”). The forum originated as asimple, open space where weekly markets were held and evolved into animportant center of commerce in which the wealthy gathered to do busi-ness, and everyday Romans gathered to buy and sell goods and toexchange friendly gossip. The forum was a busy, crowded place. Moneychangers and bankers gathered to make deals and discuss business andtax collectors raised money for the town council (taxes were charged onall goods that passed through the town). On weekdays, people hurryingoff to work might stop to pick up a snack from a food stall or a street ven-dor. On market day, the forum was busy with traders and farmers who setup stalls in the central square. Shops spread out from the forum and ranalong the main streets. The shops were usually small, family-run busi-nesses. As the day began, the shutters or blinds were removed from theshop fronts and goods were put out on display. Noise filled the air as bak-ers, butchers, fishmongers, fruit and vegetable sellers, began their salespitches, promising that their goods were the best and the cheapest.Adding to the clamor of the busy main street were the sounds of ham-mering and banging coming from the workshops behind the storefrontswhere merchants sold pottery lamps and bronze lanterns, kitchen potsand pans and knives, and repaired shoes or laundered cloth.

Consider this . . .In Ancient Rome, the walls of public buildings were often scrawled withgraffiti: political messages, personal insults or declarations of love.

Have you ever seen graffiti spray painted on the wall of a building? Wasits content much different than what you might have seen in AncientRome? What is the most interesting bit of graffiti you have ever seen?(No foul language, please!) Do you think this kind of public defacementshould be considered criminal?

Try ThisSet up your own market square stalls using the desks in your classroom.Choose a handful of vendors. Ask each vendor to “sell” the contents ofhis or her lunch box to the hungry crowd by calling out appealingdescriptions of the items it contains. (Do not show the contents of thelunch box.) Provide each buyer with 10 “denarii” to spend on food. Thebuyers can bid against one another to “win” an item. (Each item can onlybe sold once. Of course, no food should really change hands.) Who canmake his or her wares sound the most appealing and earn the mostmoney? Switch until everyone has had the chance to be a vendor.

Fabulous Fact

Wealthy Romans did not thinkbeing a merchant was a social-

ly acceptable occupation. Eventhough many citizens improved theirlot through trading and some mer-chants became extremely wealthy,the Senate passed a law in 218 ADforbidding senators to be involved inany kind of commercial activity.


Food & Drink

Contrary to their reputation for eating vast quan-tities of elegant foods, Romans of all classesate well but simply. Their diet consisted of

cereals, bread (which replaced barley porridge as astaple during the Imperial period), beans, lentils, veg-etables, a little poultry, fish or (occasionally) meat,and fruit. Breakfast and lunch were light meals andeven emperors ate very little during the day. The mainmeal was cena, or dinner, which took place after theday’s work. For the wealthy, the evening meal mightstart with shellfish or a salad, followed by a maincourse of roasted chicken or goose with vegetables. Itfinished with a sweet course of fruit or honey cakes.

Consider this . . .Even poor people in Rome were better nourished thantheir contemporaries around the world. Emperors andwealthy citizens often distributed wheat, oil and otherbasic necessities for free to keep them from starvingand rising up against the government.

How does the Roman condition compare to life forthe poor today, at home and around the world?

Romans boiled, fried, grilled and stewed their food.Modest kitchens boasted a chimneyless raised brickwood stove for cooking. Cooks fried or boiled food inearthenware or bronze pots on the stove and bakedand roasted food in the ashes of a small brick oven.Larger kitchens might have had a stone oven for bak-


Fabulous Facts

Most kitchen utensils were madeof bronze, which cooked food

evenly. But bronze was primarilycopper, which affected the taste ofcertain foods and even made somepoisonous. To prevent the tainting offood, bronze pans were often coatedwith silver.

Wooden spoons would have beenfound in virtually every Roman

kitchen, as would graters, the designof which has changed little sinceRoman times.

The Romans liked spicy food. Togrind nuts, herbs and spices into

powders, pastes or liquids for sea-soning, Roman cooks used a pestleand mortar—the ancient equivalentof a food processor. Both pieces weremade of a tough pottery or stone andthe inside of the mortarium wasmade of coarse grit, which often gotinto the food as the surface becameworn.

The Romans used spicy, saltyliquamen, or fish sauce—made

from anchovies or the insides of amackerel which were soaked in saltwater and left to rot in the sun—toflavor their foods and disguise thetaste of fish or meat which did notkeep well in the Mediterranean heatand was often rancid. (Fresh fish wasvery expensive because it rottedalmost faster than it could be deliv-ered.)

Some Roman hosts served expen-sive wine at the beginning of a

banquet and then switched to cheap-er vintages later in the evening, hop-ing their guests would not notice.

Other than mulled wine, theRomans did not appear to drink

any hot beverages.


ing bread and spits for roasting meat. A few even had piped hot water.The kitchens of wealthy Romans were well equipped with all kinds ofutensils: bronze pots, pans, strainers and ladles. Foods were stored inbaskets, bowls or sacks, and pottery storage jars, called amphorae, heldwine, olive oil and sauces. Herbs, vegetables and joints of meat hungfrom hooks in the roof. In contrast, many common and poor Romantownspeople lived in houses without kitchens. Instead of preparing andcooking food at home, they ate hot take-out meals bought from vendorsin the food stalls and bars, called thermopolia, which lined the streets.

Try ThisRoman cooks used a variety of herbs, easily grown in the warmMediterranean climate, to add interest to their meals, including: parsley,thyme, fennel, fenugreek, angelica, mint, coriander seeds, juniperberries, oregano, rue, mint, pepper, saffron, caraway, aniseed and mus-tard seeds. Modern cooks use these same herbs. Check your cupboardsto see how many appear in your kitchen.

Although the Roman people had access to fresh drinking water, water-borne diseases such as cholera could still cause epidemics. Thus it wassafer to drink alcohol. Wine was the drink of choice for Romans of allclasses (the rich just drank better wine). Roman wine, both dry andsweet, came in four standard varieties: black, red, yellow and white. Thewine was mixed with water, which reduced the incidence of drunken-ness. The wine went bad quickly, and most had to be consumed withinthree or four years of production. Honey, herbs and spices were oftenadded to older wines to improve their taste.

Roman BanquetsAlthough most meals were simple, wealthy Romans often invited gueststo sumptuous and elaborate dinner banquets. These lavish parties beganat two or three in the afternoon, after the day’s work and a visit to thebaths. Guests, dressed in an elegant robe called a synthesis, reclined onlong, low couches to dine, leaning on their left elbow while they pickedat their food with their fingers. The couches, which held up to three peo-ple, were clustered around a low dining table on which the food wasarranged. Dinner, prepared and served entirely by slaves, consisted of anumber of courses and was taken leisurely over a period of several hours.It started with an appetizer—salad, eggs, snails or shellfish (such as seaurchins)—which was served with honey-sweetened wine called mulsum,and concluded with a sweet course of cakes and fruit. It was the maincourse, however, that captivated guests. At Roman banquets, the generalrule of thumb was, “the more unusual the food and its presentation, thebetter.” Some of the more extravagant dishes on record included fatteneddormice (a type of rodent) stuffed with pork and pine kernels or roastedin honey and poppyseed, songbird with asparagus, quail eggs, calf brainand rosehip custard, sows’ udders, roast peacock, flamingo tongues, mul-let livers and wild boar stuffed with live thrushes. The wealthiest house-holds had trained cooks who applied tremendous artistry and creativityto their complicated, expensive specialties. Because the look of a dish


was just as important as its taste, cooks also took great pains to carveand serve their dishes in innovative ways.

Roman banquets were as much a social event as an exquisite feast.Between courses and at the completion of the meal, guests wereentertained by singers, dancers, musicians, acrobats, clowns, jug-glers, poets and storytellers. Although overeating, drunkenness andexcessive reveling were the hallmark of many Roman dinner parties,others were sophisticated cultural occasions.

Consider this . . .By serving expensive and unusual foods at a dinner party, Romanscould make an impressive display of their wealth. Hosts did theirbest to show off to their guests and used their finest silver tablewareand glassware to complement their culinary extravagance.

Why were wealthy Romans preoccupied with their social status andimpressing their peers? Do rich people today flaunt their wealth byholding extravagant social get-togethers? Do you feel a similardesire to impress? When you or your family invite friends, relatives,acquaintances or business associates to your house for dinner, do youdo anything out of the ordinary: serve different foods or beverages;use different dishes or cutlery; eat in a different room? Why?

Try ThisMake your own Roman-style honey-nut dates that are fit for anemperor. Crush some slivered almonds or chopped walnuts with amortar and pestle until powdery. Pit a handful of dates and stuff apinch of nut powder into the middle of each. Roll the dates in salt tocoat. Heat 2/3 cup (175 ml) of honey in a frying pan over low heat.Add the dates and fry for five minutes, turning occasionally with awooden spoon. Attractively arrange the dates on a bed of lettuce andsprinkle with leftover nuts. Feast and enjoy.

Fabulous Facts

Much of our knowledge of Romancooking comes from recipes

collected by a Roman gourmet calledApicius nearly 2000 years ago.Roman cooking seems very strangeto us today, in part because many ofthe food basics we enjoy—potatoesand pasta, for example, were not yetknown.

Dress and table manners werevery important at a Roman ban-

quet. Guests were prohibited fromarguing and using bad language, butthey were encouraged to spit, belchand even eat until they threw up.They were also invited to take homeany tasty tidbits that were left overafter the meal.

Because there were no forks,guests ate with their fingers and

washed their hands frequently.

Only country folk, foreigners andslaves sat upright at the table.


Currency

Roman money was in the form of coins. (TheChinese would invent paper money some1000 years later.) Coins were minted in

bronze, silver and gold and were valued according tomineral worth and weight. The first Roman coinswere made of bronze, and the basic monetary unit inthe 4th century BC was the bronze as. (Later on in theRepublic and early in the Empire, the silver denariusand the gold aureus were added to the common cur-rency. At first these coins were almost pure silver andgold, but as the fortunes of the empire diminished, sodid the purity of the empire’s coinage.)

Consider this . . .Roman coins were not just objects with which peoplecould buy things. They were also a means of promot-ing important people and events. In a world withoutmass media there were few ways for a Roman leaderto familiarize the people with his image or spreadword of his accomplishments. Julius Caesar was thefirst leader to have his portrait put on a coin. Fromthen on, coins served as mini newspapers: showingpeople across the empire what their leader lookedlike; announcing great events, such as the building ofa new temple; or praising an emperor’s victory, gen-erosity or wise rule.

How do you learn about the people, places and cur-rent events that shape your world and the way youlive? The Romans received very little news from afar.What sort of an impact did this have on their lives?

How do youthink Romanchildren weredifferent fromyou in termsof communi-cation? Is itpossible tohave “toomuch” infor-mation?

Try ThisDesign your own Roman currency. Start with yourstandard coin or basic monetary unit. What will yourstandard coin look like? What will you call it? Buildyour coin collection from there. Make a chart to showthe relative worth of each coin as compared to yourstandard coin. What could you buy with each coin?How many coins (and in what denominations) wouldit take to buy a carton of milk, a new jacket, a videogame system? Remember to include important faces,places and events on your coins. You can print wordson your coins, too. Use Roman capitals to carveimportant messages or announcements around theborders of your coins. Design your collection onpaper. Then, if you want, you can “mint” your coinsusing clay.


Fabulous Facts

When Romans went shoppingthey carried their money in

purses made of cloth or leather or inwooden boxes.

To simplify trade, people acrossthe Roman Empire used the same

currency. Well preserved silverdenarii can be found today as faraway as India.

Among all classes, Roman men and womenwere equally concerned with their appearance.Both wore jewelry. The wealthy favored rings,

bracelets and necklaces of gold or silver studded withemeralds, pearls and amber; the poor settled forbronze embellished with colored glass beads thatresembled jewels (much like costume jewelry today).Many women had pierced ears. Women's hair styleswere always changing. According to the latest fash-ion, hair was curled, braided, pinned up, piled high onthe head or worn in tight ringlets. Wealthy womenalso wore elaborate wigs and hairpieces. (Brides woreat least six pads of artificial hair at their wedding.)Jet-black hair was usually imported from India orAsia, while blond and red hair came from northernEurope. Men generally wore their hair short, eithercombed forward or curled, and they were expected tobe clean shaven. Even household slaves were sent tothe barber to be shaved daily—a painful ordeal sincethe Romans did not use shaving cream! To the reliefof many, Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138) popular-ized the beard, making shaving unfashionable.

Wealthy Roman women used perfumes and oint-ments (made from plant extracts) and wore makeup.Ladies wanted to look pale—dark skin implied a lifeof toil in the sunshine—so they rubbed chalk or evenpoisonous white lead powder into their skin. Redochre or the sediment from red wine was used tomake blush and lipstick and eyeshadow was madewith ash, antimony and saffron. Lamp-black and soot

were used todarken theeyelashes andeyebrows.

Try ThisMake yourown gold, sil-ver andbronze banglebracelets andrings. Userolled upnewspaper toshape a bracelet that just slips over your wrist. (It canbe thick, thin, flat, rounded, twisted or whatevershape you desire.) Tape the ends in place. (For rings,use tissue paper, facial tissue or pipe cleaners.) Mixwhite glue and water in equal parts and paint the mix-ture over your bracelet/ring. Place strips of tissuepaper on the wet bracelet/ring until the entire surfaceis covered. Coat your jewelry with another layer ofthe glue/water mixture. While the surface is stilltacky, apply candy wrappers, shiny wrapping paper,aluminum foil, plastic bead “gems” and other decora-tive elements. (If desired, you can skip this step andsimply paint the dry item with gold, silver or bronzepaint. Allow to dry and then apply another coat of theglue/water mixture.) Coat the decorated surface withat least one more layer of the glue/water mixture.

Fabulous Facts

The Romans used bird excrementto treat acne!

Combs were made of wood, boneand ivory. Although wealthy

women used them as hair adorn-ments, the poor used them to rid theirheads of lice.

During the Roman Republic, lim-its were placed on the amount of

jewelry a person could wear.


Beauty & Fashion



Personal Hygiene

Ancient Romans understood the relationshipbetween good hygiene and good health.Engineers developed a sophisticated system of

water supply and sewerage which was not modern-ized until the 19th century. Clean water was collectedin huge reservoirs in the countryside and fed by aque-ducts into an elaborate gravity-dependent system oflead pipes and smaller feeder tanks that suppliedfresh water to private homes, bathhouses and publictoilets and fountains. A drainage system of under-ground sewers—kept separate from fresh water sup-plies to inhibit the spread of disease—carried awaywaste water.

The Roman BathsVery few houses had their own baths. Instead, mostRomans visited large public bathing establishments,which were found even in military bases on the fron-tiers of the empire. Here, for a small sum, peoplebathed each day. Bathers left their clothes in thechange room and received bath towels and wooden-soled sandals from slaves. (The shoes insulated theirfeet from the hot floors in the bathhouse chambers,which were heated from below.) In the warmth of thetepidarium, bathers would rub themselves with oliveoil—soap was a foreign curiosity—then scrape offdirt and grime with a curved metal tool called a strigil. Once clean, they would slip into the pool. Inthe steamy caldarium, or hot room (which was clos-


Fabulous Facts

Men and women bathed sepa-rately. Bigger bathhouses—

some which held up to 3000 people—had designated areas for each sex. Insmaller baths, men and womenbathed at different times of the day.

The Romans believed that hot/coldplunge baths purged and revital-

ized the system.

The underfloor heating systemused in Roman bathhouses and a

few private homes is called ahypocaust—a system of central heat-ing based on the principle that hotair rises. A wood- or charcoal-burn-ing furnace stoked by slaves heatedthe air beneath the floor. The hot aircirculated around pillars of brick ortile that supported the floor and alsoflowed up inside the walls throughspecial channels that led to chimneyson the roof. This kept the rooms of thehouse warm and also provided hotwater.


est to the furnace), bathers soaked in a hot bath or sweated in the dryheat of a sauna or the wet heat of a steam room. Then, to close theirpores, they took a cold plunge bath in the unheated pool of the open-air frigidarium (cold room).

But Roman bathhouses were more than just places in which to wash.In addition to bathing chambers, the baths also contained an exerciseyard or hall, bars, libraries, barbershops, brothels and sports facili-ties. The baths were a meeting place where people could do a littlebusiness or catch up with friends after a day’s work. Some wouldspend the afternoon chatting between dips in the bathing pools.Others would exercise, lift weights, play ball games or just relax,buying drinks and snacks from vendors and sitting in the shade play-ing board games or gambling with dice.

Try ThisLook at your face in the mirror. Can you see the tiny holes that dotyour skin? These are your pores. Soak a washcloth with hot water.Wring it out and press it over your face. Repeat this several times.Examine your pores again. Do you see any difference? While yourface is still hot, soak the cloth in freezing cold water. Wring it outand press it over your face. Look at your pores again. Is there a dif-ference? Do you think the Romans had the right idea with theirhot/cold plunge baths?


Art & Architecture

Although the Romans greatly respected,admired and learned from the artistic andarchitectural achievements of the Greeks, and

often emulated their designs, they used Greece moreas a source of inspiration than a blueprint in thedevelopment of their own impressive style.

ArtThe Romans were skilled sculptors, and fashionedbeautiful statues and scenes of everyday life in stone,marble and bronze. Indeed, much of our knowledgeabout the Roman Empire comes from their detailedcarvings. They were also excellent and clever

painters. (They loved to fool the eye by painting falseshelves, columns and archways!) Roman artists paint-ed murals directly onto walls. The few stunningpaintings that remain—mostly of gardens, birds andanimals, heroes and gods—display remarkable real-ism. Roman artists also painted very realistic portraitsusing a mixture of hot beeswax and pigment. Theyused these works of art to communicate the force andpower of Rome to the world. And to convey this mes-sage Roman painters used a very realistic, warts-and-all, approach to portraiture, emphasizing the real fea-tures of the face—even when these were less thanpretty!



Roman artists also created intricately detailed, elaborate inlaid tilemosaic pictures to grace the floors and walls of public places and thehomes of the wealthy. By carefully pressing tesserae—small cubesof colored stone, pottery or glass—into wet plaster, skilled mosaiclayers could create lifelike scenes, decorative pictures or geometricdesigns. The materials used in mosaic tiling were inexpensive andeasy to find, so the art was used widely throughout the empire. Andsince mosaic tile pictures wear extremely well, many have survived.In bright colors or in black and white, these tile pictures—oftenframed by a geometric tile border—feature hunting and countryscenes, plants, animals and birds, and Roman gods.

Try ThisMake a construction paper square mosaic. Cut several sheets of dif-ferent colored paper into small square “tiles.” Map out your mosaicin pencil on a sheet of white or gray construction paper or cardboard.(Mark each square with a colored dot to indicate the color of thesquare to be laid.) Glue the colored squares in place. Be sure to leavea thin space between each of your paper “tiles” so that the back-ground “plaster” shows through. This will make your mosaic picturelook more realistic. (You can also make a real tile mosaic using self-hardening clay, acrylic paint, clear varnish and plaster paste. Flattenthe clay with a rolling pin and use a ruler to slice the slab into smalltiles. When the tiles are dry, paint and varnish them. Cover a smallboard with plaster paste and press the tiles into the paste. Polish thesurface with a soft rag.)

ArchitectureThe Romans copied or adapted many Greek architectural styles,adding their own embellishments and improving their designs, but astheir empire expanded and they took over Greek territories, theyoften replaced Greek buildings with their own. Many of the towns inItaly and the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea were alreadyold and well-established when the Romans invaded. Under Romanrule, these towns prospered and grew. In other parts of Europe,where people had never lived in big towns, the Roman invaders builtimpressive new cities.

Fabulous Facts

Mosaic tile pictures were oftenmade in frames, in workshops

and then transported to their finaldestination. But sometimes the tileswere fitted in situ by skilled tile lay-ers. The floor of an average room ina Roman townhouse might requiremore than 100,000 tesserae!

Wealthy villa owners couldchoose a tile design from pat-

tern books carried by mosaic artists.

Fabulous Facts

Amasterpiece of engineering, thePantheon is the best preserved of

all Roman buildings. Completed inAD 128 and dedicated to all thegods, the Pantheon’s huge dome—141 feet (43 m) above the ground and141 feet (43 m) in diameter (toaccommodate a perfect sphere)—was the largest ever built until the1900s. Architects are still not surehow it was constructed. Built of brickand clad in stone and marble, thetemple’s interior is flooded by lightwhich pours in through a 26-foot (8m) opening in the ceiling. ThePantheon is still in use as a Christianchurch, and its mosaic floor, interiorcolumns and dome remain in theiroriginal condition.


Buildings, Roads and AqueductsThe Romans were great builders and they built on a monumentalscale. They had no bulldozers or power tools, yet their buildings havesurvived for thousands of years. Using local supplies of stone andtimber, they constructed glorious temples, lavish public buildingsand breathtaking country estates all across the Empire. They invent-ed the dome and perfected the semicircular arch, techniques thatallowed them to build taller, stronger structures—many of which arestill standing today—that were more massive, more magnificent andmore durable than anything that had been built before. Erecting wallswith tiers of arches, Romans could achieve greater heights for theirbuildings and using dome technology they could roof buildings instone.

In about 100 AD, the Romans developed the world’s first concrete bymixing pozzolana, a strong volcanic material, with cement. Romanconcrete was cheaper and tougher than stone. By pouring it betweentwo outer rows of fired brick or dressed stone, masons could buildstronger walls in less time.

Try ThisDomes are one of the strongest shapes because they disperse weightequally, carrying it down along their curved walls to their widebases. Unlike pillars, in a dome no one point supports the entireweight of the structure above. That’s why dome shapes are oftenused to construct buildings that can’t have pillars for support—likesports arenas (and the ceilings of Pantheons!). To test the super-structure of the dome, cut two eggs in half widthwise. (Run a strip oftape around the eggs before cutting to prevent cracking.) Place yourfour perfect domes on a hard flat surface. Start piling hardcoverbooks on top of the egg domes. How much weight can your super-domes withstand?

To reduce travel time between destinations and allow for the rapidmovement of soldiers and supplies around the empire, Roman sur-veyors constructed their roads in long, straight lines that stretchedhundreds of miles over various types of terrain. Built in layers abovea firm gravel foundation, roads were paved with stone blocks or cob-bles or covered with gravel or stone chips. A camber (slight hump)in the middle of the road encouraged rainwater to drain into theditches and made roads usable in all types of weather. In Romantowns, straight roads were planned on a grid pattern. Some werebroad, paved streets; others were narrow cobbled alleys just wideenough for a donkey.

Romans were master road builders, and it was not until the 1800sthat Europeans were able to match their construction quality. Someof the roads built by Roman soldiers and civil engineers are still inuse today, and many more are buried beneath modern road surfaces.


Consider this . . .There is a famous expression, “All roads lead to Rome.” Looking atthe maps of Ancient Roman roadways it is not difficult to see howsuch an expression originated. “Warehouse of the Empire,” the cap-ital city of Rome—with its one million plus population—was theheart of the Roman Empire and the center of the Roman world.

Does your nation have a central city like Rome to which all roadslead? If so, what makes this city the heart of your nation and the cen-ter of the world?

When dug wells could no longer meet the demands of a growing city,Rome’s skilled civil engineers constructed aqueducts to bring infresh water from springs, streams and lakes. Most aqueducts ranunderground, but some were supported on high arches, many ofwhich are still standing. In simple terms, aqueducts worked using acombination of water pressure and gravity. Water was collected in areservoir outside the city. Water drained into the city along a systemof channels, which were built at a slight slope to maintain a steadyflow. To maintain a constant gradient, arches were built to carry theaqueduct over low-lying lands and river valleys. The water flowedalong a channel at the top of the bridge.

HousesThe streets in a Roman town divided buildings into large apartmentblocks called insulae, or islands. In the slum districts, the insulae,where the majority of the less fortunate lived, were separated by nar-row dark alleys. The poor had few comforts or luxuries. They livedin poorly built, over-crowded, tenement apartments that rose severalstories above the ground floor shops that opened onto the street.Small, dark and cramped, these squalid apartment houses were with-out sanitation and in constant danger of burning down. The poorused public toilet facilities, but many could not afford the admissionto the baths. Water, at least, was clean and free—collected from pub-lic fountains.

In contrast to the poor, the homes of wealthy Romans were spaciousand comfortable. The very rich could afford to have both a townhome and a country villa, both of the same basic design. Houses,constructed of locally available building materials such as stone,mud bricks, cement and timber with clay tile roofs, looked plainfrom the outside because they were designed to face inward, privateand safe from burglary. The rooms of each house were arrangedaround a central courtyard and garden. The front door opened onto ashort passage which led into an airy courtyard or entrance hall,called the atrium. The center of the atrium was open to the sky andthere was a pool in the middle of the floor to collect rainwater (at onetime the family’s main water supply) and keep the hall cool. The

Fabulous Facts• An aqueduct built in the Spanish

town of Segovia during Trajan’sreign, is still in use today. Thearches of the 10-mile water con-duit rise 127 feet above the streetsof the town.


kitchen, bedrooms and dining room (triclinium), which was often thegrandest room in the house, were clustered around the atrium. Thetablinium, a living room/office where the head of the family greetedhis guests, was situated off the atrium. The colonnaded garden,called a peristyle, was situated behind the tablinium. It was full offlowers and ornamental statues and had a covered walkway aroundits edges which offered shade on hot summer days. The windowlessrooms were elegant but sparsely furnished with wooden couches,beds, benches, chests, small tables and folding stools. The wallswere covered with brightly colored paintings; the floors were deco-rated with mosaics. High ceilings and wide doors made the most ofthe light from the atrium and garden. At night, small, flickering oillamps made from pottery or bronze offered a little light. But olive oilwas expensive and did not burn very brightly, so most Romans wentto bed when it got dark. Homes were heated with charcoal burningopen braziers or, if the family was very wealthy, with underfloor cen-tral heating which was especially popular in the colder parts of theempire.

Consider this . . .The Roman world was full of contradictions and paradoxes. It wasan incredibly sophisticated society and one of the wealthiest everknown, providing untold advantage, wealth and splendor to some.For most people, however, life was oppressive. The cost of main-taining such a vast empire placed an excessive tax burden on peopleof all classes. The hard-working poor resented the leisurely andflamboyant life-styles of the rich, and because there was no socialsafety net in Roman society, the poor were largely left to fend forthemselves. And there was little one could do to escape poverty.Young men could consider a military career, but for girls, the onlyway out was to attract a wealthy husband.

Find the words contradiction and paradox in the dictionary. What dothey mean? How was Roman society a contradiction? How was it aparadox? Do such contradictions and paradoxes exist in your societyor elsewhere in the world? Do the poor fare better today than theydid in Roman times? Do they have a better chance of escaping poverty?

Fabulous Facts

Because their beds and sleepingcouches were so high, Romans

had to climb a ladder or stand on astool to get into them!

Situated in the atrium, the larari-um, or household shrine, was a

small private altar containingimages of the family’s ancestors. Thefamily honored its ancestors byburning incense at the shrine andalso worshiped domestic deities,such as Vesta, the goddess of thehearth.


Entertainment

Romans loved to be entertained. Games of chance, music, the-ater and sports were all part of everyday life for hard-work-ing Romans of all classes.

Toys and GamesThe games Roman children played and the toys they played withwere reflections of the world around them. Some of them, like mar-bles, hide-and-seek and hopscotch, are still played by children today.Young children played with dolls and figures of people and animalsfashioned out of wood, clay or bronze. Children through the ageshave loved to emulate adults in their play, and toy chariots wereprobably as popular as racing cars are today. A child from a wealthyfamily might even have a child-sized chariot that was pulled by agoat.


Fabulous Facts

Although children from poor fam-ilies had few toys and had to

work from a young age, they stillfound time to play and made do withwhatever was at hand.

Some children’s toys were made oflead, which was highly poiso-

nous.


Try ThisRoman children played with glass and pottery marbles, but nuts were fre-quent substitutes. Like marbles, hazelnuts and walnuts were rolled onmarked gaming boards or thrown into pottery vases. Play a game of“walnuts.” See who can toss the most nuts into a small waste paper bas-ket or who can roll their nut closest to the bull’s-eye on a tagboard target.

Adults loved to play board games: simple ones like Xs and Os, and morecomplicated ones, like chess. Dice games were very popular, and wereenjoyed by rich and poor alike. The Romans loved to gamble and wouldbet on anything—a chariot race, a gladiatorial contest or a simple toss ofthe dice. Gambling became such a problem in the Roman Empire thatgames of chance were officially banned (except during the winter festi-val of Saturnalia when most rules were relaxed). Still, the rattle of dicecould be heard in most bars and public baths and large amounts of moneywere won and lost according to the toss.

Try ThisThe Romans used counters made of bone, glass or clay in their boardgames. Make your own counters out of self-hardening clay and thenplay one of the games described below. Roman Chariots: Draw a largeoval “track” on a piece of oaktag. Divide the track into squares. Decidein advance how many laps your race will be, then race your chariotsaround the track toward the finish, throwing a die to see how manyspaces you can move on each turn. Gladiators: Cut two pieces of dif-ferent colored construction paper and one piece of oaktag into 8'' (20 cm)squares. Using a ruler and a marker, draw a grid on each square. Thereshould be eight 1'' x 1'' (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm) squares across the top and bot-tom and down each side. Cut out the construction paper squares, butleave the gameboard intact. Ask a friend to choose a color and a claymarker (the Gladiator). Take turns placing 16 tiles on the board. Place thetwo Gladiators last. Now take turns moving one of your tiles one squareforward, backward or sideways. The object is to capture and remove yourfriend’s tiles by sandwiching them between your own. The Gladiator canjump over a tile into an empty square. It captures, and is captured, in thesame way as the tiles. You must move a tile or your Gladiator on eachturn if possible, even if it means being captured. The winner is the firstplayer to capture all of the other player’s tiles and Gladiator.

MusicMusic was an important part of Roman life, accompanying most reli-gious ceremonies, private gatherings and public entertainments and,although the Roman nobility found music and musicians to be vulgar,song and dance (reserved for the poorer classes) were popular with thepeople. The Romans played a variety of musical instruments: windinstruments, such as the double flute and pan-pipes; bronze instruments,such as the trumpet and horn; stringed instruments such as the lyre; andpercussion instruments such as the cymbals, metal rattles (calledsistrums), tambourines and complicated water-powered organs.

Fabulous Facts

Mime, a type of crude comedy,was invented by the Romans

and was a favorite among ordinarytownsfolk. Roman mime was unlikemodern mime because the actorsspoke. It differed from Roman theatrebecause the actors did not wearmasks and women played the femaleroles. Often performed in the streeton rough wooden stages, mimes hadregular, recognizable characters,such as Stupidus, the fool.


Unfortunately, while we know much about instrumentation and Romanattitudes toward music, we will never know how it sounded. No sheetmusic has survived.

Try ThisThe traditional shepherd’s instrument—a row of cane whistles of differ-ent lengths that produce different notes—is still called the pan-pipes. Youcan make your own pan-pipes using drinking straws of different lengths.Place at least eight straws (the thicker the better) side by side on a flatsurface. (Make sure the tops of the straws are at the same height.) Placetwo strips of tape across the straws to bind them together, the first about1'' (2.5 cm) from the top and the second about 3'' (7.5 cm) from the top.Starting at the lower left corner, use a pair of scissors to cut up across thestraw at an angle so that you finish cutting just below the second strip oftape. To play, blow air gently into the openings at the top of your strawpan-pipes. Can you play any recognizable tunes?

TheaterTheater-going was a popular Roman pastime. Modeled after the Greekstyle, Roman theater was first offered as part of religious festivals. Later,performances were paid for by the wealthy in a bid to gain popularityamong the people. Tickets were free—if you could get them—andRoman theater-goers watched plays written by Roman playwrights suchas Plautus that followed Greek storylines. The Romans preferred come-dies to tragedies—scripts featured kidnapped heiresses, foolish old menand cunning slaves—and Roman plays usually had happy endings. As inAncient Greece, actors in Roman plays (the best of whom were usuallyGreek) were male. They played female roles when necessary. Characterswore elaborate costumes and masks (a favorite theme in Roman art) toidentify themselves to the audience as young or old, male or female, vil-lain or hero, god or mortal.

Roman theaters were usually open to the air. They had no roof, but anawning could be drawn to protect the audience from the hot summer sun.Roman stages used the mock stone front of a building as a backdrop. Thewall at the back of the stage boasted decorative stone columns (76 ofthem in the theater in Orange, France!), statues and doors through whichthe actors could enter and exit. Rising banks of stone or wooden seats—up to 50,000 in the largest theaters—curved around the stage in a half circle.

Try ThisWrite and stage your own silly Roman mime for your classmates. Userecognizable characters that are easy to parody through their languageand actions: teacherus, principalus, librarianus, parentus, brotherus, sis-terus, friendus, dogus, hockey playerus, policepersonus, storekeeperus,etc. Make sure not to use rude language or say anything that might hurtanyone’s feelings in your mime.


SportsIn Ancient Rome, entertainment was used as a form of political control.On feast days—and there were 182 feast days each year in ImperialRome—entertainment was provided free by the state. Theatrical perfor-mances and sporting events were strictly controlled by the state, and theRoman people were encouraged to attend dangerous and bloodthirstyspectacles that curbed their own appetites for violence and protest.

Chariot RacingMost Romans were passionate about chariot racing, and all over theempire people flocked to the track for a day at the races. Dressed in theirfinest clothes and jewels, Roman men and women sat together (the onlyevent at which this was permitted) to watch up to 12 charioteers careenat breakneck speed around a long, oval racetrack, called a circus. Raceswere seven laps long (about five miles or eight kilometers) and were runduring the day and at night under torchlight. In an atmosphere chargedwith excitement—in part because the spectators bet on the outcome ofthe races—the chariots exploded from the starting gates on the frontstraight, thundering counterclockwise around the spina, or central barri-er. Delirious fans went wild, cheering on their favorite teams (Reds,Blues, Greens and Whites, which were owned by the emperor) with asmuch crazed enthusiasm as modern-day sports fans.

Chariots were built light for maximum speed, but were often splendidlydecorated. The most popular was the quadrigae, which was pulled byfour horses running abreast, although chariots could be drawn by as fewas two horses (bigae) and as many as six. Controlling a quadrigae at fullgallop was extremely challenging, especially in the turns. Crashes andfoul play were frequent, but injury and death just added to the excite-ment, and even chariots that crossed the finish line without their driverscould win a race.

Try ThisHold your own chariot races. Mark out an oval racetrack which will beyour circus. Divide the class into four teams: reds, blues, whites andgreens. Form pairs within each team. Designate one member of each pairas the horse, the other as the charioteer. Choose four pairs, one from eachteam. Have each horse kneel on all fours at the start line. Have the char-ioteer pick up and hold the horse’s back legs (as in a wheelbarrow race).With the rest of the class acting as spectators and cheering on theirteams, have the charioteers and their horses race for one lap around thetrack. After all pairs have had a chance to race, tally the results. Whichteam won the most races?

Fabulous Fact

Not surprisingly, most Romanspreferred spectating to partici-

pating. Even boxing was a deadlysport. Fighters wore studded thongsinstead of padded boxing gloves andsevere injuries—even brain damageand death—were common.

Fabulous Facts

The city of Rome's CircusMaximus, the greatest of all

racetracks, seated up to 250,000people.

Great charioteers often becamefamous. Although most were

slaves, the very best sometimes madeenough money to buy their freedom.

Racehorses had names likeCandidus (Snowy), Rapax

(Greedy) and Sagitta (Arrow) andwere trained and housed in specialstables.

Fan rivalry sometimes erupted inviolence. Fighting between Blue

and Green fans in Constantinople inAD 532 led to a rebellion against thegovernment that cost thousands ofpeople their lives.


Gladiatorial ContestsThe Romans also liked to watch displays of cruelty. Bloody fightsbetween animals and deadly battles between gladiators took place inthe town’s amphitheater, or colosseum.

Contests of strength were religious in origin: they were first held atfunerals to honor the dead. By Imperial times, however, they hadbecome crowd-pleasing blood sports, increasingly spectacular andgory, and staged by the emperors and other dignitaries to amuse anddistract the masses.

The so-called “games” lasted all day. In the morning, starving wildanimals, like lions and tigers, were flung into the arena to fight oneanother, to slaughter defenseless criminals, slaves and religious mar-tyrs, or to face armed huntsmen. The huntsmen, who performed infront of elaborately landscaped backdrops, sometimes liked to showoff their skill by standing on stilts to fight the big cats. But the spec-tators liked to see the hunters torn to shreds as much as they liked tosee the animals killed. It was all considered part of the “fun.”

Around midday there would be a break in the entertainment. Whilethe bodies were removed and fresh sand was spread on the colosse-um floor, the crowds’ excitement grew in anticipation of the day’smain event: the gladiators.

Gladiators, many of them trained killers, fought to the death. Mostwere men—slaves or criminals—although there were a few women,and some even volunteered for the job. (The emperor Commodusstunned his people by stepping into the arena himself to do battle.)Gladiators were glorified by the Roman people, and successful fight-ers were idolized. Those who were very good, very popular and verylucky might survive to win or buy their freedom. But for most, lifewas brutal and short.

There were various types of gladiators, each with distinct weapons,and each with its own legion of adoring fans. The retiarius, the netman, was an agile gladiator. He was equipped with a weighted fish-erman’s net with which to capture his opponents before stabbingthem to death with a trident. Retiarii had no armor, and the loss of anet was a death sentence. Other gladiators wore armor. Designed forflashy form rather than function, it left vital areas like the stomachunprotected. Elaborate bronze helmets with locked face guards wereworn by the more heavily armored gladiators. The helmets gavegood protection to the head, but offered poor visibility—a deficien-cy that could prove fatal in a fight with a speedy retiarius.

Each contest, which featured a number of pairs or groups of gladia-tors fighting at the same time, began with a tribute. Contestantswould turn to the emperor and shout, “We who are about to die saluteyou!” Then they attacked, to the accompaniment of music. When agladiator was badly wounded, he could beg the emperor for mercy.


His fate was in the hands of the audience. The emperor would ask thecrowd, “Has the gladiator fought well enough to be spared?”Thumbs up meant “yes,” and the gladiator lived to see another bat-tle. Thumbs down, meant “no,” and the gladiator was killed.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum (known at the time as the Flavian Amphitheater) inRome was the empire’s greatest amphitheater. A marvel of Romanengineering, the Colosseum could hold up to 70,000 spectators.There were 80 ground-level arches that were progressively num-bered—each spectator’s admission card, or tessera, carried a numberfrom 1 to 80—that led, via a system of internal corridors, to 160 out-lets (vomitoria) that took spectators to their place on the steps of thestands, or cavea. The cavea were divided into four sets of steps (theuppermost being the loggia for standing spectators) and spectators—who were all admitted free of charge—were seated according toclass, with the least important standing at the top. In spite of its size,the Colosseum was so well designed that a capacity crowd couldhave been completely and safely evacuated in a few short minutes. Ahuge canvas awning could be stretched over the top to provide shade,and a massive iron chandelier suspended above the arena providedlight for nighttime shows. Unlike most amphitheaters, which werebuilt into natural depressions in hillsides for theatrical performances,the Colosseum was free standing and built specifically for spectatorsports. The Roman people eventually grew tired of mere slaughter,and emperors tried hard to find interesting new forms of butchery toentertain them. Brilliantly designed, the Colosseum had a specialfloor that could be flooded with water to allow for the enactment ofdeadly sea battles between gladiators on small ships. Below the floorwas a labyrinth of cells used to hold gladiators, wild beasts and inno-cent victims as well as passageways, hidden elevators and trap doorsused to deliver them to the arena above.

Fabulous Facts

It was so important to the emperorsthat their spectacles were novel

and lavish that they spent small for-tunes purchasing wild beasts forslaughter. They searched the knownworld for exotic animals—lions,tigers, leopards, black bears, polarbears, antelope, elephants and rhi-noceros—loading them onto shipsbound for Rome.

When a gladiator was killed, hisarmor was removed and

repaired, then passed on to anotherfighter.



Health, Healing & Medicine

Roman doctors knew very little about medicalscience, which was still in its infancy, andmost Romans believed that illness was

caused by witchcraft, curses and the gods. Doctors—almost all men, mainly Greek and some of themfrauds—healed people with a mixture of commonsense, magic and trust in the deities. Physiciansrelied heavily on herbal remedies to heal the sick andthese were quite effective for common complaints.However, there were no cures for serious afflictions.

Even the most skilled surgeons could not save peoplefrom ailments which today can be cured by antibi-otics or routine surgery. Romans had some effectivedrugs, but no real anesthetics. The only pain killerswere made from poppy juice, and surgery—crudelyexecuted—was a terrifying, agonizing and often fatalordeal. Since doctors had little or no understandingof human anatomy, many patients died on the oper-ating table from shock or trauma, or later from sec-ondary infections or gangrene.

Fabulous Facts

Romans believed in the Greek godof healing, Aesculapius. His

daughter, Hygieia, was the goddessof health and the word hygienic,which comes from her name, is stillused today to mean “free of germs.”

There were doctors in most partsof the empire, as well as dentists,

eye specialists and midwives, one ofthe few occupations open to women.

It is believed that the Romans per-formed the first caesarean section

when Julius Caesar was born.(Hence the name of the operation.)His name is thought to have comefrom the Latin word caesus, whichmeans “cut.”

The Romans understood that manyplants had medicinal properties,

and they used them to make drugsand ointments. Fenugreek was usedto treat pneumonia, fennel for itscalming properties and elecampaneto aid in digestion. The Roman writerPliny wrote of 40 different remediesthat listed mustard as the main ingre-dient. Garlic, the medicinal use ofwhich was widespread sinceEgyptian times, was doubly impor-tant to the Romans for its healingproperties and its ability to ward offevil spirits. Garlic was used as apurgative to cleanse the system, andcrushed to make an antiseptic woundointment. Roman soldiers were givena daily ration of garlic to keep themhealthy.


Consider this . . .Doctors and traveling healers sold all kinds of potions and ointments,many of them natural remedies made from herbs and other plantextracts. Many of the remedies did little good, but some had the powerto heal.

Herbal and naturopathic remedies now appear on the shelves of mostmodern drug stores. Visit your local pharmacy and make a list of 10herbal remedies that are for sale. Have you or anyone you know tried oneof these treatments? Which one(s)? What ailment was being treated? Didthe remedy work?

Death and BurialLife was relatively short in Roman times—most people died before theyreached the age of 50. Children were particularly at risk, and one in threedied in infancy. Death was an everyday occurrence and there were manyrites and rituals associated with it. Funeral practices varied according tothe times. Cremation (burning) was popular at first, then inhumation(burying the body intact). To reduce the risk of epidemics, Roman lawdemanded that both take place outside the city walls, and cemeteriessprang up outside the city gates. The “best” plots were next to the road,where the dead were immortalized as passersby saw their graves andremembered them. The main cemeteries of Rome were located on theroads leading out of town, and the most famous stretched for 10 milesalong the Via Appia.

PompeiiThe most famous Roman burial site is the city of Pompeii, which wasobscured under 13 feet (4 m) of pumice and volcanic ash when MountVesuvius erupted without notice on August 24th in AD 79. Pompeii’s sud-den end, while devastating for its occupants, is a boon for modernarchaeologists. For 1700 years, the city and 2000 of its 20,000 inhabi-tants lay buried, untouched by time, and their excavated remains tell usmuch about everyday life in Ancient Rome. The bodies of people flee-ing the choking fumes have been discovered in the streets, encased inhardened lava and ash. People were literally killed in action—a customerbeing served a drink in a wine bar and a baker who had just put loavesof bread into an oven—and in the hollow molds of their original shapesare the impressions of clothes and shoes.


Literature & History

The Emperor Augustus and other wealthyRomans believed that patronage of the arts waspart of their civic duty. They encouraged and

financially supported many poets and historians, andthe early Empire was the golden age in Latin litera-ture. Virgil was Rome’s greatest epic poet. His mostfamous work, the Aeneid—the story of the foundingof Rome by the Trojan hero Aeneas and the greatnessof Augustan rule—is still regarded as a masterpiece.

Pliny the Elder wrote his enormous encyclopedia,called Natural History. Vitruvius wrote a treatise onarchitecture which was critical to the revival of theclassical style during the Renaissance 14 centurieslater. Cicero—a writer, poet, politician, lawyer andphilosopher—was considered Rome’s greatest orator,or public speaker, and 58 of his 106 speeches havesurvived.



The Decline of

the Roman Empire

The Emperor Augustus introduced sweepingreforms that improved family and social life,lowered taxation and limited corruption in the

expanding Roman Empire. His rule marked thebeginning of a period of peace, prosperity and stablegovernment in central and southern Europe, known asthe Pax romana (Roman Peace), which lasted forsome 200 years. For the first time in history, the entireMediterranean and surrounding lands were unitedunder a single government. The Pax romana, whichended in the middle of the 3rd century AD, was fol-lowed by almost a century of economic chaos, inter-

nal conflict and chronic invasion by foreign forces.Constant clashes with the Germanic barbarians to thenorth and west and the warring Persians to the eastand frequent civil wars as the Roman generals strug-gled for power took their toll. In 248 AD Diocletianintroduced a new political system, called the tetrar-chy, in which four emperors co-ruled at once. Hedivided the empire into east and west and appointed asenior (Maximian) and junior emperor to each part.Although the tetrarchy lasted only a few decades, itpaved the way for the permanent division of theempire in the 4th century AD.



The reign of Constantine marked another turning point in the history ofthe empire. He became the western emperor in AD 306 and by AD 324had conquered his fellow emperor in the east, reuniting Rome under asingle leader. Constantine converted to Christianity in AD 312 and soonmade Christianity the official religion of the empire, moving the centerof the empire to the city of Byzantium (which became Constantinople).In AD 395 the empire was permanently divided into two states.

As Christianity triumphed in the east, the western empire began to crum-ble. By the early 5th century AD Germanic tribes were installing them-selves in great numbers throughout the west, destroying the fabric ofRoman life. The Rhine frontier collapsed in AD 406, and the Germanpeoples flooded the Western Empire, founding many of the modernEuropean states: the Franks turned Gaul into France, and the Angles andSaxons turned Roman Britain into Saxon England. In AD 410 the city ofRome was sacked by the Visigoths, and in AD 476 the last westernemperor abdicated, leaving the Western Empire to the invaders. TheEastern Empire with its capital in Constantinople (formerly Byzantium)and renamed the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the west—by then aGreek-speaking Christian state and very different from the Rome ofold—lived on for another 1000 years. It was felled by the Turks (whorenamed it Istanbul) in 1453 and the bright flame of Rome was official-ly extinguished.

Lasting LegacyThe rule of the Ancient Romans came to an end in Western Europe morethan 1500 years ago, but their legacy surrounds us. Western architecture,language, military strategy and law owe an enormous debt to theRomans. Modern plumbing and sewerage systems are based on theRoman example, and Roman construction and design is literally at thefoundation of countless European roads. The Romans were master engi-neers and builders, and wherever they conquered, they settled and built,uniting the people of Europe in a common culture that was both rich andtechnologically brilliant. Their influence remains, visible in the tri-umphal arches, walls, temples, baths, aqueducts and bridges that still dotEurope, North Africa and the Near East.

Detailed Roman Time Line750 BC Tarpeia betrays city to the Sabines.c.753 BC According to legend, the city of Rome is founded by Romulus, the first of seven kings.715-713 BC The 12-month calendar is established by King Numa Pompilius.c. 700 BC The beginning of the Etruscan period.659 BC Rome’s third king, Tullus Hostilius, expands the city’s territory and doubles its population by con-

quering neighbor and rival settlement, Alba Longa.641-616 BC The first bridge across the Tiber River, the Pons Sublicius, is constructed. The harbor town of Ostia

is founded at the mouth of the Tiber.616 BC The first Etruscan king, Tarquinius Priscus, is crowned. The Forum and the Circus Maximus open in

Rome.600 BC The Latin language, still in use today, is first written. Probable date of construction of the Cloaca

Maxima sewer.578 BC Etruscan king Servius Tullius is crowned.565 BC The Servian Wall is constructed around Rome’s seven hills.534 BC King Servius is murdered.510 BC The Temple of Jupiter in Rome is consecrated on the Capitoline Hill.509 BC L.J. Brutus expels Etruscans and their king from Rome. Rome becomes a republic.507 BC Rome wages war against the Etruscans. Horatius defends wooden bridge across Tiber.499 BC Rome successfully battles the Latin tribes. Temple of Castor and Pollux built to commemorate victory.493 BC The Office of Tribune is created to protect the rights of the plebeians (the common people).390 BC Rome is invaded and ransacked by Celtic Gauls. (Romans are warned of the attack by geese quack-

ing on Capitoline Hill.)380 BC The Servian Wall is rebuilt to defend Rome from any future attacks.312 BC Construction of the Via Appia, Rome’s first great road, and the Aqua Appia, Rome’s first aqueduct.264 BC First record of a gladiatorial contest.264-241 BC The first of three wars between Rome and Carthage, which came to be known as the Punic Wars.250 BC Rome controls most of Italy.240 BC The first Roman dramas are performed on stage.220 BC The Via Flaminia is built, linking Rome to the Adriatic coast.218-202 BC Second war between Rome and Carthage. Hannibal, a Carthaginian general, crosses the Alps by

elephant. Scipio Africanus defeats Carthaginians.c.211 BC The first Roman silver coin, the denarius, is minted at Rome.206 BC Rome conquers Iberia (present-day Spain).200 BC The Romans begin to use concrete in construction.196 BC Rome defeats the Macedonian rulers of Greece. The first triumphal arches (erected to celebrate a

victory) are built in Rome.168 BC Victory in Macedonian War completes Roman conquest of Greece.149-146 BC Third and final war between Rome and Carthage. Carthage is destroyed.146 BC Greece and North Africa come under Roman rule.133-120 BC Gracchi brothers killed for trying to introduce land reforms.73 BC Spartacus leads a slave revolt in southern Italy.71 BC Spartacus’s slave revolt crushed by Crassus and Pompey.62 BC The Ponte Fabricio, a bridge leading to Tiber Island which is still in use by pedestrians today, is

constructed.60 BC The first Triumvirate (an exceptional coalition of three distinct powers) is formed and Rome has three

joint rulers: Pompey (military might), Crassus (economic force) and Caesar (power of the people).52 BC Julius Caesar leads Roman armies in conquest over Gaul, making it a Roman province and bringing

an end to years of war.55 BC Construction on the first stone-built theater in Rome, Pompey’s Theater, is completed.55-54 BC Roman armies begin to attack Britain.


49 BC Caesar crosses the Rubicon and takes Rome, becoming sole and absolute master of the republic.44 BC Julius Caesar is appointed dictator for life. He is murdered in the Senate by Brutus and Cassius.31 BC Octavian defeats Cleopatra of Egypt and Mark Antony in the Battle of Actium, bringing an end to

civil war.29 BC Egypt becomes part of the Roman Empire.27 BC Octavian becomes Rome’s first emperor. He is given the title Augustus.13 BC The Ara Pacis is erected to celebrate the peace Augustus has secured in the Empire.c.AD 30 Death of Jesus Christ.AD 42 St. Peter the Apostle comes to Rome.AD 50 With a population of about one million, Rome is recognized as the largest city in the world. Roman

traders reach Bengal and India.AD 60 Queen Boudicca leads an uprising in Britain.AD 64 “While (Emperor) Nero fiddles,” the Great Fire of Rome destroys much of the city.AD 65 First Christians are persecuted (under Nero).AD 67 St. Peter is crucified and St. Paul is executed in Rome.AD 72 Construction on the Colosseum, a huge arena called an amphitheater (which is used to stage games

and fights), begins.AD 75 Roman traders reach the Sudan, setting up trade links across the Sahara.AD 79 The volcano Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum in lava and ash.AD 80 The Colosseum in Rome is completed and opens to the public.AD 117 The Roman Empire is at its largest and greatest, stretching thousands of miles in all directions.AD 118-128 The Pantheon in Rome is built.AD 122 Under Emperor Hadrian, construction begins on Hadrian’s Wall, a defensive barrier across northern

Britain.AD 124-133 Emperor Hadrian’s splendid country holiday palace is built. Parts of the villa—which had pavilions

and pools, terraces, banqueting halls, theaters and libraries—still stand today.AD 125 Hadrian redesigns the Pantheon.AD 164-180 Plague rages throughout the empire.c.AD 200 Road system covers all parts of the empire.AD 212 Citizenship is granted to all free people in the empire.AD 216 Baths of Caracalla completed.AD 247 Rome celebrates its millennium.AD 270 A new defensive wall—the Aurelian Wall—is built around Rome by the Emperor Aurelian.AD 284 The Emperor Diocletian introduces new laws and taxes. The empire is divided.AD 312 Emperor Constantine gains control of the empire after battle at Milvian Bridge.AD 313 Christianity is legalized in the empire.AD 320 The first St. Peter’s cathedral is built.AD 324 The Emperor Constantine reunites the empire and founds the city of Constantinople (present-day

Istanbul, in Turkey).AD 330 Constantine established his imperial residence in Constantinople and makes the city the new eastern

capital.AD 380 Emperor Theodosius makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.AD 395 The Roman Empire is divided again, this time into two parts—Eastern (Constantinople) and Western

(Ravenna).AD 410 The city of Rome is raided and sacked by Alaric’s Visigoth armies from Germany.AD 476 The Western Empire falls. Byzantium (formerly Constantinople) becomes the seat of the Eastern

Empire, which survives until 1453.

*Author’s Note: It was the Romans who began numbering the years. Year one was initially the year the Roman Empire was founded. This numbering system continued until 1200 when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. A Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus proposedthat year one should be the year of Christ’s birth—527 years earlier. This date was accepted and the Roman Year 1200 was changed to 527 AD. All yearsbefore year one are referred to as BC (Before Christ) and all years after as AD from the Latin phrase anno domini meaning “the year of the Lord.”


Appendix

The Seven Kings (Early Rome)c.753-715 BC Romulusc.715-673 BC Numa Pompiliusc.673-641 BC Tullus Hostiliusc.641-616 BC Ancus Marciusc.616-579 BC Tarquinius Priscusc.579-534 BC Servius Tulliusc.534-509 BC Tarquinius Superbus

Consuls (Republican Rome)c.509 BC Lucius Junius Brutus and Horatius

Pulvillus456 BC Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus396 BC Marcus Furius Camillus218 BC Quintus Fabius Maximus205 BC Scipio Africanus133 BC Tiberius Gracchus211-121 BC Gaius Gracchus107-87 BC Marius is consul seven times82-80 BC Sulla70-63 BC Pompey63 BC Cicero60-50 BC Triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Pompey and

Crassus45-44 BC Caesar is sole ruler.43-32 BC Second Triumvirate of Mark Antony,

Octavian and Lepidus

Emperors (Imperial Rome)27 BC-AD 14 AugustusAD 14-37 TiberiusAD 37-41 CaligulaAD 41-54 ClaudiusAD 54-68 NeroAD 68-69 GalbaAD 69- OthoAD 69- VitelliusAD 69-79 Vespasian

AD 79-81 TitusAD 81-96 DomitianAD 96-98 NervaAD 98-117 TrajanAD 117-138 HadrianAD 138-161 Antoninus PiusAD 161-80 Marcus AureliusAD 161-169 Lucius VerusAD 180-192 CommodusAD 193 PertinaxAD 193 Didius JulianusAD 193-211 Septimius SeverusAD 211-217 CaracallaAD 211 GetaAD 217-218 MacrinusAD 218-222 HeliogabalusAD 222-235 Alexander SeverusAD 235-238 Maximinus ThraxAD 238 Gordian IAD 238 Gordian IIAD 238 Pupienus and BalbinusAD 238-244 Gordian IIIAD 244-249 Philip the ArabAD 249-251 DeciusAD 251-253 Trebonianus GallusAD 253 Aemilius AemilianusAD 253-260 ValerianAD 253-268 GallienusAD 268-270 Cladius IIAD 270 QuintillusAD 270-275 AurelianAD 275-276 TacitusAD 276 FlorianusAD 276-282 ProbusAD 282-283 CarusAD 283-284 NumerianAD 283-285 CarinusAD 284-286 Diocletian

Kings, Consuls & Emperors

Between the time of its legendary founding by Romulus in 753 BC and the fall of the Eastern Empire in 1453, Romehad more than 250 rulers. Early Rome was led by seven kings. When the last of these kings was overthrown in 509BC, Rome became a republic led by elected Consuls (with the provision that a dictator could be appointed in timesof crisis). Roman “democracy” was discarded completely in 27 BC, when absolute power was placed in the handsof Imperial Rome’s first emperor, Augustus.



Western EmpireAD 286-305 MaximianAD 305-306 Constantius IAD 306-307 Severus IIAD 306-312 MaxentiusAD 307-324 Constantine the Great

Eastern EmpireAD 286-305 DiocletianAD 305-311 GaleriusAD 310-313 Maximinus DaiaAD 308-324 LiciniusAD 324-337 Contantine the Great

Western EmpireAD 337-340 Constantine IIAD 337-350 Constans I

Eastern EmpireAD 337-361 Constantius IIAD 361-363 Julian the ApostateAD 363-364 Jovian

Western EmpireAD 364-375 Valentinian IAD 367-383 GratianAD 375-392 Valentinian IIAD 392-394 EugeniusAD 395-423 Honorius

AD 423-425 JohannesAD 425-455 Valentinian IIIAD 455 Petronius MaximusAD 455-456 AvitusAD 457-461 MajorianAD 461-465 Severus IIIAD 467-472 AnthemiusAD 472 OlybriusAD 473 GlyceriusAD 474-475 Julius NeposAD 475-476 Romulus Augustulus

(Fall of the Western Empire)

Eastern EmpireAD 364-378 ValensAD 379-395 Theodosius IAD 395-408 ArcadiusAD 408-450 Theodosius IIAD 450-457 MarcianusAD 457-474 Leo IAD 474 Leo IIAD 474-491 ZenoAD 491-518 AnastasiusAD 518-527 Justin IAD 527-565 Justinian I

(The Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire stands, virtually intact, until 1453.)

Appendix

Documents

Downloadable Reproducible eBooksmrcowanspage.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/8/9/2489305/... · ine the organs of a sacrificial animal to determine the will of the gods; and attend a sumptuous