Geography

Location • Rome is located on a

peninsula which is now present day, Italy. Rome was built on 7 hills on the banks of the Tiber River.

• This peninsula extended from Southern Europe to the Mediterranean region.

• The French Alps is the mountain range that separated Rome from the rest of Europe. Another mountain range close to Rome was the Apennines.

Geographical features

• Rome had many geographical features such as mountains, rivers, plains,deserts, and seas.

• Some of these features acted as protection and some acted as isolation.

• The terrain around Rome varied in different places.

• The land around the Mediterranean was arable land or land that was good for farming.

Expansion

• The Roman Empire at its greatest size consisted of all of the Mediterranean region, all of Southern Europe, Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria, parts of Egypt and some of Northern Africa.

• Rome conquered Gaul and Spain.

• The Romans had three big wars with the Carthage people. These wars were called the Punic wars.

Climate • In the Roman Empire,

the climate varied in different places.

• The climate in the northern part of the empire was cold.

• The climate in the middle part of the empire was perfect for farming.

• The climate in the southern part of the empire was hot

Religion

Christianity

• Christianity was spread around the empire by a man named Paul.

• Paul first traveled to Cypress and Asia Minor. He built churches and made disciples in his travels.

• Paul traveled to many countries such as Macedonia, Rome, Europe,

Persia and Northern Africa.

Judaism

• Judaism was a religion that originated in Judea.

• When Judea was conquered by Rome, the people were offered Roman citizenship.

• Under the rule of Trajan, there was a Jewish revolt. Trajan was not able to react fast enough, by the time Trajan reacted 200,000 non-

Jews were killed.

Roman religion

• In the Roman Empire, the people worshipped many gods and goddesses

• Each god or goddess had a special reason why they were worshipped.

• For example, they would worship Mars before going into battle.

Religious conflicts

• During some Roman rules, there were religious conflicts.

• One of the religious conflict was the Jewish revolt.

• Another conflict happened under the rule of Nero, Nero would burn the Christians or feed them to the lions.

Achievements

Aqueducts

• The Romans learned how to store huge amounts of water and transport it around by using aqueducts.

• Aqueducts helped Roman people greatly because that’s the way they got their water.

• Aqueducts today are still a way people get their water.

System of laws

• The Romans developed a system of laws that apply to all people not just one class.

• The punishments for breaking the law were equal for all people.

• The first set of Romans laws were called the Twelve Tables.

• Today, the laws we have are fair and equally punished like Rome’s laws

System of roads

• The Romans created a system of paved roads.

• These roads were used for transportation and trade.

• Today, our roads were influenced by the Romans roads.

Military organization

• The Roman military was not only strong but they were also large in numbers and organized.

• This army could easily crush other armies, this is why the Roman empire grew so large.

• Our military has some tactics that were formed by the Roman tactics.

Politics

Etruscan kings

• At first, Rome was ruled by people called the Etruscans.

• These people ruled with the form of government called monarchy, this meant ruled by kings.

• The Etruscans had three kings that ruled instead of one king with all the power.

Roman Republic

• The Roman Republic had three parts of government. This was called the tripartite government.

• The three parts of this government were the senate, the magistrates, and the assemblies.

• The government had two side: the Republicans and the Democrats.

Augustus

• Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar.

• He was a great ruler. He made life in Rome better.

• He also made an era of peace called the Pax Romana.

Trajan

• Trajan was born around 53 c.e. in a Roman province in Spain.

• Trajan took a career in the military and had many successful campaigns.

• Later he became Nerva’s successor.

• When Nerva died in 98 c.e. Trajan took over.

Hortensia

• Hortensia was born into a rich patrician family. She was given a great education.

• When she grew up, she became interested in public speaking.

• She thought that Roman woman deserved better rights.

• She was one of the reasons Roman woman got better rights.

The fall of Rome

• The Roman Empire fell because of political failure and fall in economy.

• During the later years of the empire, the emperors became targets of assassination.

• Because of this, people struggled to gain order over the empire.

• During all these political troubles, the barbarians were planning to attack Rome.

• When they attacked, they left Rome in pieces. The barbarians took over half of the once great Roman Empire

Economy

Roman economy

• Roman economy was based on slaves in the later years of the empire.

• The concerns of Rome’s economy was feeding the many people in Rome.

• Rome’s economy was dominated by trade and agriculture.

Currency

• The currency used in the Roman Empire were coins.

• These coins were made out of gold, silver, and bronze.

• On the back of these coins, there was text that stated the emperor’s achievements.

Trade

• Rome traded by using paved roads and sea routes.

• The most important port was Ostia because it was closest to Rome.

• Rome traded mostly with Spain, France, and the Middle East.

Inflation• The Roman economy

suffered greatly from inflation. Inflation was the raising of prices.

• Once the Romans stopped conquering, the flow of gold decreased.

• As people kept spending money, the coin became worth less.

• To make up for this, merchants rose the price of the goods they sold.

Roman social structure

Plebeians

• Plebeians were the most common people in Rome.

• Plebeians were the lower class In Rome.

• The plebeians made up 90 percent of Rome’s population.

• Some plebeians were wealthy but most plebeians were farmers or artisans.

Patricians

• Patricians were the wealthier class of ancient Rome.

• Patricians took pride in belonging to a wealthy family.

• The early Roman government strongly favored the Patricians.

Plebeians rebel

• The plebeians first started to rebel by performing random acts of violence.

• Later, the plebeians realized that Rome couldn’t defend themselves without the plebeian soldiers.

• The plebeian soldiers refused to fight until they got a say in government.

Slaves

• Slaves were used a lot in the later years of the empire.

• The slaves did labor for no money at all.

• The slaves put many farmers out of business because people just used slaves to do there gardening instead of hiring farmers to garden.

The most important idea that I learned about ancient Rome

• The idea I think is most important was the Roman’s achievements because the inventions in Rome made life better and more comfortable in ancient Rome.

• Today, some of our inventions are made from the same concept of the Roman invention, ours are just more modern.

• Their system of laws were fair and applied to all citizen not just one class.