Geography

Location

• Rome is in Italy, which is a peninsula shaped like a boot.

• Rome is located on the banks of the Tiber River and is near the Mediterranean Sea.

• Rome is built on seven hills: Palantine, Aventine, Capitoline, Quirinal, Esquiline, and the Cealian.

• Palantine and Capitoline Hill are the most important hills because Palantine is the centermost hill and Capitoline has Capitoline Triad which is a beautiful temple.

Expansion

• At Rome’s height, the Roman Empire was massive.

• The farthest northern part of the Roman Empire was Great Britain.

• The farthest southern part of the Empire was the Sahara Desert.

• The farthest western part of the Empire was the Atlantic Ocean.

Trade

• The most important thing to do before going to trade was go to a fortuneteller.

• Merchants sold many items. However, Grain was the most important crop.

• Many merchants came from places like Carthage and Byzantium.

• Places like Spain sold metals while other places like Carthage sold grain.

Natural Resources

• Rome was on seven forestry hills in central Italy and was near the Tiber river which is about 15 miles to the east of the sea.

• The Tiber river was a route to the sea. However, Rome was far enough away that they didn’t have to worry about pirates raiding them.

• Also, Rome could be easily defended because Rome’s hills were to steep to attack.

• Rome also would have been a good place to live because of it’s fertile soil and trees to be used for building.

Religion

Christianity

• One of the main beliefs in Christianity is that there is one God and there is no equal or superior on Earth.

• Another strong belief is killing is wrong and it does not matter if it was self defense.

• Christians believe that places of worship should be simple and should conceal the purpose to outsiders.

• One other belief is that Jesus was God’s son on Earth and he sacrificed himself so God could forgive other people.

Judaism

• One of the main beliefs is that there is one god and one God only.

• However, Jews believe that Jesus was just a preacher and that Jesus wasn’t God’ son.

• Another one of their beliefs is that a body shouldn’t be cremated but it should be buried.

• Finally, the Jews believe in only praying at meals and not sacrificing animals.

Roman Beliefs

• Romans believed in many different Gods and Goddesses. In times of need, they would pray to certain Gods.

• For example, if you were having trouble with love you would pray for Juno. If you were at war, you would pray to Mars.

• Roman Gods were a mixture of of two cultures: Latin and Greeks.

Founding Myths

• In Rome there were supposedly two myths.

• The first one was about twins who were rescued by a she-wolf and raised by shepards.

• The twins names were Romulus and Remus. In a quarrel, Remus was killed and Romulus named Rome after him.

• Another myth is about a man named Aneas who escaped from Troy and went to Latium.

• There he married a Latin princess and founded a town near the Tiber. Later on his descendants founded Rome.

Achievements

Aqueducts and Cuniculus

• When didn’t have enough water they decided to build aqueducts and cuniculus.

• An aqueduct is a water highway. It has a v-shape built deep enough to hold all the water in.

• A cuniculus was a long trench cut below ground with holes dug down to meet it.

• The two purposes of the cuniculus was to irrigate the land and drain water from marshy areas and carry the water to the city.

Building Structures

• Many immense buildings in Rome were made of marble.

• One of the main building ideas was the arch. It was two walls with a half circle on top.

• Finally, most of the buildings in Rome had columns supporting the structure.

Network of Concrete Roads

• In ancient Rome they made roads to make transportation and trade.

• Over 250,000 of roads connected Rome at one point in time. These roads were made of concrete blocks which were supposed to last forever.

• These many roads led to the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome.

Military

• When Rome expanded, they required a military to support them.

• Due to the necessity of soldiers, people who owned land were forced to serve in the military.

• Rome’s military strategy was that the army was divided into legions or foot soldiers. These legions were divided into smaller groups which made them more flexible.

• Due to Rome’s strict military rules, the army was cooperative and had discipline.

Politics

Twelve Tables

• In 450 B.C. the government started the first law code and it was written on twelve tablets.

• The Twelve Tables listed the citizen’s duties and rights as a Roman, such as the right to a fair trial.

• Most of the laws had to deal with crime, family business, and punishment, such as no one should be put to death except after trial.

Augustus

• Augustus was humble, he took criticism well, and worked to make improvements.

• Augustus improved life quality in Rome due to his love for buildings.

• Augustus prevented civil war by making allegiance with the Army and the Senate.

• However, he treated people nicer or meaner depending on the amount of money that person had.

Nero

• Nero’s passion for the arts enhanced the Roman society.

• Also, he reduced taxes, banned capital punishment, and stopped bloodshed events.

• One of Nero’s problems was that he had such little regard for life that he would kill anyone who was a threat to him.

• Next, Nero blamed Christians for some of his faults and wasted money on lavish parties.

The Fall of Rome

• Some social causes that led to the fall of Rome there was slavery and the gap between the rich and poor.

• Some economic causes that led to the fall of Rome was high taxes and inflation.

• Two of the military causes was invasion and that armies were made up of a lot of foreign soldiers. Finally, one of the political reasons for the fall of Rome was a weak central government.

Economy

Roman Expansion• When Rome started

expanding it affected the economy.

• Over time, a country would start becoming more reliable on other countries goods because there are so many homeless people.

• When Rome went to war, the farmers went to go join.When they came back the farmer fields were destroyed and beyond repair.

Unemployment

• First, the amount of people who are unemployed reflects the economy’s performance.

• Second, the corn crops for the unemployed worked for a short-term plan but it hurt Rome in the long run.

• The corn program hurt Rome because once Rome stopped expanding Rome ran out of room to keep on growing crops.

Trade

• Trade is important because trade stimulates the economy.

• Trade is also important because it transfers technology from countries. For example, if one country knows how to make steel it could pass it on other countries.

• Finally, trade is important because it helps makes allies with other countries.

Inflation

• Inflation affects the economy by people not having trust in their money system and switching to bartering.

• Inflation leads to trade that is not equal because some goods are inflated and some goods are not.

• For example, if bread was 4x the amount and wheat was 2x the amount, then you would get 2 wheat for 1 bread.

Social Structure

Patricians

• There were two classes in the Roman society. The higher class was the patricians and the lower class was the plebeians.

• Patricians belonged to many famous people who had many famous people.

• Many patricians had powerful influences in the Roman government.

Plebeians

• Plebeians were the lower class in the Roman society or they were also called the common people.

• Plebeians made up ninety percent of the Roman society. However, most of the plebeians had little influence upon the Roman society.

• Mostly, plebeians were poor peasants and had very little land. Marriage between the two classes was forbidden.

Role of Men and Women

• Men held the most powerful roles in the family.

• When a baby was born into a family the father, the father would either accept the baby or reject the baby depending if it was strong or not.

• Both wealthy women and men have the right or are allowed to own land.

• At one point in time, the government was trying to tax the wealthiest women. Fortunately, this law did not pass.

Education

• Poor children did go to school because their family needed money. Due to this, the poor people started working at a young age.

• Wealthy children started school before the age of seven. After seven, they went to school every day until graduating at age 16. Poor children that went to work learned trades such as leatherworking. Wealthy children learned subjects like Math, Science, Greek, and architecture.

Most Important Idea

• I believe the most important idea that we learned about was Roman expansion. I believe this because Roman expansion led to the downfall of Rome. It did because as Rome expanded there was more unemployment which led to becoming more reliable on other countries. All in all, I believe Rome expansion was the key idea in this unit.