Egyptian

Hellenic

ROME Splendour and turmoilRome was based on greek ‘democracy’, where

the people (citizens) were the chief power

• The Roman Empire lasted from 500BCE to 500CE• It went from being a monarchy, to a republic, to an

autocratic empire• The Roman Empire’s greatest strengths were its

army, its law, its architecture and engineering, and literature.

Roman politics could get messy - even at its peak, Roman politics was volatile

The Death of Julius Caesar 44B.C.E.

To keep the Roman mob happy, Vespasian built one of the most famous buildings in the world.. 79C.E.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum• Defeated enemies would be humiliated

and killed before the crowd• Enemies of the state (like Christians and

other ‘barbarians’) were fed to wild animals

• The centre stage could even be flooded for ship battles!

Gladiators

Gladiators

• Slaves• Were from all over the empire• Fought in the colosseum• Fought men, beasts, and recreated great

Roman battles• Could win their freedom• Became as popular as rock stars today

Gladiators

Gladiators

Roman Empire at its peak 117C.E.

Roman Britain

The Empire splits 324C.E.

The weakened Empire is invaded and carved up by ‘barbarians’.

Gemitus Britannorum: ‘The Groans of the Britons’Roman Briton pleads for help against the Saxons

430C.E.“To Agitius, general, the groans of the Britons... the barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us to the barbarians, between these two

means of death we are either killed or drowned.”

Barbarian ways

• But, outside Rome, people believed in older, more clear-cut power structures

• Power belonged to the strongest• As the Empire collapsed and the

barbarians took Roman lands, they brought with them their own forms of government- kings

The Feudal system

• Feudal power triangle

King

Bishops & Barons

Knights

Merchants and Craftsmen

Peasant Freemen & Serfs