ROMAN HISTORY ROMAN HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHYAND GEOGRAPHY

The The ANCIENT ROMAN ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIREEMPIRE started to expand from 900BC started to expand from 900BC and had declined by 500AD. The declination and had declined by 500AD. The declination was due to political instability and attacks was due to political instability and attacks from the borders. In 400-500AD, the Roman from the borders. In 400-500AD, the Roman empire broke into Western (Hispania, Gaul empire broke into Western (Hispania, Gaul and Italy) and Eastern Empire (Byzantine in and Italy) and Eastern Empire (Byzantine in

general).general). ( (How old is the USA?)How old is the USA?)

BACK TO THE BACK TO THE BEGINNING…BEGINNING…

Originally many groups of people inhabited the land of Italy—a boot-shaped peninsula in Southern Europe extending into the Mediterranean Sea. According to legend there was a Trojan prince named Aeneas who was a son of Venus! He left Troy with his father, son, and a band of Trojans as the kingdom of Troy lay in flames, having been defeated by the Greeks. Paris, a Trojan prince had run off with Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and neighboring Greek kings had helped Menelaus defeat the Trojans and regain his bride. The story of Troy’s defeat is told in Homer’s great Greek heroic epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. Eris, the goddess of discord, was angry at not having

been invited to a wedding party and threw an apple among the guests there. The apple was inscribed “to the fairest,” and as she had thrown it toward Juno, Minerva, and Venus, Jupiter ordered Paris to decide its rightful owner. Venus promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world—Helen, wife of Menelaus--and his choice ultimately sealed the fate of his native Troy!

HOW THE TROJAN WAR BEGAN

Aeneas had been told by his mother Venus to leave Troy to establish a great new home. He settled in Italy and generations later a descendant named Rhea Silvia had twins by the god of war, Mars. Her uncle Amulius had seized her father’s throne and forced her to become a Vestal virgin to protect his sovereignty. When her uncle discovered the twins, he had her killed and had the babies put out to die, but a servant spared them, and the infants—Romulus and Remus—were found and nurtured by a she-wolf. They grew up and recovered the throne and started to build the city which came to be known as Rome. Rome is positioned on the western coast of the boot of Italy.

Romulus and Remus are said to

have founded the city on April 21, 753 BC(DCCLIII). In the process of its founding, the twins had an argument and Romulus killed his brother Remus.

ITALY, GREECE, SICILYITALY, GREECE, SICILYAND THE AND THE

MEDITERRANEAN SEAMEDITERRANEAN SEA

ITALYITALYTHE BOOT-SHAPED THE BOOT-SHAPED

PENINSULAR COUNTRY PENINSULAR COUNTRY WHICH BECAME THE WHICH BECAME THE

CENTER OF THE ROMAN CENTER OF THE ROMAN EMPIREEMPIREITALY IS SITUATED

STRATEGICALLY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

SICILY IS THE LARGE ISLAND OFF THE SOUTHWEST TOE

OF ITALY’S BOOT

GREECEGREECEA HIGHLY ADVANCED CIVILIZATION--PARTICULARLY IN

THE ARTS AND SCIENCES—CONQUERED BY THE ROMANS. THE ROMANS LEARNED A GREAT DEAL FROM THE GREEKS. MANY GREEK SLAVES WERE EMPLOYED BY THE ROMANS AS TEACHERS. EDUCATED ROMANS LEARNED GREEK AS WELL AS LATIN. THE ROMANS

EMULATED MANY GREEK MODELS. THE ROMAN POET VERGIL MODELED HIS HEROIC EPIC TELLING THE

STORY OF AENEAS (“THE AENEID”) ON HOMERIC EPICS LIKE “THE ODYSSEY”!

THE ROMANS ALSO LIKE TO DERIDE THE GREEKS, HOWEVER, AND CALLED THEM “BARBARIANS”!

GREECE--TO THE

EAST OF ITALY

MEDITERRANEAN MEDITERRANEAN SEASEA

THE LATIN ROOTS OF ITS NAME CONVEYS THAT IT WAS FELT TO BE THE CENTER,

OR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EARTH!

ROMA--ROMEROMA--ROMECAPITAL CITY

OF THE WHOLE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE AND PRESENT-DAY CAPITAL OF MODERN ITALY!

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

BETWEEN 117 AND 125 AD

ITALYITALY

IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

TODAY

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS OF ROME AND ITALYOF ROME AND ITALY

THE TIBER RIVERTHE TIBER RIVERTHE TIBER RIVER RUNS THROUGH THE CITY OF ROMEAND OUT TO THESEA CLOSE TO ROME’S PORT CITYOF OSTIA

ROMAN CITIES: ROMAN CITIES: THE FORUMTHE FORUM

ROMAN ENGINEERS WERE MASTERS OF BUILDING ROADS AND CITIES. EVERY CITY HAD A LARGE RECTANGULAR SPACE—A FORUM--OR MARKETPLACE--AS ITS CENTER.

THE CAPITAL CITY OF THE EMPIRE WAS SO HUGE, THAT IT HAD MANY “FORA”. IN ENGLISH TODAY THE WORD HAS ALSO COME TO MEAN A PLACE FOR DISCUSSION—

NOT SO SURPRISING, SINCE ROMANS CAME TO THE MARKETPLACE FOR MANY TYPES OF BUSINESS, AS WELL

AS TO GET THE LATEST NEWS!

RUINS OF THE RUINS OF THE ANCIENT ROMAN ANCIENT ROMAN

FORUMFORUM

FORUMSFORUMS TODAYTODAY

CHELTENHAM ADULT SCHOOL

THE PALATINE THE PALATINE HILLHILLROME WAS BUILT ON SEVEN HILLS. ONE OF THE

MOST FAMOUS HILLS IS THE PALATINE, WHERETHE EMPEROR AND MANY WEALTHY ROMAN

CITIZENS LIVED. THE EMPEROR’S PALACE

OVERLOOKED THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS

JULIUS CAESARJULIUS CAESAR

--OFTEN CALLED “THE GREATEST ROMAN OF THEM ALL”!JULIUS CAESAR CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO THE SIZE, GLORY, AND WEALTH OF ROME. HE REFORMED THE

CALENDAR, MADE IMPROVEMENTS IN CITY PLANNING,EXPANDED THE TERRITORIES CONQUERED BY ROME, WROTE ABOUT

HIS MILITARY EXPLOITS, AND BECAME SO POPULAR THAT HIS CONTEMPORARIES

ASSASSINATED HIM LEST HE MAKE HIMSELF KING.

THE ROMANS HAD OVERTHROWN A MONARCH IN 508 BC AND INSTITUTED A NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT CALLED A REPUBLIC,

IN WHICH NO ONE PERSON RULED AS KING. TWO CONSULS WERE ELECTED EACH YEAR ANEW. CREATORS OF THE NEW

AMERICAN REPUBLIC SOME 2200 YEARS LATER, LOOKED BACK TO THE ROMAN REPUBLIC AS A PARTIAL MODEL. JULIUS CAESAR’S

CONTEMPORARIES FEARED HIS GREAT POPULARITY AND POWER, BUT ROME HAD GROWN SO LARGE, THE REPUBLIC WAS NO

LONGER ABLE TO FUNCTION PROPERLY.

(100 BC- 44BC)

CAESAR’S CAESAR’S ASSASSINATIONASSASSINATIONON THE IDES (15TH) OF MARCH IN 44 BC –A FAMOUS DATE IN HISTORY—

CAESAR’S FELLOW SENATORS ASSASSINATED HIM. HE IS THOUGHT TO HAVE SAID “ET TU, BRUTE” –”AND YOU TOO, BRUTUS?” TO HIS CLOSE

FRIEND BRUTUS AT THE TIME. HE HAD ONLY HIS STYLUS TO DEFEND HIMSELF!

MARTIUSXV.

XLIV BC

OCTAVIAN AUGUSTUSOCTAVIAN AUGUSTUSAFTER CAESAR’S MURDER A CIVIL WAR ENSUED.

THE VICTOR WAS CAESAR’S ADOPTED GREAT-NEPHEW AND HEIR—OCTAVIAN AUGUSTUS. AUGUSTUS

BECAME THE FIRST EMPEROR OF ROME IN 27 BC. HIS REIGN BROUGHT MANY YEARS OF

PEACE (THE PAX ROMANA) WITHIN THE EMPIRE AND IT IS SAID THAT HE FOUND ROME IN BRICK ,

AND LEFT IT IN MARBLE!

HERE HE IS IN MARBLE!

63 BC-14 AD

THE ERUPTION THE ERUPTION OF MT. VESUVIUSOF MT. VESUVIUS79 AD (LXXIX AD)79 AD (LXXIX AD)

THIS HISTORICAL EVENT WAS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR HISTORIANS. WHEN MT. VESUVIUS ERUPTED SUDDENLY

IN THE AREA OF THE BAY OF NAPLES IN 79 AD, THE TOWNS OF POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM WERE DESTOYED—

COMPLETELY BURIED BY VARIOUS FORMS OF VOLCANIC MATERIAL. IN THE 19TH CENTURY ARCHAEOLOGISTS BEGAN TO REDISCOVER AND RECONSTRUCT WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ON A DAILY BASIS IN

THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE. WE OWE MUCH OF WHAT WE KNOW TODAY ABOUT ROMAN LIFE TO THAT DISASTER.

REMAINS OF YESTERYEAR

POMPEII AND VESUVIUS TODAY

VESUVIUS AND THE BAY OF NAPLES

MANY PEOPLE IN THE AREA NEAR THE CROWDEDCITY OF NAPLES COULD BE AT GREAT RISK IF

MT VESUVIUS ERUPTS AGAIN—AND THAT COULD BE SOON!SEE A LINK ON MY TEACHER WEBPAGE TO A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARTICLE FOR MORE

ON THE SUBJECT!CIAO! ARRIVEDERCI, ROMA!