Ancient Rome

People use the ancient saying “All roads lead to Rome.” Rome was once the capitol of the most powerful empire. The Roman Empire covered three whole continents…Asia, Europe, and Africa.

 Romulus found Rome in 753B.C. Romulus and Remas were twins who wanted to find a city. They fought over the cities position, Romulus killed Remas, and traced the boundaries of Rome.  Roman kings ruled until the Etruscans in 600 B.C.  Romans then overthrew in 509 BC and formed a republic, a government in which people elect their leaders.

Ancient Roman Government  The romans called their government a republic.  The roman consuls always were elected in pairs and they worked together to prevent one person from getting too powerful. The consuls can only call for a vote and can not be removed from office before the end of their term.  Praetors are the highest judges. They make sure all the romans follow the rules. They were almost as prestigious and powerful as the consulship.

Ancient Roman Gladiators The gladiators fought the games in the Colosseum, and arrived through an underground tunnel. Gladiators are slaves. Gladiators ate a lot of bread to get strong. When they where in school they used wooden swords. If romans wanted them to live they would put their thumbs up, but if they put their thumb down it meant the gladiator must die. During the games the crowd would yell stuff like “KILL HIM” or “BURN HIM” to the opponents. The games became so popular that the King wanted to have them more often, and random people started to play them, even woman. When gladiators died people would sell their blood.

Roman generals wore a silver helmet with a red crest. Roman shields were made from wood, metal and covered in leather. The Romans had a double edged blade on the left side and a gladius or a short sword on the left. They also had a mattock for digging ditches. They had a leather bottle for either water or wine. They had a metal jacket that they wore to war. They had military shoes made for walking. They also had a special designed point for their javelin. And a turf cutter for building turf ramparts.

Romans made their clothing with wool and shoes made from leather that came from the farms of Italy. The richest romans wore clothes that were made out of silk. In the 2nd century B.C., other than tunics woman wore a stola. Over the stola, women usually wore the palla. Vestis was a generic word used for “clothing.” Other common materials used for clothing were felt, linen, cotton, flax, gauze, damask, and cloth of gold.

Only boys from wealthy families in Rome were well educated. They learned how to read, write, and count at school or at home. A school in Rome was called ludus. Most of the teachers in Rome were Greek slaves. Girls did not attend school, they learned how to sew, weave, and spin fabrics.

Roman doctors only made house calls to the rich and had no idea why people got sick. They tried as hard as they could to care for the people using herbal medicine. The doctors also gave patients advice about having a good diet and the importance of exercising.

Most romans did not have baths in their homes, so they would use public baths. In the baths, they would clean themselves, exercise, or they could just relax and talk with their friends.

1. Did they pay taxes ? 2. What did they use for medicine ? 3. What things are precious to them ? 4. What were the consequences when they did something bad? 5. Did they have pets? 6. What holidays did they celebrate? 7. How did they handle pest control? 8. Did they have sweet treats?

in ancient Rome Lassiear, Allison The Ancient Romans scholastic inc. copy write 2004 page number 34,85 Blood sport of the Colosseum Hemmings, David Questar cd Murrell, Deborah The Best Book Of Ancient Rome King Fisher Copy write 2004 page number 18,19 Simon, James Ancient Rome