Rome and You: The Early Years

The ancient Romans traced their heritage back to the great Trojan hero Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus.

EPIC! What is the Greek tale of the Trojan War and the hero’s journey home afterward? Who was fighting whom?

Rome has its own story…. A book called THE AENEID Written by VERGIL

What caused the Trojan War? Marriage of Peleus and Thetis Eris – Goddess of Discord Golden Apple “To the Fairest”

The Judgment of Paris Juno/ Hera – power, kingdom of Asia Minerva/Athena – imperishable fame in war Venus/Aphrodite - Helen

Trojan people! King Priam Paris (Priam’s son) Aeneas (married to Creusa, Priam’s daughter) Hector (Priam’s son, killed by Achilles) Cassandra (Priam’s daughter, unbelievable prophet Penthesilea (Amazonian queen, killed by Achilles) Laocoön (priest who warned of the horse)

Gods/Goddesses for TROY! Apollo – guided Paris’s arrow which killed Achilles, launched poison arrows into the Greek encampment Mars – he loved Venus, whose son was Aeneas Venus – for her son Aeneas Diana – for her brother Apollo, and she HATED Agamemnon

Greek people! King Menelaeus Agamemnon (Menelaeus’s brother, captain of naval fleet) Odysseus (king of Ithaca..cunning and wise) Achilles (demigod, killed Hector, then killed by Paris) Ajax (awesome fighter, Achilles’s cousin) Iphigenia (Agamemnon’s daughter, slaughtered to appease goddess Diana) Sinon (remained behind when Greeks “retreated”)

Gods/Goddesses for GREECE! Minerva – adored Odysseus, and bitter from Paris’s judgment Neptune – bitter about building walls Juno – bitter about Paris’s judgment

The Trojans fought a war with the Greeks for ten years. (about BC)

Before the War….. Poseidon and Apollo were punished by Zeus and forced to build the walls around Troy…which is why the Greeks had SUCH a difficult time breaking through.

Eventually, the Greeks devised a trick to destroy the city of Troy.

Aeneas fled the city carrying his father on his shoulder and leading his son while his wife Creusa followed behind.

During the escape from the city, however, Aeneas lost his wife Creusa.

Aeneas experienced a series of wacky adventures on his way to Italy.

Eventually, Aeneas finally arrived in Italy.

They land at Latium

Which already had native inhabitants…

These people, known as the Rutulians, are led by King Turnus

So Aeneas and his men kill the Rutulians, the king, and Aeneas takes Lavinia as his wife

They settled in Latium and established the race which would one day found Rome.

Romulus and Remus: The True Story

Rome traces its heritage to a pair of twins: Romulus and Remus.

According to legend, their grandfather Numitor ruled the area.

His brother Amulius, however, deposed him as king and ran him out of town.

In order to prevent a rightful heir to the throne, he forced Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silva, to become a Vestal Virgin.

Although she was a Vestal Virgin (a priestess), she allegedly had an “encounter” with Mars, the god of war.

Because their mother, Rhea Silva, had broken her vow of chastity, she was executed after giving birth to the twins.

The two boys were then left by the river in a basket where a wolf nursed them.

Eventually, a shepherd found the two boys and raised them as his sons.

One day, Romulus and Remus decided to make their own city.

While building the wall of the city, Remus joked that a fox could jump over Romulus’ section since it was so low.

So Romulus killed Remus because of that joke.

As a result, the new city was named Rome (after Romulus).

Another version states that Remus saw six vultures in the sky, signifying that he should be king.

Romulus said that he saw twelve vultures and that meant that he should be king.

A fight ensued, and Romulus killed Remus.

There was a slight problem - Rome did not have any people, so Romulus made the city a refuge for criminals and murderers.

One problem - Romulus had no women in his city, but he came up with an idea.

There was a neighboring tribe called the Sabines.

Romulus invited the Sabines to a cookout with the Roman men.

But during the cookout, Romulus and the Roman men stole all of the Sabine women.

The Sabine men were unhappy about this and sought to do something about this.

As a result, they declared war against the Romans.

The war took a year to prepare and during that time, the Sabine women “married” the Roman men and had children.

Finally the war was ready to begin, and the Sabines prepared to attack Rome.

As the battle began, the Sabine/Roman women, rushed out into the middle of the battlefield.

Holding their newborn babies, they exclaimed, “If you attack the Romans, then you will have to go through us first!”

This battle is our fault! Don’t make us widows and orphans on the same day!”

Thanks to the women, the Sabine men realized that they were wrong, and they went back home.

The Romans and Sabines lived happily ever after

The Death of Romulus

With a new city full of men and women, Romulus became king.

One day, Romulus and friends went onto the top of a hill.

When suddenly, a cloud covered the hill.

When the cloud left, Romulus was gone!!

The Romans believed that Romulus had been taken to Mt. Olympus in the cloud and had become a god.

Many historians believe that Romulus was actually murdered on the hill; the story was fabricated to explain his disappearance.

Without a king, the people of Rome panicked.

The Romans fought over who would be the next king – some wanted the new king to be of Sabine blood, while others wanted a Roman.

The Romans came up with an idea, but would it work?

To calm the masses, the Roman senate came up with an idea.

Instead of having a king, the senate decided to divide themselves into ten groups of ten men.

Each group of 10 men ruled for 50 days, with one man having complete power for 5 days and then it was handed to another man for 5 days.

The senate thought that this would solve the problem.

The people, however, did not like this idea, complaining that instead of one master, they now had 100.

To calm the people, the senate chose a Sabine man named Numa to be the next king.

Numa was a very well-respected man who was known for his justice and piety.

Everyone thought that Numa would be a great man to replace Romulus. But was he?!!