1. Rome Geography Challenge Mrs. Wheeler

2. Objectives Students will be able to locate the city of Rome and the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Students will identify key geographic features of the Roman Empire. Students will be able to explain why the city of Rome was ideally located to control a large empire.

3. Materials Rome map blank sheet Rome questions sheet Geography challenge question cards Colored pencils Ancient World text book

4. Introduction In the Rome Geography Challenge, students will preview the key places and events that students will encounter in this unit. In the activity students will read and interpret a specialty map to learn about the key geographic features, territories, and boundaries of the Roman Empire at its height in 117 A.D. Working in pairs, students will answer questions while labeling a map of the area. They discuss their conclusions as a class.

5. Directions You will be working in groups to complete the challenge Each group will start out with one challenge card You will read the question on the card and answer in complete sentence then you will follow the directions for labeling or coloring your map When you are finished with the card you have you may return the card to the card station and pick up a new one. Continue until you have completed all questions.

7. Discussion What do you now know about ancient Rome that you didn't know before? Why do you think the Romans referred to the Mediterranean Sea as “Mare Nostrum”(our sea)? On what type of landform is Rome located? Why was this city ideally located to control a large empire? What would it take to create such an immense empire? Why might it have been difficult to maintain or defend this empire?