Rome

Roman civilization

Our unit on Ancient Roman Civilization continues our exploration of the foundations of Western Civilization that we began in our last unit (Ancient Greek Civilization). The Romans were greatly influenced by the Greeks. Their religion is basically a copy of the Greek religion with the gods being renamed and given a home on a mountain top on the Italian peninsula. Eventually, this set of explanations cannot answer the questions of many Roman citizens and one of the world's great modern religions develops when Christianity spreads from the state the Romans called Palestine. But there are many other developments and contributions we owe to the energetic, ambitious, and above all, practical Roman people. We get many of our legal principles from them along with our form of government. Many advances were made in architecture that made structures of greater size possible. The concept of public duty for citizens (something that modern people sometimes overlook) first appeared in ancient Rome as did the idea that "sport" is acceptable as public entertainment. Eventually however, even the mighty Roman Empire declined. This provides we historians (we consider all students in our World History classes historians) with an opportunity for analysis as we try to discover how a system once so successful could crumble and be overrun.
During this unit we begin to push students to deepen their analytical ability. Up until now our analyses have been relatively simple. Now, we will begin to look more closely at reasons for success and failure and connections between developments in one a of civilization's systems (political, economic or social) and changes in the others. We will continue to work on our writing skills as well. The students will get their 4 Sides Exercises (from the Greek Unit) back and see "the whole." Our next step will be to focus on parts of essay writing with an exercise on topic sentences and paragraphs. We had to delay our alternative review activity but will use at the end of this unit and may also use it as the basis for a writing assignment.


A Practical Form of Government The Greeks set up many city-states in the southern part of the Italian peninsula as trading colonies. The early Romans learned much from their Greek neighbors including their religion and their alphabet. The Romans added three letters (J, Q & W) to adapt the Greek alphabet to their language (Latin) and our modern alphabet was born. The Romans also learned about democracy. In the Greek system all citizens were expected to vote on all issues. This took a considerable time investment on the part of citizens wanting to be responsible, so once again the Romans adapted the idea to fit their personal needs. They liked the level of control that citizens had but didn't want to commit to daily meetings and debates. Why not choose experts to do the governing? In 509 BCE, the Romans overthrew their last monarch and established the Roman Republic (What is a republic?). It gave them control over the process of making, enforcing and interpreting laws (What are these things called?) through the vote but allows time for other interests and activities. This system is a reflection of the Romans' dominant characteristic as a people - practicality.	What does it mean to be practical? What are some other examples of this characteristic? Click here to see.

Expansion And The Problems It Created

Once the new Roman government was stabilized the population began to grow rapidly. Soon, there were food shortages. The only way to get more land was to take it from their neighbors and that is exactly what the Romans did. While this may not seem fair it is very practical. This process began in the 400s BCE. By the 290s Rome controlled the entire Italian peninsula. This created a food surplus and Rome was looking for trading partners. The powerful North African city-state Carthage controlled trade in the western Mediterranean and was not willing to share with Rome. This conflict led to the Punic Wars, a series of three wars fought between 264 BCE and 146 BCE. After this, Roman expansion went unchecked until the once tiny city-state controlled the entire Mediterranean Sea. This success however created a whole new set of problems.

How did the Romans win the Punic Wars? What problems could controlling an empire create?
Find out here.

The Empire

After 27 BCE Rome officially became an empire. The government was changed from a republic to an imperial one. This new state never became a monarchy. In fact, the biggest flaw of this new government was its lack of a system of succession. (What is a system of succession?) This was a major contributing factor in the empire's decline, but before that happened much would be accomplished. The highpoint of this civilization was a period called the Pax Romana or Roman Peace. It lasted from 27 BCE to 180 CE. It was a time of great stability and achievement. Some of Rome's greatest monuments were built during this time. The western world's first tourists traveled throughout the empire taking advantage of a consistent civil service and a universal monetary system. Great works of literature were written (By whom?); gladiators fought in the coliseum and a new "portable" building material was created (What was it?). However, problems on the inside and attacks from the outside eventually overcame the "government of laws" that the Romans had created. As Roman civilization declined the fourth of the world's great religions became popular with its promise of eternal life in paradise.

What were the achievements of this great civilization? Who were it's leaders?
Take a look.

Decline and Fall

After the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE, the Roman Empire began a long slow decline. Barbarian invasions (By what groups?) accentuated internal problems like corruption amongst civil servants, inflation and a decline in trade. The western part of the empire, headquartered in Rome, fell to barbarians in 476 CE. The eastern part of the empire became known as the Byzantine Empire and lasted until 1453 CE when it fell to invasion by the Ottoman Turks. There were many reasons why the empire declined. We will do a group project related to them and their chronology at the end of the unit. This period of decline did not proceed uninterrupted. There were several emperors who tried to stabilize the empire (Who were they?). Unfortunately, their efforts were not enough.

What were the rest of the causes of decline? What's the group assignment?
All this and more at the end of this link.

Assignment Calendar Grades

Assignments	Date Completed	Date Returned
Read Section 1 of Chapter 5 (Quiz)	11/8	11/
Read Section 2 of Chapter 5 (Quiz)	11/10
Read Section 3 of Chapter 5 (Reading Outline)	11/14
Caesar Video Worksheet	11/16
Roman Map Quiz	11/17
Outside Reading - Cicero	11/20
Review Quiz - Sections 1, 2 & 3 of Chapter 5	11/22
Cicero Writing Assignment	11/27
Read Section 4 of Chapter 5	11/27	NA
Religion Chart - Christianity	11/27	NA
Read Section 5 of Chapter 5	11/29	NA
Group Activity - Decline of the Roman Empire	11/30
Roman Civilization Test	12/5

World History		AP European History
	Bruce Hildabrand
Department Home Page		Carrie Burke Memorial Scholarship