753 BC

(8th Century BC)

LOCATION:

 TheRoman civilisation was originated in the

centre of the Italian Peninsula.

GREECE

EGYPT
In the 8th Century BC the Italian Peninsula was
NOT UNIFIED from a political point of view.

It was inhabited by different tribes such as:

 Etruscans  north

 Latins  centre

 Greeks  south

THE ITALIAN
PENINSULA
IN THE 8TH
CENTURY BC
 Activity 1:
ORIGINS OF ROME

a) In which Peninsula did

the Roman Civilization
originated?

b) Was the Italian

Peninsula unified at the
beginning of the 8th
Century BC?

c) Which 3 main tribes THE ITALIAN

PENINSULA
inhabited it? Draw a IN THE 8TH
CENTURY BC
map & locate them in it.
FOUNDING OF ROME:

The origins of Rome are not clear. It’s a mix of...

 Facts  archaeological remains and ancient texts.

 Legend  twins Romulus & Remus.

  ACCORDING TO FACTS: Rome was founded in
the mid-8th century BC by Latin tribes that
settled in 7 hills near the river Tiber.

THE ITALIAN
PENINSULA
IN THE 8TH
CENTURY BC
 ACCORDING TO THE LEGEND: Rome was
founded in 753 BC by the twin brothers
Romulus & Remus, in the place where they
were found by a she-wolf. Its name comes from
Romulus, who killed his brother and became the
first king of Rome.
Let’s role-play
this story!!!
 Activity 2: copy & answer in your notebook:

FOUNDING OF ROME:

1)According to historical facts, what’s

the origin of Rome?

2)According to the legend, what’s the

origin of Rome?
CHRONOLOGY:

The Roman Civilisation went through 3 periods:

Monarchy Republic Empire

753 BC – 509 BC 509 BC – 27 BC 27 BC – 476 AD
 During this time, Rome conquered the entire
Mediterranean coastline and became the most
powerful state in the West.
Activity 3: Copy and fill in the following chart
in your notebook.

HISTORICAL PERIODS OF ANCIENT

ROMAN CIVILISATION
Period Chronology
753 – 509 BC
 Chronology: 753 – 509 BC.

 Form of government: Absolute monarchy: the

king ruled with absolute power. There were 7
kings in total.

 End: in 509 BC the Patricians organised a revolt

against the king Tarquin the Proud:
 Tarquin the Proud was expelled.
 It was the end of the monarchy. A new form of
government was established: the REPUBLIC.
1. Romulus
2. Numa Pompilius 4
LATIN
3. Tullus Hostilius KINGS

4. Ancus Marcius
5. Tarquin Priscus
3
6. Servius Tullius ETRUSCAN
KINGS
7. Tarquin the Proud
 Tarquin used violence, murder
& intimidation to maintain
control over Rome. People
hated him!!
 Tensions came to a head when
his son (Sextus Tarquinius)
raped Lucretia, a woman of a
patrician family. As a
consequence, the patricians
organized a revolt and in
509 BC they expelled the
last king of Rome: Tarquin
the Proud.
 Activity 4: copy & answer in your notebook:

1st PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ROME

1)What was the first form of government

of Rome? Who held the power?

2)How many kings were there during the

Roman Monarchy? Name the first & the
last one.

3)What happened in 509 BC?

509 – 27 BC
 a) POLITICAL CHANGES: the form of government of
Rome changed. It became a REPUBLIC.

 Now power
was divided
among three
institutions:
 POPULAR
ASSEMBLIES
(COMITIA)

 SENATE

 MAGISTRATES
 The motto of the Roman Republic was
“Senātus Populus Que Rōmānus ”,
in English “The Senate and People of Rome”.

It meant that the power was held by the Senate

and the People of Rome (not by a king anymore!).
 POPULAR ASSEMBLIES (COMITIA)
• All Roman citizens.
• Functions:
• Passed laws.
• Elected the magistrates.

MAGISTRATES
• Elected annually:
• Consul (army) • Aedile (police)
• Praetor (justice) • Quaestor (taxes)
• Censor (list of citizens) • Plebeian tribune (defense
of plebeians rights).
• Functions:
• Governed Rome.

SENATE
• 300 ex-magistrates.
• Functions:
• Approved laws that had been previously passed by the Comitia.
• Advised & controlled the magistrates
• Decided on foreign policy.
The Roman Senate
The fight over political rights!!

 At the beginning only the

patricians had political rights.

 Plebeians fought during 200 years to have the same

political rights as the patricians:

494 BC: they achieved

451 BC: they
the right to have a
achieved a written
magistrate that defended
law code, the
their interests, the
Twelve Tables.
Plebeian Tribune.
 PLEBEIAN TRIBUNE
(magistrate that defended
the interests of the
Plebeians).

Plebeians achieved to
have this representative
in 494 AC, after a kind
of strike (“secessio
plebis”) in which they
abandoned Rome and
threaten with founding
their own city. They
emptied & paralyzed
Rome!!
 The Twelve
Tables of
Rome

By publishing the
laws in the Forum
all Romans could
read and know
them, so plebeians
were freed from
injustice during
trials.
 Activity 5: copy & answer in your notebook:
2nd PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ROME
1) What form of government was established in 509 BC
after the Absolute Monarchy? In this form of
government, who held the power?
2) Who elected the magistrates of Rome? Say which
magistrate…
• Administered justice?
• Controlled the army?
• Was in charge of the police?
• Made the list of citizens of Rome?
• Defended the plebeians interests?
• Collected the taxes?
3) Did patricians and plebeians had the same political
rights during all the Republic? Explain it.
 b) TERRITORIAL EXPANSION:

 During the Republic Rome began to expand

territorially.
 This expansion was possible thanks to a very
disciplined & organized army.

509 BC 19 BC
 PHASES OF THE EXPANSION:

 1º) Italian Peninsula.

 2º) Western Mediterranean. This was achieved by defeating

Carthage in the Punic wars.

 3º) Eastern Mediterranean. This was achieved by defeating

the Hellenistic Monarchies.

With the final conquests of Egypt (30 BC) and Hispania (19 BC)
the Romans controlled all the Mediterranean area which they
called “Mare Nostrum” (our sea).
1st ) Domination over all the
Italian Peninsula

270 BC
 2nd ) Control of the
Western Mediterranean

These
conquests
involved 3
wars against
Carthage:
the PUNIC
WARS.
140 BC
1st Punic War (264 – 241 BC)

2nd Punic War (218 – 201 BC)

Video about the

Punic Wars

3rd Punic War (149 – 146 BC)

 3rd ) Control of the
Eastern Mediterranean

After defeating the

Hellenistic
Monarchies &
conquering Egypt
(30 BC) and
Hispania (19 BC)
the Romans
controlled all the
Mediterranean area
which they called
“MARE NOSTRUM”. 19 BC
Evolution of
the
territories
under
Roman
control
(.gif image)
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXPANSION:

POSITIVES NEGATIVES
It provided:  Plebeians who left their lands to serve in the army
 Raw were ruined because they couldn’t compete with
materials patricians who appropriated the conquered lands &
 Land formed latifundia (large farms) worked by slaves.
 Slaves This unequal distribution of land caused social
conflicts & revolts among the plebeians, who
wanted to take part in the share-out of conquered
lands.
 To stop these revolts, the Senate gave the power to
military chiefs, who fought for absolute power in
Civil Wars. In 48 BC Julius Caesar was made dictator
for life, but he was murdered in the Senate (44 BC). A
new civil war started that led to the end of the
Republic in 27 BC.
Let’s watch a video about the crisis at the end
of the Republic…
 Activity 6: copy & answer in your notebook:
2nd PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ROME

5) Explain the phases of the territorial

expansion of Rome during the Republic.

6) Who fought in the Punic Wars? Who won?

What territorial changes did they brought?

7) What were the consequences of the territorial

expansion?
27 BC – 476 BC
a) Political Changes:
 After Julius Caesar’s death (44 BC), a civil war started
(Octavian Augustus VS Marc Antony).

 27 BC: Octavian Augustus won, and he

was granted complete power establishing
a new form of government: the Empire.
 The emperor hold all the power: he
summoned the Senate, passed the laws,
appointed the magistrates...
 The Republic’s institutions continued to
exist, but under control of the emperor.
 b) Historical evolution:

 1– 2nd Centuries: period known as PAX ROMANA:

 Maximum expansion of Rome
 Peace inside Roman frontiers
 Division into provinces ruled by governors to
make it easier to control such a huge territory.
 Romanisation: process through which the
conquered people (Barbarians) adopted the
Roman culture (Latin language, art, towns...)
Roman Empire at its maximum extension
under emperor TRAJANUS
Division of the Roman
Empire into provinces.
They were ruled by
governors (proconsul)
 Romanisation of the
conquered people:
they adopted Roman
language (Latin), art,
urbanism…
 Activity 7: copy & answer in your notebook:
3rd PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ROME

1) What happened after Julius Caesar’s death? What

form of government was established? Who held
the power?

2) What is the Pax Romana?

3) What name did the Romans gave to the

conquered people?

4) What was Romanisation?

b) Historical evolution:
 3rd Century AD: the end of the territorial expansion
caused a deep CRISIS!!!!! Some reasons that caused
this crisis were…:
 First defeats by the barbarians made frontiers no longer
safe, so military chiefs took control in some areas.
 As conquests ended, there were fewer slaves to work, so this
caused economic problems: prices increased & trade
dropped. This made the empire became poorer, so taxes were
increased.
 Due to the economic problems, many people abandoned
cities & migrated to the countryside. The empire became
ruralised (self-sufficient economy; no trade; no prosperity...)
In the 3rd century the Roman Empire suffered some
defeats against the barbarians.
The governor of the province of Germania “Postumus” took
control over the western provinces (Gaul, Germania,
Britannia & Hispania) and created the “Gallic Empire”
(260-274).
 395: to try to solve the crisis, emperor Theodosius
divided the empire in two parts:
 Western Roman Empire
 Eastern Roman Empire
 Western Roman Empire
• Capital: Rome
• Evolution: in 476 it fell due to
the invasion of the
Germanic tribes. Odoacre
deposed the last Roman
Emperor, Romulus Augustus.
Eastern Roman Empire
• Capital: Constantinople
• Evolution: after 476 AD it
continued existing as the
Byzantine Empire until
1453, when it fell to the
Turks.
Invasions of the Germanic tribes (also
known as barbarians!!)
Germanic Kingdoms established after the
fall of the Western Roman Empire
Map of Europe after the fall
of the Western Roman Empire
 Activity 7: copy & answer in your notebook:
3rd PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ROME
6) Explain the reasons that caused the crisis of the
3rd Century AD.

7) What did the Roman Empire do to try to solve the

crisis? (say who and when!)

8) What caused the fall of the Western Roman

Empire? Who was the last Roman emperor? who
deposed him? When?

9) What happened to the Eastern Roman Empire

after 476 AD?
 Activity 7: copy & answer in your notebook:
3rd PERIOD OF THE HISTORY OF ROME
10) Fill in the map representing the situation of the
Roman Empire in 395 AD:
• Locate the area occupied by the Western Roman
Empire
• Locate the area occupied by the Eastern Roman
Empire.
• Locate the capital of each of the parts of the
empire.
• Next to the name of each capital, write:
• Which civilization put an end to that part of the empire.
• The year in which it happened.
 TheRoman economy was based on
slaves.
• Worked in both agriculture and urban activities
• Slaves were acquired by Roman conquests of
territories
 The
main economic activity was agriculture.
Mediterranean triad: olives, cereals & vines.

 Small properties  worked by their owners

 Large properties (latifundia)  worked by
slaves.
 Very important activity for Rome.
 Due to its huge size, in Rome there were many
different valuable minerals: gold, silver, iron, coal,
copper, tin, lead…
 Mines belonged to the state, and workforce was
completely slaves.

Las Médulas
gold mines for
Roman Empire
(Castilla-León)
 Production was commonly undetook in
large workshops with slaves.
 Romans developed a varied range of
industries: pottery, textiles, silverware,
weapons… Food processing was also
important:
• Olives into oil
• Grapes into wine
 Tradewas a huge part of Rome’s economic
activity.
 Therewas an intense trading activity
within & beyond the borders of the Roman
Empire.
 Commerce was
favoured by several
factors:
• A road network
• A common currency
• Standardized weights
• Control over the
Mediterranean
• Strategic
geographical location
 The use of the
same currency &
units of measure
across the whole
empire made
trading easier.
Network of Roman roads
(“calzadas romanas”)
 Activity 8: copy & answer in your notebook:
ROMAN ECONOMY

 Complete these sentences:

A. The Roman economy was based on the work of ________.
B. The main economic activity of the Romans was ____________.
The main crops they cultivated were ___________, __________ &
_____________ (Mediterranean triad)
C. The huge size of the Roman Empire made it possible to
excavate ______ with many different minerals. They belonged to
the ________ and were worked by ________.
D. There was an intense ________ activity within & beyond the
borders of the Roman Empire.

 What factors helped commerce grow in Rome?

 Social groups

PATRICIANS:
Were the aristocracy of Rome.
Richest & most powerful families.
Had huge plots of land (latifundia).
Had political rights, and controlled the
government

PLEBEIANS:
Common people of ancient Rome:
artisans, small farmers…
Had some civil rights, but no political rights
at the beginning.

SLAVES:
Worked for their owner.
Had no rights at all.
 Activity 9: copy & answer in your
notebook:
ROMAN SOCIETY
1) Define “patrician” & “plebeian”.

2) Design a social pyramid of

Roman society
 At first, Romans were
polytheistic:

DOMESTIC/PRIVATE STATE/OFFICIAL
RELIGION RELIGION
• Worship of household • Worship of different
gods (lares & penates) & gods, many taken from
the spirits of ancestors Greek mythology
(manes). (Jupiter, Mars, Venus,
• The pater familias (head Neptune...).
of the house) made • From the 1st Century AD
offerings in the lararium onwards: worship of the
(altar). emperor.
 LARARIUMS
Place where domestic offerings & rituals took place
The apotheosis (transformation into gods) of Antoninus
Pius and his wife Faustina. 161 AD.
Sculpted relief.
 BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY:
 1st Century AD (early years of the Empire).

 Preached by Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the

son of God, and defended …
 The existence of one single god.
 Equality of all people

 He was condemned & crucified.

 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY:

 EARLY DAYS: Christians were persecuted by

the Romans (refusal to worship the emperors, to
enrol in the army...). However, Christianity
expanded rapidly since it promised life after
death in heaven, equality...

 313 AD: emperor Constantine announced the

Edict of Milan  Christians were allowed to
practice their religion.

 380 AD: emperor Theodosius announced the

Edict of Thessalonica  made Christianity the
official religion of the Empire.
 Christians’
persecution

Christian catacombs:
burial & cult places
 Activity 10: copy & answer in your notebook:
ROMAN RELIGION
1) Was Roman religion polytheistic or
monotheistic?
2) Name 3 roman gods.
3) What was the “lararium”?
4) Fill in the chart:
Emperor Year Edict
The practice of
Christianity was
allowed
Christianity was made
the official religion of
the Empire.
 CHARACTERISTICS:

 It had a practical purpose.

 Influenced by Greek art.

 Materials: stone, brick, concrete.

 Ceilings supported by columns:

o Greek architectural orders: Doric, Ionic & Corinthian.
o 2 new order: Tuscan & Composite

 Vaulted roofs: arches & domes

 Was Roman an original art??

GREEK

VS

ROMAN
 Mixture of limestone, gravel & sand that
hardens with water. VERY RESISTANT!!!

Bricks & concrete

Stone
(Temple of Jupiter,
Baalbek, Lebanon)
 New orders
Greek orders Similar to Doric, Combination
but with a base of Ionic &
Corinthian
Arch

VAULTED ROOFS
(≠ Greek architecture)

Dome
(The Pantheon of Rome, temple
consecrated to all the Roman gods)
 Activity 11: copy & answer in your notebook:
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
1) Which civilisation mostly influenced Roman
architecture?

2) What materials did Romans use to construct their

buildings?

3) Complete:
• Roman architecture was functional: it had a _______ purpose.
• Ceilings were supported by ______: they used Greek orders
(____, ____, ____) & introduced 2 new ones (______ & _______).
• Roofs were frequently vaulted: use of _____ & ______ to cover
surfaces.

4) Draw & label the architectural orders used by Romans?

 MAIN BUILDINGS:
RELIGIOUS PUBLIC ENGINEERING
BUILDINGS BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTIONS
o Temples o Entertainment: o Roads
o Tombs: catacombs circuses, amphitheatres, o Bridges
theatres, thermal baths. o Sewer systems
o Administrative: o Aqueducts
basilicas
o Commemorative:
columns, triumphal
arches.
Greek influence.

Temple of Hercules

Pantheon of Rome
(Temple of all the Roman gods)
 Pantheon of Rome
(Temple of all the Roman gods)
 M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
Marcus Agrippa, Luciī fīlius, consul tertium, fēcit
'Marco Agripa, hijo de Lucio, cónsul por tercera vez, (lo) hizo'
Panteón de Agripa
Subterranean collective burials

Catacombs of Saint Callixtus (Rome)

Gladiators & naumachia shows
Roman theatre
in Merida
(Extremadura)
GREEK THEATRE VS ROMAN THEATRE
 Water & air was
heated using the
hypocaust system
 Basilica of Maxentius &
Constantine
(Roman Forum, Rome, Italy)
 Trajan column
(Rome, Italy)
It commemorates emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars
(Rome VS Dacia, an area north of Macedon and Greece)
 Arch of
Constantine
(Rome, Italy)
 Ruins of a Roman road that
belonged to the Silver Route
(Vía de la Plata.
Caceres, Extremadura)
 Roman bridge in
Cordoba

Roman bridge in
Merida
Roman aqueduct
in Segovia
(Spain)
 Sculptures:
o Copied Greek models, but it was more realistic.
o Romans developed 2 new genres:
 Portrait
 Historical relief

Pompey

Augusto
Prima
Porta
 Portrait of a
emperor
Caracalla
Sculpture of Neptune

Portrait of a Roman priest

Detail of the column of

emperor Trajan
 Painting:
o Frescoe technique
o Used to decorate walls of Roman villas.

 Mosaics:
o Made with small pieces of coloured stone
(tessellas).
o Used to decorate floors.
 Frescoe: technique in which colour
pigments are dissolved in water and
applied to a wet plaster wall. When it
dries the paint becomes an integral
part of the wall.

Frescos in “Villa dei Misteri”

(Villa of the Mysteries).
Pompey (Italy)

Frescos in a Roman Villa in

Herculaneum (Italy)

In both cases, they survived quite

undamaged to the eruption of the
Vesuvius volcano of 79 AD
 Activity 12: Copy & answer in your notebook

1) Put the following buildings in its corresponding category: Columns /

Amphitheatres / Aqueducts / Bridges / Basilicas / Tombs:
catacombs / Circuses / Sewer systems / Thermal baths / Theatres /
Temples / Triumphal arches / Roads
RELIGIOUS PUBLIC ENGINEERING
BUILDINGS BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTIONS
o Entertainment:

o Administrative:

o Commemorative:

2) Make 2 sentences with the following words: Tessellas / Walls / Painting / Mosaics /
Floors / Frescoe