ANCIENT Rome

HISTORY

• Ancient Rome was from 753 BC–476 AD. It was one of the strongest empires around because of its architecture, government and how they lived. Romans were brilliant fighters and were good at organising. The early roman language was Latin. Before the Romans came to Rome, they were originally a tribe called the Latins that's were they got their language from. The Romans influenced many people and Latin quickly became their main language. Although some people still chose to speak their own language at home. In fact many words we use today come from Ancient Rome, such as actor, family and second. Romans were very good at growing crops. At first they only ate meat but quickly learnt how to grow their own food. Common foods were wheat, rice and barley. The Romans were the ones who invented the rake, this helped with their farming. Just like in ancient China, in avert household the boy or man was considered more useful than the girl, in this case if the family didn't need or want the girl they would usually sell her as a slave. Slaves were very common in Ancient Rome and selling children wasn't considered bad.

GEOGRAPHY

• Ancient Rome was an empire that lived in Italy which is a country that contains many wonders. Italy is well known for things that the Romans left behind. Such as the colosseum, the leaning tower of Pisa and the roman forum. Houses in Ancient Rome were very similar to the ones we have today. They mostly contained furniture and were made out of bricks or concrete which usually had a tiled floor. Roman towns were set up extraordinarily well and were pre planed by architects who designed the city, town or village usefully. They would put the houses near a source of water and made the streets all link back to one place (like a town hall or palace). One of the wonders of Rome is the colosseum. The colosseum is a giant amphitheater used for spectators to watch people or animals fight to the death.

GODS

• In the beginning of the Roman Empire they believed in many different types of gods. They soon shared beliefs around them and Ancient Rome and it became very popular. There were main gods but people loved some gods depending on what they did for work or how they lived. These gods were like humans but they had magical powers and were in charge of a certain element or thing. People told stories and myths about them to spread rumours, if the god found out, they would kill him or her. The most Important gods were: Saturn the God of seed sowing, Jupiter God of the sky, Juno Goddess of the women, Neptune God of the sea, Minerva goddess of wisdom, Mars God of war and Venus God of love. The Romans respected these gods and in exchange the gods respected them. Although, the Romans had to sacrifice things or people for the gods. This was a sign of respect towards the gods.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

• Ancient Rome was a republic. This is very unusual for an ancient civilisation. The rich and powerful people were the ones who governed the city from the senate. The senate was Rome's governing body. The two main parties were the populares (the left wing) and optimates (the right wing). In the beginning of Rome, it was governed by kings but as Rome grew so did their government system. They soon developed a strong and steady system that we still use today. Americas system is a republic, just like ancient Rome's. All the Romans agreed Rome was perfect but then Julius ceacer came and didn't agree with the system. He tried to bring up the topic in the roman senate but later that day, he was murdered by a man named Brutus who wanted to keep the system the way it was. After he was murdered his family and supporters created a civil war. They took over Rome and Augustus Ceacer became the first roman emperor.

ARCHITECTURE

• One of the things the Romans were famous for was architecture. They built many amazing things such as the colosseum and the roman forum. The Romans used lots of materials before they were around such as concrete. Long before concrete was made in Rome, the Romans used a volcanic stone native to Italy called tufa to construct their buildings. The Romans were very good at fining lllllllalternative materials. Roman concrete was developed early in the 2nd c. BCE. Since concrete takes the shape of the mould or frame it is poured into, buildings began to take on ever more fluid and creative shapes. The Romans invented the arch and is used in heaps of buildings that you can see today. Roman cities were typically focused on the forum (a large open plaza, surrounded by important buildings), which was the heart of the city. Romans were also very good at building bridges and roads. This is sowing that they were famous for.

FASHION

• The main outfit for the Romans was the toga. It was basically a long sheet and was wrapped around the person wearing it. If your toga had marks on it, it meant you were powerful and rich. The marks would have different meanings for example if you were part of the roman senate, you would have stripes on your toga and if you didn't have any it meant you weren't wealthy or powerful and you were from the lower class of people. Fashionable upper-class women wore considerable amounts of jewellery. Men also wore jewellery but not as much. At first women would make their clothes but as Rome grew, wealthier Romans usually got slaves to do it for them. This wasn't uncommon in Ancient Rome.