Geography

Location

• Rome is a peninsula located in the Mediterranean sea

• Rome was built on seven hills:The Capitoline, Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Esquilliane, Viminal and the Quirina hill

• Rome is located on the banks of the Tiber River

• Rome is also close to the Alps and the Rubicon river

Expansion• Rome was once a small

city but grew to be a vast empire

• Rome used its army to expand its empire

• Rome battled Carthage in the first Punic war and Carthage turned Sicily over to Rome

First Punic War

• In the first Punic war Rome fought Carthage for Sicily

• The war was sparked by fights in Sicily

• Carthage broke a treaty between Rome and themselves

• The war ended when Carthage turned Sicily over to Rome

Trade

• Rome was close to other cities that had valuable resources

• Rome was near the sea so they could trade with distant lands by boat

• Rome established trading routes with other cities

• Some of Rome's exports were red pottery,wine and olive oil

Religion

Roman Mythology

• Romans had their own gods, goddesses and mythology that were much like Greek gods

• Some of these gods were Vulcan, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto and Minerva

• They built many temples to honor their gods

• All around Rome there were paintings and statues of the Roman gods

Spread of Christianity• When Christians first

appeared in Rome they were treated unfairly and persecuted

• Sometimes the Christians were fed to the lions in the arena

• Many Christians were punished because they would not do as they were told because it was against their beliefs

Religious Buildings

• Christians prayed in groups inside their homes

• Later on, Christians built churches to pray in

• Nero blamed the Christians for a large fire that burned and destroyed many buildings

• Romans had many temples to worship their gods in, some temples represented a certain god

Religious Ceremonies

• Instead of cremating the dead like Romans, Christians buried theirs

• The Romans sacrificed animals to honor their gods but the Christians recreated Jesus last supper

• Most Christians were pacifists so they did not fight in wars or sacrifice for their god

Achievements

Punic Wars

• Rome defeated Carthage in all the Punic wars

• Rome gained some land from winning the wars

• Rome used resources from the land they obtained

• Rome captured ships and had engineers examine and build more ships for fighting Carthage on the sea

Military System

• One reason why Rome expanded so much was its military system

• Rome’s military system was effective,organized and efficient

• The military was divided up into legions

• Each legion had specialists such as blacksmiths and engineers

• Soldiers served from 20-25 years at a time

City of Marble

• Augustus began a building program to make Rome more beautiful

• He brought huge amounts of white marble and built new palaces,theaters and shrines

• Augustus said “I found Rome a city of brick and left it one of marble.”

• Augustus also provided the poor with jobs, better housing and free grain

Golden age of Latin Literature

• The reign of Augustus brought a golden age of literature in Latin

• Writers wrote poetry, tragedies, comedies, and histories in Latin

• A common theme was patriotism

• Augustus was open to criticism and encouraged writers and artists

Politics

Emperors

• Some roman emperors where corrupt with power like Nero

• Some emperors like Augustus brought peace to the Roman empire

• Julius Caesar declared himself dictator for life but was assassinated early

Praetorian Guard

• The praetorian guard was a unit of the army that's purpose was to protect the emperor

• The praetorian guard eventually gained complete control over choosing the emperor

• They would elect the emperor that would promise them benefits then assassinate them and do the same thing over and over

• The line of assassinated emperors were called the barracks emperors.

Political Violence

• Sometimes, if roman citizens would not agree with political ideas they would assassinate people who proposed them

• Tiberius Gracchus proposed breaking up the large estates and dividing them up to the poor

• His brother Gaius proposed similar ideas but they were both assassinated

The Senate

• In the early republic the senate was politically weak

• After Rome became an empire the senate became more powerful than it had been before

• When the first emperors appeared the senate became

less powerful and over time became more of the emperors advisors

Economy

Inflation

• Once Rome stopped conquering new lands, gold flow to the economy decreased

• A lot of gold was being spent by Romans for luxury items

• Salaries were sometimes paid in food and clothing

• Most people started to barter instead of actually paying with coins

Imported and Exported Goods

• Some goods that were imported were grain, papyrus, linen flax, glass vases, painted pottery, lotions, and perfumes

• Some exports of Rome were gold coins, glassware, olive oil, wool, purple fabric, metal weapons and tools

• When Rome exported their goods they were making money but when they imported goods they were sometimes spending it on unnecessary items

Expansion

• Slaves were being brought in because of conquering lands

• After the slaves took over the jobs of the workmen there were more poor people in the streets of Rome

• The gap between the rich and the poor was growing because of this

Loss of Jobs

• Many small farmers lost their farms

• they could not grow crops economically because they could not hire workmen as easily as large landowners

• Slaves took over the jobs of many workmen so eventually they too lost there jobs

Social Structure

Plebeians

• The plebeians were the common people of Rome

• The plebeians lived in apartment buildings that caught fire easily and were cheaply made

• They were typically lower class, they did jobs such as farmers, blacksmiths, engineers and artists

• Their jobs didn’t pay well and they sometimes went into the military to get food and shelter

Patricians

• The patricians were the wealthy class of the Roman social structure

• They were large landowners, owned slaves and have large houses

• The patricians sometimes held large banquets with slaves playing music and entertaining people

• Patrician children had many toys and went to school

Soldiers• Soldiers in the Roman

army were fed and clothed • Most soldiers served for

20-25 years• After they were done

serving they would be given land usually that land was from conquered people

Slaves

• Slaves were sometimes captured from wars

• Only the wealthy could afford slaves and they used them for entertainment or for work around the house

• Slaves were taught different things depending on who was the owner

What is the most important idea I learned about in ancient Rome?

The most amazing thing I learned about in ancient Rome was the expansion.The expansion cause more land to be gained but also brought in more slaves.The more slaves there were, the less people needed workmen.The slaves took over the jobs of the workmen.When the expansion stopped many people were still poor and living in the streets. Since there was no new land for them to live on, they were stuck where they were. The expansion was big chain reaction that didn’t help Rome.If though it was impressive it ultimately led to their downfall.