Homework Overview for Topic 1 – Romans

Week Taught Content Knowledge Organiser Homework Class Test Questions

1 Roman inventions and Romulus and Remus

A Questions on Roman inventions and Romulus and Remus

2 Roman army B Questions on Roman inventions, Romulus and Remus and Roman army

3 Pompeii C Questions on Roman army and Pompeii

4 Family and Roman goods D Questions on family and Roman goods

5 Public health and Gladiators

E Questions on public health and Gladiators

6 and 7 Fall of the Roman Empire H Questions on the fall of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire and Inventions

- An empire is a collection of countries (known as colonies) that are controlled by one powerful mother territory.

- The mother territory usually imposes its laws and rules over all colonies it controls.

- Its believed to have started with the foundation of the city of Rome in 753BC.

- The rulers of Rome (known as the Romans) created a strong army which soon conquered the rest of Italy.

- Over the next 1,000 years, the Romans conquered a quarter of the globe!

- The land that they conquered roughly consists of 40 countries today!

- Most of these countries were in Europe, but some were also in Africa and Asia!

- Eventually, the Roman Empire steadily began to collapse and ended around 500AD.

- Romans gave us architecture- such as the leaning tower of Pisa. - Romans gave us the sewers, which kept the cities free from waste.

We still have sewers today. - The Romans gave us underfloor heating to keep the houses warm. - The Romans built roads so that their army could march from one

place to another. - The Romans developed a set of rules for the country, which we

have today. - The Romans developed a system of money that used coins. - The Romans also gave us public toilets.

Story of Romulus and Remus

Legend- Legends are stories about the past. They are often handed

down from parents to children, and told over and over again.

The twin brothers Romulus and Remus were the sons of the God

Mars. Mars was the god of war. When they were very young they

were thrown into the River Tiber under the orders of Amulius, the

ruler of Italy, who was worried they would dethrone him given they

had a claim to the throne through their mother, Princess Rhea Silvia.

Luckily, they were found by a wolf who fed them with her milk and

looked after them.

Later a shepherd found the boys and took them home to look after

them. He ended up raising the boys as his own children. The boys grew

up to be very strong and clever and decided to build a town on the

spot where the Shepherd had found them.

Shortly after building the town the twins had a big argument about

who should be in charge. Romulus overpowered his brother Remus

who died in the fight. Romulus then became the first king of this town

which he named Rome, after himself.

Roman Army

Filthy cities

- A general commanded a group of roughly 40,000 soldiers at a time. He took orders and met with the Emperor directly to

discuss his plans.

-A legate was in charge of a legion of 5,000 men.

-There would be a centurion who would command roughly 100 men each in a legion.

-A legionary was a typical soldier from Rome.

-A cavalry officer fought on feedback. -A non-citizen fighter was called an auxiliary.

- All soldiers had to be at least 17 years old and 1.4 metres tall in order to join.

- They had to commit to at least 25 years’ service if they wished to join.

- They would have had several weeks off each year in which they could return home.

Pompeii

• - Mount Vesuvius is near Pompeii in southern Italy.

• On 24 August AD 79, the volcano suddenly erupted!

• Smoke rose 15km high into the air and ash and hot rock came pouring down onto the terrified people of Po Many

choked on the toxic sulphur fumes released and died.

• Thousands of men, women and children were either burned to death and hit by rocks falling at 125mph.

• Archaeologists found body-shaped holes in the ash!

• They poured plaster into them to work out the shapes and sizes of the bodies. When this set, it formed the shape of the

bodies.

• Roman Family

• Weddings

• During the wedding, the bride and groom joined their right hands to say their vows and there was usually a feast which

followed at the groom’s house.

• Men

• Ancient Rome was a man’s world. Families were dominated by men. At the head of Roman family life was the father,

called the paterfamilias. He looked after the family's business affairs and property.

• Women

• As was common in Roman society, while men had the formal power, women had influence behind the scenes. It was

accepted that the materfamilias was in charge of managing the household. Those married to wealthy husbands were

also expected to assist their husband’s career by behaving with dignity and appearing with him at meetings and public

events.

• As soon as they were old enough, most bots were sent to work while their sisters learned how to spin wool, sew and

cook. If the family were rich though, they would often send the boys and sometimes the girls to a school called a ludus.

Teaching was based on writing out what the teacher told them.

- Public Health Public health was important for the Romans as they needed a strong

army. As soon as the Romans realised the importance of having fresh

water, they built aqueducts, water channels, baths, toilets and sewers.

Fresh Water Throughout the Empire the Romans used their engineering skills to bring fresh water from the mountains into their towns. There were 14 aqueducts bringing 1350 million litres of fresh water a day into Rome! The water ran from channels which usually started in the nearest hills or mountains and went along brick and stone bridges called aqueducts. When the water reached the cities it was used for many purposes. Public Toilets Roman towns also had public toilets. There were 150 in Rome. Each of these could accommodate many people - there were no private cubicles. Romans used to meet their friends and sit and chat while using the toilet! Sewers The city had a network of sewers. Sewers took sewage from private houses and public toilets. They deposited sewage into the local river carried it down to the sea. In Rome, the main river was called the River Tiber. People didn’t need to worry about drinking from the rivers anymore as they had water coming in from the Aqueducts! Public baths

Most Romans agreed that people should take daily exercise to stay fit and

healthy. In all Roman towns and cities. A trip to the baths could involve; a

hot bath, a cold bath, time in a steam room, a swim, time in the exercise

yard or a massage. Men and women either had separate public baths, or

there were different opening times for both sexes People often went to

the baths with friends where they’d socialise and gossip.

Roman Entertainment

• There were over 175 public holidays a year in the early days of

the Roman Empire! To keep the citizens of the Empire

entertained and loyal, the emperors and officials organised

spectacular entertainments for people to see.

• These were usually free, but the best seats had to be paid for!

• The most popular forms of entertainment were known as the

‘games’ which took place in amphitheatres. There was usually

an amphitheatre on the edge of most Roman towns across the

Empire. The biggest amphitheatre by far was the Colosseum in

Rome.

• There were no age limits or restrictions for the games as

violence and death were part of everyday life in Roman times!

The games were always well attended by men, women, slaves

and sometimes even teenagers!

• People often wanted to see their favourite Gladiators fight.

They’d go to cheer them on during their fights and would place

bets on who they thought would win!

• Gladiators were usually slaves. Many were men from tribes

who’d resisted the Romans in battle and had then been

captured and sold on to slave owners.

• Some might have even been Roman soldiers who’d deserted

their legion! If they were seen on their own, they were often

captured by slave owners.

• As the Empire expanded, it meant the Romans had far more land to control which was very difficult! • Enemy tribes such as the Barbarians and Vandals therefore found it easier to fight back. • By 455AD, the Roman Empire had completely collapsed as these tribes set the major cities across the Empire ablaze! • Cities and towns that had belonged to the Romans were abandoned. • Roman inventions like aqueducts, toilets, public baths, education and coins were lost when libraries containing books on how

to build/repair them were destroyed and Roman engineers were murdered. • The next 500 years (roughly 500-1000AD) were known as the ‘Dark Ages’ as wars raged between tribes across Europe and

there was no government in place to impose laws, education and public health. • Around the time the Roman Empire collapsed in 455AD, Anglo-Saxons (a mixture of tribes called the Angles, Jules and Saxons)

began arriving from Germany and France. • The Vikings then began arriving from Holland, Norway and Sweden from around 500AD!