LibGuides CMS: Fuller Middle School: Ancient Rome

Background Information

Ancient Rome
The Ancient Romans ruled over one of the largest and richest empires in history.

Introduction to Ancient Rome
Around 2,500 years ago, the city of Rome was at the center of a huge empire that stretched from Scotland to Syria.

Ancient Rome
The ancient city of Rome was the center of one of the largest and most powerful empires the world has ever seen. The Roman Empire was based in what is now Italy. As the Roman Empire took over more land and peoples, its influence spread throughout western Europe and into all the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. The achievements of the Romans influenced the languages, literature, laws, methods of government, roads, and buildings of all of western Europe.

Religion

Roman gods and goddesses
The people of the Roman Empire worshipped hundreds of different gods and goddesses. The most important gods, such as Jupiter, were similar to the Ancient Greek gods.

Politics

Roman Law
The Romans had a complex system of government and laws. Many of the basic systems and ideas that we have about laws and government today comes from Ancient Rome.

Ancient Roman Emperors
The emperors were the most famous rulers of Rome, but in its early days, Rome was ruled by kings. Some of these kings treated their people badly, and in 509 BCE they were driven out and replaced by a ruling council called the Senate.

Life in the Roman Army
Most soldiers in the Roman Empire came from countries outside Italy. There were soldiers from Africa, France, Germany, Spain and the Middle East.

The Roman Army
The armies of the Roman Empire were famous across the ancient world for their fighting ability.

Roman Weapons
The Ancient Romans fought many battles and wars in order to expand and protect their empire. There were also civil wars where Romans fought Romans in order to gain power. Here are some of the major battles and wars that the Romans fought.

Geography

Roman Empire
Rome was founded in the ninth century BCE, as a small village in central Italy. Over the centuries it expanded its territory...

Ancient Rome, 3rd Century BC
The Roman Republic expanded throughout Italy in the 3rd century BC.

Roman Empire
At the height of its power the Roman Empire covered all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

Achievements and Inventions

Roman Mosaics Across the Empire
In ancient times, mosaics decorated luxurious homes and public buildings across the Roman Empire. Intricate patterns and figural scenes were created by setting small pieces of stone or glass, called tesserae, into floors and walls. Introduced by itinerant craftsmen, mosaic techniques and designs spread widely, leading to variety of regional styles.

Roman Mold Blown Glass
The invention of glassblowing led to an enormous increase in the range of shapes and designs that glassworkers could produce, and the mold-blowing process soon developed as an offshoot of free-blowing.

Images of Ancient Roman Art
Examples of ancient Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Click each image to see a full-size photographs.

Public Baths
Every Roman city had a public bath where people came to bathe and socialize. The public bath was something like a community center where people worked out, relaxed, and met with other people.

Roman Buildings
The Romans were great engineers, and many of their buildings and other constructions can still be seen today.

Roman Numerals
Roman numerals are a system for representing numbers with letters of the Latin, or Roman, alphabet. The system dates back about 2,000 years, to the time of ancient Rome. Roman numerals have been mostly replaced by Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3…).

Roman Numerals
Ancient Romans used a special method of showing numbers

10 Innovations that Built Ancient Rome
The Romans were prodigious builders and expert civil engineers, and their thriving civilization produced advances in technology, culture and architecture that remained unequaled for centuries.

Roman Writing
The Romans kept very good records, which is part of the reason we know so much about them.

Social Structure

Food, Jobs, and Daily Life
A typical Roman day would start off with a light breakfast and then off to work. Work would end in the early afternoon when many Romans would take a quick trip to the baths to bathe and socialize. At around 3pm they would have dinner which was as much of a social event as a meal.

What did ancient Romans eat?
Roman food was very different from the food we eat today. There were no potatoes or tomatoes in Europe at that time, and pasta was not invented until much later.

Clothing and Fashion
Most of the clothing worn in Ancient Rome was made of wool. Wool was made throughout Italy and much of the Roman Empire both in the home and commercially. Sometimes clothes were made from rare materials such as linen from Egypt, cotton from India, and silk from China.

Roman Families
The idea of the family was very important to Romans. Traditionally, the oldest male was the head of the family, or paterfamilias.

Housing and Homes
The Romans lived in a wide variety of homes depending on whether they were wealthy or poor. The poor lived in cramped apartments in the cities or in small shacks in the country. The rich lived in private homes in the city or large villas in the country.

Housing
Photographs of Ancient Roman artifacts including a bedroom, tableware, and wall paintings.

	The Roman Forum At the heart of the city of Rome was an open space called the Forum, used for public meetings and celebrations.
	Beneath the Colosseum The wild animals that fought in the Colosseum were kept in cellars underneath the arena floor. When it was time for them to appear, they were pushed into elevators and winched upward.

Life in the City
The hub of life in Ancient Rome was the city. The local city was the place to trade goods, be entertained, and meet important people. While Rome was the center of the empire, there were many large and important cities throughout the empire.

Life in the Country
When we think of Ancient Rome, we often think of the cities of Rome filled with people, large buildings, and senators walking around in togas. However, most of the population of the Roman Empire lived in the countryside. Life in the countryside was very different from that in the city.

Plebeians and Patricians
Roman citizens were divided up into two distinct classes: the plebeians and the patricians. The patricians were the wealthy upper class people. Everyone else was considered a plebeian.

Slaves
As in many ancient civilizations, slavery played a big part in the culture of Rome. Slaves performed much of the labor and hard work that helped to build the Roman Empire and keep it running.

What Role Did Women Play in Ancient Rome?
Women in ancient Rome, whether free or enslaved, played many roles: empress, priestess, goddess, shop owner, midwife, prostitute, daughter, wife and mother. But they lacked any voice in public life.

Encyclopedias

	Britannica School Click the purple search button at the top of the page to find information about your country.
	National Geographic Kids This website has information for some of the larger and more populated European countries.
	Ducksters Find accurate information about your country.
	Gale in Context This database is best for in-depth articles about your country.

Fuller Middle School: Ancient Rome

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