Geography

Location

• Rome was located on the Italian peninsula, going out into the Mediterranean sea.

• Rome was located on the Tiber River.

• Rome was built on seven hills and founded by Romulus after killing his brother.

Expansion

• One way one expanded was through the Punic Wars. In the Punic Wars Rome took control over Carthage and final destroyed Carthage.

• Rome started as a little kingdom. Romans first drove the Etruscans out of central Italy and then took over the Italian peninsula.

• The Romans asked for peace with the defeated groups by signing a treaty. In return the Romans would ask for them to have the same friends, enemies, and for them to supply soldiers.

Resources

• Rome’s main resource was the Tiber River that was located by Rome.

• Another Roman resource was the good farm soil.

• Finally, the last resource they had was the trees and rocks that were use to make weapons.

Barriers

• The fist barrier was the Tiber River because the it was hard to cross.

• Another barrier was the Alps because the mountain had rough terrain and was dangerous to cross.

• The last barrier is the ocean because it blocks off land and some people can’t swim.

Religion

Roman Beliefs• The Romans believed in

many gods and that each god controlled a aspect of life.

• Another belief that the Romans had is that you should scarifies animals to please the gods.

• Another belief they had is to pray in a huge and beautiful places or spot.

Etruscan Mysticism

• The Etruscans believe that god gave them signs through nature.

• They watched the birds to see if their harvest was going to be good.

• The Etruscan tried to interoperate victor using a sheep liver to plan the layout of the stars.

Christianity

• The Christian beliefs weren’t the same as the Roman.

• The Christians didn’t believe in killing any living thing.

• The Christians based their religion on Jewish beliefs.

Judaism

• The Jewish people believe in only one god.

• The Jewish people like a small put nice place to worship.

• The Jewish people also used only prayers not sacrifices. In about 700 B.C., the Jewish people stopped sacrificing animals.

Achievements

Military organization

• The military is important because the military led to the expansion of Rome.

• Another reason they were important is because they split into legions which is 4000-5000 soldier.

• Finally the legions split into centuries which was about a 100 soldiers.

Aqueducts

• The aqueducts transferred water to Roman cities.

• The aqueducts are important because the Roman citizens built them through mountains and valleys.

• The aqueducts had a bride like design, the bottom was the water transfer and the top was a road.

Concrete roads

• The concrete road was first created to help the military travel faster through the empire.

• The concrete road made trade and government easier because a horse could travel 75 miles a day.

• The roads were made of mainly flat rocks on the ground. then small rocks and gravel were laid on top.

Latin Language

• The Latin language became the main language of the western side of Rome but Greek stayed the main language of the eastern side.

• Both Greek and Latin were studied by educated Romans.

• The Greek alphabet was the origins of the Latin language.

Politics

Julius Caesar

• Caesar helped the common people by reforming the farm law and eased the financial burden, these steps made Caesar popular with the poor.

• After becoming a military general Caesar had many military successes.

• Civil war started when Caesar didn’t dispatch his legion and became a republic enemy.

• Caesar became the most powerful man alive when he had successes after success and was then assonated by his enemies.

Trajan

• Trajan was a good emperor who helped the common people with every day life.

• Trajan helped by reducing taxes, increase the free food distribution, and to maintain the supple of grain.

• But his finest act was creating a special fund to help the poor especially poor children.

• Trajan did some bad things even though he did mainly good. One bad thing he did was encourage blood sports and have them honor him with gladiator fights.

Law and Order

• The Romans had a court almost the same as ours. Their court consisted of the senate as the jury and some of the wittiness.

• Men would wear nice togas during the day but wear dirty ones at night so they weren’t mugged.

• Chance of being mugged or murdered. Women and children weren’t allowed out at night because of the

Political Corruption

• Choosing a new emperor was hard for Rome.

• There was a open debate between the old emperor, senate, and the Praetorian guard, but the Praetorian guard got full control. The new emperor would give them rewards for picking him.

• Final Rome started selling the throne to the highest bidder.

Economy

Excessive Military Spending

• The Roman government started to give their soldiers more many to defend the borders from barbarian attacks.

• The government couldn’t pay for public housing and roads because of their military spending.

• The tax went up so they started to take unemployed people off the street to fight, for high pay.

Unemployment

• Small farmers had to sell their land or lost it because they couldn’t compete with the low food price of large farm owners.

• The empires streets were filled with unemployed citizens because there wasn’t enough jobs.

• The small farmers couldn’t even get job farming for large land owners.

Inflation

• The Romans stopped conquering new land, so lease gold came into Rome and lease coins were able to be made.

• The decrease in coins made merchants raise the prices on their products.

• People started to barter (trade good for good) with each other instead of using coins. Taxes then were paid in fruits or vegetables well salaries were paid in clothing or food.

Trade

• Farmers from other provinces in Italy would pay taxes in grain because Rome a big industry for it.

• The trade routes were by sea and the Roman network of roads.

• Romans carried wheat to Italy, olive oil, wine, and pottery to Europe and Greece.

• Routes eventfully went to Britain, China, East India, Russia, and East Europe.

Social Structure

Patrician

• The Patricians were the upper class in society and held government positions.

• Patricians took great pride in coming from noble families with famous or influenced ancestors.

• The government favored the Patricians and they acted as leaders of economic life.

Plebeians

• The Plebeians were the lower class that was most of the population.

• The Plebeians couldn’t serve in political office or be priest. Most Plebeians were poor peasant farmers.

• They often took loans and couldn’t pay them back so they were sold into slavery or (debt bondage).

Role of Men

• The father or grandfather in a Roman family was called the Paterfamilias, or head of the house.

• The place the man had in the house resembled the place of the king in the old monarchy.

• The men had unlimited power in the house. The man controlled his wife, children, and slaves.

• The man could choice to sell his kids into slavery or even kill them.

Role of Women

• Women were allowed to own property even though they were to have male guardians throughout their life.

• The most important role for a women was to raise the children with roman traditions.

• The women went to public affairs after Rome became wealthy and slaves did all the work.

Summary

I think the most important idea we learned in this unit was government, and how the government works. The reason I think this, is because the government is one of the reason Rome became an empire and fell. The reason Rome became an empire is because the republic last emperor was killed and they became an empire. The empire then went into chaos and the barbarians took over the empire. All in all I believe that government was the the most important idea we learned.