sign in sign up
<<
Home , Founding of Rome, LARES, Neptune (mythology), Roman Senate

CK_3_TH_HG_P091_145.QXD 4/11/05 10:56 AM Page 125

Ottoman Turks seized the city in 1453 CE and made it the capital of their empire. After the establishment of modern Turkey, the capital moved to Ankara, and was renamed Istanbul in 1930. B. Background The Legend of and Remus probably began as a small, unimpressive village of farmers and shepherds, but in later days the Romans liked to tell a different story. Like many other people all around the world, they developed legends about their founders—stories that are not historically accurate but were important to the people who told them. The legendary story about the linked the Romans to the gods and also to the ancient Trojans. Central to the mythology of the ancient Greeks was the . Homer describes some key episodes in this war, including the exploits of the hero Achilles, in his epic poem the . Homer’s other epic poem, the Odyssey, tells of the wanderings and adventures of another Greek warrior, , on his way back to Greece after the Trojan War. As Rome grew and prospered, it, too, need- ed a national epic to explain and glorify its origins. The Roman poet com- posed the to fulfill this need. Virgil lived many years later, during the time of the , when Rome had already grown powerful. He had almost completed his great epic poem when he died in 19 BCE. Virgil’s epic begins with the fall of and the end of the Trojan War. The Teaching Idea poem tells the story of , a great Trojan hero descended from the goddess , who wanders the Mediterranean looking for a new home and has many Have students retell the legend of adventures reminiscent of Odysseus. At last, Aeneas reaches and the gods by making a film- reveal the glorious future of Rome to him. Aeneas marries the daughter of the strip (or cartoon strip) of the events in king of (an ancient region of central Italy), and their son founds Alba the story. Give each student a strip of Longa, which would be the forerunner of Rome. white paper, 4 inches high by 14 inch- es long. Have students divide the This epic story of Aeneas, in turn, provides the setting for the legend of strip into 2-inch boxes; they will need Romulus and Remus. According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were twins to draw six lines. In each box they descended from Aeneas. Their grandfather, , was one of the kings of Alba should draw a scene from the story Longa, and their father was the war god . (It was not uncommon for the and use speech bubbles like those in Greek and Roman gods to have romantic relationships with mortal women.) The comic strips to add words to the twins’ grandfather, Numitor, was driven from power by his brother, , just story. before the twins were born. When the children were born, the wicked Amulius had them put them in a reed basket and set adrift on the River. Amulius thought the boys would drown. He did not want them to live, lest they should grow up and challenge his rule. But the twins were lucky. The basket did not sink; instead, it lodged on the riverbank, where the boys were discovered by a mother . The mother wolf sensed that the babies were hungry and nursed the human babies along with her own cubs. They survived and were raised by a herdsman. When they grew up, Romulus and Remus took revenge on Amulius and restored their grandfather Numitor as king. According to the legend, the twins then founded Rome at the spot along the Tiber where they had been rescued. The year of Rome’s founding is traditionally set at 753 BCE. The two brothers argued and Romulus killed Remus. Romulus

History and Geography: World 125 CK_3_TH_HG_P091_145.QXD 4/11/05 10:56 AM Page 126

II.

became the first and ruled for many years until he mysteriously dis- appeared in a storm. After his death, Romans believed that Romulus’s father, the god Mars, took him up to the heavens in his chariot. Later Romans worshipped Romulus as the god . Some Roman coins of later years showed Romulus and Remus being suckled by the she-wolf. This image became an important Roman symbol. 39 as the Language of the Romans The area in which Rome was established was known as Latium. The people spoke a language known as Latin. As the expanded through Italy and beyond, the Latin language spread as well. It spread through the Roman legions (as the units were called) and through Roman governors and Teaching Idea officials. While Greek was the lingua franca, or common language, of the Eastern Roman Empire, Latin became the dominant language of the Roman Empire. Use the Core Knowledge Sequence to find some Latin phrases commonly used Latin itself developed over the years, and eventually it helped create several in English speech. (Students will study new languages. As soldiers came in contact with inhabitants in other areas, such Latin phrases in Grade 7.) You can also as France (Gaul) and Spain (Iberia), new languages developed. They were based find Latin phrases on paper money, on a mix of native languages and Latin. These languages are known as the state seals, and similar places. Make a and include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and short list of the Latin phrases, and ask Romanian. The word Romance comes from the word Roman. Although English is students if they know the definition or not a Romance language (it’s a Germanic language), a great many English words the context in which the phrase is are based on Latin. Many of them came into English through Old French, which used. Challenge students to use these is a Romance language. The Normans who invaded and conquered England in 1066 phrases as they have conversations CE spoke French, and many of the words in their vocabulary eventually entered with each other. For example, you English. Other English words were borrowed from Latin later on. might encourage a student to seize the Many important literary works were written in Latin. Virgil wrote his poetry day or enjoy the present by saying, in Latin. Other Latin include the mythological stories collected in ’s “carpe diem!” , the prose of Julius , of and , the satires of , and the letters of . Later on, Latin became the language of the Christian church: it was the lan- guage used by church fathers like St. Augustine and St. . Latin continued to be important even after it ceased to be spoken as the everyday language. In the and the Renaissance, many religious and scholarly works were writ- ten in Latin because it was assumed that educated people in many countries would be able to read Latin, whatever their native language might be. Roman Deities Originally, the Romans were farmers who worshipped spiritual forces associ- ated with family and agriculture. While there were national deities, the and Penates were specific spirits associated with each family. The Lares were thought to protect the home and the good fortune of a family, whereas the Penates were believed to protect its storeroom. , the spirit of hearth and home, was con- sidered the guardian of the ’s family. The Romans also adopted and adapted the deities of the Greeks. The Greek god , the chief of the Greek deities, became the Roman god , chief of the Roman deities. Hera, the wife of Zeus, became , the wife of Jupiter. Aphrodite metamorphosed into Venus, and Hermes, the Greek messenger, into

126 Grade 3 Handbook CK_3_TH_HG_P091_145.QXD 4/11/05 10:56 AM Page 127

Mercury, the Roman messenger. Like the Greek deities, the Roman deities had human forms and characteristics and played certain roles in legends. Teaching Idea Here is a list of some other Roman gods, with the Greek equivalents in Students in Core Knowledge schools parentheses. should have studied Greek gods and goddesses in Grade 2. You may wish to review what they learned and build (Apollo) (Artemis) on that foundation. A good way to () () learn about the gods and their char- (Eros) (Hephaestus) acter traits is by reading aloud from Mars (Ares) (Hades) books of Greek and . Bacchus (Dionysius)

The Founding of the Teaching Idea Talk with students about the United States government. How is our repub- The , Patricians, and lic similar to or different from the For many years, Rome was ruled by Etruscan kings, but in 509 BCE, the peo- ? How is our Senate ple rose up against a particularly cruel king named Tarquin and drove him out. In similar to and also different from the that same year, the Romans set up a republican government, a government in ? which there was no king; rather, the people chose their own rulers to serve for fixed periods of time. At the time, this was a new type of government. It would later be imitated by many other countries, including the United States. In these earlier years, Roman society was divided into two classes, patricians and plebeians. The former were rich property owners; the latter, who were the majority of Romans, were farmers, craftworkers, merchants, and traders. Slaves were outside the social structure—lower even than the plebeians. Two officials, called , headed the Republic; one managed the civil administration and the other, the military. Both consuls could issue edicts, or commands, that had the force of law; however, one could override the other’s edict by stating, “,” which is Latin for “I forbid.” Thus the two consuls functioned as checks and balances on each other. The idea of the veto and the idea of checks and balances are two of the many Roman political ideas that are part of American government today. The co-consuls were elected to one-year terms by the Senate, a body of 300 male citizens who, like the consuls, were patricians. All lesser officials, including judges, were patricians. The plebeians had no say in the early Republic. Over time, however, the plebeians broke the hold on power. In 450 BCE, the plebeians succeeded in getting the government to codify and inscribe it on 12 tablets in the Roman . Plebeians were then able to know if patrician judges were administering the laws that affected them correctly and fairly. A little later, the government established the Assembly of Tribes, from which 10 were chosen to protect the rights of the plebeians. The tribunes were representatives and protectors of the plebeians. They could veto any law that they believed was not in the best interest of the plebeians. Eventually, plebeians also won the right to be consuls, to sit in the Senate next to the patricians, and to be elected to all other offices. In this way the plebeians gradually secured a role for themselves in the political affairs of the Roman Republic.

History and Geography: World 127 CK_3_TH_HG_P091_145.QXD 4/11/05 10:56 AM Page 128

II. Ancient Rome

The early phases of the struggle between the plebeians and the patricians and the political life of the early Roman Republic are memorably depicted in one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays, . Another classic work on the early Roman Republic that is more suitable for use in Grade 3 is T. B. Macaulay’s famous poem, “Horatius at the Bridge.” This poem tells the story of Horatius’s battle against the Etruscan army, which was on its way to attack Rome. The army’s attempt was defeated by the bravery of the legendary Horatius. For more on this legend, see the Language Arts section of this book on p. 77. Students may also enjoy the legendary story of Cincinnatus, a citizen who left his farm to protect Rome during a time of emergency and then returned to the plow when the crisis was over. Stories of Cincinnatus and Horatius are useful because they capture some of the values that were most important to the ancient Romans: bravery, patriotism, and willingness to risk one’s life for the Republic. 37 The Under the Republic, Rome began to grow by conquering neighboring territo- ries. By 340 BCE, Rome dominated central Italy. By 295 BCE, it dominated the entire peninsula. Gradually, Rome began to acquire territory elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Rome’s major rival for power in the Mediterranean was the North African city of , founded by Phoenician traders. Phoenicia was an area in the eastern Mediterranean in what is today Lebanon. Between 264 BCE and 146 BCE, the Carthaginians and Romans fought three wars. They were called the Punic Wars after Punicus, the Roman word for Phoenician. The lasted more than 20 years, from 264 to 241 BCE. When the war began, the Carthaginians had a navy of several hundred ships, and Rome had no navy at all. The Romans realized they could not defeat Carthage or extend their influence into the Mediterranean without a formidable navy. They captured a Carthaginian ship and built a navy full of replicas. The Romans ultimately won the war, but not without losing 30,000 citizen-soldiers. One of the fruits of victo- ry was control of the island of . The (218–201 BCE) lasted for 17 years and is noteworthy for the exploits of , a Carthaginian general. Hannibal was the son of a general who had fought in the First Punic War and remained bitter about Carthage’s defeat. According to one story, when Hannibal was still a boy, his father made him swear that he would fight against Rome until his dying day. Hannibal kept that promise. Rather than invade Italy by sea, Hannibal, who had already subdued most of the native peoples of southern Spain, decided to march from Spain to Italy. He marched across the mountains into Gaul (modern-day France) with a force of 40,000 soldiers, 8,000 horses, and 37 elephants trained for use in battle. A few months later, he led his army across the Alps—an astonishingly bold and dangerous maneuver. Hannibal lost almost half of his men and most of his attack elephants on the treacherous icy slopes of the Alps. Despite the losses, Hannibal moved south into the Italian peninsula. 40 The Carthaginians defeated the Romans in a series of battles and after a victory at Cannae, seemed to be on the verge of taking Rome. In that battle, the Romans lost about 56,000 soldiers, while Hannibal lost only about 6,000. Somehow, Rome managed to survive these great defeats and rebuild its army. Rome even launched a bold counterattack,

128 Grade 3 Handbook