The Roman Empire
The end of the Roman Republic
1. Rome had various famous generals who took advantage of their army (which was more loyal to
them than to Rome) in order to get more power and used to quarrel amongst themselves. This
was the main reason, which led to the end of the Roman Republic.
2. Two great generals were Pompey and Juluis Caesar. Pompey became a Roman hero when he
attacked the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea and made important conquests in the East. Caesar
came from a noble family and was a very good orator (great speaking skills through which he
can convince people). He conquered ancient France and attacked Britain twice.
3. At first they were friends but due to jealousy they fought and Caesar won and became a Roman
dictator while Pompey escaped to Egypt were he was killed. Although Caesar introduced good
laws, several nobles were afraid that the people would make him an emperor. So they killed him
with daggers in the Senate under the statue of Pompey!
4. Caesar's friend Mark Anthony and his nephew Octavius fought against Caesar's murderers and
since they won they became leaders of Rome and its vast land. Mark Anthony took the Eastern
lands and Octavius the Western lands. While Octavius prepared for an eventual battle with
Mark Anthony, the latter went to Egypt were he met Cleopatra and lived a luxurious life and
abandoned his duties. So when war broke out between the two leaders, Octavius won and Mark
Anthony committed suicide.
5. Octavius became known as Awgustus and became the first Roman Emperor who ruled wisely
for forty years. He brought peace to all Roman lands ("Pax Romana") and great progress was
made.
Roman Life
1. Roman Life was a very busy one with the “Forum” as its centre meeting place for lawyers,
politicians and businessmen and a very busy market place with a great number of slaves for sale.
2. Work was mainly done in the mornings since the afternoons was left to resting at the various
public Roman Baths where one could have a cold, warm or hot bath, a massage or simply talking
with friends.
3. Both the rich and the poor used to attend the arena (like the Coliseum) to watch races or fights
between gladiators or between wild animals and even between the latter and the gladiators.
Christianity
1. The Eastern part of the Empire was the only place where there was still no “Pax Romana”. The
Jews used to live here and they were the only people to believe only in one God since all the
others were pagans who believed in a number of gods.
©
Mr. Stephen Briffa B.Ed (Hons)
–
San Andrea Senior School
2. The emperors after Awgustus were not as good as he was and in order to establish unity among
their people they decided to establish themselves as a god for the people to adore. But while for
the pagans it was nothing new, for the Jews it was something that went against their faith. So
the Romans persecuted the Jews and since Jerusalem was destroyed they escaped to other lands
of the empire. So they ended up without a homeland till this very century. This mixture of the
Jewish people in other countries is called the Diaspora.
3. During the reign of Awgustus, Jesus Christ was born and the Jews did not accept his teachings.
So the latter asked their Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to kill Him. Although He was killed,
the Christians who believed in his teachings increased a lot and they disagreed with slavery, with
the games in the arena, and they refused to adore the emperor. Although the Christians were
heavily persecuted and many died as martyrs, Christianity continued to increase and the
Christians started meeting in catacombs in order not to be caught (the Romans were afraid
because they thought that they were meeting underground in order to conspire/plan against the
Emperor).
4. It was only about 300 years later that Christianity was accepted and this was after emperor
Constantine (the first roman Emperor to be baptised) ordered freedom of religion and that
Christianity was to be the official religion of the Roman Empire
Christianity in Malta
1. In 60A.D., while St.Paul was travelling to Rome, his ship was shipwrecked and he landed on
Malta where he was given help by the Maltese people. The latter thought that he was a god
since a poisonous snake bit him but he did not die. He spent 3 months in Malta preaching the
Christian religion and many Maltese people became Christians. Until the reign of Emperor
Constantine, due to Roman persecution, the Maltese Christians met secretly in catacombs (where
they used to bury their dead) underground. These are the only evidence we have of the very
early Christians.
2. After emperor Constantine, many churches were built including the one at “San Pawl Milqi”
where one finds various Christian symbols (evidence) like crosses, fish and palm. Traditionally,
this place was the villa of the Roman governor, St. Publiuis, where he welcomed (“milqi”) St.
Paul. In this villa there used to be olive grinding (how do we know?) since we found an olive
grinder and storage places for oil (refer to the text book pg.77). The industry of olive oil was a
very important one for Malta since this oil was used for food, for the oil lamps (“musbie]”) and
for the public baths. Evidence of the popularity of this industry are the various place-names
deriving from the Maltese name for olive (\ebbu[ or oil - \ejt; e.g. ]a\-\ebbu[ I\-\ejtun u
Bir\ebbu[a in Malta and G]asri (tag]sar-to grind) and \ebbu[ in Gozo.
3. The best evidence of Christianity in Malta are the various catacombs where the (the biggest ones
are found in Rabat) Maltese used to: (a) pray, (b) hide and (c) bury their dead since they
could not do so in the cities and villages. When you go down the catacombs of St.Paul (refer to
the textbook pgs.78 and 79) , on the side you find a chapel and two round stone tables where
they used to eat the meal in remembrance of their dead. Some tombs are very simply dug in the
wall or in the ground while others are more complex since they are surrounded with four arches
and with place for two persons and for resting the head. You can go in some others through a
room in the wall. Some of the catacombs belong to private families but the most popular (apart
from those of St. Paul) are those of “San Katald” and of “Sant’Agata”.
©
Mr. Stephen Briffa B.Ed (Hons)
–
San Andrea Senior School
The End of the Roman Empire
1. The Roman Empire became extremely large, stretching from Britain to Asia. If the emperor was
not capable enough or did not pay the soldiers of his fundamental army enough he would be
changed. In 73 years there were around 23 emperors of whom 20 were murdered! Thus the
empire became so big that it had to be divided into two; one in the East and the other in the
West. In the meantime, various tribes from the North like the Vandals, the Visigoths and the
Franks started attacking the frontiers of the civilised Roman colonies and conquering them.
Soon the Anglo-Saxons had taken England. After some time the West Roman Empire did not
remain so powerful and these Barbaric tribes (they were called Barbarians by the civilised
people) twice succeeded to invade Rome itself! Thus the Roman civilisation came to an end.
2. However the East Roman empire was more powerful and Emperor Constantine built a great
powerful city around the port of Byzantium. This city was named Constantinople after its
emperor and together with the rest of this empire in the East it succeeded to repel the barbaric
attacks and remained strong for around 1000 years after the fall of Rome.
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©
Mr. Stephen Briffa B.Ed (Hons)
–
San Andrea Senior School
The Roman Empire
Before doing this Worksheet, read carefully pgs. 67-69 of the Booklet. Then work this
worksheet on your History copybook.
SECTION A (5 MARKS EACH )
1. The Roman soldiers were more loyal to their _____________ than to ____________.
2. The “Forum” was ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Work in Rome was mainly done in the ______________ because ________________
______________________________________________________________
4. Julius Caesar was killed because __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. The Romans destroyed Gerusalem because __________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6. Jesus Christ was born during the rule of ___________________
7. The Diaspora was ______________________________________________________
8. Emperor _______________ accepted Christianity.
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©
Mr. Stephen Briffa B.Ed (Hons)
–
San Andrea Senior School
SECTION B (10 marks each)
Answers should be written in full & on your copybook
1. Say all you know about:- (a) Julius Caesar
(b) Pompei
(c) Mark Anthony
(d) Octavius
2. How did the Maltese people become Christians?
3. What important evidence was found in the church of “San Pawl Milqi” (describe all of it).
4. (a) Why was the olive industry important?
(b) What evidence shows that it was important?
5. (a) What is the best evidence of Christianity in Malta?
(b) Describe an example of this evidence.
6. Explain in full and in your own words how the great Roman Empire came to an end.
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©
Mr. Stephen Briffa B.Ed (Hons)
–
San Andrea Senior School