The Roman Empire
Why are the Romans so famous?
 They had a huge empire… 3 continents
 That empire achieved many things and
influenced later kingdoms and countries.
 Influential leaders
 Achievements in architecture, building
science, engineering, law.
 They were sports enthusiasts.
 They created a base language that created
5 different languages
 Christianity was born during this time.
What do we want to learn?
 The geography of Italy.
 How Rome gains control of 3
continents
 How did the Roman Empire rise and
decline.
 What were the achievements of the
Roman culture.
Where is Rome?
 It is in Italy
 Italy is bordered by
three islands and seas
 It has a Mediterranean
climate
 It is surrounded by
mountains
 There are 3-4 groups
of people who lived in
Ancient Italy
How they ruled:
 At first, they had republic
 Romans were made up of two groups
 Patricians were upper class
landowners.
 Plebeians were the working class.
How the Republic worked:
 Two Consuls or top gov’t officials
 A Senate of elected patricians as a
lawmaking body.
 Praetors were judges
 Romans were ruled by a dictator in
times of war.
 Plebeians had the Council of Plebs,
a representative body that could veto
laws
Roman Law
 The most important laws were called
The Twelve Tables
 The tables were shown in the forum,
or marketplace
 “innocent until proven guilty”
 The law applies to everyone or “rule
of law”
 Juris Civilis Corpus- Body of Civil Law
Bellringer:
 Look at your worksheet from
yesterday entitled “ the Roman
Republic”. Think about how our
government is designed
 How does our government look like
the government of the Roman
Republic? Provide 3 examples.
Bellringer
 Name a problem that the United
States is dealing with as a
government right now.
 Do you know how the problem
started? If so, tell why.
What about the Roman Army?
The army divided into groups of 5,000 or
legions.
All men had to serve at least 2-4 years but
most members were volunteer.
How did Rome gain land?
 By slowly conquering land around
Italy.
 The 1st and 2nd Punic Wars allowed
Rome to defeat the city of Carthage
and gain control of Africa and the
Mediterranean Sea
The Rise and Death of Julius Caesar
 Caesar was a general in the army in
charge of Gaul (France)
 He was part of the First Triumvirate
or political alliance of 3 people.
 The triumvirate consisted of Crassus,
Pompey, and Caesar.
 When Crassus died, Pompey and
Caesar’s armies battled for power.
 Caesar defeated Pompey’s armies
As a leader
 Caesar did many
things including
building roads, a
new calendar, and
created jobs
How he was killed
 Caesar wanted to become dictator
and abolish the republic
 His best friends decided to kill him
before he declared himself “First
Princeps” or First Citizen
The Early Empire
 Started with Caesar
Augustus
 Was Julius Caesar’s
adopted son
 He defeated Mark
Antony for power
 He was born and
raised Octavian
 He changed his name
when he became
emperor
 The name Augustus
means “majestic one”
What is the Pax Romana?
 It means Roman Peace
 For 250 years, Rome did not fight a
war.
 So, for that period of time, the
Romans created a vast trade
network, built a lot of stuff, and
created new ideas.
Good Emperors and Bad Emperors
 Good Emperors expanded the empire
and created many things
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Hadrian- built a wall and the Pantheon
Trajan- improved education
Antonius Pius
Marcus Aurelius
The Bad
 Nero- persecuted Christians
 Caligula- crazy enough that the
Praetorian Guard killed him and put
Claudias in charge
Bellringer
 The fall of the Roman Empire started
200 years before its collapse.
 Read the opening paragraph on page
318.
 By reading this paragraph, identify major
problems the Romans encountered years
before its collapse.
 What do you predict will be the causes of
the collapse of the Roman Empire?
Why did Rome Fall?
 Worksheet that focuses on the decline of
the Roman Empire.
 Political- problems in the government
 Social- problems that exist among citizen.
 Economic- affects the way they produce
goods and services (jobs, trade, taxes)
 Military- affects the army and their ability
to fight.
Bellringer 1/19/11
 Pg 320
 Define the word “reform”.
 Describe two ways a government
might try to reform.
 Name two ways Diocletian tried to
reform the Roman Empire.
Objective
 Define “reform”
 Describe important factors that led to
the Roman collapse
Why Did Empire Decline?
 Political Problems
 Poor leadership
 Talented people refusing to serve in
government
 Wealthy people stopped paying taxes
Social Problems
 More slaves as a labor force
 Lack of education
 The Romans became a lazy group of
people
Economic Problems
 Soldiers seized crops and a famine
started
 Romans bought fewer goods
 People lost jobs
 Inflation- the rising of prices
 High taxes
Military
 Workers leaving to serve in the army
 Army leader fought each other for
power
 Small invasions by rivals, the Romans
lost some of their land.
 The army couldn’t afford to pay
soldiers
Diocletian and Constantine
 Diocletian divided the Empire into 4
parts
 Help the economy by controlling
wages and inflation
 Constantine moved the capital to
Constantinople
Theodosius
 Tried to end fighting among the
Romans
 split the empire into two areas
 Western Roman Empire- capital was
Rome
 Eastern Roman Empire- capital was
Constantinople
Invasion
 The Huns invaded Eastern European
side of the empire
 Germanic tribes like Franks, anglos,
saxons, Vandals and Ostrogoths took
over Northern Europe
 The Visogoths took over Rome
 The Empire fell in about 476 a.d.
Roman Culture
 Roman Architecture
The Romans constructed domes
They used Greek style columns in their buildings
They built porches in from of their homes
http://buildings.greatbuildings.com/Pantheon.ht
ml
 http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Roman
_Colosseum.html
 http://www.panoramas.dk/7wonders/colosseum.html
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Engineering
 The arch was used
as support for
buildings
 They were the first
to use concrete
 They designed the
aqueduct
 The coloseum was
the first sports
arena
Literature
 They wrote satires or plays that
poked fun of people
 They wrote odes or poems that
express strong emotions about life
 Copied the style of Greek writers
 Famous writers: Virgil, Horace, Livy
 Latin became a standard language for
literature
Law
 Today, we use many roman phrases
in the courtroom such as
jurisprudence, writ of habeas corpus,
 The Romans used juries to decide the
fate of someone