Test on Ancient Rome – Lesson #5 ~ 10
Disorder in the Republic
 Cierco tried to stop the chaos in the Roman government.
 Cierco wanted upperclass Romans to limit the power of the
generals.
 Cierco wanted Romans to support Senate and restore Checks and
Balances.
 However, Cierco wasn’t listened to.
 There were generals all over Rome that wanted to take over the
government.
 Julius Caesar was a great general honored with bravery, skill, and
the way he treated his soldiers well, and he worked to take over
the government.
 Caesar took nearly all of Gaul during 58 ~ 50 BC.
 Caesar was also an excellent leader and speaker.
 Caesar had powerful friends, Pompey and Crassus, who he ruled
Rome with.
 The three’s partnership lasted for 10 years, but Pompey and
Crassus became jealous.
 Senates only supported Pompey, because he was easy to deal with.
 Caesar crossed the Rubicon and entered Italy to confront the
government and its change of leader.
 Pompey and his army fled, but he was killed in Greece.
 Caesar declared himself as a dictator for lifetime in 45 BC.
 Senators resented Caesar, causing to stab Caesar to death on
March 15th, also known as Ides of March.
The End of the Republic
 Antony was Caesar’s former assistant and Octavian was Caesar’s
adopted son.
 Antony and Octavian punished the men who killed Caesar.
 People who loved Caesar broke riots after his assassination.
 Senates quickly restored order.
 Antony’s speech made Romans hate Caesar’s murderers more.
 Octavian and his army set out to revenge on Caesar’s death.
 In Philippi, Greece, Antony and Octavian defeated their opponents
in 42 BC.
 Last of Caesar’s murderers committed suicide.
 Octavian returned to Italy and Antony went east to fight off
Rome’s enemies.
Antony married Octavia, Octavian’s sister, but divorced her to
marry Cleopatra, causing Octavia and Octavian to feel insulted.
 The insult caused the Civil War at Battle of Actium and Antony
lost, fled with Cleopatra, and both ended up committing suicide.
 Octavian was a princeps, meaning 1st citizen, and had limitless
power of Rome.
 In 27 BC, Octavian officially gave his power to the Senates, but in
reality, he had his power.
 Octavian was named Augustus, the revered one, and this was the
end of the republic, via the beginning of the Empire.
You wouldn’t want to be a gladiator!
 When your tribe loses a battle against the Romans, you would be
sold as a slave to Rome.
 Romans would take your property and you as a prisoner.
 You would be sold off as a slave in a huge auction.
 There are fie possibilities of your life once you become a slave:
workers of the mines, quarrying, Roman navy’s ship rowers,
farmers, or civilized Roman gladiator.
 When you are selected as a gladiator, you would enter ludus
gladiatorius, along with other slaves, criminals, and wretches, to be
trained to be a proper gladiator.
 Your life as a gladiator would be very harsh and you would eat
porridge and ash only during training. Then, you would be fed very
well and sent to your game with another gladiator, who you would
fight to death against. If you win, you’ll get money or be sent to
other contests.
 If your trainer feels that you’re not fighting hard enough, he would
whip you or prod you with a hot poker.
 In the arena, you would have a warm up fight with wooden swords
against the other gladiator then fight with your real weapons to
death. The crowd would be very loud as they gamble and cheer for
you.
 When another gladiator defeats you, you lift your left hand and
the emperor will choose your fate. If the crowd’s thumbs were up,
you would live, but if they were down, you would die.
 The sea battle was based on a fight between the Greeks and the
Persians.
 When fighting animals, if you were not powerful enough to defeat
them, you would need to know your escape routes, such as a pole to
climb up, a wall to jump over, or a cage to take shelter in.
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At the end of the day, the winner would be awarded, the defeated
would be dragged away or killed, and the cleaners would remove
signs of blood and other filth.
Engineering an Empire
 Caesar wanted to cross the Rhine River, which none of the other
generals in Rome had ever thought of.
 Caesar’s bridge construction would be as weird as having a UFO
land in the Manhattan city, because no one had ever seen a bridge
before.
 The bridge over the Rhine was so astounding, because it was never
done before and no one even considered an idea like that. It was
also done in several days.
 Romans could expand into a regional power, because they were
open-minded and accepted other influences, unlike other
civilizations.
 Rome had a sewer system that kept Rome away from its own filth.
 Aqueducts brought so much water from the Mountain Rivers and
streams into the city that made Romans’ lives cleaner and
comfortable.
 Emperor Vespasian decided to build the Colosseum for
entertainment performed by the gladiators.
 The Colosseum was the tallest building of Rome at that time, it had
a shade ceiling, and it showed the Romans’ power.
Family Life in Rome
 Everyone woke up by dawn and barely anyone ate breakfast.
 People wore simple undergarments, a tunic, sandals, and bullas.
 Bullas were the necklace given at your birth. Girls wore it until
their marriage and boys wore it until they became 14 ~17.
 You had to watch out for rubbish that was getting dumped out into
the street from houses.
 There were a variety of people and shops on the street.
 The public bathhouse was a social and relaxing place.
 Different people went at different times.
 The procedures were usually, sauna first, caldarium (strigil) second,
tepidarium third, and frigidarium forth.
 There were no grade or age levels in school.
 Rarely any girls over the age of 13 went to school and only wealthy
boys went to school.
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There were many types of toys and pets to play with during past
time.
People went to public facilities such as the theater, swimming pools,
library, and played games on the street.
Rich people had dinner parties during dinnertime.
Everyone slept early to wake up early and it was dangerous in the
streets at nighttime.
The Roman Empire and Religion
 When the Romans conquered people, they generally allowed them to
keep their own religious beliefs and customs.
 Sometimes these beliefs spread to the Romans who lived nearby.
 Romans prayed to a wide variety of gods and goddesses.
 Romans banned a religion only when the rulers of Rome considered
it a political problem and sometimes they only placed restrictions.
 Judaism was one religion that some Roman leaders thought of as a
political problem.
 The Jews created political conflicts by rebelling against Roman rule
since Judea was conquered by Rome in 63 BC and people living
there resented Roman rules, not wanting to answer to outsiders.
 In each disturbance, the Jews were defeated.
 The Romans became bias against the Jews, like treating them
harshly and taxing them very heavily.
 When Hadrian banned the Jewish rituals, thinking that it would
help, Jews rebelled once again, and Hadrian decided to end the
rebellion forever.
 The Jewish were crushed by the Roman army and were forced to
leave the city.
 A new religion appeared in Judea, during the first century AD,
called Christianity, which was based on the life and teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth.
 After the birth of Jesus Christ, the Jews led very structured
lives, performing daily rituals and avoiding certain foods.
 Many Jews awaited Messiah’s arrival in 63 BC.
 There was an official Roman religion that consisted of many gods
and goddesses, but the priests weren’t necessarily holy. People
worshipped the emperor’s statue.
 Some people came to believe in astrology, the idea that people’s
lives are shaped by the movement of the stars and the planets, and
studied it.
 Some people said that it’s only the matter of luck.
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The mystery religion had their own gods and also had many strange
and secret ceremonies and promised life after death.
The official state religion was when people believed that the
emperor was the god.
Many poor people or slaves took up Christianity to be more
successful and the followers of Jesus spread the Christian
message through Asia, Greece, and then to Rome.
Christians were often forced to meet in secret in catacombs.
In 313 AD, when Emperor Constantine announced that any religion
could be worshipped freely, Christianity became the Romans’
official religion.
Christianity was much better organized than any other religion.
The End of the Empire
 The empire was too big and some lands were given up.
 Germanic warriors attacked Rome’s north, Persians invaded from
the east, and Germans moved in to farm for Rome.
 There was disease going on and tax increase.
 In the 200s, Diodetian ruled the east and his co-emperor ruled the
west.
 Constantine built Constantinopole that became the capital, in the
east.
 Huns from Central Asia, and Goths, attacked by Huns, fled into the
Roman territory.
 East defeated Goths, but west lost, so Goths moved in and Rome
paid Goth, but stopped in 408, as the city was being destroyed.
 Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Franks attacked West Rome.
 Hun’s Attila attacked east and the military was too weak.
 There were conflicts among the military leaders, and in 476, it was
truly considered the end of Rome as it was overthrown.
 Some factors of the Rome’s fall are: Rome became too big to
control, there were political crisis which consisted corruption, the
decay of people’s values, threats and bribes, wealthy people’s
private armies, and the population decreased due to the tax and
prices increase.
 Justinian ruled and reunited the old Roman Empire during the 527
~ 565.
 The army conquered Italy and much land in the Mediterranean.
 Justinian was very passionate towards Christianity and he made a
law, Justinian’s Code.
 Theodora, who was Justinian’s wife, told him to fight his enemies.
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After Justinian’s death, eastern empire declined and Ottoman
Turks captured Constantinopole.
Byzantine empire grew in the eastern Rome.
Constantinopole was replaced as Greek was spoken more than Latin.
Byzantine’s art and churches reflected the importance of
Christianity.
East and West of Rome had different Christianity, so Christians in
the East formed an Orthodox Church in the 1000s.