2.6 The Dawn of Rome - P -

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

AGE 2. The Time of Greeks and Romans

2.6 The Dawn of Rome

THEORY

1. How did you study for the test?
2. What tools did you use to study?
3. How long did you study for?

Introducing the Romans

The Greeks had a very advanced civilisation. From the 5th century BC Greek culture and science flourished. Alexander the Great spread this culture in the Middle East in the 4th century BC.

But while Alexander was fighting his war in Persia, a new 

power arose west of Greece, in Italy : Rome.

Rome started as a small city state in 753 BC, but gradually the Romans took over the whole of Italy.

In 146 BC the Romans conquered Greece. They were impressed by what the Greeks had achieved. The Romans wanted to be like the Greeks. They copied their culture and spread it further across Europe, including the Netherlands. That is how our region became part of the Greek-Roman civilisation.

What you can explain /  do after this lesson

•  who the founders of Rome were
• how Rome changed from a monarchy into a republic
• How the republic was ruled
• what plebeians and patricians were.

Word Duty

Senate: group of wise, old men that advised the king. Made laws in the Republic.

Tyranny:  government in which the ruler is cruel, unjust and oppressive.

Republic: form of government without a king

Consul: head of the senate in the Republic, had the right to command armies

Patricians: ruling class in Rome. 

Plebeians: non-patrician people of Rome

Plebeian assembly: assembly of only plebeians. Made laws and elected 10 people’s tribunes

People’s tribune: official that was elected by the plebeian assembly to protect normal people. Had veto powers

Veto: literally means I forbid. Still the word used for the right to stop a law or decision

KEY WORDS

Important dates in this lesson:

753 BC: founding of Rome. Romulus becomes the first king.

509 BC: Rome becomes a republic.

The founding of Rome

You may have seen this famous sculpture before.

Today it is in a museum in Rome. It is very important to the people of Rome because this sculpture tells them about the beginning of their city.

According to legend, Rome was founded by twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, who were the sons of the god Mars.

This bronze sculpture of the wolf that rescued Romulus and Remus was made in about 500BC. The babies were added in the AD1400s.

To find and to found. 

That can be confusing, 

to find = vinden

you find = jij vindt (present)

you found = jij vond (past)

to found = stichten

you found = jij sticht (present)

you founded = jij stichtte (past)

Early Rome: the monarchy

• Rome was built on seven hills, close to the River Tiber. 

1.  Easier to defend
2. River is useful for traders and merchants > export and import

Gradually, Rome grew into a city-state.

At first Rome was run by a king, so it was a monarchy. The king made life and death decisions when he judged criminals. He also led the army and created laws. 

The king was advised by a group of wise old men, known as the senate. Senate comes from the Latin word senex, old man. 

When Rome was a monarchy, the city was still very small. 600 years later Rome would have more than a million inhabitants...

Romulus was the founder of Rome and also its first king. After Romulus, six more kings would rule Rome. All that time Rome was a monarchy.

Even a king can't do everything by himself. The Roman kings were advised by a group of rich, older men: the senators.

The assembly where they met to discuss politics was called the senate. 

But in the end it was the king who could make all the decisions himself.

From monarchy to republic

One Roman king named Tarquinius became a tyrant. He had no respect for Roman traditions and soon the Roman senators made a plan to get rid of him. 

• In 509 BC Brutus led a group of senators against Tarquinius. They succeeded and the king was sent away from Rome. The Romans welcomed this as the end of tyranny.

And so Rome vowed never to have a king again. Instead they became a republic. 

A republic is a state without a monarch (king). 

The Roman republic was ruled by the senate, but the people too had a say through assemblies and elections.

Was Rome a democracy or aristocracy?

The Republic of Rome was often shown in Latin as the abbreviation SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanorum – the senate and people of Rome) as was shown on the military standards.

the assembly of the senate in Rome. The senators, dressed in white togas with a purple edge,  discuss the politics of the republic. 

To vow = zweren

I vow = ik zweer (present) 

We vowed = wij zworen (past)

Succes = slagen

I succeed = ik slaag (present)

We succeeded = wij slagen (past)

Questions

Make 5 practice questions in the question lesson. 

1. Write down were you can find the useful information for the question
2. Write down the words that you find difficult to understand
3. Discuss your answer using the difficult words.

The Republic of Rome was often shown in Latin as the abbreviation SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanorum – the senate and people of Rome) as was shown on the military standards.

the assembly of the senate in Rome. The senators, dressed in white togas with a purple edge,  discuss the politics of the republic. 

AGE 2. The Time of Greeks and Romans

2.6 The Dawn of Rome

THEORY

What is the difference between a monarchy and a republic?

The people of Rome

• Powerful nobels > patricians
• Ordinary citizens, called plebeians also had a say ( though not a lot)
• Plebeians were scared that the patricians would overthrow them > Plebeian assembly
• Tribune > Ten districts were represented, it was their job to protect the lower class from the upper class. 

The people’s tribunes had the right to forbid a law, simply by saying “I forbid it” or veto in Latin.

Drag the hotspots to the correct place.

Both

Plebeians

Patricians

Consul

Free man

Citizens

Shoemaker

Senator

Tribune

Nobles

Ruling the Republic

• Monarchy has one ruler who made all the decisions.
• Rome became a republic to make sure not one man had all the power

How did they do that?

1. The highest office in the republic was that of consul (= like a modern president). The Romans had not one, but two consuls.
2. The consuls were elected from the senators for one year only. 
3. The consuls needed to agree with each other. A consul could veto (= forbid) a bad decision from the other consul.
4. A tribune, a representative of the plebeians, could also veto a decision by the consuls.

The senate had some 300 members. So they still needed someone to lead the senate. This became a consul. You can compare a Roman consul to a modern president, like the president of the USA (also a republic, by the way). Like a president today, a consul was elected.

statue of a Roman consul from the 1st century BC. He is wearing his toga, the traditional Roman dress which only Roman citizens were allowed to wear.

Politics of the Republic (2)

The plebeians were not happy that they could not become senators themselves.

They threatened to leave the city. Without the work of the plebeians the city could not function.

This helped. The patricians gave the plebeians some power. Each year they could elect two Tribunes. Tribunes were representatives of the plebeians. They made sure that the consuls not only made decisions that were good for patricians, but also for the plebeians.

The tribunes had one very strong power; the power of veto.

Veto means “I forbid”. With this power the tribunes could stop any decision made by the consuls.

See a graphic overview of Republic Politics here

the senators are discussing a new law that the consuls want to install

a tribune of the plebeians wants to use his veto to stop the new law of the consuls

the two consuls listen to the tribune who wants to stop their new new law

these are two "lictores", bodyguards of the consuls

The senate during the Roman Republic

Forbidden to say

• In pairs you will get 6 cards (3 each) with a key word.

• You'll need to explain the key word to your partner, but it is forbidden to say the 5 words that are on the card.

• For each word that you guessed correctly, you get one point

• The person with the most points wins!
  

Write down the word that you found the most difficult to explain or to guess, at the end we will vote what the most difficult word was.

You'll have 15 minutes 

statue of a Roman consul from the 1st century BC. He is wearing his toga, the traditional Roman dress which only Roman citizens were allowed to wear.

Which word was the most difficult?

Democracy

Senate

Romulus

Myth

Monarchy

Veto

Republic

Plebeians

Patricians

Homework:

Finish the fill in the gaps summary and upload a printscreen to LessonUp

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Summary 2.6: the dawn of Rome

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