Rome –The
Eternal City
“All roads lead to
Rome”
First Year
students are currently studying about Rome in History class.
Rome is one
of the most famous Ancient Civilisations.
It is
believed that the foundations for Rome were laid at around 753 BC.
This means
that Rome was one of the first cities to be built in human history. While
people in Ireland at that time (The Celts) were living in huts and forts (Duns,
Raths) the Romans were beginning to live in streets and houses.
Also, while
many other people around the world at that time were swapping goods (bartering)
the Romans were using money.
So, one of
the main reasons why we study Rome as an important Ancient Civilisation is
because many of the ordinary everyday things we take for granted were first
used or invented by the Romans long before Christ was even born. The people of
Rome were so successful that up until nearly 500AD their civilisation covered most
of Europe-The Roman Empire.
(The Romans
took over or conquered most of Europe, including Britain. But they never took
over Ireland- referring to it as the ‘Wintry’ Island or Hibernia!)
We have many
sources that tell us about life in Ancient Rome.
About 250
years ago, the village of Pompeii was excavated by archaeologists
Pompeii was
near Rome, and had been built by the Ancient Romans. In 79AD a volcano called Vesuvius
erupted and completely covered Pompeii in ash. When it was eventually excavated,
archaeologists found perfectly preserved Roman artefacts that tell us about the
lives Romans led.
Have a look
at the links below to see some Roman artefacts.
We can thank
the Romans for inventing and developing so many things that we take for granted
nowadays.
Things such as:
Houses (called a Domus or Villa by the Romans), Streets, Roads, Stadiums (like the Coliseum in Rome where activities such as Gladiator and animal fighting took place), Running Water, Baths, Sewers,
Concrete, Medicine, Central Heating and Arches. Even a lot of our modern
calendar was developed by the Romans.
The language
used by the Romans was called Latin, and even today many words in languages
like English and French come from word first used in Latin by the Romans.
Click on
these links to examine Roman inventions in detail
For centuries
the Romans were pagans and prayed to many different Gods. Jupiter was
considered the main God; but depending on what help an ancient Roman needed he
could pray to the God of Love (Venus), the God of War (Mars) or even the God of
Wine (Bacchus)
For a list of
Roman Gods and Goddesses see this link below:
Christianity
started becoming a major religion not long after the crucifixion of Christ. The Romans treated Christians very cruelly at first. Christians were often
tortured, crucified or even thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. But around
325AD the Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the official Roman
religion, and so Christianity spread all across Europe throughout the Roman
Empire.
The Romans
had a very successful army, which was why they controlled most of Europe for
centuries. The link below shows how the Roman Empire grew through the centuries:
To see how
the Roman Army worked and what type of life its soldiers had, click here:
Life in Rome
could be very pleasant if you were a free person, especially a member of the ‘Patrician’ upper classes. Working
people such as tradesmen were referred to as the ‘Plebeians’’. Many of the tougher or manual jobs however, were done
by slaves who often had a very tough existence.
For more details
on the Roman social classes have a read here:
Rome at first
was ruled by Kings. Then Romans began to introduce some democracy, where free
citizens could vote for the people who made decisions. But eventually Rome
moved to a system where one man, or an Emperor, was in complete charge. Some of
these Emperors were impressive rulers; others though could be very strange!
Read about Roman rulers and emperors here:
Entertainment
in Ancient Rome was provided by theatres, spectacular events at the Coliseum
and chariot racing at the Circus Maximus. You can learn more about how the Ancient
Romans amused themselves by reading this site:
Like all
Empires, the Roman Empire eventually disappeared. But Rome, the world’s first
city or metropolis, created an Empire that lasted for over a thousand years.
Today Rome is the capital of Italy. And even though Roman Ancient Civilisation
may be long gone; it is still certainly worth studying today, as we owe so much
of our modern way of life to the skills and talents of the Ancient Romans.
.
“All right... all right... but apart from better
sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and
roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans
done for us?”
“Life of Brian” Monty Python
