Physical Features

The Alps Mountain Range is what separates the Italian Peninsula from the rest of Europe.

The Tiber River is 250 miles long which makes it the second longest river in Italy.

Another mountain range is the Apennines which runs down the center of the peninsula.

The Italian Peninsula is bordered on the east by the Adriatic Sea.

ClimateRome has a Mediterranean

climate which is warm and tropical.

It had mildly cold winters and dry hot summers.

Since it didn’t rain much, farmers had to use irrigation to water their crops.

Their clothes were short sleeved and thin do to the hot temperatures they had.

DescriptionMost of Rome’s land

consisted of farmland.The land was very fertile

due to the annual rainfall.

Rome was a lot more flat than Greece and had more plains than Greece did.

Rivers had provided water and transportation for trade and other things.

Expansion

Rome made many allies with the surrounding countries. Rome gradually took over the rest of the Italian peninsula over

time. After Rome conquered a region, they had the citizens sign

peace treaties saying that they had to have the same ideas, friends, and enemies as the Romans did.

Etruscan Mysticism The Etruscans believed that

the gods gave them signs in nature.

Before going into battle they studied lightning. They studied how fast and bright it flashed.

To predict the future Roman Diviners read the insides of animals.

The Etruscans also studied stars to plan the layouts of their towns and studied the flight pattern of birds to predict a good harvest.

Roman Mythology

The Romans worshiped many gods that were adopted from Etruscan and Greek religions.

When Rome became an empire, citizens began to consider their emperors as gods.

Romans believed that their gods lived in sacred spots such as rocks, streams, or trees.

The Romans also built sacred temples meant to house their most important gods

Rome’s main gods and goddesses were Jupiter, Minerva, Juno, and Mars.

Judaism Jews only painted pictures and

did not sculpt because their paintings told stories from the Bible.

Jewish people were monotheistic.

Jews believed in burying the dead and not cremating them like the Romans did because they wanted the soul to go up to Heaven.

Jewish people believed killing people was wrong and it was against their religion.

Conversion of Rome

Jesus’ followers Peter and Paul Came to Rome and shared his teachings. Christians in the Roman Empire were constantly executed in Circus

Maximus where they had to battle lions. Citizens of Rome were impressed with the faith of the martyrs, or people

who died for their beliefs, that they converted to Christianity in large numbers and Rome’s attempts at eliminating Christians failed.

In 313 A.D. Emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians and by 395A.D. Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire and spread rapidly.

Development of Aqueducts Aqueducts were structures

like canals that brought water to people from bodies of water.

Aqueducts traveled through mountains and valleys to bring people fresh drinking water.

The aqueducts were built to ease the burden of having to fill up buckets and carry them all the way back to your home.

The aqueducts were a cleaner and healthier way of receiving water.

Greater Freedom for Women

Woman were treated worse than men because they weren’t seen as important.

As the empire expanded new ideas were thought of such as greater freedom for woman.

Then woman were treated just as well as men because the Senate voted and agreed that women were an important part of society. Women were able to own their own businesses if they wanted to.

System of Laws

Roman Law was written down on 12 tablets that only applied to Roman citizens

As the empire expanded new laws combined with those twelve tables.

In Roman Law an accused person was innocent until proven guilty. Many of these laws form the basis of laws today.

Network of Concrete Roads To unify distant parts of the

empire and improve transportation and trade they created a network of concrete roads.

Roman roads were built to move the Roman army around from place to place quickly.

A layer of large flat stones were laid down, then covered by a layer of gravel.

Roads also had a slight hump in the middle to drain water during storms

The saying,” All Roads lead to Rome” is a true statement because in the time of the empire all the roads were connected straight to Rome.

Republican Form of Government

The Roman Republic had a tripartite from of government. The three parts were the magistrates, the Senate, and the assemblies. Rome had many different types of rule after that, including a time where

whoever bided the highest amount of money would become ruler. That year they had emperors.

In the time of the Roman Empire is when they created the republic form of government which meant that vote for their ruler and all had a say in government.

Hadrian Hadrian was an emperor

who ruled for 19 years. He helped rebuild the

declining city of Greece. Hadrian was one of best

emperors because he traveled throughout the empire and listened to the complaints of the citizens.

He did not like wars so instead he concentrated on strengthening the borders of the empire.

The Fall of Rome

There are many theories on the fall of the Roman Empire, but one of the common ones is excessive military spending to defend the empire.

This theory is one of the more serious because they spent more money on training and supplying the army than on education.

Another theory is an increase on taxes. Citizens led revolts and assassinated emperors due to this.

Political Corruption Political corruption was caused

when it went corrupt or crazy or mad with power.

Many emperors tried to become permanent dictators with unlimited power.

Others became mad with money and spent the government funds on luxury items.

Some emperors were totally unfair and were either overthrown or assassinated.

Price Inflation

Price Inflation was a huge problem for the citizens of Rome. After conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the empire

decreased. With this shortage the roman coin began to lose its value. To makeup for this merchants, farmers, and others increased the

prices on their products. The poor were the ones most effected by the inflation because they

could no longer afford the goods they needed.

Unemployment Most of the roman citizens

unemployed in the empire were farmers.

Slaves were imported everyday and land owners chose them over the farmers because they were cheaper.

Some small business owners had to fire some of their employees due to not enough money to pay them.

Unemployment is another big theory as to the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire.

Taxes

Taxes were and important part of ruling an empire. Citizens were taxed mostly on their social class. The higher the class the more they would be taxed because

the government knew they had the money to give to them. The money collected was put towards construction projects or

anything else that would need the money.

Trade and Currency Big trade partners for Rome

were North Africa, Sicily, and Egypt.

Traders traveled from city to city selling goods in different shopping centers.

Roman coins were made out of bronze, gold, and silver and had the emperors face engraved into it.

Trade items included grain, silk, musical instruments, and board games.

Plebeians were semi-lower middle class.

They made just enough money to support their families, but barley had any extra money to spend on other things.

Plebeians lived in small, tight apartments that were very dangerous and noisy.

Plebeian children usually did not go to school and instead worked to help support their families.

Patricians

Patricians were able to afford many luxuries and did not have to work everyday.

They owned lots of land and lived in houses with many rooms They often had lavish parties with beautiful music and different

finger foods. Their children were tutored at their houses from 5 years old to 13

years old, then went off to something like high school.

SlavesSlaves were treated the

worst of all.They were imported from

different countries everyday.

They were barely paid or fed and abused.

Some slaves were educated and tutored rich families’ children.

Soldiers

Rome had one of the most finest and well trained armies. Soldiers were treated so nicely because they were the ones

who expanded the empire and kept the city safe. They were paid so well to ensure their loyalty to the empire. Soldiers had the most authority in the empire besides the

Senate or the emperor.

What I think is the most important aspects of the Roman Empire. I think that the most important aspects of the Roman Empire are

their achievements. As said in my slide show there are many achievements including

some that we are still using today. Examples of these are some of their laws. Many of these are what our judges judge by today. Another example are the aqueducts. Although we don’t call them that they are still one of the most important achievements. Today we call them pipes and they are made out of metal instead of stone and they are a lot more cleaner and smaller.

Another great achievement is the army. They came up with many ideas and strategies that our armies today use too. The apartment complexes that the poor people used to live in are now the design of complexes everyone wants to live in even the rich.

As you can see achievements were the most important aspects of the Roman culture and of ours today.