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A N C I E N T

ROME

Definition of the History Topic

Rome emerged from settlements around the river Tiber and grew into a mighty empire and one of the

greatest ancient civilisations to have stretched across Europe. Starting with the mythic foundation of

Rome by twin brothers Romulus and Remus in 752 B.C., ancient Rome is typically divided into three

main eras: the Kingdom of Rome, the Republic of Rome and the Roman Empire which lasted until A.D.

476. The Roman Empire can attribute much of its success to its highly disciplined army which evolved

from the early days of rebellion against the Etruscans to a permanent professional force of legionaries and

auxiliaries. Furthermore, the Romans were exceptional pioneers in agriculture, architecture, politics,

philosophy, culture, and engineering. In regards to the latter, their bridges, aqueducts, public baths,

heating systems, sewers, roads, and amphitheatres are undeniable examples of just how advanced and

ahead of their time the Romans were with their technology.

Well-known figures in ancient Roman history include Julius Caesar, whose death led to the end of the

Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire with Augustus (formerly Octavian) securing his

position against Mark Antony as Rome’s first emperor. It was during the era of emperors that the lasting

and rather impressive Colosseum was constructed. Not unlike this architectural feat, another aspect of

Roman history that has endured through to the modern day is religion. Though Romans worshiped a great

variety of deities and gods and although they had harshly persecuted Christians in the first century A.D.,

by A.D. 394, Christianity became the official religion of Rome. It is within such links between ancient

Rome and modern western society that we begin to assemble a rationale for the teaching of this topic.

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Rationale for Teaching and Learning the Topic

From understanding the past we can begin to understand how the present has come to be. Therefore,

while ancient Rome might initially seem a distant and irrelevant topic in the minds of students, they will

come to recognize how profoundly influential the contributions of ancient civilizations have been in

shaping modern western civilization. Indeed, it is rather incredible how fundamentally similar the politics

and structures of governance that were developed in ancient Rome are to those of the western world

today. There are also many cultural similarities that can be found between ancient Rome and the modern

world. For instance, gladiators and charioteers were often highly regarded as celebrities in much the same

way that football players or racecar drivers are today and there still exists a powerful spectator sporting

culture all over the world. Providing students with such historically comparative lenses to peer through

will help them to hone the skill of interpreting the past within the present and understanding the ways in

which such interpretations help to clarify their identities within an increasingly globalised world.

Teacher Academic Resources

1. Daily Life in Ancient Rome

Carcopino, J. 2003, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, 2nd

Edition, Yale University Press, New

Haven.

The AusVELS Level 7 history curriculum requires an investigation of an ancient Mediterranean

society of which Rome is one. At this level, students are to investigate the significant beliefs,

values, and practices of ancient Romans with an emphasis on everyday life, warfare, or death and

funerary customs. Carcopino’s book not only provides excellent insight into the everyday life of

Romans during the second century A.D., but is considered a classic and enduring work in the

literary field of ancient Roman studies. This would be a good place to start for laying a solid

academic foundation in the study and teaching of ancient Rome.

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2. The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens & Rome

Connolly, P. & Dodge, H. 1998, The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens & Rome, Oxford

University Press, Oxford.

This incredibly detailed resource provides extensive historical background on ancient Rome (as

well as Athens) and is supplemented with rich and fascinating diagrams, maps, pictures, artifacts,

and art. Overall, the book seems to take an archeological perspective by using an examination of

the cities’ buildings and remnants as a base for historical inquiry or speculation. That being said

however, the richness of the book’s visual aids and the attention to detail in the justification for

their inclusion makes this resource not only undeniably interesting, but a valuable academic work

as well.

3. The Roman Empire: For Educators

Public Broadcasting Service 2006, Devillier Donegan Enterprises,

<http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/educators/index.html>.

The strength of this resource is that it is specifically designed for educators. While the other teacher

academic resources might ‘teach teachers’ about ancient Rome on a broad academic level, this

website ‘teaches teachers’ through the familiar structure of incremental lesson plans. It is often very

helpful to learn about a topic through a structure of lesson topics that a typical student might

encounter and then to build upon those topics using the superior prior knowledge and skills that an

history teacher should possess. The website includes a virtual library, interactive features and

games, a timeline, and lesson plans which of course can be adapted and altered to be used in the

classroom as well.

4. Women, Wealth, and Power in the Roman Empire

Berg, R., Halikka R., Keltanen, M., Polonen, J., Vuolanto, V. 2002, Women, Wealth, and

Power in the Roman Empire, Instituti Romani Finlandiae, Vol. 25, Rome.

It is important for teachers to take an academic interest in an area that encourages historical

perspectives that are not usually emphasized. A gender perspective can be a valuable academic lens

to peer through and an educator with sound background knowledge of women in ancient Rome can

inspire students to look past the seemingly common male-centered emphasis on armies, gladiators,

senators and emperors. This text explores the ways in which women, wealth, and power interrelate

in the social fabric and cultural contexts during the Roman Empire. The paper on the economic

capacity of women is quite intriguing as there is substantial evidence to suggest that there was

equal treatment of all children regardless of sex in regards to the division of wealth.

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Classroom Resources

1. Jacaranda SOSE 1: Studies of Society & Environment

Calandra, A. & Ciavarella, G. 2000, Jacaranda SOSE 1: Studies of Society & Environment, 2nd

Edition, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd., Milton, QLD, pp76-101.

A history resource specifically written for VCE level 5 students, the chapter on ancient Rome does

well in providing a simple yet solid overview of the history of ancient Rome. What this textbook

does particularly well is to allocate a chapter specifically on how ancient Rome links to the modern

world (pages 98-99). Engineering and architecture, government and administration, law and legal

principles, and religion are some of the topics covered under this section. That being said however,

explanations are written in a somewhat undemanding manner and supplemental resources may be

needed to construct and deliver comprehensive lessons from it.

2. SOSE Alive 1

Easton, M, Smith, R, Chapman, S, Saldais, M, & Noorden, P 2003, SOSE Alive 1, John

Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd., Milton, QLD, pp.73-96

Although published by the same company, this textbook utilizes the collaboration of a greater

number of authors and this reflects in the comprehensiveness of the content being presented. This

resource would greatly benefit students who can handle a higher level of writing and more detailed

content. The diagrams and overall visual layout of the chapter on ancient Rome are very effective

and the authors seem to have made a conscious effort to include primary sources throughout the

text to strengthen and support the points being made. Activities in the book appropriately utilise

these primary sources and encourage students to become used to consulting them when addressing

historical inquiries.

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3. BBC Primary History: Romans

British Broadcasting Corporation 2012,

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/#>.

While this BBC website is indeed designed for primary school students, an exploration of the

website’s content and features yields an abundance of useful resources for the classroom. One

particularly useful feature is the interactive timeline which contains key dates in ancient Roman

history from the building of the city of Rome in 753 BC to the assassination of Julius Caesar in

44BC to the end of the Western Roman Empire in A.D. 476. Clicking on the dates expands a brief

description of the event. More than this however, students are able to add in their own events with

dates and descriptions and print them out when they are done.

The timeline feature can be found at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/timeline/timeline.shtml

Another useful resource from this website is a thorough list of all the Roman Emperors from

Augustus to Romulus. Important emperors are highlighted and descriptions of their reigns are

provided.

The list can be found at:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worksheets/romans/r_emperors.pdf

4. Oxford Big Ideas History 7 Australian Curriculum Textbook

Saldais, M., Taylor, T., Young, C., & Spurr, M. 2011, Oxford Big Ideas History 7 Australian

Curriculum, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, VIC.

The new Oxford Big Ideas textbook is now available and is directly structured according to the

Australian Curriculum. This will be an excellent resource to be familiar with and to use in the

classroom in upcoming years. The chapter on ancient Rome is currently available from the

publisher’s website in pdf format and can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.oup.com.au/secondary/sample_pages/history/oxford_big_ideas_history_7_ac_textbook/

Ch_05_SAL_BIH7_C.pdf

There are also sample pages available from the accompanying student workbook which includes a

number of activities and worksheets. These can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.oup.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/335660/BI_History7_Workbook_Ch5.pdf

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DVD/Video Resources

What the Ancients Did For Us. Episode Four: The Romans

What the Ancients Did For Us: The Romans 2005, documentary series, British Broadcasting

Corporation, Britain.

The fourth episode of this BBC documentary series focuses on the impact of ancient Roman

civilization on modern society. The entirety of the series is not only incredibly informative, but is

also quite entertaining. Considering that this history resource guide has proposed that part of the

rationale for the teaching of this topic is so that students can develop the skill of interpreting the

past within the present, this DVD resource focuses on making that connection. The documentary

recreates many ancient Roman innovations such as cranes and aqueducts to help bring to life the

technology that has influenced much of what we take for granted in today’s cities.

Gladiator

Gladiator 2000, DVD, DreamWorks Home Entertainment: Universal Studios, Universal City,

CA.

Although the film is not historically accurate on all levels, the film does well to provide students

with a sense of the time period, the Roman political atmosphere, and what the life of a gladiator

may have been like. Some curriculum textbooks seem to reference this film in their activities so it

might be good to have a copy of this film on hand.

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Excursion / Incursion Possibilities

Ancient Rome: Explore the Empire That Shaped the World Exhibition

‘On loan from Italy, the exhibition is the life work of three generations of Italian master-craftsmen,

who have painstakingly brought to life the incredible technology and mighty war machines of the

Roman Empire not seen in over two thousand years. The exhibition has recently received the

Italian presidential Gold Medal award in acknowledgement of its contribution to culture and the

arts.’

The exhibition is open until October 7th 2012. This would be a good excursion to follow up a study

of the engineering and technology that the ancient Romans used. To be able to see real-life displays

of the technology is always more interesting than reading descriptions or watching videos about it.

Location:

Waterfront City Piazza

Docklands Drive, Docklands.

Price: Concession tickets are $17AUD.

Website: http://romanexhibition.com.au/

Useful Organisations

Melbourne Museum

Website: http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/ Location: Nicholson Street, Carlton Gardens, VIC, Australia. Bookings and Enquiries: 13 11 02 The Melbourne Museum often puts on exhibitions that are relevant to various areas of study. It is

worthwhile to keep up to date with what’s on at the museum. The website has a section for

education resources and programs that changes according to which exhibitions are on tour. For

example, the museum had an exhibition in 2009 entitled ‘A Day in Pompeii’ which recreated all

aspects of life in the ancient town. Seeing actual artifacts from Pompeii would have been incredibly

fascinating for many students studying ancient Rome.

The website for the 2009 exhibition is still up and running and provides a good example of the type

of content one can expect from an exhibition such as this:

http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/pompeii/

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Additional Resources

Roman Life: 100 B.C. to A.D. 200

Clarke, J. 2007. Roman Life: 100B.C. to A.D. 200. Abrams, New York.

This book has a CD-ROM that includes an interactive tour of the house of the Vettii, Pompeii. It

presents you with the option of choosing the paths that a slave, client, guest, or family member

would normally take during a typical day. The tour utilizes an interface that is created from actual

pictures of the excavated site of the house of the Vettii in Pompeii. If students are looking at the

tragedy of Pompeii, this might be a useful and fun interactive resource to have them look at.

ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World

Available at http://orbis.stanford.edu/ ORBIS is an application that allows you to express Roman communication costs in terms of both

time and expense. It recreates the duration and financial cost of travel in antiquity. The map is

quite extensive and it is interesting to see how the fastest route from one city to another can

change according to season. Although this is a rather complex geospatial interactive model, it can

perhaps be used at a very basic level by students so that they can get an idea of the scope of the

Roman world as well as basic calculations of travel times between various cities.

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A Simple Activity or Lesson Plan

Resource: Oxford Big Ideas History 7 Activity 5.6 – Researching Gladiators pp.56-58

Essentially, this activity is very similar to this history resource guide assignment. It allows

students to compile resources on a specific topic and forces them to make critical decisions on

which sources are more valuable than others while employing a range of skills.

Knowledge

Students should develop an understanding that films can be used as secondary sources

that provide a sense of a historical period or event.

Students will employ historical skills to determine how to find credible sources of

information on the topic of gladiators.

Skills

‘Identify a range of questions about the past to inform a historical inquiry’

‘Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods’

Research skills

Bibliographic skills

Independent thinking

Interpreting the past within the present

Values, Attitudes, and Behaviours

This type of research activity really encourages students to think independently and to a

reasonable degree, allows differences in opinion and approach. This is important because

it develops an attitude towards historical inquiry that is very much dependant on

analyzing historical events from different angles and perspectives.

An activity like this might also develop a more critical attitude towards the content being

presented in films and television shows. It can be very valuable for students to develop

the habit of questioning the information that they are bombarded with each and every day

in a world of increasing information technology.

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