Ancient Civilizations: Romans! , livre ebook

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CONTENTS
Timeline

Introduction Welcome to Ancient Rome!

Chapter 1 Home Sweet Villa

Chapter 2 Eat Like a Roman
Chapter 3 Cool in School
Chapter 4 Be Glad You’re Not a Gladiator!
Chapter 5 High Fashion
Chapter 6 Emperors Rule!
Chapter 7 Gods and Goddesses
Glossary * Metric Conversions Resources * Essential Questions * Index

Interested in primary sources? Look for this icon. Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more! Photos are also primary sources because a photograph takes a picture at the moment something happens.

You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page. If the QR code doesn’t work, try searching the internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.
EXPLORE ANCIENT ROME
TIMELINE

C. 753 BCE: According to legend, ancient Rome is founded by Romulus and Remus, two brothers who were raised by a she-wolf.

753 BCE–509 BCE: Rome is ruled by kings.

509 BCE: Rome becomes a republic, a government of elected leaders.

46 BCE: The Roman republic ends when Julius Caesar declares himself dictator for life.

27 BCE: The Roman Empire begins.

64 CE: Two-thirds of Rome is destroyed after nine days of fire.

72–80 CE: The Colosseum, the greatest amphitheater in the Roman Empire, is built.

122: Construction begins on the 73-mile-long Hadrian’s Wall, in what is now England, to protect the northwest border of the Roman Empire.

125: The Pantheon is finished.

285: The Roman Empire splits in half—with a Western Empire governed from Rome and an Eastern Empire governed from Byzantium.

313: Emperor Constantine makes Christianity legal in the Western Empire.

324: Emperor Constantine reunites the Roman Empire and renames Byzantium after himself.

330: Constantinople—previously called Byzantium—replaces Rome as the center of the Roman Empire.

395: The Roman Empire splits into two empires again.

410: Germanic warriors take over the city of Rome.

476: The Western Roman Empire ends.

C. 1453: The Eastern Roman Empire (also called the Byzantine Empire) falls.

Many of the words and names in this book are hard to say, but you can hear them spoken online. Go to Merriam-Webster.com , search for the word, and press the symbol next to your word to hear it spoken.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER

INTRODUCTION
WELCOME TO ANCIENT ROME!
Ancient Rome was the center of an amazing civilization that existed long ago. You might wonder why we should care about people and a civilization that existed 2,000 years ago. But guess what? There are plenty of reasons to learn about ancient history!
First, learning about ancient civilizations helps us learn how we’re all connected as humans. By studying communities that came before us, we can learn about how important things such as politics and religion and economics got started. We can also learn from the mistakes of the past.
WORDS TO KNOW

civilization: a community of people that is advanced in art, science, and government.
ancient: from an early time in history.
economics: having to do with a country’s resources and wealth.
WORDS TO KNOW

Roman Empire: all the lands and people ruled by ancient Rome from 753 BCE to 476 CE.
legend: an ancient story that may or may not have really happened.
BCE: put after a date, BCE stands for Before Common Era and counts down to zero. CE stands for Common Era and counts up from zero. These non-religious terms correspond to BC and AD. This book was printed in 2019 CE.

DID YOU KNOW?
Have you ever heard the expression, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it?” This is a way of saying that people can learn from events and avoid making some of the same mistakes of the past.
Learning about ancient civilizations is fun! Calendars, paved roads, shopping malls, running water—we can thank ancient Romans for all these things. But what else can we thank the ancient Roman Empire for? Where was ancient Rome? And what was it like to live there?
WHERE IN THE WORLD?
Ancient Rome was a city in Italy. According to legend , Romulus and Remus founded it in 753 BCE . Romulus and Remus were brothers who were taken from their mother and left to die along the banks of the Tiber River. A female wolf took care of them until a shepherd adopted them.

A STATUE OF ROMULUS AND REMUS AND THE WOLF
WORDS TO KNOW

landscape: a large area of land and its features, such as mountains and rivers.
desert: a landscape that gets very little rain.
Legend tells that when the boys were older, they decided to build a city near the place the wolf found them. They fought over who would rule the new city and Romulus killed Remus. Rome, which still exists today, is named for Romulus.
The area was a good place for a city. There were seven hills and the Tiber River provided water, food, and a way to move from place to place.
In time, the rulers of Rome took over neighboring lands far and wide. All of these lands together were called the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire grew to include Spain, Greece, Asia Minor, Britain, Turkey, and North Africa. The Roman Empire also controlled the Mediterranean Sea.
Because the Roman Empire was so big, different parts of it had different kinds of weather. Some places were cold. Others were hot. There were also many landscapes . Some places had desert sand, while other places had mountains.

THE RED COLOR SHOWS THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE
WORDS TO KNOW

adapt: to change one’s behavior to fit into a new environment.
environment: everything in nature, living and nonliving, including plants, animals, soil, rocks, and water.
aqueduct: a channel that transports water from its source across a great distance.
channel: a canal through which a stream of water moves.
Romans became good at adapting to different kinds of environments . This helped them grow and flourish. Roads and aqueducts were two things that helped ancient Romans to survive and thrive.
ADEQUATE AQUEDUCTS
A million people lived in ancient Rome. All of those people needed water. In order to get water to the city, Romans built aqueducts. Aqueducts were channels that carried water from streams and springs in the hills and from the Tiber River to the city.

AN ANCIENT ROMAN AQUEDUCT IN MODERN-DAY FRANCE
WORDS TO KNOW

gravity: the force that pulls objects to the earth.
castellum: a water tank in ancient Rome.
sewer: a drain for wastewater.
Cloaca Maxima: a famous sewer in Rome.
The aqueducts were made out of stones and concrete. They had gradual slopes so gravity could move the water downhill.
Sometimes, these channels were built underground, perhaps to hide the aqueducts from enemies. Other aqueducts were built above ground, on top of concrete archways.
Water moved through the aqueducts into the city. There, the water flowed into a tank called a castellum . Next, water was sent through pipes that led to public bathhouses, fountains, and the homes of the wealthy. Poor people got their water from the fountains.

DID YOU KNOW?
Many ancient Roman aqueducts were built underground. Can you think of any problems aqueducts that were above ground and open to the elements might have?
Each day, the aqueducts carried more than 200 million gallons of water into the city. There were valves to turn off the water, but the Romans didn’t use them unless there was a problem. This meant water ran 24 hours a day.
To help drain all the used and dirty water, Romans built sewers . The first sewer was called the Cloaca Maxima . It was about 3,000 feet long, more than half a mile! In some places, it was tall enough for a horse and cart to go through. This sewer is still used today, 2,500 years after its construction.
WORDS TO KNOW

foundation: a level area that is the base of a structure.
ROADS TO EVERYWHERE
Along with aqueducts, roads played a very important role in ancient Rome’s success. In order to allow quick travel to the city, ancient Romans built the first paved roadways. All of these roads led from various cities straight into Rome.
And straight was right! Ancient Romans built roads that took the shortest possible route. Sometimes, this meant building a tunnel so a road could go right through a hill.

DID YOU KNOW?
Ancient Romans discovered a way to make concrete waterproof. They added volcanic sand to the mixture. This was important, because it meant they could build things that lasted a long time and held up in all kinds of weather.
Ancient Romans built their roads with great skill. First, they dug out a foundation . Then, they laid sand or gravel down. Finally, they carefully placed stone slabs or paving stones on top. Each roadway had a slightly raised center so the water would run into drainage ditches along the sides. This kept the roads from getting muddy and slippery.
The ancient Romans built their roads so well that many are still used today.

Many ancient Roman aqueducts are still standing, even though they are no longer used. To learn more about aqueducts and their importance to ancient Rome and the challenges of water shortages we face today, check out this video.

BARRY LIFE WATER
WORDS TO KNOW

villa: a large country home.
chariot: a small cart with two wheels and a platform, pulled by horses.
gladiators: slaves who were force