Natural, Social and Cultural Sciences

Life in Imperial Rome

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Life in Imperial Rome

Credits

DIRECTOR: Narcís Vives
COLLABORATORS:

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Antonio Cara
CONTENT MANAGERS: Mª Cristina Pérez and Magdalena Garzón
COORDINATOR OF THE NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE AREAS: Elena Anguera
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Maite Vílchez
AUTHOR: Núria de Alva Ruiz eta Pau Casacuberta
CORRECTORS OF STYLE CASTELLANO VERSION: Anna Betriu and Joan Martín
BASQUE ADAPTATION: Bakun itzulpen eta argitalpen zerbitzuak, s.l.
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Sarah Richards
LAYOUT: Maite Vílchez and Miquel Gordillo

Presentation

PRESENTATION

Reconstruction of Rome in 3D, in the year 320 A.D.

Source:http://www.vimeo.com/11805593

About 2.000 years ago the Roman Empire extended throughout most of Europe and the coasts of the Mediterranean.

Rome, the capital of the Empire, was a city inhabited by a million people. In Rome there were theatres, temples, aqueducts and many other important buildings.

Roman society was nearly as complex as society today. There were politicians, military, priests, artisans and slaves, etc. Some people had power and privileges, others had no rights or freedom.

In this sequence, you will learn about some important aspects of Roman society and its legacy today.

Let’s start!

The Roman legacy

Free people and slaves

A final reflexion

RESOURCES

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Activity 1

The Roman legacy

Roman civilization

Click on the image to access the video.

http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/
civilizaciones/videos/277.htm

In the year 218 B.C. the Roman army arrived to the Iberian Peninsula for the first time. For two centuries the Romans fought with the various tribes that inhabited Hispania, the ancient name for the Iberian Peninsula. In 19 B.C., after many battles, the Romans finally conquered Hispania by defeating the last pockets of resistance.

Hispania formed part of the Roman Empire for more than 600 years. What is left today of this ancient regime?

In this activity you will find out about the legacy of Rome in the Iberian Peninsula.

Activity

Rome and the Romans appear in many films, books and comics. Many of you will have seen, heard or read something about this ancient civilization. Share what you know with the class while your teacher notes down your ideas on the board.

The Roman army arrived to the Iberian Peninsula in 218 B.C., more than 2.200 years ago. However, we can still find traces of their presence. Find out in the following interactive exercise, three important aspects of the Roman legacy.

Have you ever visited any Roman constructions? Do you know the name of any Roman constructions? Have you discovered anything about other languages or what makes them different from Basque? Did you know that Roman numerals originate from this time? Share your conclusions with the class.

To find out more

If you want to learn more about Roman numeration, you can visit this link with interactive exercises: http://bit.ly/hsFqfZ

Activity 2

Free people and slaves

Roman mosaic.

Source:http://es.wikipedia.org/

Roman society was very complex. Some people had many privileges. Others, had no rights or freedom.

The most privileged people were los patricians, the descendents of the founders of the city of Rome. The patricians were rich and could take part in the political life of Rome.

The plebeians formed the largest part of the population of Rome. They were the workers and artisans from the occupied territories of the Roman army. In general, they were poorer and had fewer rights than the patricians.

Finally, the slaves were not considered people, only objects. The slaves were the property of other people and had no rights.

Women were always considered inferior to men, even in the case of rich women.

In this activity you are going to put yourself in the shoes of an ancient Roman inhabitant and write his/her personal diary.

Activity

Divide into groups of four people. Each pupil in the group will choose one of the following characters:

Claudius, a free citizen, descendent of an important and rich Roman family. 25 years old. He regularly participates in the politics of the city. 50 slaves work each day in his lands and properties.
Octavia, Claudius’ wife, 18 years old. Her obligation is to respect her husband. She must always be accompanied when she goes out and also wear a veil. She cannot participate in political life. She has one slave at her service, Gaia.
Gaia, 14 years old. The Roman army conquered her village in Hispania and she was taken to Rome as a slave. Since then she works to the orders of Octavia, cleaning and sewing. She has no rights or possessions and her masters do not consider her a human being.
Fabius, a freeman, 45 years old. Years before, he was Caludius’ slave but was conceded freedom. He is a gold/ silversmith and has made quite a lot of money. He would like to take part in the political life in Rome but the laws do not allow him to.

These four people regularly write in their personal diary. They write about their experiences, their worries and hopes. Your task is to write an entry in this diary.

Look at the following example, it’s written in the first person and starts at the beginning of the day:

“Rome, 50 B.C.

Today I got up at 7 o’clock in the morning. Octavia, my mistress, was still sleeping. The first thing I did was to heat the water for Octavia’s bath. If I don’t do this she gets very angry and she often punishes me...”

The diary entry should have no more than 200 words. Before writing, find out about your characters in the following web pages:

Claudius: http://recursos.cnice.mec.es/latingriego/Palladium/cclasica/esc335ca1.php

In addition, in the following web you can find out information about daily life in Classical Rome, which will add authenticity to your wrting.

You will find information about your character, what they ate, how they dressed, etc. :

http://iessapostol.juntaextremadura.net/latin/vida_roma.html

Each group will publish their writing in a “blog”. A “blog” is a web site that compiles the texts of one or various authors. To access the “blog” created by your teacher, access the following address and write your name and password which your teacher will give you:www.blogger.com

Four entries will be created in the “blog,” one for each character. To create an entry, select the optionNew entry which appears in the control panel of Blogger:

In the spaceTitle write the name of your character. In the window underneath, you can write your diary entry (if you have written the text in a word processor you can copy and paste the information):

Note that you can change the letter font and size in this menu. You can also include images or links to complete your work:

To publish an entry select Publish entry, which is at the bottom right hand of the screen. You can also preview your entry by clicking onPreview.

To find out more

The Roman “domus” : Do you want to know what the ancient Roman houses were like? Visit this link and find out: http://bit.ly/dHGS62

Activity 3

Conclusion

The Coliseum

Source: http://www.flickr.com/

Rome ceased to be an Empire in the 5th century A.D. The barbarian attacks and the internal conflict brought down the ancient Roman power. However, their cultural legacy is enormous.

In the Iberian Peninsula people continued to speak Latin after the fall of Rome. Latin gradually converted into Castellano, Catalan, Portuguese, Galician, etc.

In many cities of the Iberian Peninsula we can find ruins of this great empire.

The Basque Country was also invaded by the Romans but to a less degree than in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. This enabled the Basque language to survive, the only language of the Peninsular which does not come from Latin.

In this activity you can evaluate the work of your classmates and reflect on what you have learnt.

Actividad

After publishing your diary entry in the Blog, read your classmates texts. Evaluate their work with the Valorad su trabajo con la coevaluation sheet.

The Roman society was very different from ours. Organize a small debate in class to discuss the Roman society. Note you’re your reflexions on the digital board. To guide the debate you can answer these questions:

Do you think that Rome brought any benefit to the territories it conquered? Which benefits?
Do you think that the Romans treated women correctly? Why?
What’s your opinion about the slaves?
Do you think that the Roman conquest of Hispania, more than 2.000 years ago influenced us in any way?
Can you see any similarities between Roman society and society today?
How did the Romans live? What were their customs? Are there any likenesses to our customs nowadays?

Resources

Programs and web services

Writer. A word processor OpenOffice.org package: http://es.openoffice.org/
Blogger. A Google service to create public blogs:www.blogger.com

Web references

Roman society. Web page with information about the different social classes in Ancient Rome:

http://iessapostol.juntaextremadura.net/latin/sociedad.html

Roman society. Web page in “flash” by the newspaper El País which ahows different aspects of Roman society such as the army, clothes, social classes, etc.:

http://www.elpais.com/fotogalerias/popup_animacion.html?xref=20051223elpepuage_1&type=Ges&k=sociedad_romana

Roman society. Social groups:

http://recursos.cnice.mec.es/latingriego/Palladium/cclasica/esc335ca1.php

The life of a rich woman. This web page describes the life of a rich woman in Roman society:

http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/historia_mundo/antigua/roma/mujeres/mujer_1.htm

The slaves. This web page shows the role of the slaves in Classical Rome:

http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/historia_mundo/antigua/roma/esclavos/esclavo.htm

Liberated. A web which describes the situation of slves who had been freed by their masters:

http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/historia_mundo/antigua/roma/libertos/liberto.htm

Daily life in Rome. This web page shows some aspects of daily life in Rome, timetable, food, clothes, etc.:

http://iessapostol.juntaextremadura.net/latin/vida_roma.html

The Coliseum. Information about this emblematic building and the spectacles which took place there:

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/html/adjuntos/2007/09/13/0030/roma/entrada/entrada.htm

Videos y animations

Reconstruction of Rome in 3D, in the year 320 B.C.:

http://www.vimeo.com/11805593

The Roman “domus”. An interactive page which shows the structure and characteristics of the Roman “domus”:

http://www.enciclopedia-aragonesa.com/monograficos/historia/epoca_romana/multimedia/domus/default.asp

Roman numerals. An interactive game to calculate using Roman numerals:

http://clic.xtec.cat/db/jclicApplet.jsp?project=http://clic.xtec.cat/projects/romanos/jclic/romanos.jclic.zip&lang=es&title=Numeraci%F3n+romana

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