THE GOOD OLD ROME

Where Is Rome?
Rome is a city found in Lazio, Italy. It is located
41.89 latitude and 12.51 longitude and it is
situated at elevation 52 meters above sea level.
Rome has a population of 2,318,895 making it the
biggest city in Lazio. It operates on the CEST time
zone.
TIMELINE OF ROME
 Social and political system
The city of Rome grew into a large empire.But before it
experienced a new form of government,the republic,a
form of government ruled by a group of people elected
by the people.

The roman republic was an oligarchy

There were no kings or emperors but the rich peoply

ruled the city.
 The Roman army
The Roman Empire(31 BC – 395/476 AD) and its successor
the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. It is thus a term that
spans approximately 2,000 years, during which the Roman
armed forces underwent numerous
The Roman army, permutations
arguably one of the longest in
composition, organization, equipment
surviving and most and tactics,
effective fighting forces in while
military history, has a rather obscure
conserving a core of lasting traditions.
beginning.
 Architecture and Engineering

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 Appian Way • An expanding network of roads
helped to link Rome's distant
territories.
• One of the most important paved
military roads was the Appian
Way, commissioned by the
Roman official Appius Claudius
Caecus.
• It became the major route from
Rome to Greece.
• Although these large lava blocks
may not be the original material,
the route itself has remained
unchanged and in use since it was
first paved more than 2200 years
ago.
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Forums

• The forum, an open area bordered by colonnades with shops,

functioned as the chief meeting place of the town. It was also
the site of the city's primary religious and civic buildings,
among them the Senate house, records office, and basilica.

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 • When archaeologists began
excavating the city of Pompeii,
which had been covered with
ash and mud by the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius in ad 79, they
found the remains of people,
ancient buildings, and other
artifacts preserved amid the
volcanic debris.
• Among the structures
uncovered was The Forum of
Pompeii, pictured, a group of
temples, courts, and palaces
that served as the city’s
legislative center.

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 Basilica
• The basilica was a roofed hall with a wide central
area—the nave—flanked by side aisles, and it often
had two or more stories.
• In Roman times basilicas were the site of business
transactions and legal proceedings, but the building
type was adapted in Christian times as the standard
form of the Western church with an apse and altar at
the end of the long nave.
• The first basilicas were put up in the early 2nd
century b.c. in Rome's own Forum, but the earliest
well-preserved example of the basilicas (circa 120
b.c.) is found at Pompeii.
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 This Roman basilica
was begun by the
emperor Maxentius
between 307 and 310
and completed by
Constantine the Great
after 312. Although it
was one of the most
important monuments in
classical antiquity,
almost all that remains
of the building are these
three huge, barrel-
vaulted bays

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Roman Temples

• The chief temple of a Roman city, the capitolium, was

generally located at one end of the forum.

• The standard Roman temple was a blend of Etruscan and

Greek elements; rectangular in plan, it had a gabled roof,
a deep porch with freestanding columns, and a frontal
staircase giving access to its high plinth, or platform.

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 • By the 1st century b.c, the extensive conquests of the Romans led them
to regard the Mediterranean as mare nostrum (our sea).
• Roman influence went far beyond politics. Roman art, architecture, and
language were among the cultural traits that slowly took hold in many
of Rome's conquered territories.
• Ruins of ancient temples in Baalbek, Lebanon, include the Temple of
Jupiter, built by the Romans after they took control of the territory that
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included what is now Lebanon in 64 b.c.
Pantheon

• Roman temples were erected not only in the forum, but

throughout the city and in the countryside as well; many other
types are known.
• One of the most influential in later times was the type used for
the Pantheon (ad 118-28) in Rome, consisting of a standard
gable-roofed columnar porch with a domed cylindrical drum
behind it replacing the traditional rectangular main room, or
cella.

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 • The Pantheon in Rome is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It
was commissioned by Hadrian in 118 and completed in 128.
• At one time it had a colonnaded court leading to the portico. The dome of
the rotunda behind the portico is 43.2 m (142 ft) in diameter. The oculus
(a round opening) at the top is 8.5 m (28 ft) in diameter and provides the
only source of light for the interior.
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 Roman Theaters
• Roman theaters first appeared in the late Republic.

• They were semicircular in plan and consisted of a tall stage

building abutting a semicircular orchestra and tiered seating area
(cavea).

• Unlike Greek theaters, which were situated on natural slopes,

Roman theaters were supported by their own framework of piers
and vaults and thus could be constructed in the hearts of cities.

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 • The Roman emperor
Augustus founded the
city of Aosta during
the 1st century b.c
near the junction of
natural transportation
routes from Italy
through the
mountains to France
and Switzerland.
• The city has many
remnants of Roman
architecture,
including wall
segments from this
theater.
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Amphitheater

• Amphitheaters (literally, double theaters) were elliptical in plan

with a central arena, where gladiatorial and animal combats took
place, and a surrounding seating area built on the pattern of Roman
theaters.

• The earliest known amphitheater (75 bc) is at Pompeii, and the

grandest, Rome's Colosseum (ad70-80), held approximately 50,000
spectators, roughly the capacity of today's large sports stadiums.
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 • The Colosseum in Rome (70-82) is best known for its multilevel system of vaults made of
concrete. It is called the Colosseum for a colossal statue of Nero that once stood nearby,
but its real name is the Flavian Amphitheater.
• It was used for staged battles between lions and Christians, among other spectacles, and is
one of the most famous pieces of architecture in the world.

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 Aqueduct

Among the other great public building projects of the Romans,

the most noteworthy are the network of bridges and roads that
facilitated travel throughout the empire, and the aqueducts that
brought water to the towns from mountain sources (Pont du
Gard, late 1st century bc or early 1st century ad, near Nimes).

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 • The Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard near Nîmes, France, was
built between the late 1st century bc and the early 1st century ad.
• The Romans built extensive systems of aqueducts to carry water
to their residential areas from distant sources.
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 Gods of Rome
Jupiter: king of Gods, protector of people

Juno: Goddess of childbirth and child marriage

Minerva: Goddess of wisdom, craftsmanship and arts

Mercury: God of merchants, business and travel

Ceres: Goddess of corn, food and farming

 Gods of Rome
Apollo: God of healing

Vesta: Goddess of home

Neptune: God of the sea

Diana: Goddess of the hunt

Mars: God of war

Pluto: God of underworld, death and funerals

 Fall of Roman Empire
180 CE Marcus Aurelius died
Poor leaders weakened the government
Taxes were too great, many rich people stopped paying
Plague (disease) spread throughout Rome, killing 1 in
10
Famine: There was not enough food to feed people
Western Empire unable to hold off German tribes on its
borders
Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Saxons
German tribes wanted warmer area, Roman riches, and
to flee the Huns