Lesson 9:
Government under the Roman Republic:
After the people of Rome had chased away the last of the Etruscan kings, the people declared Rome to be a republic. What is a republic? A republic is a government run by elected officials. Two elected consuls shared the head of government. Consuls were members of the Senate, who had been elected to serve for a one year term in the position of Consul, the highest position in government under the Republic. The consuls most important power was that they controlled the army. The Senate was composed of leaders from the patricians, the noble and wealthy families of ancient Rome. They were the law makers. They controlled spending. Members of the Senate were not elected. They were chosen by the Consuls. Once chosen, they served for life. There were 300 seats in the Senate. When a seat opened, a new Senator was selected by the current Consuls. The Assembly was composed of all the plebeian citizens of Rome, the common man. The Assembly did not have a building. It was the right of the common man to assemble in the Forum and vote. |
Some members of the Assembly became quite powerful in government in their own right. Some tradesmen were very wealthy. There is an old expression - money talks - which means the rich seem to be heard more easily than the poor. In ancient Rome, certainly money talked, but so did those who had the power of speech. The Romans loved a great orator. When the Assembly met, down at the Forum, many speeches were going on at the same time. One speaker might say, "Rome's roads need repair!" Another speaker might say, "We need to stop crime in the streets." If you wanted your speech to have an impact, it did not matter how rich or poor you were. What mattered was how persuasive you were as a speaker. |
Resource details: The story of the republic. Teaching ideas: Introduce content through storytelling. Debate: Imagine you are a part of the Assembly. You must argue whether it is more important to repair Rome's roads or to stop crime in the streets. Curriculum linkage: S.P.H.E |
Lesson 10:
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Resource details:
PowerPoint presentation. Teaching ideas: Gain information on the daily life of a Roman in the Republic. Draw a landscape showcasing an aspect of daily life in the Roman Republic. Curriculum linkage: Visual arts. |
Lesson 11:
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Resource details:
Word document. Teaching ideas: Gain information on Plebeian and Patrician housing. Imagine you are a plebeian citizen of ancient Rome. Write a letter to the Consul outlining your disgust of the unfair divisions between plebeian housing and patrician housing. Curriculum linkage: English Remember!
Your letter must contain: (i) The senders address (ii) The date (iii) Your address (iv) A subject line (v) An introductory paragraph which outlines your reasons for writing and two or three sentences stating points which you will develop in coming paragraphs. (vi) Two or three paragraphs which develop your main ideas. (vii) A sign off line. This is a formal letter so it should have a distinctive tone throughout. |
Lesson 12:
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Resource detail:
Glog displaying the development of Rome. Teaching ideas: Discuss the development of Rome. List some important detail. Create your own glog displaying this information. Curriculum linkage: SESE - History ICT |
Lesson 13:
The Punic War:
Hannibal and Carthage: Both Rome and Carthage in Africa had something in common, they were rapid growing empires. The roman empire got jealous of how big Carthage was getting so they declared war. This war was known as the Punic War. |
Resource details: Text and image. Teaching ideas: Read the text and examine the image. Participate in thought tracking (in groups). The children Divide the children into two groups, A and B.
Split into groups of five/six. Create freeze frames of the punic war. Use props and display motions which are to be conveyed in these still images. Decide to create a freeze frames displaying: (i) The people of Carthage when they were told that Rome had declared war (ii) The people of Rome/Carthage preparing for the war (iii) The war as it was happening. (iv) The effect the Punic War had on people. Imagine you are Hannible, the successful military legend from Rome. Create a legislation for your empire. Your legislation should please your citizens and the aim should be that you will end up with a successful empire. You must consider what makes a constituency successful. Curriculum linkage: Drama |
Lesson 14:
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Resource details:
PowerPoint presentation. Teaching ideas: Read the slides. Discuss in triads how these problems could be solved. Gather the children for circle time. The talking object will be passed around the circle once. When the children hold the talking object they will share your views about dictatorship. After the object has been passed around the circle once they can share their opinions again by raising their hand and retrieving the talking object back. Once all of the views/opinions are shared, the object will be passed around the full circle once more. Curriculum linkage: English. S.P.H.E. |