4.1 The Dawn of Rome (intro lesson group 8)

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

introduction lesson TTO

the time of Greeks and Romans

4.1 the dawn of Rome

How many words can you think of that are based on Latin or Romans? Try to find as many as possible.

Introducing the Romans

The Greeks had a very advanced civilisation. From the 5th century BC Greek culture and science flourished. Alexander the Great spread this culture in the Middle East in the 4th century BC.

Rome started as a small city state in 753 BC, but gradually the Romans took over the whole of Italy.

In 146 BC the Romans conquered Greece. They were impressed by what the Greeks had achieved. The Romans wanted to be like the Greeks. 

They copied their culture and spread it further across Europe, including the Netherlands. That is how our region became part of the Greek-Roman civilisation.

What you can explain after this lesson

•  who the founders of Rome were

Important dates in this lesson:

753 BC: founding of Rome. Romulus becomes the first king.

This is the center of Rome, known as the "Forum Romanum". You can see ruins of temples and palaces.

But 2000 years ago, this place was the center of the world, the center of the Roman Empire.

Look at the video to get an impression what this place looked like 20 centuries ago....

25 seconds into the video you can see this building: a triumphal arch.

The founding of Rome

You may have seen this famous sculpture before.

Today it is in a museum in Rome. It is very important to the people of Rome because this sculpture tells them about the beginning of their city.

According to legend, Rome was founded by twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, who were the sons of the god Mars.

This bronze sculpture of the wolf that rescued Romulus and Remus was made in about 500BC. The babies were added in the AD1400s.

To find and to found. That can 

be confusing, 

to find = vinden

you find = jij vindt (present)

you found = jij vond (past)

to found = stichten

you found = jij sticht (present)

you founded = jij stichtte (past)

The legend of Romulus and Remus                                                            Read, or listen            or both.......

There was once a pair of twin brothers called Romulus and Remus. Their mother was Rhea Silvia, the daughter of King Numitor, and their father was Mars, the God of War.

King Numitor had a brother, Amulius, who wanted to be king so much that he took the throne for himself. He was so desperate to keep his position as king that he had tried to stop Rhea Silvia from having any children of her own because they might try to take back the throne.

When Romulus and Remus were born to Rhea Silvia, Amulius was shocked and very angry. In his rage, he put the twin boys into a basket and threw them into the river Tiber. He wanted nothing more to do with them.

After the two boys had floated down the river in their basket, they were rescued by a mother wolf. She cared for the boys as if they were her own wolf babies and she fed them with her own milk.

Once Romulus and Remus got bigger, they were taken home by a shepherd called Faustulus. He and his wife looked after them in his home until they were adults. One day, Romulus and Remus discovered who they really were and made a plan to kill Amulius and reclaim the throne for their own family.

Once they had carried out their plan and made their grandfather king instead, they decided to build a city of their own. They disagreed about where to build it. Romulus thought that they should build it on the Palatine Hill, but Remus wanted to use the Aventine Hill. They each began to build their own walled city.

One day, Remus paid Romulus a visit. Remus mocked Romulus’s city and its low walls. Romulus became so infuriated that he killed Remus instantly, declaring that he would kill any person who ever made fun of his city, which he called Rome. He continued to build up his city and officially made himself king in 753 BC.

 

 

Read The myth of "Romulus and Remus".

1. According to the myth, who was the father of Romulus and Remus?

2. Why do you think the wolf is one of Rome’s important symbols?

3. The story of Romulus and Remus is and example of:

1. historical science
2. a creation narrative
3. a Greek myth
4. Roman religion