7/8 World History

Week 18

The Roman Empire & Christianity

MondayDo Now

What happened to Alexander the Great’s empire after he died?

ObjectivesStudents will understand the transition

of Rome from a republic to a dictatorship.

Rome in 146 BCE

• Because of this, the Romans made a secret alliance with some Greek city-states to weaken the Greek king, so he couldn't help conquer Egypt. So in 197 BCE the Romans and their Greek allies launched an attack against King Philip V of Greece and won.

• What Rome's Greek allies didn't foresee, though, was that once the main Greek kingdom started to decline, it left all of Greece weak and vulnerable.

• After almost 50 years, the city-states of Greece were in such a state of poverty and chaos that the Romans decided to conquer them all.

• It took the Romans only 4 years to conquer Greece, which became part of the Republic in 146 BCE.

• Now, the Roman Republic included all of Italy, Greece, and the coastline between them, as well as the former Carthaginian territories of Sicily, northern Africa, and Spain.

Conquest of Greece

• After Alexander the Great's death, his empire split into several large kingdoms, each ruled by different generals from Alexander's army.

• Around 200 BCE, the Romans learned that two of the kingdoms -the Greeks and the Seleucids (from Mesopotamia) - were going to try to conquer Egypt, and were scared that if they succeeded, the Roman Republic would be their next target.

• For the next 100 years, Rome continued to grow stronger and slowly expand their territory in northern Africa and the coast of the western Mediterranean Sea.

• As they continued to grow stronger, though, Roman society and government were beginning to fall apart.

• The Roman government and army were continuously being distracted by large slave rebellions, especially in newly conquered territories.

• The Roman people also began to distrust and resent the members of the Senate, which had grown to have more power than the consuls over the years. Senators were seen as corrupt, using their power to make themselves rich by taxing the poor and giving themselves land.

• By 60 BCE, the republican government was on the verge of collapse.

Slaves fighting Roman soldiers

Julius Caesar

• Born in 100 BCE, Julius Caesar was part of an old Roman family. As a young man, he climbed through the ranks of power, first being appointed high priest of the god Jupiter, then governor of Hispania, a Roman province in modern-day Spain.

• While he was governor, Julius became very popular with the local army because he led them into victory many times against rebels.

• Not only did he become popular with the army, Julius also became popular and well-connected with important senators in Rome while he was the governor of Spain.

• In 59 BCE, he ran for the position of consul and won, thanks (in part) to widespread bribery and corruption. Many senators who were not his friends feared that he would try to overthrow the Republic and make himself a king.

Gaul

• After his year as consul was over, Julius Caesar decided to do what no Roman general had ever succeeded in doing before - conquer Gaul.

• Gaul (modern-day France) was a huge area of land between Spain and Italy. It was populated by the Celtic tribes, a large group of people who lived throughout modern-day France and England who spoke a group of related languages but were not united in a kingdom.

• They lived in large family-based tribes, practiced agriculture, and worshipped a nature-based polytheistic religion. Oak trees were considered sacred to the Celts, and they practiced human sacrifice.

• The Romans considered the Celts to be uncivilized because they weren't united in a kingdom and practiced human sacrifice, but they were very good fighters.

• Despite being able to conquer the kingdoms of Greece and Carthage, the Romans had never been able to defeat the Celts, and they were forced to travel by ship between Spain and Italy because they couldn't cross the Celtic lands without extreme danger.

• In 58 BCE, Caesar led a huge army across the northern border of Rome into Celtic territory. Being a brilliant general and strategist, he succeeded in slowly conquering northward and westward, until he defeated the last Celtic tribe in Gaul in 52 BCE.

• To show their power, the Romans made a point of cutting down the Celts' sacred oak trees whenever they could.

Rome in 52 BCE

Dictator

• Stories of Julius Caesar's intelligent military planning and brave conduct in battle made him loved by the people and feared by his political enemies.

• A small group of high-ranking senators moved to take away his power, fearing he would make himself a king, but they lost. Caesar quickly defeated them, and his friends in the Senate officially made him a dictator in 48 BCE.

• At that time, the title of dictator was supposed to be given only in times of emergency. The person who was given the title of dictator had total authority over the Roman Republic, like a king. It had only been given a few times before, when the city of Rome itself was under attack, and the title was quickly given up once the emergency ended.

• Julius Caesar, though, made no attempt to justify his title, and neither did the Senate, even though Rome was not under attack. Julius Caesar had, in fact, succeeded in making himself king, putting an end to the republican democracy of Rome.

• Once he became dictator, Caesar's ambitions did not end. His next goal was to conquer Egypt.

• Luckily for him, Egypt was locked in a civil war. The heads of the two main sides of the civil war were Ptolemy XII (who used the title of pharaoh even though he had only Greek ancestry) and his half-sister/wife, Cleopatra.

• After he became dictator, Caesar travelled to Egypt to have a secret meeting with Cleopatra, to propose an alliance to overthrow her brother. When they met for the first time, there was an undeniable attraction and they became lovers, even though Caesar had a Roman wife and Cleopatra was technically married to her brother.

• Cleopatra quickly became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who she named Caesarion -Julius Caesar's first and only son.

• Caesar welcomed Cleopatra and their son to Rome and housed her in one of the city's best palaces. While Cleopatra was there, Caesar also had a solid gold statue of her made and installed in the temple of Venus.

• Many of the Roman people were horrified that Caesar so openly lavished gifts and affection on his mistress Cleopatra while his wife was still living in Rome, but now that he was dictator, no one else's opinion mattered.

Cleopatra

• After a few years, though, Caesar's ambition caught up with him. Some members of the Senate (which Caesar allowed to continue, even though he gave it very little power) believed that Caesar's dictatorship was a terrible thing, an attack against the idea of democracy, which their ancestors had embraced for hundreds of years.

• So eventually, a group of around 40 senators conspired to kill Caesar, which they did on March 15, 44 BCE.

• When Caesar was having a meeting at the Senate building, they surrounded him and stabbed him 23 times, until he died.

• Caesar's sudden assassination threw Rome into chaos. Caesar had a will, where he named his great-nephew, Octavian, to be the next dictator, but that was not actually legal, and Octavian was not well-known or popular.

• Because there was no clear leader besides Caesar, many people started fighting for power.

Exit TicketWhy was Julius Caesar able to change

Rome from a republic to a dictatorship?

Homework• Augustus Caesar reading & questions

TuesdayDo Now

Name the most important achievements or accomplishments of the different cultures/societies we have learned

about so far. For example, the Sumerians invented writing.

ObjectivesStudents will identify key achievements

of the Romans, and compare Roman culture to Greek culture.

Roman Empire Quiz

1. What large area did Julius Caesar conquer in the 50's BCE?

2. Who did Octavian defeat to become emperor?

3. List 2 accomplishments of Augustus during his reign.

• Roman culture & Early Roman Empire readings

The Pantheon (exterior) in modern-day Rome

Pantheon interior

A working Roman aqueduct

Exit Ticket

What were the most important accomplishments of the Romans?

Block DayDo Now

What do you know about the Christian religion?

ObjectivesStudents will understand cause and effect through analysis of the fall of Rome. Students will understand the

origins of the Christian religion.

Decline of the Roman Empire• Septimus Severus• Diocletian• Constantine• Germanic migration

Christianity• Historical Jesus• Gospels• Epistles• Revelation• Beliefs & practices• Schisms• Council of Nicea

Exit Ticket1. What caused Rome to fall?2. Name one thing that you learned

about Christianity that you didn’t know before.

Homework• Fall of Rome reading & questions• Finish Christianity column on religions

chart

FridayDo Now

What parts of the class (from the first day until yesterday) do you need to review the

most? Which concepts or civilizations do you remember the most about?

ObjectivesStudents will use their notes to study for

the semester exam.

Fall of Rome Quiz

1. List 2 reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire.

2. What group of tribes began migrating south into the Roman Empire?

3. What year did the Roman Empire fall?

• Semester final study guide

Exit Ticket

What topics do you still need to study?Which ones do you now feel like you know more about?