Discover the life of the Romans..
First of all, who were the Romans?
The Romans were the people from a city called Rome in what is now Italy. Rome was the greatest city of its time. At one time it had nearly one million people living there. The Romans were very clever and very good at organising things.
What was the Roman Empire?
About 1,800 years ago Rome was the centre of a big empire. Roman soldiers had conquered large parts of Europe and North Africa. The Roman army would return to Rome and march through the city to show off all the riches they had plundered from the people they had beaten. The Roman army was skilled at fighting and defending the borders from attack and clever civil servants governed each country.
Where was the Roman Empire?
The green bits show how far the Romans spread out over Europe.
Interesting Roman Facts
Did you know… (click to play)
Discover more interesting facts in the file below.
| interesting_roman_facts.doc |
Roman Baths
Every Roman town would have a public bath house. People would come each day to wash, chat, exercise and relax.
The bathhouse had a large staff of slaves, heating water, carrying towels and helping to clean the bathers.
The slaves would rub the bathers with olive oil and then scrape it off (with any dirt) with a special scraper called a strigil.
Click on the link below to open a PowerPoint that will tell you all about what the Romans did to relax.
| Roman Relaxation .ppt |
The file below gives you a brief outline of what the Romans did for us; meaning what they brought to Britain. Just click below to view the PowerPoint.
| What the Romans did for us.ppt |
Roman Gods
Before the Romans came to Britain the Celts had lots of different religions. The Romans brought a standard state religion with them, based on the belief that the Emperor would become a God when he died.
The Romans believed in many gods. When they conquered more people they sometimes adopted some of their gods too. They believed that a different god looked after a different part of life.
Play the slideshow below to see the different Gods.
The Romans let local people carry on worshipping their own Gods, as long as they also worshipped the Roman ones. If people refused to do this they would be punished.
Learn the basics of the Roman army by clicking the file below.
| the_roman_army_-_powerpoint.ppt |
Roman Soldier
The Roman soldier was a professional soldier. This means that he joined the army for 25 years and would be paid a salary.
A part of his wages was paid in salt, hence the saying 'being worth your salt' -- (a good worker).
Find out all about a Roman soldier and the jobs they had to do by clicking the file below.
| the_job_of_a_roman_soldier_pp.pptx |
Roman Children and School
In Roman times most children did not go to school. School was not free so parents had to pay for their children to be educated, just like your parents pay for your karate or music lessons. So, only rich children went to school.
Click on the file below to the right to learn more.
Click on the file below to the right to learn more.
| roman_children.ppt |
Mosaics
Romans decorated the floors of their houses with beautiful mosaics. Wealthy Romans might decorate their house with mosaics, floors made of tiny, coloured clay pieces that together made a wonderful picture. They were called tesserae.
Open the file below to find out more..
| mosaics.ppt |
Quick Facts About:
Celts
Soap
Slaves
Marriage
Maths
Games
Toothpaste
Toilet paper
Feasts
Calendars
Celts England at the time of the Romans was lived in by many different Celtic tribes. If they had spent less time fighting each other and more time fighting the Romans, they might have won.
Celtic warriors sometimes fought their battles naked, dyed blue from head to toe! They also bleached their long hair until it was white and so stiff that it stood on end in long hard points!
Soap The Romans are famous for their baths, but the Britons washed with soap long before the Romans did!
Celtic warriors sometimes fought their battles naked, dyed blue from head to toe! They also bleached their long hair until it was white and so stiff that it stood on end in long hard points!
Soap The Romans are famous for their baths, but the Britons washed with soap long before the Romans did!
Slaves
The Romans kept slaves and were usually very cruel to them. They were whipped, kept in chains, barely clothed or fed. Slaves were captured from the countries that the Romans invaded. However, the slaves were often set free when they were about 30 years old and could become 'freemen' with human rights like other Romans. Sometimes, if Roman parents didn't like their children, they sold them to be slaves! It was illegal but they still did it.
Marriage
Girls had to get married at the age of 14, her father would choose the husband for her.
The Romans kept slaves and were usually very cruel to them. They were whipped, kept in chains, barely clothed or fed. Slaves were captured from the countries that the Romans invaded. However, the slaves were often set free when they were about 30 years old and could become 'freemen' with human rights like other Romans. Sometimes, if Roman parents didn't like their children, they sold them to be slaves! It was illegal but they still did it.
Marriage
Girls had to get married at the age of 14, her father would choose the husband for her.
Maths
Do you like doing sums at school? Just be grateful you're not a Roman child!
Below is a Roman sum. (The answer is at the bottom of the page!)
LXXXVIII + XII = ?
Games
If you met some Roman children, you'd be able to play lots of games you know with them. They played hide and seek, chase, hopscotch, leapfrog and ball games. They had swings, kites, building blocks and dolls.
Do you like doing sums at school? Just be grateful you're not a Roman child!
Below is a Roman sum. (The answer is at the bottom of the page!)
LXXXVIII + XII = ?
Games
If you met some Roman children, you'd be able to play lots of games you know with them. They played hide and seek, chase, hopscotch, leapfrog and ball games. They had swings, kites, building blocks and dolls.
Toothpaste Romans used powdered mouse brains as toothpaste! Yuck!
Toilet Paper The Roman army didn't have toilet paper so they used a water soaked sponge on the end of a stick instead!
Feasts
Romans were famous for their amazing feasts. They loved to show off their money and eat exotic things like snails, swans, crows, horses, peacocks and dormice.
At some feasts they ate until they were sick, there would be a special room to be sick in, and then they would come back to the feast and carry on eating! Yuck!
Calendars
Julius Caesar gave us our modern calendar with 12 months and 365 days. Originally there were only 10 months, running from March to December. The winter time didn't have any months.
Then they added two more, but you can still tell that there were 10 because, September (from the Latin septem)- means 7 (but now it's the 9th month). October (from the Latin octo) means 8 (but now it's the 10th month). November (from the Latin novem) - means 9 (and now it's the 11th month) and finally December(from the Latin decem) - means 10 (and of course now it's the 12th month.) Now you know some Latin!
The answer to the maths question is 'C' which is 100 - did you get it right?
Don't worry, hardly anyone can do sums with Roman Numerals any more.
Julius Caesar gave us our modern calendar with 12 months and 365 days. Originally there were only 10 months, running from March to December. The winter time didn't have any months.
Then they added two more, but you can still tell that there were 10 because, September (from the Latin septem)- means 7 (but now it's the 9th month). October (from the Latin octo) means 8 (but now it's the 10th month). November (from the Latin novem) - means 9 (and now it's the 11th month) and finally December(from the Latin decem) - means 10 (and of course now it's the 12th month.) Now you know some Latin!
The answer to the maths question is 'C' which is 100 - did you get it right?
Don't worry, hardly anyone can do sums with Roman Numerals any more.
