April 11-17, 2013, Current Events Lesson Plan
Current Event:
Artifacts from around 2,000 years ago—dating to the time when London was called Londinium and was ruled by the Romans—have been discovered in that city’s financial district. Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology made the find while working in advance of construction on new headquarters for Bloomberg L.P., the media company owned by Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City. The artifacts found at the building site were much more numerous and much better preserved than archaeologists had imagined. Some of the Roman objects found include pottery, jewelry, shoes, and coins. Archaeologists were especially excited to find tablets with writing, since few written documents from this period and area have survived. They also found a carved amber amulet, or luck charm, in the shape of a gladiator’s helmet. In addition to objects, an entire streetscape of wooden structures was discovered 40 feet (12 meters) beneath the ground. When completed, the Bloomberg headquarters will include an entrance to the Roman temple and a museum to house the artifacts found on the site.
Objective:
The Roman Empire was one of the largest empires in history. At its peak, in the A.D. 100′s and 200′s, the Roman Empire governed about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the north coast of Africa. In 55 B.C., the Roman general Julius Caesar sailed across the English Channel from Gaul (present-day France). He landed in what is now Kent with a small force to explore Britain. He returned the next year with an invading army and captured the stronghold of the main British military leader. But unrest in Gaul forced him to withdraw from Britain. The Romans did not invade Britain again until A.D. 43, nearly 100 years later. In that invasion, historians believe, the Romans established a military camp along the Thames, possibly in what is now Westminster. A few years later, the Romans built a trading port on the Thames near present-day London Bridge. They probably chose this site because the riverbanks east of this point were too marshy for settlement. The Romans called the port Londinium, from which the name London is derived. By the early 200′s, the Romans had built a wall around London, possibly to protect it from raiders. This wall, and the ones that later replaced it, formed London’s boundaries for hundreds of years. In 410, Germanic invaders attacked Rome, and the Roman troops in Britain were called home to fight the invaders. This date marks the end of Roman control over Britain. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore London and the Roman Empire.
Words to know:
- Amulet
- Ancient Rome
- Archaeology
- Michael Bloomberg
- Julius Caesar
- Gaul
- Gladiator
- Hadrian’s Wall
- History of the United Kingdom (Roman Britain)
- London
- Mythology (Roman mythology)
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students what they know about the Roman Empire. (Students might say that emperors ruled the Roman Empire; the Roman Empire split into the West Roman Empire and the East Roman Empire in A.D. 395; at its peak, the Roman Empire governed large portions of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; the Romans worshipped many gods, including Jupiter, Juno, and Pluto.) Ancient Rome was one of the most influential civilizations that ever existed.
2. Ask your students if they can name other ancient civilizations. (They might say Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Persia.)
3. Londonium, or London, was built during the Roman Empire. Ask your students to name emperors of the Roman Empire. (Students might say Augustus, Caligula, Constantine, Hadrian, Nero, Tiberius.)
4. Ask your students to debate, “Developers should pay for archaeologists to excavate construction sites before construction work can be started.”
5. Archaeology is the scientific study of the remains of past human cultures. Have your students debate the topic, “It is important to learn about people from the past.”
6. Ask your students to use the World Book’s Timelines feature to create a timeline of the history of the Roman Empire. (Students may wish to use the “History” section of World Book’s Ancient Rome article for help.)