April 17-23, 2014, Current Events Lesson Plan
Current Event:
Rome recently officially celebrated its 2,767th birthday. However, a recent archaeological discovery suggests that Rome may actually be 200 years older that. According to popular tradition, the city was founded on April 21, 753 B.C., by legendary twins Romulus and Remus. They were the sons of Mars, the Roman god of war. According to legend, an evil king ordered the infant twins placed in a basket and thrown into the Tiber River. After floating downstream, the twins were washed ashore where a female wolf found the infants and nursed them. As adults, they founded the first settlement at Rome. Later, a dispute between the brothers led to the death of Remus, and Romulus named the city for himself. However, based on pottery fragments excavated at an ancient Roman shrine, archaeologists believe the city may have been inhabited between about 900 and 800 B.C., about 200 years before the traditional origin of the city. Rome was formed through a gradual process of settlement by people called the Latins over many years around the area of the Palatine Hill. The small farming community known as Latium on the bank of the Tiber River in central Italy grew to become the capital of one of the greatest empires in history.
Objective:
Rome is the capital of Italy and one of the world’s great historic cities. It has been an important center of civilization for over 2,000 years. Because of its long history, Rome is called the Eternal City. It is also one of the world’s most beautiful cities with ancient monuments and magnificent churches and palaces. Rome ruled the ancient Western world as the capital of the mighty Roman Empire. For hundreds of years, Rome was the supreme power of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. Ancient Rome’s influence can still be seen today in such fields as architecture, government, language, and law. As the home of the popes, Rome is the center of the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican City, the smallest independent country in the world, lies entirely within the city. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the city of Rome and the Roman Empire.
Words to know:
- Aeneid
- Ancient Rome
- Archaeology
- Colosseum
- Italy
- Latium
- Mars [Roman god]
- Pantheon
- Rome [Italy]
- Romulus and Remus
- Tiber River
- Vatican City
- Virgil
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students to name famous ancient Romans. (Students might say Augustus, Caligula, Constantine the Great, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Nero, Pompey the Great, Spartacus, Virgil.)
2. William Shakespeare, whose 450th birthday was recently celebrated, wrote one of his tragedies based on the events before and after the assassination of the Roman ruler Julius Caesar. Ask your students to name other Shakespeare plays. (Students might say Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice.)
3. Ask your students if they would rather live in ancient Rome (or any other ancient civilization) or in modern times. Have them explain why.
4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view the timelines related to Ancient Rome: History of Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, and Emperors of Rome to name a few.)