Chapter 15

The Roman Empire

Section 1: The Rule of Augustus (p. 233-234)

Lesson Essential Question 1: How did Augustus rule the Roman Empire?

A. What did Octavian do in 27 B. C.?

1. Octavian told the Senate that he had returned the republic and he offered to resign as the one and only ruler of Rome.

2. The Senate turned down the offer and gave him several titles.

3. In the end, Octavian took the title of Augustus, or “revered one.”

B. What did Octavian become?

1. In practice, Octavian became the first Roman emperor.

2. Define emperor: An emperor is an absolute ruler of an empire.

C. What offices did Augustus hold?

Augustus held the offices of consul, tribune, high priest, and senator all at the same time.

D. Why did Augustus refuse to be crowned emperor?

Augustus knew that most Romans would not accept one-person ruling unless it took the

form of a republic.

E. How did Augustus try to make the Roman Empire like a republic?

1. Augustus kept the assemblies and government officials of the republic.

2. He made sure that senators felt honored.

3. Augustus also talked about tradition and the need to bring back “old Roman virtues”.

F. What did Augustus do to strengthen his own power and what effect did each way have?

1. He had soldiers swear allegiance to him personally.

2. Effect - This gave Augustus control over the armies.

3. Augustus built up his imperial household to take charge of the daily business of government.

4. He chose people based on talent rather than their birth.

5. Effect - This gave slaves and freedmen, former slaves, a chance to be part of the government.

G. What did Augustus do with the boundaries of the Roman Empire?

Augustus wanted the boundaries of the empire to be defendable, so he rounded out the empire to

natural boundaries.

G. What did Augustus do with the boundaries of the Roman Empire?

• North – The Rhine River and the Danube River

• West – The Atlantic Ocean

• South – The Sahara Desert

H. What other improvements did Augustus make to the Roman Empire? What were the results of each

improvement?

Change Result

1. He gave provincial governors longer terms of office.

1. By having longer terms, governors could gain experience in their jobs.

2. He paid provincial governors high salaries.

2. Large salaries would make sure that governors did not feel the need to overtax the people or keep public money for themselves.

3. Augustus ordered a census, or population count, to be taken from time to time.

3. Augustus did this to make sure people were not paying too much or too little taxes.

I. How did Augustus make Rome more beautiful?

1. Augustus wrote strict laws to govern the way people behaved in public.

2. He protected the city by setting up a fire brigade and a police force.

3. He supported learning by building Rome’s first library.

J. How could one summarize the rule of Augustus?

1. He ruled for 41 years.

2. Augustus brought peace to Rome.

3. He gave Romans a sense of pride and patriotism.

4. He made Roman citizenship available to people in the provinces.

5. Augustus reorganized the government so that it ran well for more than 200 years.

Section 2: Pax Romana (p. 234-236)

Lesson Essential Question 2: What happened during Pax Romana?

K. What was Pax Romana?

It was the 200 years of Roman peace brought by Augustus. While there were some revolts and problems, for the most part, Rome and

its people prospered.

L. What happened to trade during Pax Romana?

1. Trade increased.

2. The same coins were used throughout the empire.

3. There were no tariffs placed on goods brought into the country.

4. Define tariff: Tariffs are taxes placed on goods coming in to a country.

5. Goods and money moved freely along the trade routes.

L. What happened to trade during Pax Romana?

6. The Mediterranean was cleared of pirates, making it safe for trade and travel.

7. Shipping became big business.

8. Luxury items passed over Roman roads.

9. Increased trade meant more business for Romans.

10. Shopkeepers grew rich.

M. What changes came to the area of Roman law during Pax Romana?

1. During Pax Romana, Roman law went through major changes.

2. The laws in the Twelve Tables were changed.

3. Roman judges wrote new laws that would be as fair to non-Romans as to Romans.

4. They created laws that were reasonable.

5. Everyone was considered equal before the law.

6. A person was innocent until proven guilty.

N. What is meant by saying Roman law was “standardized”? How did it help?

1. All legal procedures were the same in all parts of the empire.

2. This helped Rome govern a large area successfully.

Section 3: Daily Life (p. 236-239)

Lesson Essential Question 3 – What was daily life like for the Romans?

O. During the early years of the empire, how

many people lived in Rome?

During the early years, about 1 million people lived in Rome.

P. What were the problems facing the city of Rome?

1. One problem was too little housing.

2. The air was polluted.

3. There was crime in the streets.

4. The cost of living was high.

5. Many Romans could not find jobs.

6. They had to pay taxes on almost everything.

Q. Describe the homes of the rich.

1. Rich people lived in a domus.

2. A domus was a house with marble walls, colored stone floors, and windows made of glass.

3. The rooms in the house had furnaces that heated them and pipes brought water even to the upper floors.

R. Describe the homes of the poor.

1. Most Romans lived in apartment houses called islands.

2. Islands were six or seven stories high and took up an entire city block.

3. The higher the floor, the cheaper the rent.

S. Describe the Roman family.

1. The Fathera. The father was head of the household.

b. His word was law.

c. The father arranged the children’s marriages to improve social position or to increase wealth.

S. Describe the Roman family.

2. Cousins were expected to help one another politically.

S. Describe the Roman family.

3. Boysa. Most Roman boys and girls went to school together until

age 12.b. Sons of the poor went to work at age 12.c. At age 12, sons of the rich began their formal education. d. Sons of the rich studied reading, grammar, writing,

music, etc. e. When they were 15, boys entered a school of rhetoric, or

speech and writing, to prepare for a political career.f. Some boys went to Athens or Alexandria to study

philosophy or medicine.

S. Describe the Roman family.

4. Girls/Womena. Girls received a different kind of education.b. When they were 12, their formal education stopped.c. Instead of school, daughters of the wealthy were given

private lessons at home.d. As a result, many Roman women were just as educated,

if not more educated, than Roman men.e. Some women worked in or owned small shops.f. Wealthy women had slaves to do housework.g. Having enslaved people allowed rich women free to

study the arts, literature, and fashions, or to ride chariots in the country.

T. What activity did Roman’s participate in at home?

The Romans gambled with dice at home.

U. What were bathhouses like?

1. The Romans would meet friends at public bathhouses, where they could take warm, cold, or steam baths.

2. The bathhouses of Rome provided more than baths.

3. Some bathhouses had gymnasiums, sports stadiums, and libraries.

4. There, the Romans could watch or play games.

5. They also could listen to lectures, see musicals, exercise, or just sit and talk.

U. What were bathhouses like?

V. How did public games differ between the republic and the empire?

1. During the republic, the games had been staged by the politicians looking for votes.

2. During the empire, the games were staged by the government.

W. What types of games were held?

The games included circuses, chariot races, and gladiatorial games.

X. What was the Circus Maximus?

The Circus Maximus was an oval arena where chariot races were held. It could seat more

than 200,000 people.

Y. Describe gladiators.

1. Define gladiators: Gladiators were people who fought animals or one another in arenas.

2. Most gladiators were enslaved people, prisoners of war, criminals, or poor people.

3. Gladiators were trained by managers who hired them out.

4. A few gladiators were upper-class Romans who wanted excitement and public attention.

5. The night before a fight, gladiators would appear at a feast.

Y. Describe gladiators.

6. There, they could be looked over by fans and gamblers who wanted to bet on the outcome of a match.

7. When gladiators would enter the arena, they would walk past the emperors’ box and say, “Hail Emperor, those who are about to die salute you.”

8. Many gladiators did die.

9. Those whose fighting pleased the crowd became idols of the people.

10. All kinds of animals were used in the public games.

Section 4: Fall of the Empire (p. 240-241, 243-244)

Lesson Essential Question 4: Why did the Roman Empire decline?

Z. What happened to the Roman Empire?

1. Pax Romana ended after about 200 years.

2. From then on, the Roman Empire grew worse.

3. By 476 A. D., there was no empire left.

4. Instead, much of western Europe was a patchwork of Germanic kingdoms.

5. The eastern part of the empire, however, lasted another 1,000 years as part of the Byzantine Empire.

AA. What were the reasons the Roman Empire fell?

1. The first was political.a. The emperors had no written rule over who

inherited the throne.

b. Sometimes, the throne was inherited by a son.

c. Sometimes, an emperor adopted an heir to the throne.

d. Between 96 A. D. and 180 A. D., all emperors were adopted.

e. The system worked well until then.

AA. What were the reasons the Roman Empire fell?

2. The second reason for Rome’s downfall was economic.a. To stay in office, an emperor had to keep the soldiers who

supported him happy.b. He did this by giving the soldiers high wages. c. This meant more and more money was needed to pay for the

army. d. Romans had to pay higher taxes.e. In addition to taxes, the Romans began to suffer from inflation.f. Define inflation: Inflation is a period of ever-increasing prices.g. Since there were no new conquests, there was no gold coming in

to Rome, but there was gold going out.h. People began to barter for goods.i. Define barter: Bartering is when goods are exchanged without

using money.

AA. What were the reasons the Roman Empire fell?

3. The third major reason Rome fell centered on foreign enemies.

a. Roman borders were open for attack.

b. Germanic hunters and herders began to raid Greece and Gaul.

c. Trade and farming in Greece and Gaul declined.

d. Cities again began to surround themselves with walls to protect themselves.

Diocletian and Constantine I (p. 241, 243)

Lesson Essential Question 5 – What efforts were made to save the Roman Empire?

BB. What two emperors tried to save the Roman Empire?

1. Diocletian

2. Constantine I

Diocletian Constantine I

CC. Who was Diocletian?

Diocletian was the son of a freedman.

DD. What changes did Diocletian make as emperor?

1. He fortified the frontiers to stop invasion.

2. Diocletian reorganized different governments to make them work better.

3. To keep prices from rising, he set maximum prices for wages and goods.

4. To make sure goods were produced, he ordered workers to stay in the same jobs until they died.

5. Diocletian made city officials personally responsible for the taxes their communities had to pay.

EE. What was one of the most important changes Diocletian made?

Diocletian made the policy rule by divine right for the emperor.

FF. Define rule by divine right:

A policy in which an emperors’ powers and the right to rule did not come from the people

but from the gods.

GG. What did Diocletian do to the empire?

1. Diocletian divided the empire into two parts because he realized the empire was too big for one person to rule.

2. Diocletian ruled the richer eastern portion, while someone else ruled the western portion.

GG. What did Diocletian do to the empire?

HH. What did Constantine do to prevent people from leaving their jobs when things got bad?

1. The sons of workers had to follow their fathers’ trade.

2. The sons of farmers had to stay and work the land their fathers worked.

3. The sons of ex-soldiers had to serve in the army.

II. What did wealthy Romans do to avoid Constantine’s control and pressure?

1. Wealthy landowners moved to their villas, or country estates.

2. Most villas were like small, independent cities.

3. Each villa produced enough food and goods to meet the needs of everyone who lived in the villa.

JJ. What move did Constantine make in 330 A. D.? Why?

Constantine moved the capital from a dying Rome east to a new city called

Constantinople in present-day Turkey. Constantinople was wealthier than Rome.

End of the Empire (p. 243-244)

KK. Why were the Germans able to defeat the Romans?

One reason the Germans were able to defeat the Romans was because an invention the

Germans borrowed from the Huns, the iron stirrup.

LL. What happened in 406 A. D.?

1. The Rhine River froze.

2. Groups of Germans crossed the frozen river and entered Gaul.

3. The Romans were not able to force them back across the border.

MM. What happened in 410 A. D.?

1. The Germanic chief Alaric and his soldiers invaded Rome.

2. They burned records and looted the treasury.

3. The Roman Senate told the people, “You can no longer rely on Rome for finance or direction. You are on your own.”

MM. What happened in 410 A. D.?