Basic information about the Roman Empire and the invasion in Britain. I did this job for a presentation at the University. This aimed to explain history to primary school children.

1. ROMAN
BRITAIN

2. Britons before the Roman invasions:
•Lived in tribes, usually ruled by a king.
• Religion was in the hand of the Druids,
and priests acted as judges.
• The Druids encouraged fierce British
resistance to the Roman invasion.

3. Rome is now the capital city of Italy.
2,000 years ago it was the centre of
the Roman Empire.

4. How did Rome get its name?

5. Twin boys, Romulus and Remus, were
the sons of Mars (the Roman god or
war). An evil uncle took them as babies
from their mother and threw them into
the River Tiber to drown. The babies
floated to land, and a mother wolf fed
and cared for them. They grew up and
were found by the shepherd Faustulus,
who took them home and looked after
them until they were grown up.

6. Years later, Mars told his sons to build a city where
they had been found. They decided to build a city
of their own because they could not agree where to
build it. One day, Remus made fun of the wall
Romulus had built around the city. The twins
argued, fought, and Romulus killed Remus. The
legend says that Romulus became the first King of
Rome in 753BC and populated his new
city with runaway slaves and convicted
criminals. Today, historians and
archaeologists agree that people were
living in Rome long before 753 BC, but
the legend is one of the most famous
in world history.

8. How was Rome ruled?
•The people of Rome were farmers and shepherds.
For a time, they were under the control of their
neighbours, the Etruscans.
•Rome became a rich city, ruled by kings.
•In 509 BC, the Romans drove out their last king,
Tarquin the Proud. Rome then became a republic.
•The republic was ruled by a Senate.

9. Senate: (Assembly of elders) Rich men,
called senators, ran the government.
Poor men (called plebeians) had much less power.
A plebeian, who was a
free man could be a
Roman citizen.
People in lands conquered
by the Romans could
become citizens too.
Women and slaves though,
could not be citizens .

10. * Four magistrates were elected
annually, two to act as judges and
two to control finance and
building.
* The Senate could not always
control the Roman army.
* Army generals sometimes fought
one another.
* Rome's best general was Julius
Caesar.

13. •He lived in the 1st century BC and
invaded Britain twice.
•Caesar came close to being emperor
of Rome, but he was murdered in 44
BC.
•By then, Rome was more than a city.
It was the capital of an empire.
•The Romans ruled lands from France
to North Africa.

14. Why did the Romans invade Britain?
* The Romans ruled Gaul (Gallia). Today
it's France.
* In 55 B.C. Julius Caesar led his army
across the sea from Gaul to Britain. He
wanted to make Britain part of
Rome's empire and also wanted to rule and
exploit the islands from the economic
point of view.
* The British fought bravely.
* Finally Caesar went back to Rome.

15. •Next year, in 54 B.C. the Romans came back. This
time Caesar had 30,000 soldiers. (Five legions).
•He won several battles against Briton armies but
finally the Britons claimed for peace.
•As Rome had some civil disturbances Caesar
granted to the Britons a treaty in which they have to
pay a tribute.
• Romans then went back home.

16. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times during
a session of the Senate.

18. * In 43 A.D. Under Claudius, the
Empire underwent its first major
expansion.
* The most far-reaching conquest was
the conquest of Britannia. Name
given by the Romans to the islands.
*Britain was an attractive target for
Rome because of its material wealth –
particularly mines and slaves.

19. ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER
CLAUDIUS´ RULE

20. Who was in the Roman army?
•Only men could be in the Roman Army.
• Every soldier was a Roman citizen.
He had to be at least 20 years old.
• Most soldiers in the Roman Empire came from
countries outside Italy. (Citizenship could be granted
by the emperor to anyone)
• Soldiers had to stay in the army for at least 25 years.
Then they could retire, with a pension or a
gift of land to farm.

21. The army was organized in a very simple way:
• 5000 Legionaries (Roman Citizens who were in the army)
would form a Legion, a hundred and twenty of those being
cavalry, and each was commanded by a Roman Senator, a
member of the governing body.
• The Legion would be split into centuries
(80 men) controlled by a Centurion or
senior officer.
• The centuries would then be divided into
smaller groups with different jobs
to perform.

22. • There was a second group called the
Auxiliaries.
• They also could be from any part of the
empire but an auxiliary was a soldier who
was not a Roman citizen. He was paid a
third as much as a legionary.
* Auxiliaries guarded forts and frontiers,
but also fought in battles, often in the front
lines, where it was the most dangerous.

23. What armour and weapons did the Romans have?
A Roman soldier wore an armour made from strips of iron and
Leather (lorica segmentata in Latin).
He carried a shield (scutum), curved so it protected his body.
The soldier's main weapons were a short sword for stabbing
(gladius) and a long spear, or javelin (pilum) for throwing.
The javelin had a sharp iron point,
and a thin, bendy shaft.
On his head was a metal helmet (galea).

25. LEGIONARY
CENTURION

27. In every place they conquered, they took their civilization with
them. Romans built cities that they could live in.
The Romans liked everything to be organized and orderly. The
streets were laid out in a criss cross pattern. Usually they would
have two main
streets that
divide the town.
They did not push
back the inhabitants
in the invasions, for
the contrary, they
taught them how to
live in this urban life.
ROMAN CITY

28. * Every city had a governor, appointed directly by the emperor .
He was chosen from among the most exceptional of the
legionary commanders.
* The second in command but of almost equal power
was the procurator, also appointed by the emperor. He was a
civil servant in charge of finances.

29. * Every Roman city contained barracks, hospitals, granaries,
storerooms, baths, stables, basilica, forum, marketplace,
amphitheatres, theatres, temples, etc.

30. Ancient Roman road
Roman soldiers needed to march from one part of the country to another
quickly. So the Romans built roads. Roman roads were made from stones, and
were better than muddy tracks for travel on foot or in carts. So they made
travelling around Britain easier for everyone.

32. Trade benefited by the introduction of the roads by
Giving merchants the ability to move goods between
towns much faster and easier and with less risk of
damage to their goods.

33. Appian Way: Begun in 312 BC and extending
Almost 330 miles, it was the main road from
Rome to southeast Italy and beyond.

34. The forum was like a town square. Important government buildings
like law courts and offices were built around it and market stalls
were sometimes set up inside it. It was often the centre of the city
where people met and did business.

36. The bath houses
were not only
places for washing
but some people
went to meet
friends and spend
their free time.
Baths could be very
hot or very
cold. Men and
women
either had separate
bath houses or
used the same one
at different
times.

40. The amphitheatre was for sports and gladiator fights
Roman amphitheatre in Pula, Croatia

43. Colosseum Amphitheatre,
Rome, Italy

44. The basilica was in
the centre of the
town and was like a
town hall.
Important
government
buildings were
built inside it.

45. The Latin word basilica ,derived from Greek
(the tribunal chamber of a king).
The word was originally used to describe an open,
Roman, public court building, usually
located adjacent to the
forum of a Roman town.
By extension
it was applied to Christian
Buildings of the same
form and continues
to be used in an
architectural
sense to describe those
buildings with a central
nave and aisles.

46. Remains of the Basilica of Maxentius and
Constantine in Rome. The building's
northern aisle is all that remains.

47. The temple was where the Romans went to worship their gods.
The Romans believed in many different gods. When they took
over a new land they often took over the gods worshiped there
as well. Some emperors were worshiped as gods after they died.
Later Christianity
spread
through the Roman
Empire and
became the official
religion in
313 AD, when the
Roman emperor
Constantine declared
tolerance
of Christianity.
Temple of Augustus and Livia

48. Rich people lived in houses (domus) but poor people
lived in blocks of flats (insulae).

50. How did Romans heat their homes?
They had central heating at home,
in villas and in public baths.

51. The heating system was kept going by slaves, who kept a fire
blazing in a furnace to heat warm air. The warm air moved
around the building through spaces under the floors and
between the walls. The underfloor space was made by raising
the floor on top of piles of tile or stone.
The Roman heating system was called a hypocaust.

54. What is an aqueduct?
Their towns had sewers and piped water supplies.
Sometimes water had to be brought from far away.

55. An aqueduct was a kind of bridge
that carried water across
the valley and into the city.

56. .
On top was a stone channel to carry water
to supply towns with it from springs,
rivers or lakes.

57. Theatres
Were similiar in construction to the amphitheatre
but D-shapped where citizens could enjoy plays, singing and
recitation.

58. THE VILLAS

59. A Roman villa is a term used to describe a Roman country
house built for the upper class during the Roman
republic and the Roman Empire.

61. Mosaic Art
Mosaic is a king of art made by laying down small
pieces of different colored material to form pictures or
patterns.
It was used by Romans to decorated mainly floors of
their villas but also walls or ceilings.

62. Roman mosaics in
Winchester City museum

63. Mosaic with a Peacock and Flowers,
3rd–4th century Roman or Byzantine

64. Did Romans go to school?
Only quite rich families could afford to pay a teacher.
Girls were only prepared to manage household
matters, but some were taught at home by
tutors, who were often educated slaves.
Boys from rich families learned history,
maths, and literature, to prepare
them for jobs in the
army or government.
In poor families, girls and
boys had to work, helping their parents.

65. http://www.romanobritain.org/12_innovations/inv_central_heating.htm#.VRX--fyG9uY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/questions_01.shtml#three
http://www.britannia.com/history/romantime.html
http://es.slideshare.net/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/
http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/preload.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWYhMoDTN0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-VmbxpEFAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmCtx11izBQ