DISCOVERING ANCIENT ROM hen we think of Rome we nat urally visualize the Colosseum the grandest of all Roman build ings We also think of the Forum the first and greatest of all government buildings that contributed to build our approach to modern democracy Yet another image that comes to mind is of the aqueduct sys tem which brought fresh clean water from the countryside But when we think of the Roman people we should perhaps be most impressed by their staying power Rome was a republic for almost five hundred years and then an empire for another five hundred No other people built so much or lasted so long at the top How did they accomplish it This book treats ancient Rome in four distinct chapters The first describes the rise of Rome and the second its fall The tran sition from kingdom to republic and from republic to empire is discussed The third chapter examines how the Romans lived and how they experienced their world And the fourth and final chapter tells how Rome's accomplishments continue to influ ence the world today When all is said and H done the Romans will be revealed for what they really were builders of our world
ODU BP TV The Forum was the center Roman government but it was of E also the center of the Roman world Distances throughout the Roman Empire were measured by the miles that separated locations from the
CHAPTER ONE FROM KINGDOM TO EMPIRE ome wasn't built in a day In fact it took about seven hundred years to progress from a small town on the Tiber River to an empire that straddled the entire Mediterranean world mean ing Italy Greece Egypt and North Africa as well as the many islands of that inland sea Myths and Legends Romans felt they were special right from the very beginning One of their foundation stories which is probably mythical is that Aeneas one of the princes of Troy escaped the Greek destruction of his city and wandered for many years before founding the city of Rome Another story is that two brothers Romulus and Remus who were raised by a she wolf founded Rome together During the early years roughly 753 509 BCE the Romans developed a complex religious belief
Romulus and Remus raised by a she wolf were believed to be the founders of Rome The city fathers marked the traditional date as 753 BCE based on the worship of many gods and god desses The gods and goddesses of ancient Rome were a jealous envious and rather human like group They fought each other frequently and sometimes they involved humans in their quarrels Roman Government The first settlers of Rome were people known as Latins The area around Rome
