OUR WINDOW TO THE WORLD: SONIA´S BLOG: UNIT 11: ANCIENT ROME

UNIT 11: ANCIENT ROME

ROMA Y SU IMPERIO (ARTEHISTORIA)

This video is about the formation of Rome. It is in Spanish but it has subtitles in English. It gives us a clear idea of the origins of Rome.

ROMAN HISTORY: THE MYTHICS KINGS 753-509 BC

This video covers the mythic origins of Rome from Aeneas to the founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC through the seven kings to the death of Lucius Tarquinius in 509 BC.

This is from the podcast series The History Of Rome by Mike Duncan.

ROMAN HISTORY - THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 509-386 BC

This video covers the the republic era from 509 - 386 BC and covers the various wars and event of that time frame.
This is from the podcast series The History Of Rome by Mike Duncan.

ROME: THE PUNIC WARS

**This video may be used freely in its original unaltered state for educational purposes!**

THE ROMAN EMPIRE EPISODE 1: RISE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
(HISORY DOCUMENTARY)

Two thousand years ago, one civilisation held the entire Western world in its grasp. From Northern Europe to Africa, it imposed laws, ideas and a single language. Rome was the super power and a colossal empire.

Travel back in time and experience the exporting of the Roman world through the glory years of conquest to the longest period of stability the world has ever known.

Two thousand years ago, one civilisation held the entire Western world in its grasp. From Northern Europe to Africa and the Middle East. It imposed laws, ideas and a single language. Rome was the super power of the ancient world. Indeed later super powers never stopped learning the lessons of her spectacular rise and fall. Rome truly was a colossal empire. During the rise of the Roman Empire, it was not always easy to separate virtue from vice, or hero from villain. Indeed, all too often, they were one and the same. Rome was still an adolescent discovering who it wanted to be, and its dream of greatness was a prlude to a nightmare. It was not for another 100 years that the state would mature and commit to one enduring view of itself. It would be the army, more than any other force that was destined to shape Rome's lasting identity.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE EPISODE 2: LEGIONS OF CONQUEST
(HISORY DOCUMENTARY)

In her early years Rome was a Democratic Republic, its military an army of Roman citizens. For centuries, it was the proud duty of every landowning Roman to serve in the name of the Eternal City, indeed this was the first army that was literally built as part of the fabric of the state. Even though these citizen soldiers were not professional fighting men, they were the best trained forces the world had ever seen. These Roman soldiers had begun as defenders of their city, they became the most successful warriors in history. They conquered city after city, nation after nation, Rome was the greatest empire the world had ever known. In their brutal grasp, they held a huge expanse together for more than 1,000 years. "Legions Of Conquest" is a saga of proud men and almost unending triumph. It's the story of the conquest of the Roman Empire.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE EPISODE 3: SEDUCTION OF POWER

(HISORY DOCUMENTARY)

Rome seemed to own the world. Her empire stretched from Scotland to the Sahara. Her army controlled three continents. Fifty million people lived under her laws. Rome's Empire was the greatest political prize the world had ever seen. "Seduction of Power" is the story of those who would do anything to win it. The same political system that had created the magnificent monuments of the Roman Empire, the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Forum and provided "bread and circuses" for all, would prove a breeding ground fo self-interest, assassination and civil wars. The same highly-disciplined Legions that had conquered an area of more than two million square miles would desolve into warring factions, be turned against Rome's own citizenry and in the end, prove unable to maintain the expanse of its conquests.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE EPISODE 4: GRASP OF AN EMPIRE

(HISORY DOCUMENTARY)

Rome conquered with the brute force of her military machine, sweeping entire peoples into her empire. With the wars over, the treaties signed, the bodies buried, whether you were a Gaul or a Carthaginian, whether you were from the East or the West, life as you had known it would never be the same again. At its height, the Roman Empire ruled 50 million people as a single civilisation. The Roman Empire was the largest and the most enduring of its kind. The trade it facilitated, the roads it built, the breathtaking infrastructure, both architectural and phychological, are all part of Rome's colossal legacy. In this fascinating programme; "Grasp of an Empire", the veiwer will experience the exporting of the Roman world through the glory years of conquest into the stability of the longest peace the world had ever known; The Pax Romana.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE EPISODE 5: CULT OF ORDER

(HISORY DOCUMENTARY)

Rome fashioned a cultural template that resonates today in Western art, architecture, medicine and urban planning. As the Roman Empire grew, this pagan model blended with a host of beliefs reflecting the multi-cultural world it encompassed. From this mix emerged Christianity, by its very nature at odds with the deeply rooted values of Roman Culture. Romans thought they had united the world. But after centuries of conquest and glory, resentment festered within. Repression and chaos replaced tolerance and order; and the gap between the wealthy and the poor had become unimaginably wide. Indeed ninety-five percent of the population struggled beneath the povety line. Cults of dessent emerged that threatened to devide the empire forever. "Cult of Order" aims to track the corruption of the values that made Rome 'great'; as exellence gave way to excess.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE EPISODE 6: THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

(HISORY DOCUMENTARY)

Rome's glory had shone for a thousand years. The Roman Empire had united all lands from Spain to Syrhia, created more prosperity, more stability and more peace than the Western world had ever seen - nothing lasts forever. In the 3rd Century AD, civil war engulfed the empire. Chaos and corruption undermined it from within and from every direction Rome's enemies gathered for the kill. By the end of the 4th century, the Roman Empire was nothing more than a fragile military machine that was no match for the invading barbarians. The inevitable occurred in 410 AD when Rome, the historic heart of the Empire, was sacked. As the Vandals stormed the city they were shocked at what they found. Gone were the crowds of the Golden Age. An eerie silence greeted the warriors as they wandered the same streets that their ancestors had walked down in chains 150 years earlier. The inhabitants of Rome, with their empire crumbling, had been chased away, the glory that had been Rome's was of another day.

THE STORY OF ROMAN EMPIRE (FULL BBC DOCUMENTARY)

10 Innovations That Built Ancient Rome
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The Western Roman Empire may have fallen more than 1,500 years ago, but its rich legacy of innovation and invention can still be seen today. The Romans were prodigious builders and expert civil engineers, and their thriving civilization produced advances in technology, culture and architecture that remained unequaled for centuries. From aqueducts to newspapers, find out more about 10 innovations that built ancient Rome: 1. Aqueducts. 2. Concrete. 3. Newspapers. 4. Welfare. 5. Bound Books. 6. Roads and highways. 7. Roman arches. 8. The Julian calendar. 9. The Twelve Tables and the Corpus Juris Civilis. 10. Battlefired surgery.

The Romans enjoyed many amenities for their day, including public toilets, underground sewage systems, fountains and ornate public baths. None of these aquatic innovations would have been possible without the Roman aqueduct. First developed around 312 B.C., these engineering marvels used gravity to transport water along stone, lead and concrete pipelines and into city centers. Aqueducts liberated Roman cities from a reliance on nearby water supplies and proved priceless in promoting public health and sanitation. While the Romans did not invent the aqueduct—primitive canals for irrigation and water transport existed earlier in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon—they used their mastery of civil engineering to perfect the process. Hundreds of aqueducts eventually sprang up throughout the empire, some of which transported water as far as 60 miles. Perhaps most impressive of all, Roman aqueducts were so well built that some are still in use to this day. Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain, for instance, is supplied by a restored version of the Aqua Virgo, one of ancient Rome’s 11 aqueducts.

Grand Tour Collection/Corbis

Many ancient Roman structures like the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum are still standing today thanks to the development of Roman cement and concrete. The Romans first began building with concrete over 2,100 years ago and used it throughout the Mediterranean basin in everything from aqueducts and buildings to bridges and monuments. Roman concrete was considerably weaker than its modern counterpart, but it has proved remarkably durable thanks to its unique recipe, which used slaked lime and a volcanic ash known as pozzolana to create a sticky paste. Combined with volcanic rocks called tuff, this ancient cement formed a concrete that could effectively endure chemical decay. Pozzolana helped Roman concrete set quickly even when submerged in seawater, enabling the construction of elaborate baths, piers and harbors

LeitnerR/iStockphoto.com

The Romans were known to contribute to public discourse through the use of official texts detailing military, legal and civil issues. Known as Acta Diurna, or “daily acts,” these early newspapers were written on metal or stone and then posted in heavily trafficked areas like the Roman Forum. Acta are believed to have first appeared around 131 B.C. and typically included details of Roman military victories, lists of games and gladiatorial bouts, birth and death notices and even human interest stories. There was also an Acta Senatus, which detailed the proceedings of the Roman senate. These were traditionally withheld from public view until 59 B.C., when Julius Caesar ordered their publication as part of the many populist reforms he instituted during his first consulship.

G. Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images

Ancient Rome was the wellspring for many modern government programs, including measures that subsidized food, education and other expenses for the needy. These entitlement programs date back to 122 B.C., when the tribune Gaius Gracchus instituted lex frumentaria, a law that ordered Rome’s government to supply its citizens with allotments of cheaply priced grain. This early form of welfare continued under Trajan, who implemented a program known as “alimenta” to help feed, clothe and educate orphans and poor children. Other items including corn, oil, wine, bread and pork were eventually added to the list of price-controlled goods, which may have been collected with tokens called “tesserae.” These generous handouts helped Roman emperors win favor with the public, but some historians have argued that they also contributed to Rome’s economic decline.

aeduard/iStockphoto.com

For most of human history, literature took the form of unwieldy clay tablets and scrolls. The Romans streamlined the medium by creating the codex, a stack of bound pages that is recognized as the earliest incarnation of the book. The first codices were made of bound wax tablets, but these were later replaced by animal skin parchment that more clearly resembled pages. Ancient historians note that Julius Caesar created an early version of a codex by stacking pages of papyrus to form a primitive notebook, but bound codices did not become popular in Rome until the first century or thereabouts. Early Christians became some of the first to adopt the new technology, using it extensively to produce copies of the Bible.

Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis

At its height, the Roman empire encompassed nearly 1.7 million square miles and included most of southern Europe. To ensure effective administration of this sprawling domain, the Romans built the most sophisticated system of roads the ancient world had ever seen. These Roman roads—many of which are still in use today—were constructed with a combination of dirt, gravel and bricks made from granite or hardened volcanic lava. Roman engineers adhered to strict standards when designing their highways, creating arrow-straight roads that curved to allow for water drainage. The Romans built over 50,000 miles of road by 200 A.D., primarily in the service of military conquest. Highways allowed the Roman legion to travel as far as 25 miles per day, and a complex network of post houses meant that messages and other intelligence could be relayed with astonishing speed. These roads were often managed in the same way as modern highways. Stone mile markers and signs informed travelers of the distance to their destination, while special complements of soldiers acted as a kind of highway patrol.

Vanni Archive/Corbis

Arches have existed for roughly 4,000 years, but the ancient Romans were the first to effectively harness their power in the construction of bridges, monuments and buildings. The ingenious design of the arch allowed the weight of buildings to be evenly distributed along various supports, preventing massive Roman structures like the Colosseum from crumbling under their own weight. Roman engineers improved on arches by flattening their shape to create what is known as a segmental arch and repeating them at various intervals to build stronger supports that could span large gaps when used in bridges and aqueducts. Along with columns, domes and vaulted ceilings, the arch became one of the defining characteristics of the Roman architectural style.

grublee/iStockphoto.com

The modern Gregorian calendar is modeled very closely on a Roman version that dates back more than 2,000 years. Early Roman calendars were likely cribbed from Greek models that operated around the lunar cycle. But because the Romans considered even numbers unlucky, they eventually altered their calendar to ensure that each month had an odd number of days. This practice continued until 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar and the astronomer Sosigenes instituted the Julian system to align the calendar with the solar year. Caesar lengthened the number of days in a year from 355 to the now-familiar 365 and eventually included the 12 months as we know them today. The Julian calendar was almost perfect, but it miscalculated the solar year by 11 minutes. These few minutes ultimately threw the calendar off by several days. This led to the adoption of the nearly identical Gregorian calendar in 1582, which fixed the discrepancy by altering the schedule of leap years.

Subpoena, habeas corpus, pro bono, affidavit—all these terms derive from the Roman legal system, which dominated Western law and government for centuries. The basis for early Roman law came from the Twelve Tables, a code that formed an essential part of the constitution during the Republican era. First adopted around 450 B.C., the Twelve Tables detailed laws regarding property, religion and divorce and listed punishments for everything from theft to black magic. Even more influential than the Twelve Tables was the Corpus Juris Civilis, an ambitious attempt to synthesize Rome’s history of law into one document. Established by the Byzantine emperor Justinian between 529 and 535 A.D., the Corpus Juris included modern legal concepts such as the notion that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. After the fall of the Roman empire, it became the basis for many of the world’s legal systems. Along with English common law and sharia law, Roman law remains hugely influential and is still reflected in the civil laws of several European nations as well as the U.S. state of Louisiana.

G. Nimatallah/De Agostini/Getty Images

The Romans invented many surgical tools and pioneered the use of the cesarean section, but their most valuable contributions to medicine came on the battlefield. Under the leadership of Augustus, they established a military medical corps that was one of the first dedicated field surgery units. These specially trained medics saved countless lives through the use of Roman medical innovations like hemostatic tourniquets and arterial surgical clamps to curb blood loss. Roman field doctors also performed physicals on new recruits and helped stem the spread of disease by overseeing sanitation in military camps. They were even known to disinfect instruments in hot water before use, pioneering a form of antiseptic surgery that was not fully embraced until the 19th century. Roman military medicine proved so advanced at treating wounds and promoting wellness that soldiers tended to live longer than the average citizen despite constantly facing the hazards of combat.
THE CRISIS OF THE 3RD CENTURY (DOCUMENTARY)

(AD 235–284) A period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. This documentary talks about events happened before and after these dates.

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: TRADE AND ECONOMY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

LIFE IN ROME: GLADIATORS

Paul Denis, Assistant Curator World Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum, describes the Roman gladiatorial combat. Romans loved mass spectator sports and flocked to theatres to this dramatic fight to death. To learn more about life in ancient Rome, visit the Eaton Gallery of Rome on your next visit to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

LIFE IN ROME: BREAD AND GAMES

Clemens Reichel, Associate Curator World Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum, takes you inside an ancient Roman theater in present day Bosra in south eastern Syria. To learn more about life in ancient Rome, visit the Eaton Gallery of Rome on your next visit to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN COLLOSEUM (HISTORY CHANNEL)

The development of Rome's Flavian amphitheater.

ROMAN ENGINEERING: AQUEDUCTS (HISTORY CHANNEL)

The development of Roman aqueducts.

ROME: ENGINERRING AN EMPIRE

One of the most powerful civilizations in history, the Roman Empire roled the world for more than five centuries. Although renowned for its military prowess, Rome s real power stemmed from its unprecedented mastery of urban planning and engineering.

Hosted by Peter Weller, ROME: ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE chronicles Rome s spectacular structural history from the rise of Julius Caesar in 55 BC to the Empire s eventual collapse in c. 537 AD. Each of Rome s legendary rulers left their mark on the city--some stately, some sordid--and their collective ambition caused a surge of innovation and ingenuity that led to Rome s glorious ascendance. Examine the planning and construction of the city s greatest masterpieces, including the awe-inspiring Colosseum and its mysterious subterranean aqueducts, and piece together Rome s magnificent past through its architectural triumphs.

Abundant in exclusive location footage and cutting-edge CGI graphics, the multiple Emmy Award-winning ROME: ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE breathes new life into the incredible history and majesty of the epic Roman Empire.

PART I