chapter twenty-seven: The Rise of Rome (1)

chapter twenty-seven: The Rise of Rome (1)

Romulus and Remus

Assyria was a great kingdom, but it was conquered by Baby-

lon. Babylon was a great empire, but it was conquered by Persia.

Persia and Greece were great empires, but they were conquered

by Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great built his own

huge kingdom, but then he died and his generals broke the

kingdom up into pieces.

That is what the story of the ancient world is like. One king

comes along, wins battles, and builds a big empire. His empire

lasts for a little while, but the kings who come after him slowly

lose control of it. Then another king from another country does

the same thing and builds another empire. After a little while,

that empire too falls apart. This happens over and over again.

So you won’t be surprised to learn that we’re going to learn

now about another big empire. But this one was bigger and

stronger than any empire we’ve read about before. It grew to

be bigger than Alexander’s empire, and it lasted much longer.

As a matter of fact, it lasted for hundreds and hundreds of

years. Over a thousand years after this empire fell, people were

still learning its language, reading its books, and copying its

government. This empire was called Rome.

At first, Rome was just a tiny village in the hills of Italy.

Go west from Greece and you’ll see a piece of land that looks

like a boot, jutting down into the Mediterranean Sea. This is

called a peninsula, because it sticks out into the water. This

peninsula is Italy.

The people who lived in Rome told this story about the

village’s beginning:

Once upon a time a great king named Numitor

had twin grandsons—strong, healthy baby

boys, named Romulus and Remus. But Numitor

also had a wicked younger brother who plotted

against him and stole his throne. The new, evil

king wanted to get rid of anyone who might claim

to be the rightful king.

“Those babies might grow up to take my

crown!” he said. “Go put them in the Tiber River!”

So a servant took the boys down to the Tiber

River. But she felt sorry for them, and put them into

a basket and pushed it out into the current.

The basket floated along the river until it got

stuck in the root of a fig tree at the river’s edge. That

might have been the end of the two boys—but a

wolf heard them crying. She peered around the

trunk of the fig tree, and saw the basket with the

babies in it.

Now, this wolf had cubs of her own. She felt

pity for the two hungry babies, and so she tugged

the basket up onto the bank and then back to her

own den. There, she raised the babies with her own

wolf cubs, as her own.

One day a shepherd, out looking for a lost lamb,

heard a coo and then a gurgle from the brush sur-

rounding the wolf’s den. He pushed some branches

aside—and there saw two fat, happy baby boys,

playing naked among the wolf cubs. The shepherd

and his wife had no children of their own. So he

took the boys home, and the two of them raised the

babies to be tall, handsome young men.

When Romulus and Remus were grown, they

went back to the fig tree where their basket had

landed, so many years ago. They looked around

and saw seven hills. “This is the perfect place to

build a town,” they said to each other. “A town

on top of these seven hills would be strong and

hard to attack!” So they began to build a town.

And Romulus declared himself the king of this

new town. He put himself in charge of building

a wall around it. “This wall will keep us safe!” he

declared. “Anyone who climbs over my wall will

instantly be killed!”

But Remus was angry with his brother. He

thought to himself: “We built this town together!

Why should Romulus be the ruler of it? I want to

be the leader.” So he walked up to the wall and

vaulted easily over it.

“What kind of a wall is that?” he sneered.

“Anyone can climb over it! How can you keep this

town safe?”

Romulus was so angry that he drew his sword,

charged at his brother, and killed him on the spot.

Then he named the town Rome, after himself. He

was Rome’s first king.

What does this story remind you of? Do you remember

the story of Sargon, the ruler of one of the very first kingdoms

we studied? He floated down the river in a basket until some-

one rescued him. And do you remember Cyrus? He was also

raised by shepherds in the woods. Ancient people liked these

stories about their kings. The stories made the kings seem

even more legendary—like great fairy-tale heroes who could

do anything!

The Power of Rome

The legend of Romulus and Remus tells us that Romulus

was the first king of Rome. Other stories about ancient Rome

say that he was the first of seven kings of Rome. These kings

fought with other tribes of people who lived in Italy. The kings

wanted to take over more and more land, so that Rome would

get larger and stronger.

The most important Italian tribe was called the Etruscans.

The Etruscans lived north of Rome, in the hills and mountains

of Italy. They liked music and art, and painted pictures that

we can still see today. The Etruscans also grew crops, made

weapons and jewelry out of metal, and sailed back and forth

between Greece and Italy, trading with the Greeks. On these

trips, the Etruscans learned how to use the Greek alphabet and

worship the Greek gods

The Roman kings fought with the Etruscans. But they also

traded with them, and learned from them. The Etruscans taught

the Romans how to dress like Greeks. They told the Romans

about the Greek gods. The Romans learned about painting

and music from the Etruscans as well. And they borrowed the

customs of the Etruscan kings, who wore special robes called

togas, with purple borders. The purple showed everyone how

important the king was.

The Etruscan kings also carried a bundle of rods with an

axe blade in it, as a symbol of royal power. The rods showed

that the king had the power to punish anyone who did wrong.

The axe blade showed that he could execute people who did

very evil things. The Romans liked this symbol of power, which

was called the fasces. Soon Roman kings, like Etruscan kings,

wore special purple-bordered togas and carried fasces. Do you

have an old dime? Look on the back of it and you will see a

picture of the fasces.

American courtrooms and government offices sometimes

copy this Roman symbol, even today. They have a fasces in them

to show that the judges have the power to punish criminals.

The courtroom in the United States Capitol building has two

fasces on the wall, one on each side of the American flag.

The fasces showed how powerful the king was. But after

seven kings, the people of Rome decided that the king had too

much power. They didn’t like living in a monarchy—a coun-

try where the king was in charge. Instead, they wanted Rome

to be a place where the people could help make the laws and

choose the leaders.

Do you remember the Greek city that wanted the people

to help make laws and choose leaders? The city of Athens was

a democracy, where the people voted on their laws and leaders.

But Rome didn’t become a democracy like Athens, though. In

Athens, all the men who weren’t slaves could vote about laws

and leaders. But in Rome, only rich and powerful men called

patricians were allowed to have a say in the government. Two

of these patricians were appointed by the other patricians to be

the leaders of the city. They were called consuls. The Romans

thought that having two leaders, instead of one king, would

keep any one man from getting too much power. The two

consuls were supposed to keep an eye on each other! Neither

one could do exactly what he pleased.

Multiple Choice

According to the legend, who were Romulus and Remus?

• a. the first two Etruscan kings

• b. two brothers who founded Rome

• c. the first two consuls of Rome

• d. two of the Roman gods

Multiple Choice

Romulus and Remus were raised by ______.

• a. a wolf and then a shepherd

• b. their grandfather

• c. the servant who was told to drown them

• d. the king of Rome

Multiple Choice

Why did Romulus kill Remus?

• a. He was angry because Remus wanted to be king.

• b. He was jealous of Remus because their grandfather liked him better.

• c. He was angry because Remus jumped over his wall.

• d. He was tired of sharing everything with him.

Multiple Choice

The Etruscans traded with the _______.

• a. Phoenicians

• b. Egyptians

• c. Romans

• d. Greeks

Multiple Choice

Which of the following did the Romans not learn from the Etruscans?

• a. how to dress

• b. painting and music

• c. about the Greek gods

• d. how to fight

Multiple Choice

A __________ is a symbol of power that shows a bundle of rods with an ax blade.

• a. fasces

• b. consul

• c. dime

• d. patrician

Multiple Choice

Who could vote on laws and leaders in Rome?

• a. all men who weren’t slaves

• b. only the rich and powerful men

• c. all of the men

• d. only the consuls

Multiple Choice

How many consuls were appointed in Rome?

• one

• ten

• five

• two

Multiple Choice

The Roman Empire lasted for hundreds and hundreds of years.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The Roman Empire was not as large as Alexander the Great’s empire.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Ancient people liked stories about their kings that made them seem like great fairy-tale heroes.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Rome was a democracy just like Greece.

• True

• False