Roman History

Roman History Journal for Latin 2 9/21/2005

What I Learned

This packet was a very detailed about the history of Rome and the Roman Empire. I learned that Rome existed, and Romulus and Remus lived before/during the Etruscans, not rising up after they fell. I also learned of the expansion of Rome before they conquered the Etruscans. Also, I noted the dates better during the Punic Wars which went on for 60 years. Things move much, much quicker today then they did before where each battle was 15 years apart.

Octavian was very clever in the way he took power. He seemed to help the Senate but actually hurt their power. After this, one man was in charge of all of the Roman Empire and it stayed like that for a while. Democracy or Communism never seem to last very long before one person grabs power.

Also I learned that some emperors were very good and brought good things to the city. Some were just weird like Nero. Other like Nerva and the 4 people after him were smart and organized.

After that, I learned that Rome was very unstable in government type and power. This hurt it as many different leaders had different ideas to solve problems. As a result, many important matters were ignored and the country fell into disrepair.

In 305 C.E., Diocletian split the country in half. Later Constantine adopted Christianity and a new religion spread like wildfire through the Mediterranean.

The expansive western empire fell first to barbarians who ruled each area separately. Some also did not treat Romans well and tore down their buildings.

The eastern city and Constantinople were now separate from Rome and were very different then during Pax Romania. It is even called the Byzantine Empire now. They tried to recapture Italy but failed to remain there. Then they fell to Islam and became Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.

I was amazed to find this happened in the 1500 not around 476, which was when the city of Rome fell. The Roman Empire survived for around 2000 years! I never knew it lasted this long. Although, it did undergo major changes and Constantinople during the 1500s was not like Rome during Pax Romania.

Personal Response

I found that all of the emperors used the military for their advantage, and the soldiers were usually loyal to generals and emperors not “Rome.” The government was very unstable and kept changing. In the United States government hasn’t changed much in 300 years. Also in Rome, the person in power was the person who murdered the most and paid the soldiers the best. They often had very high taxes to pay for the army and the monuments and palaces. Power got to their head too much.