Veni, Vidi, Vici!
Gaius Julius Caeser (allegedly)
(I came, I saw, I conquered)
Roman General who liked conquering stuff
Say what you like about Romans, at least you always know where you are with them.
Conquered, usually, that’s where.
See, if a Roman leader wanted to be considered successful, he had to enlarge the Empire. That meant conquering more lands. And considering there were at least 70 Emperors over the course of the Empire, that explains why the Roman Empire got so absolutely enormous!
Rome through the ages
Here you can see how Rome started off as one city before 590BC, and eventually grew to take over half of Europe and some of Asia and Africa! The biggest the Roman Empire got was in 117AD, but then it all started to fall apart.
Imagine trying to rule an Empire that large without phones, the internet, or even cars and planes to travel around it. How would you keep an eye on everything and make sure it was all going ok? How would you send the army where they needed to go, or stop the neighbouring tribes attacking the edges of the Empire? To get anywhere the army would have to walk.
How long do you think it would take to walk from Turkey to London? About seven weeks, that’s how long. And you’d really have to march; you wouldn’t be wandering along like if you were walking the dog.
Then, imagine having to walk that far on muddy goat tracks and woodland paths. That’s why the Romans built so many roads!
Image credit: Wikimedia commons
When were the Romans?
Drag and drop the characters into the right time period.
BUT WAIT! before WE GET STARTED…
You need to look like a Roman. You can download some handy stuff below to help you look just like a real Roman!
Dress like a Roman
You can download our dressing up sheet below, to make a simple Roman costume out of things you already have in the house. You can also watch the video if you fancy trying your hand at wearing a Toga over the top! Wearing a toga was like wearing a suit today: every man would wear one on formal occasions e.g. for business, weddings, political meetings or just hanging out at the Forum.
Can you get Marcus ready for inspection?
Today is an important day for Marcus. It’s his first day as a Legionary!
To mark this great occasion, the Legate (commander of the Legion) is holding an inspection. Marcus has to be perfectly dressed for inspection, or all the 5200 men in his Legion could be punished!
But Marcus overslept under his sagam, (the red wool cloak that soldiers also used as a blanket), and now he’s running late.
Luckily the instructions for how to get dressed are on the wall of the barracks. The only problem is, all the items are named in Latin, and Marcus doesn’t know the English words.
Can you help him work out what to put on, and in what order?
- First, of course, Marcus needs to put on his subligaculum.
- Then over that, he can wear his red tunica.
- Before he puts anything else on, he’d better put on his caligae so he can bend over to do them up.
- It’s best to put his greaves on now as well to protect his shins.
- Then he can put his focale on to stop his neck from getting rubbed by the heavy armour.
- Next comes the leather subarmalis, to go under the armour.
- Now he can start putting the armour and weapons on.
- First the lorica segmentata, and the shoulder guards, and his cingulum with the gold decoration to protect his groin.
- Then he should hang the balteus with his gladius on it across his chest.
- His pugio can hook onto his cingulum so it’s within easy reach if he needs it.
- Now he can put his galea on. As it’s an inspection day he should screw the horsehair crest into the top of it too. He can take it off when he goes into battle.
- Finally, he can pick up his scutum in one hand, and his pilum in the other, being careful not to poke anyone with the pilum, as it’s very sharp!
At last, Marcus is ready for inspection, and just in the nick of time!
Did you manage to work out what everything was?
Roman medicine
Going into battle so often means that people are going to get hurt. Romans learned much of their medicine from the Greeks; they had doctors and even developed hospitals to help care for soldiers and citizens alike.
Our Roman doctor has a clinic today – can you help him work out which Roman cures he should use on his patients?
When you go, will you send back a letter from Caledonia?
Being a Roman Soldier meant you could be sent to serve anywhere in the Empire – and the Empire was HUGE!
The army recruited soldiers from everywhere and then would send them somewhere else to serve. There is a Roman burial in the city of Bath, England, that contains the body of a Roman soldier from Syria! The military did this so that soldiers would not be forced to fight against their own people, for example if there was a rebellion. After all, not everyone was happy with the idea of being ruled by the Romans; the Roman army didn’t want their soldiers deciding to change sides in the middle of a battle and deciding to fight for their friends instead!
So if someone joined the Roman army from Britain, they could find themselves stationed in Spain, North Africa, Afghanistan, France, and anywhere in between.
One of the furthest reaches from Rome was the border between England and Scotland. It was the very northern end of the Roman Empire, and the people there were not usually from Britain; they had been sent there from other places including Romania, Greece, Belgium, Hungary and Serbia!
The Romans didn’t have email or even telephones, so staying in contact with their families and friends back home meant writing letters. There was no postal service like today – letters were written on wooden tablets and sent back with the next legion travelling to Rome, where they would then be sent on to the right places with other legions.
Can you imagine what it would be like for a Roman solder stationed hundreds of miles away from their family and friends? It could be very different in the cold northern climate of Scotland, especially if you had come from a hot country!
Vindolanda
We know what some of the Roman soldiers wrote about because some of their letters have been found at a fort on Hadrian’s Wall.
Hadrian’s Wall marked the very edge of the Roman Empire to the north, and was literally a wall that spanned the whole of Britain!
The letters found are not written on paper, but on very thin wooden tablets. Historians have translated them, and they include all sorts of things from lists of food and items needed at the fort, to complaints about the centurions on the wall, and even a letter sent to a soldier from his mum, including a nice warm pair of socks!
Perhaps the best one though, is an invitation to a birthday party! One of the commanders’ wives sent a letter to her friend inviting her over to celebrate her birthday. The letter says:
Claudia Severa to her Lepidina greetings.
On 11 September, sister, for the day of the celebration of my birthday, I give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us, to make the day more enjoyable for me by your arrival, if you are present. Give my greetings to your Cerialis. My Aelius and my little son send him their greetings.
I shall expect to see you, sister. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail.
To Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Cerialis, from Severa
Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius
There are lots of things that this tablet can tell us about the Romans:
- That there were not just soldiers on the wall, they had their wives and children with them too!
- That Romans celebrated their birthdays
- That at least some women knew how to read and write (there are two sets of handwriting on the tablet – one was probably done by a slave, but the other was likely Severa’s own handwriting)
Can you think of any more?
Activity – The Vindolanda Letters
You are going to write a letter to someone, as if you are a Roman soldier.
Think about:
- Who you are writing to
- Why you are writing
- Where you are, and why
- Where the person receiving the letter is
You can write about anything you like!
If you have some thin, clean wood lying around you can try to write your letter on that. But you can also write it on paper, if that’s easier (we promise we won’t tell your teacher)!
For some more ideas and inspiration, you can see all the Vindolanda letters, and their translations, here:
Vindolanda Tablets Online – http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/
But what about ordinary people?
You must know all about soldiers by now, so let’s see how much you know about ordinary Romans and the objects they used every day.
Play a Roman Game
Rota is a simple game you can play with your friends, family or classmates. Download the activity to make your own Rota board and learn the rules below.
Make your own oil lamp
Now you can light your room like a Roman! Download the instructions for making your Roman oil lamp below.
Eat like a Roman
You probably won’t have time to prepare a whole feast, but you can make a tasty Roman snack by downloading the recipe below.
The Glory (and Story) of Rome!
The Romans had a legend about how Rome was founded. You can read the story by clicking on the image below. Then see how much of the story you can remember by filling in the blanks in the game underneath. But be warned – like most Roman myths and legends, it’s not a story for the faint hearted!
Are you brave enough to hear the bloody tale of Romulus and Remus?
