Ch. 13 Beginnings of the Romans

Section 1 Founding of Rome

Map of Ancient Rome (Italy)

– We will learn how the Etruscans contributed to the rise of Rome and culture

Founding of Rome• 1000 B.C. Latins settle on Palatine Hill in Italy• Romans belonged to this group

– Twin Brothers Romulus & Remus founded Rome in 753 B.C.

• Land featured pleasant climate, hills, fertile soil, dense forests

• 800 B.C. a people called the Etruscans settled Etruia in Italy

– Etruscans wrote an alphabet borrowed from the Greeks– Italy’s first highly civilized people

Etruscans• Drained the swamp at the foot

of Palatine Hill.

• This place became the Forum.

• Forum housed a palace, government buildings, and law courts.

• Etruscans laid the foundations for the first sewer system.

The Etruscans• Excellent pirates, traders, farmers, metalworkers and miners• Strong army – learned from the Greeks, formed a phalanx

• By 600 B.C. Etruscans dominated northern Italy

• Loved sports, gambling, music, & dance• Dance performed to connect to religion, gods

– Etruscan women enjoyed freedoms like dancing, owning property, public celebrations

– Strong sense of social order – or the way groups of people are classed

Religious Beliefs• Etruscan Gods modeled after the Greek Gods• Believed the Universe was divided into provinces• Each province ruled different gods• Humans lived in center of universe (of nature, Earth)• West ruled by gods of Death/Underworld• East by gods of the Heavens• Soothsayers – people who can predict events & read

omens or signs of what is to happen

Tombs of Gold• When Etruscan noble died, two of noble’s slaves fought one another

to death. The spirit of the slave who was killed went w the noble’s spirit to the Underworld.

• Dead were buried in tombs beneath the ground called catacombs

• Necropolis – outside each city a cemetary made up of acres of catacombs

Ch. 13 Beginnings of the Romans

Section 3 Etruscans & Romans

Etruscans & Romans• Lucius Tarquinius - first

Etruscan ruler of Rome in 616 B.C.

• Etruscans advanced Roman culture

• Etruscan Customs the Romans Borrowed:

• The arch for building bridges

• The Romans borrowed the Etruscan alphabet (a modified Greek alphabet)

• Roman gladiatorial games modeled after fights of enslaved people held at Etruscan funerals

• Triumph – parade-like welcome given a Roman hero returning from battle

• Etruscan symbols of authority

Etruscans & Romans• Built first temple on the

Capitoline – one of the seven hills of Rome

• Today – it’s the center of Rome’s municipal or city government

• Roman founded their cities according to Etruscan ritual.

• Soothsayers read omens that told where the boundaries should be.

• Bronze bladed plow marked the boundaries.

• Etruscans played an important role in the development of Roman civilization