HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Greek and Roman civilizations had a fundamental impact on world history and culture. Greco-Roman art, architecture, literature, government bureaucracy, military structure, educational system, engineering, imperialism, philosophy, and religion have influenced the course of Western civilization for over 2500 years. The United States was founded on the principles of democracy and republican government that originated in ancient Greece and Rome around the 5th century B.C.

Whereas the Greeks invented the ideas of the polis (city-state) and democracy, the Romans combined Greek, European, and Middle Eastern elements into a highly organized and efficient empire that was the melting pot of its day. The Romans, heavily influenced by the Greeks, soon overtook the lands of Greece and then all the Greek areas in the Middle East, achieving an empire whose only contemporary rival was China (Han dynasty). Enduring architecture, Christianity, and the Latin language are all important legacies of the ancient Romans.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

January 2010 newsletter (Theme: The An-cient World)

The Parthenon (Nashville)

Ancient Mediterranean Collection from the Brooks Museum (Memphis)

“History Contained: Ancient Greek Bronze and Ceramic Vessels” from the McClung Mu-seum (Knoxville)

Greek and Roman Art in the Ancient World (95 thematic essays with artifacts) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS

You can find plenty of primary sources relating to ancient Greece and Rome on both the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog and American Memory, especially 20th century photographs of Greek and Roman buildings. (The Greeks are known for their columns; the Romans for their arches.) Have students look at these buildings and compare them to the architecture they see around them in Tennessee. What are the similarities and differences?

A brief but entertaining overview of Roman accomplish-ments, the YouTube clip from the movie, Monty Python’s Life of Brian can help students answer the question, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” Students can see examples of these accomplishments among the primary sources in this set, and can search in the library and on the Internet for more examples. Have them reenact this comedic scene using primary source images and texts.

You may want to discuss with your students why all the sources for ancient Greece and Rome are from the 18th-21st centuries. Does this make them secondary sources as well?

The arena, exterior, Nîmes, France [between c. 1890 and c. 1900].

Teaching with Primary Sources — MTSU

PRIMARY SOURCE SET

THE LEGACY OF GREECE AND ROME

The Baby’s Own Aesop: Being the Fables Condensed in Rhyme, With Portable Murals Pictorially Pointed / By Walter Crane [1887]

Open the Page turner version or download the PDF version (24.61 MB).

The arena, interior, Nîmes, France [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]

The arena, interior, Nîmes, France [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]

Roman bridge over the Gard, constructed by Agrip-pa, Nîmes, France [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]

Pantheon - Rome [between c. 1910 and c. 1915]

General view and Vesuvius, Pompeii, Italy [between c. 1890 and c. 1900]

Peristyle of the House of Vetti, Pompeii, Italy [between c. 1890 and c. 1900]

Panoramic view of the Forum, Rome [c. 1909]

Surface and substrata layers of Roman road construction [1756]

Details from the Circensian games / G. Heck, dirt. ; Henry Win-kles sculp. [1851]

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, July 5, 1814 [T.J. talks about the merits of Plato and education; 3rd page detail shown; tran-scription here]

Greece. Delphi, the thea-tre, Temple of Apollo on left [between 1950 and 1960]

Egypt. Assuan and Phi-lae. The Kiosk at Philae [between 1950 and 1977]

Greek and Roman sculpture, including Phidias' statue of Pallas in the Parthenon, several of Venus, Diana the Huntress, and others / G. Heck, dirt. ; Henry Winkles, sculpt. [1851]

Plans, sections, and elevations of classical Greek and Ro-man temples / G. Heck, dirt. ; Henry Winkles sculp. [1851; download the TIFF for better clarity]

Perseus and Caput Medusæ / Sidy. Hall, sculpt. [1825]

Main Reading Room. Portrait statues of Homer and Plato along the balustrade. Li-brary of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. [2007]

Mrs. Emma Willard's chronographer of ancient history, Troy, New York 1851 / lith. of Sarony 117 Fulton St. N. York. [1851, c. 1852]

Please note: In order to view this timeline in the amount of detail shown at right, you must download the TIFF file, which is 214.6 MB (i.e., very large).

CITATIONS

Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of citations is supplied for reference purposes. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these entries is January 4, 2011.

“[The arena, exterior, Nîmes, France].” Photomechanical print. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., between c. 1890 and c. 1900. From Library of Congress, Photocrom Prints. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698489/

“[The arena, interior, Nîmes, France].” Photomechanical print. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., between c. 1890 and c. 1900. From Library of Congress, Photocrom Prints. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698490/

“[The arena, interior, Nîmes, France].” Photomechanical print. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., between c. 1890 and c. 1900. From Library of Congress, Photocrom Prints. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698488/

“[Roman bridge over the Gard, constructed by Agrippa, Nîmes, France].” Photomechanical print. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., be-tween c. 1890 and c. 1900. From Library of Congress, Photocrom Prints. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698495/

“Pantheon - Rome.” Negative. New York: Bain News Service, between c. 1910 and c. 1915. From Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2004010183/

The baby’s own Aesop : being the fables condensed in rhyme, with portable morals pictorially pointed / by Walter Crane. Engraved and printed in colours by Edmund Evans. Book. London; New York: George Routledge & Sons, 1887. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbc3&fileName=rbc0001_2003holmes17584page.db

Piranesi, Giovanni B., engraver. “[Surface and substrata layers of Roman road construction].” Print. Roma: Nella stamperia di A. Rotilj, 1756. From Library of Congress, Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006680140/

Winkles, Henry, engraver. “[Details from the Circensian games] / G. Heck, dirt. ; Henry Winkles sculp.” Print. New York: Rudolph Garrigue, 1851. From Library of Congress, Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95522161/

“Panoramic view of the Forum, Rome.” Photograph. Boston: Notman Photo Co., 1909. From Library of Congress, Panoramic Photo-graphs. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2007663223/

“[General view and Vesuvius, Pompeii, Italy].” Photomechanical print. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., between c. 1890 and c. 1900. From Library of Congress, Photocrom Prints. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001700924/

“[Peristyle of the House of Vetti, Pompeii, Italy].” Photomechanical print. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., between c. 1890 and c. 1900. From Library of Congress, Photocrom Prints. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001700925/

Winkles, Henry, engraver. “[Plans, sections, and elevations of classical Greek and Roman temples] / G. Heck, dirt. ; Henry Winkles sculp.” Print. New York: Rudolph Garrigue, 1851. From Library of Congress, Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/92514952/

Winkles, Henry, engraver. “[Greek and Roman sculpture, including Phidias' statue of Pallas in the Parthenon, several of Venus, Diana the Huntress, and others] / G. Heck, dirt. ; Henry Winkles sculp.” Print. New York: Rudolph Garrigue, 1851. From Library of Con-gress, Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/90707128/

Matson Photo Service, photographer. “Egypt. Assuan and Philae. The Kiosk at Philae.” Slide. Jerusalem: Matson Photo Service, between 1950 and 1977. From Library of Congress, Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/mpc2010000461/PP/

Visuri, Osmo, photographer. “Greece. Delphi, the theatre, Temple of Apollo on left.” Slide. Jerusalem: Matson Photo Service, between 1950 and 1960. From Library of Congress, Matson (G. Eric and Edith) Photograph Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/mpc2010000487/PP/

Jefferson, Thomas. “Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, July 5, 1814.” Letter. From Library of Congress, The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page047.db&recNum=553

Sarony, Napoleon, lithographer. “Mrs. Emma Willard's chronographer of ancient history, Troy, New York 1851 / lith. of Sarony 117 Fulton St. N. York.” Lithograph. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1851, c. 1852. From Library of Congress, Popular Graphic Arts. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005694445/

Highsmith, Carol M., photographer. “[Main Reading Room. Portrait statues of Homer and Plato along the balustrade. Library of Con-gress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.].” Photograph. 2007. From Library of Congress, Carol M. Highsmith Archive. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2007684398/

Hall, Sidney, etcher. “Perseus and Caput Medusæ / Sidy. Hall, sculpt.” Print. London, 1825. From Library of Congress, Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002695399/