Rome and You:The Early Years

The ancient Romans tracedtheir heritage back to the great Trojan hero Aeneas,son of the goddess Venus.

EPIC!

What is the Greek tale of the Trojan War and the hero’s journey home afterward?

Who was fighting whom?

Rome has its own story….

• A book calledTHE AENEID

Written byVERGIL

What caused the Trojan War?

•Marriage of Peleus and Thetis•Eris – Goddess of Discord•Golden Apple•“To the Fairest”

The Judgment of Paris

• Juno/ Hera – power, kingdom of Asia

• Minerva/Athena – imperishable fame in war

• Venus/Aphrodite - Helen

Trojan people!

• King Priam• Paris (Priam’s son)• Aeneas (married to Creusa, Priam’s daughter)• Hector (Priam’s son, killed by Achilles)• Cassandra (Priam’s daughter, unbelievable prophet• Penthesilea (Amazonian queen, killed by Achilles)• Laocoön (priest who warned of the horse)

Gods/Goddesses for TROY!

• Apollo – guided Paris’s arrow which killed Achilles, launched poison arrows into the Greek encampment

• Mars – he loved Venus, whose son was Aeneas• Venus – for her son Aeneas• Diana – for her brother Apollo, and she HATED

Agamemnon

Greek people!

• King Menelaeus• Agamemnon (Menelaeus’s brother, captain of naval fleet)• Odysseus (king of Ithaca..cunning and wise)• Achilles (demigod, killed Hector, then killed by Paris)• Ajax (awesome fighter, Achilles’s cousin)• Iphigenia (Agamemnon’s daughter, slaughtered to appease

goddess Diana)• Sinon (remained behind when Greeks “retreated”)

Gods/Goddesses for GREECE!

• Minerva – adored Odysseus, and bitter from Paris’s judgment

• Neptune – bitter about building walls• Juno – bitter about Paris’s judgment

The Trojans fought a war with the Greeks for ten years. (about 1184-1174 BC)

Before the War…..

Poseidon and Apollo were punished by Zeus and forced to build the walls around Troy…which is why the Greeks had SUCH a difficult time breaking through.

Eventually, the Greeks devised a trick to destroy the city of Troy.

Aeneas fled the city carrying his father on his shoulder and leading his son while his wife Creusa followed behind.

During the escape from the city, however, Aeneas losthis wife Creusa.

Aeneas experienced a series of wacky adventures on his way to Italy.

Eventually, Aeneas finally arrived in Italy.

They land at Latium

Which already had native inhabitants…

These people, known as the Rutulians, are led by King Turnus

So Aeneas and his men kill the Rutulians, the king, and Aeneas takes Lavinia as his wife

They settled in Latium andestablished the race whichwould one day found Rome.

Romulus and Remus:The True Story

Rome traces its heritage to a pair of twins:Romulus and Remus.

According to legend, theirgrandfather Numitor ruledthe area.

His brother Amulius, however, deposed him asking and ran him out of town.

In order to prevent a rightfulheir to the throne, he forcedNumitor’s daughter, Rhea Silva,to become a Vestal Virgin.

Although she was a Vestal Virgin (a priestess), she allegedly had an “encounter” with Mars, the god of war.

Because their mother, Rhea Silva, had broken her vow of chastity, she was executed after giving birth to the twins.

The two boys were then left by the river in a basketwhere a wolf nursed them.

Eventually, a shepherd found the two boys and raised them as his sons.

One day, Romulus and Remus decided to make their own city.

While building the wall ofthe city, Remus joked that afox could jump over Romulus’section since it was so low.

So Romulus killed Remusbecause of that joke.

As a result, the new citywas named Rome (afterRomulus).

Another version states thatRemus saw six vultures inthe sky, signifying that heshould be king.

Romulus said that he sawtwelve vultures and thatmeant that he should be king.

A fight ensued, and Romuluskilled Remus.

There was a slight problem - Rome did not have any people, so Romulus made the city a refuge for criminals andmurderers.

One problem - Romulus hadno women in his city, but hecame up with an idea.

There was a neighboringtribe called the Sabines.

Romulus invited the Sabines to a cookout withthe Roman men.

But during the cookout,Romulus and the Roman men stole all of the Sabine women.

The Sabine men were unhappy about this and sought to do something about this.

As a result, they declaredwar against the Romans.

The war took a year to prepare and during that time, the Sabine women “married” the Roman men and had children.

Finally the war was readyto begin, and the Sabinesprepared to attack Rome.

As the battle began, the Sabine/Roman women,rushed out into the middle of the battlefield.

Holding their newborn babies, they exclaimed, “If you attack the Romans, then you will have to go through us first!”

This battle is our fault! Don’tmake us widows and orphanson the same day!”

Thanks to the women,the Sabine men realizedthat they were wrong,and they went back home.

The Romans and Sabineslived happily ever after

The Death of Romulus

With a new city full of men and women, Romulusbecame king.

One day, Romulus andfriends went onto the topof a hill.

When suddenly, a cloudcovered the hill.

When the cloud left, Romulus was gone!!

The Romans believed that Romulus had been taken to Mt. Olympus in the cloudand had become a god.

Many historians believe thatRomulus was actually murdered on the hill; the storywas fabricated to explain his disappearance.

Without a king, the peopleof Rome panicked.

The Romans fought over who would be the next king – some wanted the new king to be of Sabine blood, while others wanted a Roman.

The Romans came up withan idea, but would it work?

To calm the masses, theRoman senate came up with an idea.

Instead of having a king, thesenate decided to dividethemselves into ten groups of ten men.

Each group of 10 men ruled for 50 days, with one man having complete power for 5 days and then it was handed to another man for 5 days.

The senate thought that thiswould solve the problem.

The people, however, did not like this idea, complaining that instead of one master, they now had 100.

To calm the people, the senate chose a Sabine mannamed Numa to be the next king.

Numa was a very well-respectedman who was known for hisjustice and piety.

Everyone thought that Numawould be a great man to replace Romulus.

But was he?!!