Beware the Ides of March

If you are here in class, watching the movie clip above, then you are either like Julius Caesar, brave enough to ignore dire warnings,  or uninformed (you can assume what your teacher is by his absence). As talked about in class, Caesar decided to make himself dictator of Rome, and had himself honoured in a fashion that was reserved for Gods. This created enemies, and he was warned by a seer (somebody who can see the future) to beware the ides of March.

Knowing something about how Caesar was acting like a God adds to the enjoyment of this video clip below from the Simpsons.

1. Homer above has decided how he would use his power. Lisa has other advice.  If you were the dictator of mighty Rome,  perhaps the most dominant power to have ever existed, how would you use your power?

2. The ides of March was very bad for Julius Caesar, and his assassination has created much superstition round the date (rumour has it that your history teacher is presently hiding under a bed). Some 500 years after Julius's assassination, a even more tumultuous event occur, the collapse of the Roman Empire.  If Canada and the United States were to collapse today, no army, no police, no hospitals, no school, no money, no electricity, no running water, basically nothing  existing that is presently made possible by government, how would you spend the day?

Blog your answers below.

Roman Timeline

Using the teacher links given above, choose 8 major dates for Ancient Rome, one just be when Rome became a republic, and one date must be 476 AD. Put these dates down on your timeline and publish onto KidBlog. Again, be sure to include a link, text and a graphic with each date.

The Decline of the Roman Empire

Some major reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire
1.A corrupt, unstable leadership
2.A very large, hard to manage size (hard to administrate, defend, govern)
3.A lack of soldiers and Citizens willing to give their all for the Roman Empire
4.Resentment over taxation imposed by a far away government
5.Rome became more dependant upon imports from far away places
6.An increasing gap between the rich and poor.
  More details can be found here and here

Coming up is St. Patrick's Day, which has a Roman connection.

While we are on the topic of days we celebrate that has a connection to Ancient Rome, St. Valentine's Day, which happened while I was at Winter Camp, also dates back to the Romans.

Religon and Ancient Rome

Religion played a large and ever changing role in Ancient Rome. As discussed previously, much of Roman Religion was based on the Greek Gods. In time that changed, and the religion with the most followers can trace its beginnings to Ancient Rome, and its success to being adapted as Rome's official religion. Peruse the teacher  links above to answer the following questions.

1. What event in Ancient Rome led to the long weekend that we have in Spring, which is now part of our school Spring Break?

2. The Torah is the holy book of Jews and the Bible is the holy book of Christians. Why would part of the Bible and part of the Torah overlap?

3. Muslims, Jews and Christians share many of the same prophets, such as Moses. Why?

4. Christianity at first was pretty much ignored by Ancient Rome, Why?

5. What did Rome do that ensured Christianity would become the dominant religion of Europe?

All Roads lead to Rome

Information on Roman roads is here and here

1. Give 3 reasons why good roads were important to Rome

2. How wide were the roads?

3. Why was it important for the roads to be straight? 

4. What were stone markers used for? 

5. What was often found 10 and 20 miles apart on the Roads? 

6. What was the tool pictured below used for?

7. The train system in Canada that carries people is called Via Railway. What connection does this name have with Ancient Rome?

The Hockey Hall of Fame

The latest statue at the Hockey Hall of Fame, Gordie Howe.

What about the statue above and the ones below? What similarities can you find with Gordie Howe and the statue below of Julius Caesar and the one below that of Augustus, Julia Caesar's adopted son?

When done, check the Teacher links above for some reading on Ancient Rome and Greece. Lots of links on the first 4 pages. You will be picking a project on Ancient Greece or Rome.  

Being an Emperor

Become a Roman Emperor and make the decisions that actual Roman Emperors had to make. The Roman Emperor game is here.  

The Roman Army

The Roman Army and The Weapons of Roman Soldiers

1. Why would a disciplined army be an advantage?
2. What  reason was there for a javelin to bend upon impact?
3. What is a Gladius, credited as the object that caused the most deaths until the invention of the gun.
4. From the name Gladius, make a guess who besides soldiers would use this weapon.
5. How was a soldier rewarded at the end of his career? How might a soldier at war supplement his pay?
6. How far did a Roman army travel in a day?
7. How were signals sent during battle?

Roman Law

Much of how modern legal systems work (particularly Civil law) is derived from the Romans. We have even kept the latin termonology for many of our legal practices. The following four principles were derived by the romans and remain an important part of our legal system.
1-All citizens have the right to equal treatment under the law.
2-A person is innocent until proven guilty.
3-The burden of proof rests with the accuser rather that the accused.
4-Any law that is unreasonable or grossly unfair will not be upheld by the court.


 A list of some of the Roman laws can be found here. With the previous link and this link, answer the following questions. 1. Was anyone above the law? 2. Were the laws written fairly, treating everyone equally? 3. How many times can I try and sell my son? 4. What would happen to Weird Al if he lived in Ancient Rome? 5.The right to be judged by your peers the Romans took from which society?

Bread and Circuses

Find out some information about this wonder of the Ancient Roman Empire. More information here and here and here








Circus Maximus and the Colosseum were/are in the city of Rome. Here is another entertainment facility, this time located outside the city of Rome. Such entertainment centres were very common and found in many Roman centres.




1.By using Bread and Circuses (Games), how might the ruling class keep the people happy?
2. What often was the cost to attend many of these forms of entertainment?
3. What forms, mention several, did this entertainment come in?
4. The Winnipeg Jets are owned by Mark Chipman, a rich local business man, and by David Thompson, Canada's richest man.  Yet this past year the Jets were subsidized (Free Press, Jan 25) with 13.5 million dollars of public money. Would our public leaders be using the same methods as Roman leaders? Explain.  

The Keystone Province

Manitoba's nickname is The Keystone Province.  How is nickname connected to Ancient Rome? (hint, 2 reasons why we are called the Keystone Province)

Introduction to Ancient Rome

Ancient rome from St. James-Assiniboia School Division

Your Chariot

Here is a clip of chariot racing from what was the most expensive film ever made, famous for all the money they spent on sets and animals, and making it in colour! Ben-Hur



When done your assignments that we talked about yesterday, we will go onto making a chariot.

Design your chariot. It must be built for speed AND collisions. The teacher has some limited supplies, so bring supplies from home, especially a large plastic cup. Make sure to make the chariot look awesome. If you don't have supplies, then we go back to answering questions.

Make a 30 second to 1 minute video highlighting the features of your chariot and why it so awesome. An iMovie trailer might be good for that. Here are some examples from last year.

Race 1 A Warm-Up
Program you chariot to go around a 10ft bench. This is timed and a chance for your 4 horses (sphero) to limber up.

Race 2 Stuff Just Got Real
A mass start. Horses (spheros) running loose will be removed from the track. First one to finish (survive) 10 laps wins.

Last Year's race below.




Here is a code from the program Tickle that Traci-Lynn has provided.

Pie Day

We have talked about the ancient Greeks and their mathematical philosophers and the Pythagorus Math Cult. Today we will study the circular arches and domes that the Romans built with the math knowledge that they acquired.








1. Give an example of a building in Winnipeg that has been influenced by Roman Architecture. More about the influences of Roman Architecture is here and some prominent Winnipeg buildings are here

Some more readings here

2.What important architecture material did the Romans create?

3.What important architecture shape did the Romans start using?

4.