History for Kids - Rome

HISTORY FOR KIDS
ROME
MIGUEL ÁNGEL SAURA

KEY MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ROME
44 BC
Assassination
of Julius Caesar
753 BC
Founding
of Rome
218 BC
Hannibal
crosses the Alps
AD 64
Great Fire
of Rome
509 BC
Proclamation
of the Roman
Republic
73 BC
Spartacus and
the slave revolt
27 BC
Beginning of the
Roman Empire

3
AD 395
Definitive
division of
the Empire
AD 1453
Fall of
the Eastern
Roman Empire
AD 330
Founding
of
Constantinople
AD 476
End of
the Western
Roman Empire

4 CONTENTS
FROM MONARCHY TO EMPIRE
753 BC
753 BC
716 BC
508 BC
396 BC
387 BC
343 BC
280 BC
264 BC
218 BC
216 BC
214 BC
168 BC
Who Were the Romans?
THE MONARCHY
The Founding of Rome
Roman Religion
Romulus the King
The Seven Kings of Rome
Rome against Porsenna
Roman Society and the Role of Women
THE REPUBLIC
The Conquest of Italy
Rome Conquers Italy: The Etruscans
The Invasion of Gaul
The Samnite Wars
Rome Conquers the South of Italy
The Pyrrhic Wars
The Conquest of the Mediterranean
The First Punic War
Hannibal, the Terror of Rome: The Second Punic War
Cannae, the Best Battle in History
The Battle of Syracuse and the Heat Ray
The Conquest of Macedonia: Phalanx vs. Legion
8
9
10
12
14
18
20
22
25
26
28
30
32
34
35
36
38
40
42
44
46

5
154 BC
151 BC
149 BC
133 BC
113 BC
82 BC
73 BC
58 BC
49 BC
48 BC
42 BC
32 BC
The War of Numancia
Viriathus’ Rebellion
The Third Punic War
Slavery in Rome
The Consequences of the Conquests
Lead to the First Civil War
The Gracchi Reforms
Marius against the Germanics
Sulla, the Red-Haired Dictator
The First Triumvirate and the Slave Revolt
Julius Caesar: The Gallic War
The Second Civil War: Crossing the Rubicon
Caesar the Dictator
Caesar’s Heirs: Mark Antony’s Time Comes
Mark Antony against Octavius:
The Battle of Actium
48
49
50
52
54
56
58
59
60
64
66
68
70
72

6
27 BC
AD 14
AD 37
AD 41
AD 54
AD 69
AD 79
AD 81
AD 98
AD 117
AD 180
AD 284
THE EMPIRE
Augustus, the First Emperor
Tiberius, the Pleasure Seeker
Caligula, the Crazy
Claudius, the Writer
Nero and the Fire of Rome
Two Women Who Had Rome on the Ropes
Vespasian and the Colosseum
Gladiators
Titus, the Looter
Domitian, the Fighter
Trajan, the Great Commander
Hadrian, the Bearded Emperor
Commodus, the Gladiator
Diocletian, the Retired
The Third Century Crisis
75
76
78
80
82
83
84
86
88
90
91
92
94
96
97
98

7
AD 306
AD 330
AD 379
AD 395
AD 455
AD 476
AD 1453
Constantine, the Christian
The Founding of Constantinople: A New Rome
Theodosius and the End of the Ancient World
The Barbarian Invasions
The Division of the Empire
The Sack of Rome: The Vandals Take Rome
The End of the Western Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire
The Conquest of Constantinople
END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
100
101
102
103
104
106
108
109
110

WHO WERE
THE ROMANS?
SAURA FECIT
The Romans were a really important people. Even though
they were extremely violent, had slaves, and behaved like
bullies towards the other civilizations in the world, there is no
denying their great contribution to what eventually became
Western culture. This book is not about how certain laws
were made or how certain aqueducts were built; it is, first and
foremost, the story of the men and women that transformed
a handful of mud huts into an empire. Come with us and
uncover the greatest adventure of all times: the history of
Ancient Rome.

PART I:
THE MONARCHY

10
THE FOUNDING OF ROME
(Around 753 BC)
The Legend of Romulus and Remus
According to ancient legends, many years ago, there was a
city called Alba Longa, which was ruled by two kings who
were brothers: Amulius and Numitor.
One day, Amulius decided to rule alone. He shut his
brother up in a dungeon and ordained his brother’s daughter,
Rhea Silvia, a priestess so she couldn’t have any children.
But Mars, the god of war, fell in love with her and they had
twin boys, Romulus and Remus. When Amulius found out,
he ordered the babies to be thrown into the river Tiber. His
servants, who didn’t want to kill them, left them in a basket
in the river, where they ended up getting stuck in some roots.
A she-wolf heard the babies crying, took them to her cave,
and fed them with her milk, until a shepherd adopted them.
When they grew up, they discovered who they really were.
They went back to Alba Longa, killed Amulius, and restored
their grandfather, Numitor, to the throne.

11
WHAT SHOULD
WE CALL IT?
REMaN EMPIRE
SOUNDS GOOD.
I THINK
I’VE GOT
A BETTER
IDEA.
Later on, they decided to found their own city; they chose
a site near to where their basket had been stuck. To decide
which of the two would give the city its name, they agreed that
it would be the brother who saw the most birds. Remus saw six
and Romulus saw twelve, so the city would bear his name.
Romulus built a small defensive city wall and swore a
solemn oath: to kill anyone who entered without permission.
His brother, Remus, who was a sore loser, knocked down part
of the wall and went through the gap, while laughing at the
city’s poor defenses. Romulus kept his oath and killed his
brother by hitting him with a large stone.
However, the entire story of the twin brothers is a
mythological fable and, to this day, it has been impossible
to prove whether there is some truth in it or whether it is a
complete invention.

12 ROMAN RELIGION
At first, Roman religion was based on a series of simple rituals
to try to guarantee good harvests. In a mainly agricultural
society, religious practice consisted of small sacrifices
aimed at, for example, making it rain during dry summers.
On other occasions, the flight of birds was observed to try to
predict the future.
These rituals became more complicated and, before long,
they began appointing priests and holding more spectacular
ceremonies. Farm animals were sacrificed, while priests tried
to predict the future by examining the animals’ livers. These
ceremonies usually ended with a public banquet.
The Romans of the republican era believed in Jupiter,
the god of lightning and storms, and they built the biggest
temple in Rome in his honor.

13
They also believed in Mars, the god of war, and Juno, a
goddess with two faces who protected doors and gates. Over
time, Roman religion was influenced by the peoples that
they conquered. When the Romans conquered Greece, Greek
mythology, which was full of interesting stories about gods
and heroes, changed the way in which the Romans viewed the
gods. As the Greek gods became part of Roman mythology,
the simple and ancient religious practices were forgotten.
Imported Gods
The Greek gods were not
the only foreign deities that
ended up being part of Roman
religion. When Augustus, the
first emperor, conquered Egypt,
the cult of the goddess Isis
became very popular among
women, because she was the
protector of motherhood and
childhood. At the same time,
soldiers fighting in the East brought the cult of Mithras to
Rome. In this religion, the faithful were meant to keep their
rituals a secret but, nowadays, some people believe that they
were baptized with the blood of a bull. All of these traditional
Roman religions were banned by Emperor Theodosius, who
decreed that Christianity was the only religion allowed in the
Empire.

14
ROMULUS THE KING
(Around 753 BC)
The Kidnapping of the Sabine Women
According to the myth, in order
to populate his new city, Romulus
welcomed anyone who wanted to live
there. Before long, runaway slaves,
bandits, and refugees from other cities
began to arrive, but almost all of them
were men. There were very few women;
if Romulus coudn’t get more to come,
the city wouldn’t last very long.
He decided to invite some neighbors,
the Sabines, to a great festival to
inaugurate the city with music, food,
and chariot racing. The Sabines were
big racing fans and, while they were all
busy betting and drinking at the track
outside the city, the Romans kidnapped
the Sabine girls and took refuge inside
the city walls. When their fathers reacted, it was already too
late, so they went home and began to organize an army to
attack the Romans and rescue their daughters.
Meanwhile, back in the city, the Roman men asked the girls
to marry them and have children. The Sabine women made the
men promise that if they did marry them, they would be in charge
in the house and wouldn’t have to either cook or clean. The men
agreed; weddings took place and babies began to be born.
This is how classical mythology explains why women in
Rome had more independence than those in other cultures
of the day.

15
Tarpeia’s Betrayal
But the myth doesn’t end there. It’s said that the Sabine
commander, Titus Tatius, decided to attack the Romans and
took his men to inspect the city’s defenses. Their only obstacle
was a small fortress in the walls. Tarpeia, the daughter of the
man in charge of the fortress, volunteered to open the gate
on one condition: “I want what you have on your arms,” she
said, pointing to the gold bracelets the Sabines wore.
That night, the Sabine army arrived at the fortress and Tarpeia
opened the gate. The Sabines went through it and she reminded
them that they had to give her what they had on their arms. As
the soldiers entered the city, they threw the shields that they were
carrying over her. She was crushed to death by the weight of the
shields and the Sabines launched a surprise attack on the Romans.
I MEANT
YOUR BRACELETS,
NOT YOUR SHIELDS.
OH, OF COURSE,
THAT MAKES
MORE SENSE.

16
ROMULUS THE KING
(Around 753 BC)
YOU MAY NOT KNOW THAT...
The Tarpeian Rock was a 25-yard-high precipice with sharp
rocks at the bottom. It was on the Capitoline Hill, and Tarpeia
is said to have died there. The place was used to carry out
a type of death sentence called precipitatio: throwing the
condemned person down the ravine. This form of execution
was kept for those accused of treason.
AND DO YOU THROW
PEOPLE OFF THIS
ROCK OFTEN?
NOT OFTEN.
ONCE USUALLY
DOES THE TRICK.
The Battle for the Sabine Women
The Sabines took the Romans by surprise, but the Romans
made ready for battle very quickly. The legend says that
when the men were about to start fighting, the Sabine women
came out of their houses and stood between the two armies
to stop the fight.

17
They said that if the Romans won, there would be orphans,
and if the Sabines won, there would be widows. So the two
sides made peace; they held a banquet and united as one
people. Romulus and Titus Tatius were joint rulers. To advise
them, they created the Senate, a group of elders made up of
two hundred men, one hundred from each people. Soon after,
Titus Tatius died and Romulus was the only king of Rome once
again.
The Death of Romulus
There are two versions of the death of the mythological
founder of Rome. One says that Mars, the god of war, took him
to heaven in a flying carriage. According to the other version,
the senators were sick of Romulus ruling like a tyrant, and
they killed him. To get rid of his corpse, they cut it up and
each one took away a piece hidden under their togas.