Worksheet

A Historian's Notebook: Five Roman Sites

Grade 6 ancient Rome: a historian's notes from five sites trace the republic, the first emperor, Roman law and aqueducts, and the fall of the Western Empire.

Grade 6Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toHIS.6.7

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1 C3 Framework standard
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11 questions
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Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students explain how Rome changed from a republic with elected leaders to an empire ruled by one man.
Students connect Roman law and engineering, such as the Twelve Tables and aqueducts, to the problems they solved.
Students sort and weigh political, economic and outside causes of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

How to use

Read one site note at a time and have students label it republic, empire or fall before answering. Students can use the timeline to check their order of events.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

HIS.6.7

Explain how Rome grew from a republic to an empire, its achievements in law and engineering, and reasons for the fall of the Western Empire.

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A Historian's Notebook: Five Roman Sites

Use site notes and a timeline to trace Rome from republic to empire to the fall of the West.

From republic to empire

The historian and her notebook are made up for this worksheet, but the sites and facts are real. Read the notes. Then answer the questions.

Site Notes of a Historian Writing a Book on Rome

1Site: The Curia, Roman Forum, Rome. The Senate met in a hall called the Curia; the brick building standing here today was rebuilt under later emperors. After Romans drove out their last king in about 509 BCE, they formed a republic. Each year citizens elected two consuls to lead the government and the army. The Senate, made up mostly of wealthy and powerful men, advised them. Tribunes elected by the plebeians, or common people, could block actions that harmed plebeians. In about 450 BCE, Rome's laws were written on twelve tablets, the Twelve Tables, and set up in public.

2Site: Temple of Julius Caesar, Roman Forum. Only a stump of this temple remains. It marks where Caesar's body was burned in 44 BCE. Caesar, a general who had conquered Gaul, was named dictator for life, and a group of senators stabbed him. Years of civil war followed. In 27 BCE his adopted heir Octavian took the name Augustus and became the first emperor. The Senate still met in the Curia, but real power now belonged to one man.

3Site: Pont du Gard, southern France. Three rows of stone arches carry an aqueduct across a river valley here. Built in the first century CE, the channel brought water about 50 kilometers to the Roman city of Nemausus, today's Nîmes. Over that whole distance the channel drops only about 12 meters, a gentle and steady downhill slope. No pumps were used.

4Site: Hadrian's Wall, northern Britain. Emperor Hadrian ordered this wall begun in 122 CE. It ran about 73 miles across Britain, with forts along the way. By then the empire stretched from Britain to the Middle East, and guarding such long borders took huge armies and a great deal of money.

5Notes for the last chapter. In the 200s CE, armies often made and unmade emperors; historians count more than 20 emperors in about 50 years. To pay soldiers, emperors put less silver in their coins, and prices rose. Germanic peoples pressed against the borders. The empire was split into western and eastern halves, and after 395 CE it stayed divided. In 410 the Visigoths sacked Rome, and in 476 a Germanic general named Odoacer removed the last western emperor. The eastern half, ruled from Constantinople, lasted nearly 1,000 more years.

Note 1 says Romans elected two consuls every year. What was the most likely purpose of this rule?

A. To bring back the rule of a king
B. To keep any one leader from holding too much power
C. To let the Senate choose one leader for life
D. To give plebeians control of the army

Sort each detail: does it describe Rome as a republic or as an empire?

Two consuls are elected each year.Augustus holds real power while the Senate still meets.Tribunes can block actions that harm plebeians.Hadrian orders a wall built across Britain.The Twelve Tables are set up in public.The empire stretches from Britain to the Middle East.

Republic	Empire

Why would senators who wanted to keep the republic see the title "dictator for life" as a threat? Use notes 1 and 2.

A. It went against yearly elections and shared power.
B. It meant Caesar would stop fighting wars in Gaul.
C. It would have moved the Senate out of the Curia.
D. It would have given the plebeians more power than the Senate.

Underline the sentence from note 2 that best shows the republic had become an empire, even though some old institutions remained.

Years of civil war followed.In 27 BCE his adopted heir Octavian took the name Augustus and became the first emperor.The Senate still met in the Curia, but real power now belonged to one man.

Law and engineering

Use notes 1, 3 and 4.

A Roman farmer in about 440 BCE is accused of moving a boundary stone onto his neighbor's land. How did the Twelve Tables most likely help him?

A. A tribune would decide the case alone, without any law.
B. The consuls would write a new law just for his case.
C. He and the judge could both read the law he was accused of breaking.
D. He could not be punished, since the laws covered senators but not farmers.

Water moved through the Pont du Gard aqueduct without pumps. Based on note 3, what made it flow?

A. The channel sloped gently downhill the whole way.
B. The channel climbed steeply toward the city.
C. The river below pushed water up into the channel.
D. Workers carried buckets up to the top row of arches.

The Pont du Gard channel dropped about 12 meters over about 50 kilometers. On average, it dropped about meters for each kilometer.

The fall of the West

Use the timeline and note 5.

Timeline of Rome (early dates are approximate)
Date	Event
About 509 BCE	The Roman Republic begins
About 450 BCE	The Twelve Tables are set up
44 BCE	Julius Caesar is killed
27 BCE	Augustus becomes the first emperor
122 CE	Hadrian's Wall is begun
About 235–284 CE	More than 20 emperors rule
395 CE	The empire is divided for good
410 CE	The Visigoths sack Rome
476 CE	The last western emperor is removed

From the start of the republic to the first emperor, about how many years did the Roman Republic last? years

Sort each problem from note 5 by the kind of cause it shows.

Armies made and unmade emperors.Coins held less silver.Germanic peoples pressed on the borders.Prices rose.The Visigoths sacked Rome.More than 20 emperors ruled in about 50 years.

Trouble in government	Money trouble	Pressure from outside

10.

A classmate writes, "The whole Roman Empire ended in 476 CE." Which evidence from note 5 best challenges this?

A. The Visigoths sacked Rome in 410.
B. Odoacer was a Germanic general.
C. Emperors put less silver in their coins.
D. The eastern half lasted nearly 1,000 more years.

11.

Which cause did the most to weaken the Western Roman Empire: trouble in government, money trouble or pressure from outside? State your claim, give two pieces of evidence from the notes or the timeline and explain how your cause made the others worse.