Transcript Etruscan

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Lesson Essential Question 1: Where are the
important cities, features, and bodies of water
for ancient Rome located on a map?
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On the hill known as the Palatine, an early
people founded a settlement later known as
Rome.
This settlement would become the center of a
great empire, whose achievements still
influence life today.
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Lesson Essential Question 2: What legend
describes the founding of Rome?
After the fall of Troy, the gods ordered a Trojan
prince called Aeneas to lead his people to a
promised land in the West.
The Latins
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A Latin princess (Rhea Silvia) gave birth to
twin sons fathered by the god Mars.
The princess had taken an oath never to have
children.
Because she broke her word, she was
punished.
Her sons, Romulus and Remus were taken
from her and left to die on the bank of the
flooding Tiber.
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Romulus and Remus were found by a shewolf, which fed and cared for them.
One day, a shepherd killed the she-wolf and
discovered the babies.
The shepherd then took the babies home with
him.
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When the boys grew older, they decided to build a
city on the Tiber.
They decided to let the gods choose which brother
should rule the city.
Each brother climbed to the top of a different hill to
watch for a sign from the gods.
Then, twelve vultures flew over the Palatine.
Since Romulus stood atop the Palatine, he claimed to
be king.
He and Remus then fought and Remus was killed.
Romulus became king of the city, which he named
Rome.
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Lesson Essential Question 3: How was Rome
actually founded?
About 1000 B. C., groups of people with iron
weapons began invading the lands around the
Mediterranean. A group called the Latins
settled on the Palatine. Romans belonged to
this group.
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It had a pleasant climate and fertile soil.
Nearby were forests that supplied the Latins
with timber.
They built gravel roads to bring salt and other
items from the coast.
The settlement on the Palatine had become a
village of about 1,000 people.
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Lesson Essential Question 4: What was life like
for the Etruscans?
Around 800 B. C., a people called Etruscans settled
in Etruria, the country north of the Latin village on
the Palatine.
2. The Etruscans were Italy’s first highly civilized
people.
3. Etruscan farmers used mostly iron tools.
4. Some Etruscans were metalworkers and sculptors.
5. They were known as “the peoples of the sea,”
feared as pirates and respected as traders.
6. Over time, the Etruscan cities grew, and by 600 B.
C., they dominated all of Northern Italy, including
the Latin village on the Palatine.
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They enjoyed playing and watching games like
chess, backgammon, wrestling, running, boxing,
and horse racing.
The Etruscans loved music and dancing best.
The Etruscans had a strong sense of social order .
Define social order – the way groups of people are
classed
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The upper class consisted of wealthy landowners,
nobles, and priests.
The middle class had farmers, traders, and city
workers.
The lower class consisted of enslaved people.
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Lesson Essential Question 5: What religious
beliefs were held by the Etruscans?
The Etruscans had many gods, most of whom were
modeled after the Greeks.
2. The Etruscans believed the world was divided into
provinces with each province ruled by different
gods.
3. They believed humans were powerless before the
gods so they wanted to please their gods.
4. They discovered what the gods willed through a
priestly group of aristocrats called soothsayers, or
people who can predict events.
5. Soothsayers read certain omens, or signs of what is
to happen.
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When an Etruscan noble died a great banquet was held, and
two of the noble’s slaves fought one another to the death.
The nobles were buried in tombs beneath the ground called
catacombs.
Define catacombs – underground cemeteries
The Etruscans believed that life after death lasted longer and
was more important than life on Earth.
They filled their tombs with works of art and treasures of
gold, silver, bronze, and ivory.
Because of this, Etruscan tombs are known as “tombs of
gold.”
Outside each Etruscan city was a necropolis, or cemetery,
made up of acres of these tombs.
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Lesson Essential Question 6: What did the
Etruscans contribute to Roman civilization?
1. In 616 B. C., Lucius Tarquinius became the first
Etruscan ruler of Rome.
2. His dynasty ruled Rome for more than 100 years.
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The Etruscans taught the Latin’s how to use the
arch in building bridges.
They also laid the foundations for Rome’s first
sewer system.
The Etruscans drained the swamp at the foot of the
Palatine, which became Rome’s Forum.
Define Forum – public square
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The Romans borrowed the Etruscan alphabet and some
Etruscan customs, including gladiatorial games.
Define gladiatorial games – Fights between armed
men, between men and animals, between women and
dwarfs, and between animals
The Romans also borrowed the triumph, or parade like
welcome given to a Roman hero returning from battle.
In addition, the Romans borrowed Etruscan symbols of
authority.
One symbol of authority was fasces, or a bundle of rods
bound around an ax that became the symbol of a Roman
ruler’s power.
The Etruscans built the first temple on the
Capitoline; today it is the center of Rome’s city
government.
11. The Romans founded their cities according to a
ritual borrowed from the Etruscans.
12. Priests marked where the two main streets would
meet and marked it with a stone.
13. The Romans believed the place where the two
streets met was the mundus, or the meeting point
for the worlds of the living and the dead.
14. Etruscans played an important role in the
development of Roman civilization.
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