Early Romans

Kids take a deep dive into the facts and legends of Rome’s beginning, including the founding story of Romulus and Remus. They discover how poor leadership eventually led people to rise up and cause a change in government. In following the narrative of the Roman Republic, kids can evaluate the consequences of different types of leadership and appreciate the foundations of our own system. Future lawyers will want to delve into the Twelve Tablets, Rome’s first written laws, which served as a model for later constitutional governments. Maps, which depict Roman lands from 509 to 133 BCE, convey the extent of the republic’s expansion in graphic detail.

Kids come to appreciate that by 133 BCE, Rome was the most powerful state in the world. But it would not last. Growing inequalities between rich and poor – patricians and plebes – led to instability. Kids peer through a window onto the lives of poor Romans and the events that motivated rebellion and revolt, which in turn led to military rule and the loss of the republic. Kids will enjoy putting names and faces together in the gallery of key figures from the Roman Empire – from Julius Caesar to Cicero and Cleopatra. . . and ponder how much of Roman events are relevant to today.