Transcript Religion in Ancient Rome

Women’s place is in the home, they
should be a mother and wife first.
People are innocent until proven guilty
NAME:
NAME:
Some people are just born unlucky.
I believe there is definitely no such
thing as God.
Find someone who
NAME:
NAME:
I believe there is life after death (i.e.
Heaven or something similar)
I believe in ghosts
NAME:
NAME:
Woman who live alone, have a scar,
wear black clothes and have a cat are
witches.
The earth is flat
NAME:
NAME:
If I get very sick, its because I have
done something bad and God is
punishing me.
The hardest working people are the
richest people.
NAME:
NAME:
I believe in the death penalty
Everyone should have a say on who
runs the country (Democracy)
NAME:
NAME:
If I don’t live a good life I will end up in
Hell when I die.
I believe that if I break a mirror then I
get 7 years bad luck
NAME:
NAME:
You have to complete
the boxes below by
finding someone who
believes in it.
When you find
someone, write their
names down in the box.
Lesson Aims
To think about where
beliefs come from.
To consider how religious
beliefs affected Ancient
Rome.
To understand why Rome
became Christian.
Beliefs are ideas that we have to try and make sense of
the world. We know that things happen, but we don’t
always know why. The most common belief in the world is
a belief in God or Gods. People who believe in God(s)
believe that He is a force which created the Universe and
continues to have power over it.
God is, therefore, a belief for explaining things that we
find difficult to explain. For example, people who did not
understand what caused a disease like Cancer, could quite
easily say that God was punishing that person for being a
bad person. We say that people BELIEVE in God because
there is no proof either that He exists or that he does not.
If we KNOW something to be true, it is not a belief. For
example, we don’t believe that 2+2=4 – it just is a fact.
But things we believe in are things that may or may not
be true. People have different beliefs about these things,
but it is impossible to say which belief is right and which is
wrong.
My parents help me
decide what to believe.
What people or things
influence what you believe?
1. Brainstorm this in pairs first, then with the whole class.
2. Make a copy in your book
3. Choose two things which influence your beliefs and explain HOW they
influence your beliefs.
What kind of Gods did the Romans
worship?
At first, Romans believed in
many different gods and
goddesses.
This is called
Polytheism. These gods were
like people, but with magical
powers.
The Roman gods were part of a
family. People told stories or
myths about them. Each god or
goddess looked after different
people or things.
Watch the Horrible Histories Clip
Romans were Polytheists. This means that they……
Name
Jupiter
Saturn
Juno
Neptune
Minerva
Mars
Venus
What was he/she the God of?
Key facts & important
information.
You have 10 minutes to
complete your table.
The information that
you need is hidden
around the room.
Roman Temples
• People worshipped the gods in special buildings
called temples. Inside the temple was a statue of a
god. Priests looked after the temple. People went
there to make sacrifices or offerings of food,
flowers or money. Sometimes the priest killed an
animal, such as a bull, as part of the sacrifice
ceremony.
• Some Emperors said they were gods too, so
everyone had to make a sacrifice to the Emperor.
THINK
1.
2.
If you were an Emperor why might you
want your people to think you were a
God?
Why did people bother to worship all
these different Gods for? What was the
point do you think?
As the Roman Empire grew into other countries,
it came across new Gods which local people
worshipped. Rather, than trying to replace these
Gods, Roman simply added Gods to their religion.
Jesus Christ was born in Palestine which was then
part of the Roman Empire. In 26 AD Jesus began
to preach, telling people he was the son of God.
The Roman leaders did not like his teachings and
had him put to death by crucifixion for stirring up
trouble.
The followers of Jesus were called Christians.
They said that there was only one God and that
people should stop worshipping the Roman Gods.
The Roman leaders did not like this. This was a
direct threat to Roman ideas. Who was right then
the Christians or Romans?
Put the title: Why did Rome
become Christian?
1. Why did Romans think Christians
were a threat to Rome?
There was another problem. Roman Gods
symbolised power and strength, whereas
the Christian God preached peace and
forgiveness. They preached that you should
love thy enemy and show your enemy
mercy.
Roman leaders were worried that this
would make their empire weak.
Christians were persecuted for their
religion. If Christians refused to worship
Roman Gods they were fed to wild animals
in front of crowds at the coliseum. Many
were crucified/ The Roman Emperor Nero,
even set fire to 600 Christians in the
Coliseum to act as floodlights for the nights
entertainment!
2. What happened to the early Christians?
Play Clip – Christians Fed to Lions.
Despite this persecution, Christianity spread quickly throughout
the Roman Empire for three main reasons. Firstly Roman roads,
meant that ideas could spread quickly from place to place.
Secondly, most people in the Empire spoke Latin and Greek which
meant that ideas could be spread from person to person quickly.
Lastly, some soldiers in the Roman Army became Christians. When
they were sent to other countries in the Empire, they took their
ideas with them. The Roman Empire was the perfect place to
spread new ideas!
Just before a crucial battle in AD 312, Emperor Constantine said
that he had a dream where he was told to paint the Christian
symbol on the shields of his soldiers. He did this and won the
battle! He late in AD 337 decided that in thanks he would allow the
whole Empire to worship any religion freely, including Christianity.
The future of Christianity was guaranteed when Constantine
himself became a Christian. The old religions did not disappear at
once, but Christianity gradually became more popular.
Without Ancient Rome, Christianity would probably have never
caught on. Today the head of the Catholic Church lives in Rome and
is called the Pope. Some Catholics continue to attend mass in the
old Roman language, Latin.
3. How did Christianity
spread so easily in the
Roman Empire?
4. Why was Emperor
Constantine
important?
Read through the hand-out and
answer these questions:
1. Why did Romans think
Christians were a threat to
Rome?
2. What happened to the early
Christians?
3. How did Christianity spread so
easily in the Roman Empire?
4. Why was Emperor Constantine
important?
Plenary - ODD ONE OUT
1. Venus, Jesus, Mars,
Jupiter
2. Constantine, Jesus,
Nero.
3. Beliefs, Opinions,
Facts, Superstitions.
4. Christianity, Roman
Religion, Islam and
Judaism.
For each of the four
sets decide in your
groups which you
think the odd one out
is and why.
You will need to think
very carefully as some
are harder than
others.
QUESTIONS
1. Why was Emperor Constantine important?
2. Why did Romans think Christians were a
threat to Rome?
3. What happened to the early Christians?
4. How did Christianity spread so easily in the
Roman Empire?
Christians were persecuted for their religion. If Christians
refused to worship Roman Gods they were fed to wild
animals in front of crowds at the coliseum. Many were
crucified/ The Roman Emperor Nero, even set fire to 600
Christians in the Coliseum to act as floodlights for the nights
entertainment!
The followers of Jesus were called Christians. They said that
there was only one God and that people should stop
worshipping the Roman Gods. The Roman leaders did not
like this. This was a direct threat to Roman ideas. Who was
right then the Christians or Romans?
There was another problem. Roman Gods symbolised
power and strength, whereas the Christian God preached
peace and forgiveness. They preached that you should love
thy enemy and show your enemy mercy.
Roman leaders were worried that this would make their
empire weak.
Jesus Christ was born in Palestine which was then part of
the Roman Empire. In 26 AD Jesus began to preach, telling
people he was the son of God. The Roman leaders did not
like his teachings and had him put to death by crucifixion for
stirring up trouble.
As the Roman Empire grew into other countries, it came
across new Gods which local people worshipped. Rather,
than trying to replace these Gods, Roman simply added
Gods to their religion.
Without Ancient Rome, Christianity would probably have
never caught on. Today the head of the Catholic Church
lives in Rome and is called the Pope. Some Catholics
continue to attend mass in the old Roman language,
Latin.
Just before a crucial battle in AD 312, Emperor
Constantine said that he had a dream where he was told
to paint the Christian symbol on the shields of his
soldiers. He did this and won the battle! He late in AD
337 decided that in thanks he would allow the whole
Empire to worship any religion freely, including
Christianity. The future of Christianity was guaranteed
when Constantine himself became a Christian. The old
religions did not disappear at once, but Christianity
gradually became more popular.
Despite this persecution, Christianity spread quickly
throughout the Roman Empire for three main reasons.
Firstly Roman roads, meant that ideas could spread
quickly from place to place. Secondly, most people in the
Empire spoke Latin and Greek which meant that ideas
could be spread from person to person quickly. Lastly,
some soldiers in the Roman Army became Christians.
When they were sent to other countries in the Empire,
they took their ideas with them. The Roman Empire was
the perfect place to spread new ideas!
Romans were Polytheists. This means that they……
Name
Jupiter
Saturn
Juno
Neptune
Minerva
Mars
Venus
What was he/she the
God of?
Key facts & important information.
Find someone who
Find someone who
You have to complete the boxes below by finding
someone who believes in it. When you find someone,
write their names down in the box.
You have to complete the boxes below by finding
someone who believes in it. When you find someone,
write their names down in the box.
Women’s place is in the home, they
should be a mother and wife first.
People are innocent until proven guilty
Women’s place is in the home, they
should be a mother and wife first.
People are innocent until proven guilty
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
Some people are just born unlucky.
I believe there is definitely no such
thing as God.
Some people are just born unlucky.
I believe there is definitely no such
thing as God.
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
I believe there is life after death (i.e.
Heaven or something similar)
I believe in ghosts
I believe there is life after death (i.e.
Heaven or something similar)
I believe in ghosts
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
Woman who live alone, have a scar,
wear black clothes and have a cat are
witches.
The earth is flat
Woman who live alone, have a scar,
wear black clothes and have a cat are
witches.
The earth is flat
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
If I get very sick, its because I have
done something bad and God is
punishing me.
The hardest working people are the
richest people.
If I get very sick, its because I have
done something bad and God is
punishing me.
The hardest working people are the
richest people.
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
I believe in the death penalty
Everyone should have a say on who
runs the country (Democracy)
I believe in the death penalty
Everyone should have a say on who
runs the country (Democracy)
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
If I don’t live a good life I will end up in
Hell when I die.
I believe that if I break a mirror then I
get 7 years bad luck
If I don’t live a good life I will end up in
Hell when I die.
I believe that if I break a mirror then I
get 7 years bad luck
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
NAME:
Saturn
Once king of the
gods, his place was
taken by his son
(Jupiter). Saturn was
the god of seedsowing. A Roman
festival, the
Saturnalia, was
named after him.
Jupiter
God of the sky. He
was the King of the
gods which meant that
he was the most
important god. The
most important temple
in the Empire was
dedicated to him.
Juno
• Juno was Jupiter's
wife and the
daughter of Saturn.
She was also the
mother of Mars and
Vulcan. She was the
Goddess of fertility
and women. Her
symbols were a
pomegranate and a
peacock
Neptune
He was Jupiter's
brother and the
powerful god of
the sea. His
symbol was the
trident.
Minerva
• She was the
goddess of
wisdom, learning,
art crafts and
industry. For
example cloth
weaving. Her
symbol was the
owl.
Mars
He was the god of
war, though originally
god of farming. He
was the strongest
and most fearsome
God after Jupiter.
Venus
The goddess of
love and
beauty. She
was also the
lover of Mars.