Hello, my name is Ms. Krijnauw, and I am so pleased that you have joined me for this lesson about the Romans and what it meant to be Roman.

In this lesson, we will learn about the rise of the emperors.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain the difference between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and it is my job to support you through the lesson and the learning materials.

Before we start the lesson, there are some important key words I would like to introduce you to.

These words will come up in the lesson, so you might want to take a note of them so that you can refer back to them as we encounter them in the lesson.

Here are the words, dictator, civil war, emperor.

I'm going to say them again, but this time, I would like you to say them with me, dictator, civil war, emperor.

Well done.

Well, let's find out what these words mean.

A dictator is a person with complete power and control over a country.

A civil war is a war between different groups of people from the same country.

And an emperor is the ruler of an empire.

Pause the video here so that you can make a note of these words, and when you are ready to continue with the lesson, press play.

Today's lesson about the rise of the emperors has three learning cycles.

The first one is entitled "The Roman Republic Continues to Grow." The Roman Republic was the time in ancient Roman history that began in 509 BCE and lasted until the start of the Roman Empire in 27 BCE.

It had expanded significantly from being a city to establishing itself as a growing republic.

The Roman Empire expanded its territory through conquest and had made provinces of Carthage, Macedonia, and the Greek city-states.

Another of the territories that the Roman Republic conquered was Ptolemaic Egypt.

Egypt was important to the Roman Republic.

That is because Egypt was known as the bread basket of Rome because it was one of Rome's greatest suppliers of wheat.

Wheat is used for making bread, and bread was Rome's staple food, or the food that was eaten most often in the Roman Republic.

And it was because of this that it was important to Rome that Egypt came under its control.

Let's pause the lesson here for a moment to consolidate our learning by answering this question.

Why was Egypt known as Rome's bread basket? Is it because A, Egypt make beautiful baskets for the Romans to carry their bread, or B, Egypt provided grain so the Romans could make bread, or C, Egypt provided grain so the Romans could make baskets? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Well, of course, the answer is B, Egypt provided grain so the Romans could make bread.

Well done if you got that right.

At the time, Cleopatra was the queen of Egypt.

She is the most famous descendant of Ptolemy, a ruler of Egypt.

In 31 BCE, the Roman forces marched on the Egyptian army.

There followed the battle of Actium.

The Roman army was successful, and Cleopatra's army was defeated.

A year later when Cleopatra died, Egypt came under Roman control, and this marked the end of the Ptolemaic rule, and Egypt became a province of Rome while the Roman Republic was continuing to grow in size and in strength.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Is the following statement true or false? Cleopatra died in the year 30 BCE.

Is that true or false? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

That statement, of course, is true.

She did die in the year 30 BCE.

But let's give a reason why we say that statement is true.

In other words, let's justify our answer.

Is it A, she died a year after the Egyptian army was defeated in 31 BCE, or she died a year before the Egyptian army was defeated in 31 BCE? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to hear the answer, press play.

Did you say that she died a year after the Egyptian army was defeated in 31 BCE? If you did, well done.

We have now come to the first learning task of this lesson.

It says, "Explain to your talk partner what the two Roman citizens are discussing." One of them says, "Thank goodness Egypt has been conquered.

After all, they are our bread basket." And the other one replies and says, "Cleopatra was a brave queen to try to stand up to the Roman army." Use the following words in your explanation, wheat, 31 BCE, and province.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Here is an example of an answer that you could have given.

"The two citizens are talking about how important Egypt was to the Romans because Egypt provided Rome with wheat to make bread.

In 31 BCE, Cleopatra's army was defeated by Rome, and a year later, Egypt became a province of Rome." Well done if your answer is similar to this one, and an extra well done if you managed to use all the words highlighted in purple.

We are now ready for the second learning cycle of this lesson.

It is entitled "Julius Caesar." The Roman Republic wanted to grow even further and become a mighty world power.

And that is why Julius Caesar, an important general in the Roman army, was sent to Gaul.

Now, Gaul was where France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are nowadays.

Julius Caesar's mission was to bring Gaul under Roman control.

For nine years, from 58 BCE to 50 BCE, Julius Caesar fought the people of Gaul, and eventually, he was successful.

Gaul became a Roman province, and the people living there eventually became Roman citizens.

This victory made him very popular and powerful.

He was thought of as the greatest general in the Roman army, but Caesar was hungry for more power.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

In one sentence, explain how the images are linked.

There is a map of Gaul and an image of Julius Caesar.

Pause the video here, and press play when you are ready for the answer.

An answer that you could have given is, "Julius Caesar brought Gaul under Roman control." Well done.

At that time, Pompey was the consul, or leader, of Rome.

In 49 BCE, while Julius Caesar was still in Gaul, he realised that he faced a big problem in Rome.

Pompey and the senate were not happy with him.

They were worried that he was growing too powerful, and so they asked him to leave his army behind in Gaul and come back to Rome as a regular Roman citizen.

But Caesar, of course, didn't want to do that.

He wanted to be the leader of Rome.

So instead, in 49 BCE, he decided to march his army back from Gaul to Rome.

On the way, they had to cross a river called the Rubicon.

Crossing the Rubicon River with an army meant that he was breaking a serious Roman law because he was marching an army ready to fight in Roman territory.

This led to a four-year civil war between the supporters of Caesar and the supporters of Pompey.

Eventually, Caesar was victorious, and in 44 BCE, he declared himself a dictator of Rome.

As dictator, this meant that Caesar had complete power and control.

Whew, that was quite a lot of new information to take in.

Let's pause our learning for a moment to check our understanding.

After four years of civil war, Julius Caesar was victorious, and he declared himself, hmm, of Rome.

Is it A, emperor, B, dictator, or C, senator? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Yes, he declared himself dictator of Rome so that he had complete power and control over Rome.

Well done if you got that right.

Some people in the senate started to worry that Caesar was becoming too powerful, and some of them were even jealous of his power.

A group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius thought that Caesar's power might be a danger to the Roman Republic, and so they plotted to kill him.

On March 15, 44 BCE, when Julius Caesar entered the senate, he was attacked from behind and murdered.

The murderers hoped that Caesar's death would help keep Rome the way it was with no one person having too much control and power like a dictator.

Let's check for understanding.

Is the following statement true or false? Julius Caesar was murdered by the Senators, true or false? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Did you say that was true? If you did, well done.

Well, let's justify our answer.

Let's give a reason why we say that statement is true.

Is it because they were jealous that he had become so powerful? Or did the senators think that he was weak and lazy? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The senators had Julius Caesar murdered because they were jealous that he had become so powerful.

Well done if you got that right.

Let's move on to task B of this lesson.

Place these events involving Julius Caesar in the correct order by numbering them one to six, with one being the earliest.

And the events are Caesar defeated Pompey after a four-year civil war.

After nine years of fighting, Caesar successfully brought Gaul under Roman control.

Caesar was murdered by jealous senators.

Caesar, an important military general, was sent to Gaul.

Caesar became dictator of Rome.

Caesar returned to Rome to challenge Pompey.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Here are the events in the correct order.

One, Caesar, an important military general, was sent to Gaul.

Two, after nine years of fighting, Caesar successfully brought Gaul under Roman control.

Three, Caesar returned to Rome to challenge Pompey.

Four, Caesar defeated Pompey after a four-year civil war.

Five, Caesar became dictator of Rome, and six, Caesar was murdered by jealous senators.

So the numbers are four, two, six, one, five, three.

Well done if you got those correct.

We can now move on to the third learning cycle of this lesson entitled "The First Roman Emperors." After the death of Julius Caesar, a civil war broke out between a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius on the one side and Augustus, Julius Caesar's nephew, on the other side.

Brutus and Cassius wanted to keep Rome the way it was, as a republic, whereas Augustus wanted all the power for himself just like his uncle.

The war ended when the senator's armies were defeated by Augustus.

This brought an end to the Roman Republic and marked the beginning of the Roman Empire.

In 27 BCE, Augustus became Rome's first emperor, which meant that he had complete power, as he controlled all of the Roman world, which was now known as the Roman Empire.

Let's consolidate what we have just learned.

Who was the first emperor of Rome? Was it A, Pompey, B, Caesar, or C, Augustus? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

And the answer is Augustus.

Well done if you got that right.

The senate continued to exist under the Roman Empire, but senators had much less power than before.

The emperors now only needed the senate to say that they were doing a good job to make their rule seem right.

The Roman empire continued to expand under the emperors.

The emperors used conquest to gain more land and provinces, which made them popular with the Roman people and even more powerful.

So let's check for understanding.

Is the following statement true or false? Roman senators had more power in the Roman Empire than the Roman Republic.

Is that true or false? That statement is indeed false.

So let's give a reason.

Let's justify this answer.

Is it because the senate continued to exist under the Roman Empire, but senators has had much less power, or the senate continued to exist under the Roman Empire, and senators could tell the emperor what to do? Pause the video here.

When you are ready for the answer, press play.

The answer is A.

The senate continued to exist under the Roman Empire, but they had much less power.

Well done if got that right.

We have now come to the last learning task of this lesson.

It says, "Read the statements below.

Who do you think is correct? Write one paragraph explaining your answer." Aisha says, "The main difference between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire is that the empire no longer expanded into new areas," whereas Alex says, "The main difference between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire is that the senate had less power in the empire than the republic." Pause the video here to give yourself enough time to write one paragraph, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Well, here is an example of an answer that you could have given.

It says, "I agree with Alex.

The Roman Republic was led by the senate, who appointed consuls, or leaders, to lead Rome.

Even though the senate continued to exist under the Roman Empire, they had much less power, as it was now the emperor who had complete control and power." Good work.

We have come to the end of this lesson about the rise of the emperors, but before we go, let's summarise what we have learned.

The Roman Republic continue to expand, conquering places like Ptolemaic Egypt.

Julius Caesar rose to power as a general and then as a dictator of Rome, but he was murdered by jealous senators in 44 BCE.

Augustus was victorious in the civil war that followed, and he became Rome's first emperor.

The senate continued to exist under the Roman Empire, but senators had much less power.

The Roman Empire expanded under the emperors, who used conquest to gain more territories.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I have really enjoyed travelling back in time with you, and I hope that you will join me again very soon.