What it meant to be a Roman
I can explain how ideas about what it meant to be a Roman changed over time.
What it meant to be a Roman
I can explain how ideas about what it meant to be a Roman changed over time.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- At first to be Roman meant to be from the city of Rome.
- To be a Roman was often associated with power and military strength.
- The idea of how Rome should be ruled changed a lot over time.
- Even when Rome fell, there was still a ‘Roman’ Empire in the East: the Byzantines.
- A good description of how ideas about what it meant to be Roman changed will use knowledge from across this unit.
Keywords
Ideology - an ideology is a set of beliefs and ideas held by one person or shared by a group of people
Disciplined - to be disciplined is to behave in a controlled manner by following particular rules
Common misconception
In ancient times, being Roman meant being from the city of Rome.
Initially, being Roman meant being from the city of Rome but later it included people who followed Roman ideology all over the Roman world.
To help you plan your year 4 history lesson on: What it meant to be a Roman, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 4 history lesson on: What it meant to be a Roman, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 history lessons from the The Romans: what did it mean to be a Roman? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
king
dictator
emperor
senator
someone who helped the Roman leader to rule
a member of a country or city
a person with complete control over a country
ruler of an empire
Exit quiz
6 Questions
first king of Rome
last king of Rome
emperor of Rome
dictator of Rome
having enough supplies and weapons
to become very skilful through lots of practice
to behave according to the rules of the Roman military
fearless and brave