Introduction

Huge buildings that reach the sky, strange and exotic rituals that start sporting events, artwork that adorned buildings, wars, and government. These are just some of the things you'll find when you explore ancient Rome. Ancient Rome is a place filled with the beautiful, the amazing, and the strange.

As a historian, you are going to get a chance to pick objects from ancient Rome that will be put away for others to see thousands of years later. You are going to find objects that represent the culture of ancient Rome and put them in a special time capsule to be sealed until the year 2005 when kids like you will get a chance to open it and see what ancient Rome was like.

Task

A time capsule is a container where we put away things from our time to be discovered later. A time capsule from the U.S. in the year 2005 might have pictures of the President of the United States, CDs of the most popular musicians of today, DVDs of the popular movies, newspapers, pictures of cities and countryside, and other things. They would help someone a thousand years from now understand what our culture was like.

We are going to create a time capsule for the early civilization of Rome. We'll put in objects that will help people thousands of years later understand what their culture was like. As the historian, you will get to choose what goes in the capsule!

Process

1. To find out more about what a time capsule is look here.

2. Each of you will be part of a time capsule team. Each team will have 2-3 members. All members of the team are researchers. You will trade off being the recorder, internet explorer, and designer. The recorder records the information you find on the objects and writes up the a detailed description of the object. The internet explorer does the searching of websites on the computer. The designer creates the drawing/painting/model, etc. to be placed in the capsule.

3. You're looking for objects that represent the what Rome looks like, their civilization, their religion, art and architecture, trade, and the language they used.

4. Each group will then share with another group to see if there are any objects they want to include from the other group's list.

5. As a class we will discuss all the objects the groups have discovered and decide on a range of items that represents all of Roman culture.

6. Each group will create at least six of the objects by drawing, painting, using clay, etc., and place them in a time capsule you also make. Make the capsule so that it will last as long as possible.

7. With each object must be also be a detailed description of the object (hand written is fine) at least one paragraph long.

Ancient Rome - A general knowledge site that covers a wide variety of Roman topics.

Daily Life - This is a look into what the daily life of a roman citizen may have been like. Would you have wanted to be one?

History Link 101 - A wonderful site relating to any and everything in ancient Rome.

The Coliseum - All you need to know about the Roman Coliseum and what went on there.

Julius Caesar - Who was this guy?

Rome Project - A site on ancient Rome broken into catagories

Learning Advice

As you are visiting these websites it is important that you record the information in an organized manner. This will enable you to find the information again. You may also need it to compare to information found on a different website.

Conclusion

You've explored ancient Rome and found objects that represented their civilization. You've created a time capsule and placed those objects inside. You've done what many historians have done through time by sealing away objects of their day to be discovered and examined many years later. You've helped future generations!

Do you think that the kids that find your time capsule from ancient Rome will be able to understand what Rome was like? Do you think they'll want to know more? If you were going to make a time capsule that represented your life today in 2005 what kinds of things would you include?