How did Romulus shape the early history of Rome?

This lesson is designed with the new OCR Ancient History 9-1 GCSE spec in mind, although it would provide an excellent introductory lesson to Rome’s early history for any students embarking on a study of Rome. It would be helpful if students had some prior knowledge of Rome’s foundation myths (Romulus & Remus, Aeneas) but this is not essential at all.

All worksheets referenced here and in the lesson are included as Powerpoint slides within the .ppt file and can be printed off and given to students.

The lesson begins with a quick quiz and quick-fire answers provided to establish what students know already about Rome’s foundation stories. This quiz is repeated at the end to see if students can retain any of this information - the idea being that giving them time to forget and remember helps them to retain the knowledge in the long run.

Students are then given accessible information on:

1. Romulus’ political intitiatives
2. Rome’s abduction of the Sabine women
3. The development of the Senate under Romulus

And complete a table worksheet (included in the .ppt file) with details and then they are encouraged to think which event was the most significant. Students can then challenge themselves by considering the long term significance of these events in relation to each other.

Three 6 mark exam questions are then included + advice on how to answer them. These can be used simply as summary questions for those not studying the OCR Ancient History GCSE and will allow you to assess the extent of their learning.

Finally (prior to students attempting the initial quiz again) there is a link to a video summarising Romulus’ impact on early Rome which students can use to add to their notes they have made in the lesson.