Roman People
History · Year 3–Year 6
Five Romans to label: soldier, senator, emperor, farmer, woman.
About the roman people
Five Romans on five boards. A legionary with his kit, a senator in his toga, an emperor, a farmer and a woman. Tap something one of them is wearing and the board names it, with the Latin beside it and one line on what it was for. Nothing is typed and nothing is dragged.
The soldier is a legionary rather than a centurion, because that is the soldier a scheme of work means: the man in the shield wall, with the scutum, the gladius, the pilum and the lorica segmentata. The English name comes first and the Latin sits in brackets after it, since a class that can only say scutum cannot answer a question about a shield.
The purple is the thread through the boards and the best question to ask about them. Tyrian purple came from sea snails and cost more than gold, so a senator was allowed a border of it, the emperor wore it head to foot, and the farmer has none at all. In a world with no uniforms outside the army, that is how a Roman knew who somebody was. Put the senator and the emperor up one after the other and ask the class which is which, before you tell them.
The farmer and the woman are on here because the soldier alone answers “what did a Roman wear” with the one Roman who wore a uniform. Most Romans were farmers in an undyed tunic cut short enough to work in, and a stola and a palla are as much named vocabulary as a scutum is.
The labels are off to begin with, so each picture is a question. Show puts them all up at once for the version of the lesson that is not a quiz, and Next walks through one board head to toe.
The figures are schematic on purpose, and pale, with no skin tone. Rome ran from Britain to Syria, so there is no one colour a Roman was: the figure says nothing about it and the clothes carry the lesson.
How to use it on your whiteboard
- 1Pick a Roman on the toolbar: legionary, senator, emperor, farmer or woman.
- 2Tap something they are wearing. Its name appears beside them and what it was for is written underneath.
- 3Tap it again to take the label off, or tap Hide to take them all off.
- 4Tap Next to go through one figure in order, from the head down to the feet.
- 5Put the senator up, then the emperor, and ask the class how you can tell which is which.
Questions
- Is the soldier a legionary or a centurion?
- A legionary. A centurion had a transverse crest on his helmet, greaves on his shins and wore his sword on the other hip, which is a different diagram.
- How could you tell a senator from anybody else?
- By the purple. It came from sea snails, took thousands of them to dye one garment and cost more than gold, so who could wear it was set by law: a senator had a purple border, and only the emperor wore it from head to foot.
- Did Roman women really wear three layers?
- A married woman wore a tunic, a stola over it and a palla, a shawl, over that when she went out. The palla went over her head in public. Her hair was pinned up, and the style took a slave an hour, which is why an elaborate one said how rich she was.
- Why is the dagger missing from the soldier?
- The pugio hung on the belt right beside the sword, so its tap target would sit inside the sword's and a press near one would pick the other.
- Can the class see all the labels at once?
- Yes. Tap Show all. Each board starts with them hidden, because a diagram with the answers on it is a picture rather than a question.