| A | B |
|---|
| patrician | a member of one of the noble families of ancient Rome |
| republic | a government in which the power lies with the citizens who vote for people to represent them |
| plebian | a member of the lower class in ancient Rome |
| tribune | an ancient Roman official elected by the plebians to protect their rights against the patricians |
| triumvirate | three persons with equal power in ancient Rome who shared public administration and authority |
| aqueduct | a pipe or channel to bring water from far away usually by gravity |
| martyr | a person who chooses death rather than renounce religious principles |
| bishop | a high ranking clergyman having authority over other clergy and overseeing a church district or diocese |
| patriarch | one of five leading archbishops in ancient Rome |
| pope | the bishop of Rome and the lead of the Roman Catholic Church |
| inflation | an abnormal increase in currency resulting in sharp rises in prices |
| Julius Caesar | A member of the triumverate with Crassus and Pompey, Caesar took military command in Gaul and eventually all of Italy. He became dictator for life in 45 B.C. |
| Augustus Caesar | A great patron of the arts, he ruled Rome from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D. and rebuilt Rome. |
| Nero | A Julian emperor, 54 A.D. to 68 A.D., he was cruel, vain and perhaps insane. He bankrupted the government and killed his family and many senators. |
| Constantine | A Roman general who used the cross as a battle standard and credited the victory to God and Christianity. After becoming emperor in 312 A.D., he encouraged religious freedom throughout the empire. symbol |
| Attila | Leader of the Huns, he raided the eastern empire in 451 A.D., then Gaul, then Italy where the Mongol horde plundered and terrified the populace until the horde succumbed to plague and famine. |
| Rome | Beginning sometime between 800B.C. and 700 B.C. the Latin peoples joined to form one community, in the middle of Etruria near the mouth of the Tiber River. |
| Sicily | Originally colonized by the Greeks, this island in the Meditteranean Sea between Italy and Carthage in Northern Africa, and colonized by both Rome and Carthage, was very strategic in the Punic Wars. |
