| A | B |
|---|
| Rome | the former center of both the Ancient Romam Republic and the Roman empire;capital of present-day Italy; 42 degrees North, 12 degrees East |
| Sicily | an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the southwest tip of the Italian peninsula |
| Alps | Europe's highest mountains, extending in an arc from the Mediterranean coast to the Balkan peninsula |
| Apennine Mountains | A mountain range on the Italian peninsula |
| Latium | a plain on the west coast of Italy on which the city of Rome was built |
| Tiber River | a river flowing southward from north-central Italy across the Latium plain, and into the Tyrrhenian Sea |
| plebeian | a common farmer, trader, or craftworker in ancient Rome |
| patrician | a member of the noble families who controlled all power in the early years of the Roman Republic |
| republic | a form of government in which citizens elect representatives to speak or act for them |
| representative | a person who is elected by citizens to speak or act for them |
| senate | the lawmaking body and most powerful branch of government in ancient Rome's Republic |
| tribune | an elected leader of ancient Rome who represented the interests of the plebeians |
| consul | one of the two elected officials of the Roman Republic who commanded the army and were supreme judges |
| Twelve Tables | the earliest written collection of Roman laws, drawn up by patricians about 450 B.C. that became the foundation of Roman law |
| Punic Wars | a series of conflicts between Rome and Carthage in the 200s B.C., ending in a victory for Rome |
| Livy | 59 B.C.-A.D.17 historian of the Roman Republic who wrote about the struggle between plebeians and patricians of Rome |
| Hannibal | 247?-183? B.C. general of Carthage who marched his army from Spain to Rome in the Second Punic War |
| Scipio | 234?-183?B.C. Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Battle of Zama outside Carthage, North Africa, in 202 B.C. |
| Forum | the city market and meeting place in the center of ancient Rome |
| Carthage | an ancient city on the north coast of Africa; 37 degrees north, 10 degrees east |
| Zama | a site in North Africa where the Roman army defeated the Carthaginian army in 202 B.C., 36 degrees north, 8 degrees east |
| Pax Romana | a period of peace for the Roman empire that began with the rule of Augustus in about 27 B.C. and lasted around 200 years |
| civil war | an armed conflict between groups within one country |
| dictator | a ruler who has absolute power |
| aqueduct | a high, arched structure built to carry water over long distances |
| census | a periodic count of all the people living in a country, city, or other region |
| gladiator | a Roman athlete, usually a slave, criminal, or prisoner of war, who was forced to fight for the entertainment of the public |
| Julius Caesar | 100-44 B.C. Roman general who became the republic's dictator in 45 B.C. |
| Cleopatra | 69-30 B.C. ruler of the Egyptian government in Alexandria who backed Caesar in the civil war he waged from 49 to 45 B.C. |
| Augustus | 63 B.C.-A.D.14 first Roman emperor; won the civil war following Julius Caesar's assasination and went on to unify the empire and etablished the Pax Romana |
| Gaul | an ancient region and Roman province that included most of present-day France |
| Colosseum | a large stadium in ancient Rome where athletic events take place |
| Pantheon | a large, domed temple built in ancient Rome to honor many gods and godesses |
| Pompeii | an ancient city in southwest Italy that was burned by the eruption of Mount Vesuvious in 79 A.D.; 41 degrees north, 14 degrees east |
| Eastern Orthodox Christianity | a branch of Christianity that was developed in the Byzantine Empire and that did not recognize the pope as its supreme leader |
| architecture | the science of planning and constructing buildings |
| Roman Catholicism | a branch of Christianity that developed in the western Roman Empire and that recognized the Pope as its supreme head |
| Diocletian | A.D.245-313 Roman emperor who divided the empire in two and oversaw the eastern part |
| Constantine | A.D.280-337 Roman emperor who founded Constantinople as the new eastern capital of the Roman empire |
| Palastine | region in southwest Asia that became the ancient home of the Jews; the ancient Roman for Judea; in recent times, the British protectorate that became Israel in 1947 |
| Constantinople | a city established as the new eastern capital of the Roman empire by the emperor Constantine in A.D. 330, now called Istanbul:41 degrees north, 29 degrees east |
| Byzantine Empire | the name by which the eastern half of the Roman empire became known some time after A.D. 400 |
