A better map…

1. A better map… Rome Carthage Crete Mesopotamia Next Museum session, we’ll be doing the Anglo Saxons and Medieval period. Why was Anglo Saxon pottery so much more rubbish that Roman stuff? What are the streets paved with in Medieval Wiltshire (Spoiler alert: It’s not gold!): The Anglo Saxons The Vikings The Normans The collapse of Rome

2. Clay as history I caused some confusion over the different writing types, sorry about that! Opposite are the ones we discussed. Also, thankyou for correcting my spelling of ‘Cuneiform’! Rulers in the first cities (3,000 BC – 1400 BC) needed a way of recording all the complicated laws and records that came with organising lots of people in a city. This is where writing comes from. It’s strange to think of ancient clay being a ‘throwaway’ item. Most of these tablets were never supposed to be kept, they would have been ‘rubbed out’ when no longer needed. They only survive today because some tablets were caught in house fired and accidently ‘fired’! Cuneiform – used in Babylon and Sumer. Probably developed as a counting system of ‘tallies’. Linear A – used in Minoan Crete and still not fully translated today. Linear B – used by the Mycenaeans, who conquered Crete

3. When in Rome… We talked about Rome as a city, before it was an Empire. And we discussed what it meant to be a ‘Roman’. What was important to Romans? Bling Romans loved jewellery and ‘pretty things’. They has a fashion industry and an interest in celebrities. Their ‘posh’ pottery is called Fineware. The famous shiny red type is ‘Samian’ from Gaul (France). Honour They had a keen sense of honour. They usually honoured their agreements, even if meant fighting costly wars. You slighted Roman honour at your peril… 338 BC: a city state 86 BC, after the war with Carthage The Republic Power was shared with the people, but there was a big political battle between the ordinary people (the ‘Plebeians’) and the ruling elite (the ‘Patricians’). Rome was basically run by rich, old men. They had kings at first, but the last kings were so cruel they were exiled. Romans were wary of putting a single person in charge, and only did so in emergencies. Usually, 2 men ruled jointly as ‘Consuls’.

4. Timelines Don’t forget… We date our years from when Christ was born (which is year ‘0’. Anything before this, is ‘Before Christ’. Which gets a little complicated… So, 2000 BC is 2000 years before Christ, but it’s 4000 years ago. And 40 BC is after 60 BC. This system was made up in Medieval times, Romans had a different dating system for their own times. And other parts of the world, like the Islamic world and China, kept their own systems. We’ll look at this next time. If you want to travel in time, go to China, where the year is 4717! Or Saudi Arabia, where it’s still 1440… 2019 BC – 4,040 years ago 1000 BC Year Zero 1000 AD 2019 AD - Now