Activity 1 - Roman Society

Roman Government
& Social Structure

Activity 1 – Roman Society
Created by Marion Wadowski for Ancient History Encyclopedia
Essential • What was it like to live in Ancient Rome?

Questions • What were the different classes in ancient Roman society?
Objectives • Improving reading fluency and comprehension of an encyclopedia

article
• Analyzing a text to determine the central ideas and complete a
pyramid graph
• Gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources in
order to present it
Needed Materials • Worksheets included

and Information • Computers according to school policy
• Material to project/show the videos needed for the second part of the
lesson
• Article:
https://www.ancient.eu/article/1463/ancient-roman-society/
• Videos:
o Roman Soldiers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5e7cl19Ha0
o Teenagers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWYhMoDTN0
o Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQMgLxVxsrw
Vestal Virgins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER0Cu0KQFqM
www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 1

Lesson Plan Activity 1 – Roman Society
Instructions
2 class periods needed and this includes the wrap-up activity. It could be less if students are required
to complete some parts at home.
• Ancient Roman society was a rather complex and very hierarchical place to live! So,
for this activity, we have decided to rely on TED-Ed videos to gather snippets of
what it was like to live at that time depending on who you were and what your class
was.
• To help your students understand the importance of hierarchy and the class system,
hand-over the worksheet of this lesson pack. There you find a true or false exercise
to set the bases of that society and a pyramid to complete to present the classes. It
would be worth asking the class about each class definition to make sure they
understood it properly. You could also use the vocabulary flashcards, should you
wish to reinforce the knowledge then or at a later stage.
• Once completed and corrected with the whole class, you could split the class into
four groups (at least), corresponding to four videos relating to:
o Roman soldiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5e7cl19Ha0

o Teenagers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWYhMoDTN0
o Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQMgLxVxsrw
o Vestal virgins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER0Cu0KQFqM
• For each video, students will have to complete a doodle sheet, included here, in
order to be able to present their topic to the class.

Lesson Plan Activity 1 – Roman Society
Wrap-Up Activity
At this point in the lesson, it would be very interesting to go into more detail regarding
those categories/classes of people and have your students research one person of their
choice. You could either leave them free to choose whichever person to study or give them
a list.
Here are a few suggestions:

• Women: Iulia Domna, Hortensia (Quintus Hortensius' daughter)
• Slaves: Spartacus, C. Caecilius Isidorus
• Arts and Literature: Ovid, Livy, Virgil, Horace
• Patricians: Octavian, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and pretty much
every consul and emperor!
• Plebeians: Cicero
The resulting research could be presented in various ways: as an oral presentation, a poster,
an essay, a slideshow, according to your students’ needs and abilities. Check out our
“Student Tips” and “Marking Grids”, they can help you and your students on those types of
assignments.
To go further, you could introduce the concept of patronage. This is a great video to do so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7Gux8R2DA. This can make us think of an ancient
version of social media, where the more followers you get, the more popular you are! It
would be great to get students to reflect on that and perhaps have them create social media
account feeds for some famous consuls. Or if you choose to do the presentations on
famous ancient Roman figures, using those as their own social media profiles.

Worksheet 1 Ancient Roman Society
Name Date
1) True or false, correct when false. All the answers can be found in this article:
Statement T/F Correction if false
a) Rome has always been a large city.
b) Clearly, men were more important

than women in Ancient Rome
since the head of their pantheon
was a man.
c) Families were the base of the

Roman society and they were very
hierarchical.
d) The power struggle between the

Plebeians and Patricians was
strong.
e) Plebeians were the poor people.
f) Freedmen were slaves who had

managed to buy their freedom or
whose owners had set them free.
g) Slaves were not the lowest class,

women were.
h) Slaves were used for hard labor

and were not educated.
i) Romans relied heavily on slaves.

Name Date
2) Complete the pyramid below to reflect the class system in Ancient Rome, using
the classes written in the circles. Connect them to their descriptions on the
right-hand side.
Patricians Slaves Plebeians Equites Freedmen
Working in mines or building roads. Could

also work for craftsmen or as tutors or
musicians. Would help on all household tasks
the masters didn’t want to do.
Working class: farmers, plumbers, teachers,

etc.
Knights of Rome: landowners and warriors,

then business/commercial magnates.
Slaves who bought their freedom or whose

owners had set them free. Granted
citizenship.
Upper class: aristocrats collecting taxes,

operating banks, import/export, etc.

Name Date
1) Three facts that you have learned about your category of people (definition of
importance, main role or responsibilities, etc.):
2) Two facts that surprised you (very different from today or shocking, etc.):
3) Would you have liked to be one of them? Explain why:

Answer Keys Activity 1
1) True or false, correct when false. All the answers can be found in this article:
Statement T/F Correction if false
a) Rome has always been a large city. F Rome began as a small city on the banks of the
Tiber River in Italy
b) Clearly, men were more important T

than women in Ancient Rome
since the head of their pantheon
was a man.
c) Families were the base of the T

Roman society and they were very
hierarchical.
d) The power struggle between the T

Plebeians and Patricians was
strong.
e) Plebeians were the poor people. F They were not born aristocrats but could be
wealthy
f) Freedmen were slaves who had T

managed to buy their freedom or
whose owners had set them free.
g) Slaves were not the lowest class, F Slaves were the lowest class in society without
women were. any rights and considered property of the master
h) Slaves were used for hard labor F Some could help with administrative tasks or
and were not educated. even patrician families’ children education
i) Romans relied heavily on slaves. T

Answer Keys Activity 1
2) Complete the pyramid below to reflect the class system in Ancient Rome, using
the classes written in the circles. Connect them to their descriptions on the
right-hand side.
Patricians Slaves Plebeians Equites Freedmen
Working in mines or building roads. Could

also work for craftsmen or as tutors or
Patricians musicians. Would help on all household tasks
the masters didn’t want to do.
Equites Working class: farmers, plumbers, teachers,

etc.
Plebeians Knights of Rome: landowners and warriors,

then business/commercial magnates.
Freedmen Slaves who bought their freedom or whose

owners had set them free. Granted
citizenship.
Slaves
Upper class: aristocrats collecting taxes,
operating banks, import/export, etc.

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What were the different classes in ancient Roman society?

What were the different classes in ancient Roman society?

What was daily life like for different classes in ancient Rome?

What was daily life like for different classes in ancient Rome?

Roman Government

& Social Structure

Created by Marion Wadowski for Ancient History Encyclopedia

Essential • What was it like to live in Ancient Rome?

Objectives • Improving reading fluency and comprehension of an encyclopedia

Needed Materials • Worksheets included

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 1

o Roman soldiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5e7cl19Ha0

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 2

Here are a few suggestions:

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 3

Statement T/F Correction if false

a) Rome has always been a large city.

b) Clearly, men were more important

c) Families were the base of the

d) The power struggle between the

e) Plebeians were the poor people.

f) Freedmen were slaves who had

g) Slaves were not the lowest class,

h) Slaves were used for hard labor

i) Romans relied heavily on slaves.

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 4

Patricians Slaves Plebeians Equites Freedmen

Working in mines or building roads. Could

Working class: farmers, plumbers, teachers,

Knights of Rome: landowners and warriors,

Slaves who bought their freedom or whose

Upper class: aristocrats collecting taxes,

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 5

3) Would you have liked to be one of them? Explain why:

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 6

Statement T/F Correction if false

b) Clearly, men were more important T

c) Families were the base of the T

d) The power struggle between the T

f) Freedmen were slaves who had T

i) Romans relied heavily on slaves. T

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 7

Patricians Slaves Plebeians Equites Freedmen

Working in mines or building roads. Could

Equites Working class: farmers, plumbers, teachers,

Plebeians Knights of Rome: landowners and warriors,

Freedmen Slaves who bought their freedom or whose

www.ancient.eu - Roman Government & Social Structure – Activity 1 8

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