Early Rome · 753-509 BC

Seven kings and the Etruscans

Roman tradition counts seven kings before the Republic, the last three with Etruscan roots. Students meet Rome's powerful northern neighbors and find out what the Romans learned from them.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 500 BC to 509 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Roman tradition counts seven kings before the Republic, the last three with Etruscan roots. Students meet Rome's powerful northern neighbors and find out what the Romans learned from them.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Name at least three of the seven kings of Rome and one deed tradition gives each.
  • Locate Etruria and two Etruscan cities on the map.
  • Explain two things the Romans took over from the Etruscans.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

500 BC

Etruria

Open the map in 500 BC and find the Etruscans, north of Rome between the rivers Arno and Tiber. Compare their land with Rome's. Who looks stronger?

Open this view on the map
b

500 BC

Cities of the dead

Zoom in on the coast northwest of Rome, near Tarquinia. Etruscan nobles were buried here in painted tombs. Type into Ask the atlas: "What do the painted tombs of Tarquinia show?"

Open this view on the map
c

509 BC

The king is gone

Turn on Historical Events and set the year to 509 BC. Find the Political Events marker in Rome for the start of the Republic. What replaced the king?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Seven kings ruling for 244 years would mean about 35 years each. Why do many historians doubt the list?
  2. After the last king was driven out, Romans hated the word "king" (rex) for centuries. How can one bad ruler change a whole people's view?
  3. We can read the Etruscan alphabet but understand only part of their language. How does that limit what we know about them?
  4. The Romans borrowed the fasces, a bundle of rods with an axe, from the Etruscans. What do you think it stood for?
  5. We mostly know the Etruscans through what Roman writers said about them. Why is that a problem?
4

Game round

10 min

No ruler in Rule History lived this early. Play one round as Augustus, who came to power more than 450 years after the last king was driven out. Discuss: why did Augustus never call himself king, even with all the power in his hands?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.