Ancient History
Ancient History
What: Ancient History from UR to ROME. The group leader will research and present topics at the meetings for discussion and further research. Proposed topics to cover include:
Mesopotamia - peoples, tribes, settlement, cities, wars, territorial expansion | |
Language, writing, "technologyā€¯ | |
The growth of Empires, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome | |
Religions, science, philosophy | |
Wars and key battles | |
Kings, Queens, Pharaohs, Emperors | |
Classical writing - plays, poetry, 'mythology' | |
Roman Britain to Hadrian's time. |
Where: Group co-ordinator's home
When: Fourth Thursday of the month 2:00 - 4:00 pm.
How to Join: To enquire, show interest or join contact Keith the Ancient History coordinator or Linda the Interest Groups Coordinator by clicking the blue pigeon send a message button at the top of this page.
Annual Report 2023
Ancient History - Keith Our 6th Year
This year we met the Romans for the first time, from the early days when the group of villages occupying a small area of about 60 square miles built on and around seven hills, close to the River Tiber was ruled by Kings. From 753BC, for just over 200 years these Kings, mainly Etruscans took control of Rome. Eventually, the people had enough of being ruled by Etruscans and decided that they had to go. The "Rape of Lucretia" (a subject immortalised by many artists), was the catalyst.
After this, the office of King was prohibited and the Roman Republic was established, where by its constitution, no one, absolutely no one was able to have permanent political power. Readers of this report will know of course that this principle did not last forever!
By the end of the year under review, we met Patricians and Plebians - the Plebs! We saw how powerful rich people climbed to greasy pole to power; we looked at the Roman army and navy. We encountered, as the Romans famously did, Hannibal and his elephants and the three Punic Wars against Carthage. By this time ancient Rome was over 500 years old and was expanding its empire. We finished the year by beginning to look at how the west was won and we shall be continuing with that for a few more months and on to the Empire and Emperors and Roman Britain.
This month - October 2023, a second group has started and is fully subscribed. We will begin, as did group 1, with a few months looking at Anthropology, Bi-pedalism, archaic hominins and on to anatomically modern humans spreading across the globe. I am really excited about starting again and looking forward to coordinating this group.