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"Grandpa, you're home!" Laurie cried, running into Grandpa's study. "How was Italy?"
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"Laurie! It was wonderful! I wish you could have gone too," Grandpa said.
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"I studied many artifacts from ancient Rome that I had never seen before."
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"Did you bring anything back to show me? A toga?" Laurie asked. Grandpa laughed.
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"Unfortunately I couldn't bring home any togas.
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But I did put together a slide show!"
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Grandpa switched off the lights and turned on the projector.
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"Ooh, is that Julius Caesar?" Laurie asked, looking at a picture of a statue.
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"No, but you're close! This is Octavian, Caesar's grandnephew, who came to power after Caesar was murdered.
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He's more commonly known as Augustus, the first emperor of Rome."
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"Wait—if he was the first emperor, who was Julius Caesar?" Laurie asked.
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"Hmm . . . Maybe we should start from the beginning.
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According to legend, long ago two brothers named Romulus and Remus were left in a basket on the Tiber River in present-day Italy.
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A wolf saved the baby boys and fed them.
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Then a shepherd and his wife found the boys and raised them as their own.
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The two brothers grew up to be brave and strong.
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One day they decided to build a city.
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But they got into a fight. Romulus killed his brother, named the city 'Rome' after himself, and became the first king. This was in 753 BC.
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A series of kings continued to rule Rome for the next 250 years or so.
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But eventually Romans grew to dislike kings, because they thought kings gave themselves too much power.
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Instead they formed a government run by the people, or the public, so Rome became a republic.
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Julius Caesar was the last leader of the republic.
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When that system collapsed, Augustus began a new style of rule and became the first emperor of the new Roman Empire.
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Augustus was a great commander who led Rome into an age of cultural and geographical expansion.
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The name of the month August comes from his name, which means the great one.
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People liked him because during his rule Roman civil wars finally ended.
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A long period of peace began, and the Roman Empire grew into the most powerful empire in the world.
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It included not only modern-day Italy, but England, France, Germany, Egypt, and Turkey as well."
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A new slide appeared. "Ha-ha! Grandpa, is that you in a scuba suit?" Laurie said.
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"It is! I was diving for artifacts.
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Many Roman remains have been found underwater!
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This is because the Romans traded mainly by sea.
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They built great ships and sailed from ports near Rome to other cities in Europe, as well as to Africa and the Middle East.
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But not all journeys were successful. Sunken ships full of trade items have become valuable resources for people studying ancient Rome.
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For example, these pots were discovered aboard a sunken ship.
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We now know they were used to carry olive oil, sauces, and wine for trade."
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"Hey, what's that?" Laurie asked, pointing at the next slide.
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It looked like a picture of an old pool. "It's pretty."
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"Those are the ruins of a bathhouse. Bathhouses were cheap and very popular in ancient Rome.
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Nearly everyone went. Just like today's spas, Roman bathhouses had hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, and cold pools to plunge into before or after your bath!
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The bathhouse wasn't just somewhere to bathe.
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It was also a place for families and friends to go and relax.
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Another popular place in Roman cities was the forum.
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It was like the downtown area in a modern city.
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Besides being a center for politics, the forum was usually a major shopping center!
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There you could walk along rows of merchants and craftsmen selling pottery, jewelry, spices, and wine.
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And if you got hungry, you could purchase some fast food—maybe olives, beans, and bread—from a food stand.
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These are the walls of a market near the forum in ancient Rome.
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The Romans were great builders, so many remains are still in good condition.
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But even though we'll never be able to see exactly how the Romans lived,
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we hear the ancient Romans every day—in our languages!
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Their language, Latin, isn't spoken much anymore.
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But it is the root language for many European languages.
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We call them Romance languages because of their connection to Rome.
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Many English words come from Latin as well.
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So even if you don't know Latin, if you know English or a Romance language, you can probably figure out what many words mean.
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For example, our word 'history' comes from the Latin word historia!
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Our language owes a lot to Roman gods and goddesses too.
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Romans thought the gods lived near the heavens, and they believed the movements of the stars were gods traveling across the sky.
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This is why many of our planets are named after gods and goddesses!
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Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, and Saturn were all mighty gods.
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And Venus was the goddess of love and beauty."
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"Laurie, we have to leave," Laurie heard Dad call from downstairs.
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"You'll be late for your violin lesson!"
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"Uh-oh. Time to go. Thanks, Grandpa. Those were interesting photos," Laurie said.
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"Wait . . . it's not a toga, but I have something for you."
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Grandpa pulled a ring from his pocket.
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"A ring with your initials on it.
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And 2010 in Roman numerals on the inside," he said, "so you'll always remember when I gave it to you."
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"Oh, thank you! I love it!" Laurie put the ring on and gave Grandpa a hug.
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"Now, go! Don't keep your dad waiting." He smiled.
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"Bye, Grandpa!"