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