Monuments Past and Present: Ancient Rome

Monuments Past and Present: Ancient Rome shows the reader what a structure looks like now versus how the structure looked in ancient times. This wonderful contrast allows students to understand the process of historical interpretation and provides excellent fodder for the discussion of how history can be a collusion between multiple disciplines in order to create a singular idea.

For example, in order to understand how the Colosseum looked, students could analyze the amalgamation of expert evidence. Archaeologists actually dig up the structure in a very scientific and methodical manner, art historians reference architecture of the same time period, language scholars reference literature describing the structure or translate any inscriptions on the structure, and historians use the events and culture of the time to provide a historical context to interpret the structure or any ambiguous nuances.

The main text of the series might prove challenging for 6th graders, but they would be able to read through it with some guidance or partner reading. The pictures really make this book engaging because students can lift the transparency over the ancient ruin again and again to understand how the progression of time impacts these monuments.

Potential Lesson Plan:

Standard: Standard 6-2, Indicator 6-2.3

Objective: The student will interpret an ancient ruin in order to understand the concept of historical interpretation.

Materials: The text, pencils, pens, tracing paper, and posters.

Outline: The student will pick their favorite ancient monument from the text. They will then list the differences between the artistic rendition of what it used to look like and how looks now as an ancient ruin. Once they have done this, they will then come up with ideas on how historians came to the idea that this was how the monument looked, and then group their facts according to categories. For examples, arches and missing columns = archaeologists, or colors and statues = literary sources.