The Classical World: Greece and Rome · Ages 15–16
Legacies of the Roman World: Language, Law, and Empire
Name: Date:
This worksheet is for 10th-grade history students. Read each question carefully and write your response based on historical evidence.
Identify three modern languages that developed directly from Latin.
Name the 6th-century legal code compiled under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that preserved Roman law.
Explain how the Catholic Church helped Roman culture survive the political collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.
Give two examples of modern legal or governmental terms derived from Roman political vocabulary, and define each.
Explain why Frankish ruler Charlemagne had himself crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 CE.
Source analysis: In 1510, the Russian monk Philotheus wrote to Grand Duke Vasili III: 'Two Romes have fallen, the third stands, and there will be no fourth.' Explain the two fallen Romes Philotheus referred to, and why Moscow claimed to be the third.
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Identify three modern languages that developed directly from Latin.
Accept any three: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, or Romansh.
Name the 6th-century legal code compiled under Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that preserved Roman law.
Corpus Juris Civilis (also accepted: the Body of Civil Law or the Justinian Code).
Explain how the Catholic Church helped Roman culture survive the political collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.
The Catholic Church maintained Roman administrative geography (dioceses), preserved Latin as the language of worship and governance, and copied classical texts within monastic libraries.
Give two examples of modern legal or governmental terms derived from Roman political vocabulary, and define each.
Examples include 'veto' (Latin for 'I forbid,' an executive block on legislation), 'senate' (an assembly of elder legislators), 'republic' (from 'res publica,' meaning public affair), or 'citizen' (a legally recognized member of a state).
Explain why Frankish ruler Charlemagne had himself crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 CE.
Charlemagne sought the ancient authority, divine blessing, and political prestige of Rome to unite diverse Christian territories under an undisputed imperial title recognized by the Pope.
Source analysis: In 1510, the Russian monk Philotheus wrote to Grand Duke Vasili III: 'Two Romes have fallen, the third stands, and there will be no fourth.' Explain the two fallen Romes Philotheus referred to, and why Moscow claimed to be the third.
The first Rome was original Rome, which fell in 476 CE. The second was Constantinople (the Byzantine capital), which fell to the Ottomans in 1453. Moscow claimed to be the third Rome because it was the last major sovereign defender of Orthodox Christianity after Constantinople fell.