gladiators (raising revolutionaries)
Posted: February 28, 2011 Filed under: history, roman Leave a comment »“I won’t play gladiators. They only wear underwear,” Z protested. I dropped it immediately, clinging to a memory of her in small cotton unders climbing the outside of the stair railings as she swung with monkeys in her former incarnation as Mowgli.
Time for Rome: straight roads, apartment buildings and gladiators. Z has not found Roman history to be romantic, even the myths are stolen from the Greeks, names changed to avoid accusation. Gladiators fight to the death for the enjoyment of others, hoping that the thumbs up sign will be for them and they will win their freedom. Still they will have been displaced, finding themselves in a new country, their own disassembled.
She is a revolutionary at heart, a slave uprising led by the gladiators would suit her. Is Spartacus the movie appropriate for an 8 year old?
Here’s what we’re using to explore this week:
The Story of the World: Volume 1: Ancient Times Susan Wise Bauer’s text gives a brief, kid-friendly account of ancient times and places from Mesopatamia through the end of the Roman empire. This is accompanied by an activity book, that gives suggestions for teaching, as well as maps and books to accompany the time period.
See You Later, Gladiator: Time Warp Trio #9 by Jon Scieszka Three boys time travel throughout history following a magic book. In this one they land inside a gladiator school and have to get home before they end up fighting in the games at the grand opening of the Colosseum. Not a literary masterpiece, but more enjoyable to read as an adult than Magic Tree House. And Z picked up on various Roman history facts because of this book.
