Ancient Rome for Kids
- Famous Romans
"Ancient Rome for Kids" poem by Paul Perro
The Romans used to rule the world
A long long time ago.
They came from Rome in Italy
And spoke Latin, don’t you know.
There were many famous Romans
In their long history.
Some were clever and some were bad,
Let’s meet a few shall we?
Julius Caesar came to England.
He looked around, and played conkers.
Then he went back to Italy
Because the weather drove him bonkers
Mark Antony loved Cleopatra
Her beauty drove him barmy.
He wanted to rule the world
But he did not have a big enough army.
Octavian had a bossy wife,
He was always trying to please her.
He made himself the emperor
And changed his name to Caesar
Claudius was a funny chap,
He limped and had problems talking.
He was a wise and powerful man
Just not very good at walking
Emperor Nero was a musical man
He liked to play the lyre.
One day while he was fiddling
Rome itself caught fire.
The Romans had some enemies
There were thieves and vandals about.
So Hadrian built a wall
To keep the rotters out.
So now you’ve heard some stories
About famous folk from Rome.
There are lots and lots of others though,
Too many for this poem
The "facts" in Ancient Rome for Kids are (almost) all true.
When he arrived in England, Julius Caesar famously said “veni, vidi, vici” which means “I came, I saw, I conquered.” He only stayed in England for a short while. After the death of Caesar, there was a power struggle between Antony and Octavian. Octavian won, Antony and Cleopatra (Antony's wife, the Egyptian queen) committed suicide.
Octavian was influenced by his unscrupulous wife Livia, and he did change his name to Augustus Caesar because he wanted to be associated with Julius Caesar, who was respected and worshipped.
Later emperors include Nero, Claudius, and Hadrian.
The story that “Nero fiddled while Rome burned” cannot be true, because the fiddle had not been invented, although he did play the lyre. Nero’s bad reputation may well be based on lies told by his enemies, we cannot be sure.
Claudius had a stammer and some physical problems, probably the result of brain damage at birth.
Hadrian's wall in Northern England was over 70 miles long, and still stands today in places. He built other walls at other boundaries of the empire too.
Back to Ancient History from Ancient Rome for Kids.
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