欢迎来到古罗马：穿越时空的第一站

你攥着刚从博物馆文创店买到的古罗马铜币 replica，跟着爸妈逛到古罗马文明展的互动区，刚把铜币按在展柜的感应图上，眼前突然一黑，再睁眼时，鼻尖撞进的不是消毒水味，而是烤面包的焦香、骡马身上的汗味，还有远处广场上人群喊叫的杂音。你低头看手里的铜币，背面刻着的‘SPQR’字样还亮着微光，脚边滚过来一个刻着狼吃婴孩图案的陶片，有个扎羊毛短裙的小男孩冲你喊：‘喂！你发什么呆？要是赶不上广场的角斗士入场仪式，就看不到最厉害的斗兽表演啦！’ 哦豁——欢迎来到古罗马，你就是刚刚穿越到这个世界的‘小访客’啦！

Clutching the replica Roman coin you just bought at the museum gift shop, you follow your parents to the interactive zone of the ancient Roman civilization exhibition. The second you press the coin against the sensor on the display case, everything goes dark. When you open your eyes again, the smell of disinfectant is gone, replaced by the scent of burnt bread, horse sweat, and the chatter of crowds from the nearby square. You look down at the coin in your hand, the “SPQR” letters on the back still glowing faintly. A pottery shard carved with the image of a wolf nursing two babies rolls to your feet, and a little boy in a wool tunic yells at you: “Hey! What are you staring at? If we don’t hurry to the square, we’ll miss the gladiator entrance ceremony!” Well, welcome to ancient Rome — you’re the new “little visitor” who just time-traveled to this world!

冲你喊话的小男孩叫卢卡，今年10岁，跟你一样是小学三年级的学生，爸爸是元老院的议员，妈妈是负责管理家务的家庭主妇，他今天本来要跟爸妈去广场看角斗士比赛，见你穿着奇怪的衣服（当然，在他眼里你2024年的运动服就是“奇怪的衣服”），以为你是从别的城邦来的小访客，热情地拉着你往广场跑。跑的时候他给你讲起古罗马的起源：传说早在公元前753年，台伯河畔还是一片荒地的时候，战神马尔斯跟一个女祭司生了一对双胞胎，叫罗慕路斯和雷穆斯，他们刚出生就被坏国王扔到了河里，还好被母狼发现，叼回洞穴养大。后来兄弟俩杀死了坏国王，准备建一座新城，但是因为选建城的位置吵了起来，罗慕路斯一怒之下杀死了雷穆斯，在帕拉蒂尼山上建起了罗马城，这一天就是古罗马的“生日”，每年的4月21日罗马人都会像过春节一样庆祝建城日。

The boy yelling at you is Luca, 10 years old, a third grader just like you. His father is a senator in the Roman Senate, and his mother is a housewife who manages all the household chores. He was supposed to go to the square with his parents to watch the gladiator games today, and when he saw you wearing strange clothes (in his eyes, your 2024 sportswear is definitely “strange”), he thought you were a little visitor from another city-state, so he grabbed your hand and ran toward the square. While running, he told you the origin of ancient Rome: Legend has it that as early as 753 BC, the area by the Tiber River was still a wasteland. Mars, the god of war, had twin sons named Romulus and Remus with a priestess. They were thrown into the river by a bad king as soon as they were born, but were found by a she-wolf, who brought them back to her cave and raised them. Later, the brothers killed the bad king and planned to build a new city, but they argued over where to build it. In a rage, Romulus killed Remus, built the city of Rome on Palatine Hill, and this day became the “birthday” of ancient Rome. Every year on April 21, Romans celebrate the founding of the city just like celebrating Spring Festival.

古罗马的时间线：从建城到帝国鼎盛

<!-- 时间线 --> 卢卡跑累了，拉着你坐在路边的面包店门口歇脚，给你递过来一块刚烤好的蜂蜜面包，边吃边给你讲古罗马几千年的历史：“你要是把古罗马的历史当成一天的24小时，那建城就是0点，太阳刚升起来的时候，罗马还只是个小小的城邦，周围都是别的部落，经常打架。到了早上6点，也就是公元前509年，罗马人赶走了最后一个国王，建立了共和国，元老院成了最有权力的机构，所有公民都可以投票选官员。中午12点的时候，也就是公元前264年到公元前146年，罗马跟旁边的迦太基王国打了三次布匿战争，最后把迦太基彻底打败了，变成了地中海的主人，整个意大利半岛都被罗马占领了。到了下午1点半，也就是公元前44年，罗马的将军凯撒被元老院的人刺杀了，他的养子屋大维最后打败了所有对手，在公元前27年变成了第一位罗马皇帝，古罗马就从共和国变成了帝国。到了下午6点，也就是公元2世纪的时候，皇帝图拉真在位，罗马的疆域达到了最大，是整个古罗马最厉害、最有钱的时候，现在我们跑的这条路，就是那时候修的！”

Luca gets tired from running, pulls you to sit outside a bakery to rest, hands you a freshly baked honey cake, and tells you about thousands of years of Roman history while eating: “If you think of Roman history as a 24-hour day, the founding of the city is 0 o’clock. When the sun just rises, Rome is still a small city-state, surrounded by other tribes that often fight. At 6 a.m., that is 509 BC, the Romans drove out the last king and established a republic. The Senate became the most powerful institution, and all citizens could vote for officials. At noon, that is from 264 BC to 146 BC, Rome fought three Punic Wars with the Carthaginian Kingdom next door, finally completely defeated Carthage, became the master of the Mediterranean, and the entire Italian peninsula was occupied by Rome. At 1:30 p.m., that is 44 BC, the Roman general Caesar was assassinated by the Senate. His adopted son Octavian finally defeated all his opponents and became the first Roman emperor in 27 BC, and ancient Rome changed from a republic to an empire. At 6 p.m., that is the 2nd century AD, when Emperor Trajan was in power, the Roman territory reached its maximum, which was the most powerful and richest time in ancient Rome. The road we are running on now was built at that time!”

为了方便你记住这些时间节点，我们画了一个简单的时间轴： To help you remember these time nodes, we drew a simple timeline:

```mermaid gantt title 古罗马核心时间线（公元前753年-公元2世纪） dateFormat YYYY axisFormat %s年 建城（罗慕路斯） ：a1, 0, 1d 王政时代（7位国王） ：a2, after a1, 244d 共和国建立（驱逐国王） ：a3, after a2, 482d 布匿战争（击败迦太基） ：a4, after a3, 118d 凯撒遇刺 ：a5, after a4, 1d 帝国建立（屋大维称帝） ：a6, after a5, 1d 鼎盛时期（图拉真统治） ：a7, after a6, 18d ```

<!-- 侧边栏：电子版专属 --> > 📌 电子版小知识：点击[这里](https://example.com/rome-timeline)可以观看2分钟的动画，完整看完古罗马从建城到灭亡的全过程，还有中文配音哦！ > > 💡 小思考：如果古罗马的历史是一天24小时，你现在几岁？对应古罗马的什么时间？把你的答案写在笔记本上吧！

卢卡说的“鼎盛时期”到底有多大呢？我们接着往下看。

鼎盛时期的古罗马：比现在的欧洲还大

<!-- 疆域 --> 公元2世纪图拉真皇帝在位的时候，古罗马的疆域达到了历史最大值：最西边到了今天的西班牙、葡萄牙和英国苏格兰，最东边到了伊拉克的两河流域，最北边到了德国的莱茵河，最南边到了埃及的阿斯旺，整个地中海都变成了罗马的“内湖”。整个帝国的面积大概有500万平方公里，相当于现在欧洲面积的一半，或者中国、印度、巴基斯坦三个国家加起来那么大。帝国的周长大概4万公里，相当于绕地球赤道跑一圈，如果你从最西边的西班牙坐马车到最东边的伊拉克，要走3个月，从最北边的英国到最南边的埃及，要走2个月，相当于你放两个月的暑假，一直坐马车都走不到头。

At its peak during the reign of Emperor Trajan in the 2nd century AD, the territory of ancient Rome reached its maximum: the westernmost point reached today’s Spain, Portugal and Scotland in the UK, the easternmost point reached the Tigris-Euphrates river basin in Iraq, the northernmost point reached the Rhine River in Germany, and the southernmost point reached Aswan in Egypt. The entire Mediterranean Sea became Rome’s “inner lake”. The total area of the empire was about 5 million square kilometers, equivalent to half of the area of current Europe, or the sum of the areas of China, India and Pakistan. The perimeter of the empire was about 40,000 kilometers, equivalent to running a circle around the equator of the earth. If you took a carriage from the westernmost Spain to the easternmost Iraq, it would take 3 months, and from the northernmost UK to the southernmost Egypt, it would take 2 months, which is equivalent to taking a two-month summer vacation and taking a carriage all the time without reaching the end.

那时候古罗马的人口大概有5500万到6000万，比现在的法国、德国、英国三个国家的人口加起来还多。这么多不同地方的人住在同一个帝国里，说着不同的语言，信仰不同的神，但是都遵守一样的法律，用一样的钱，走一样的路，这在2000年前可是非常了不起的事情哦！

At that time, the population of ancient Rome was about 55 million to 60 million, which is more than the total population of France, Germany and the UK today. So many people from different places lived in the same empire, spoke different languages, believed in different gods, but all followed the same laws, used the same money, and walked on the same roads. This was a very remarkable thing 2000 years ago!

<!-- 侧边栏：纸书/电子版专属 --> > 📚 小知识卡片：古罗马人修的路非常结实，很多路现在还在用，比如从罗马到米兰的“阿皮亚古道”，已经有2300多年历史了，现在还能走汽车。古罗马人修路的时候，会先铺一层大石头，再铺一层小石子，再铺一层沙子，最后铺一层碎石，下雨的时候水会自动从缝隙里流走，不会积水，比很多现代的路还要好用！这就是“条条大路通罗马”这句话的由来哦~

> 💡 小问题：如果让你给古罗马皇帝写一封信，要从最西边的西班牙寄到最东边的伊拉克，你觉得要走多久？把你的答案告诉身边的小伙伴吧！

古罗马的社会结构：不同的人有不同的身份

<!-- 社会结构 --> 卢卡拉着你跑到广场的时候，角斗士入场仪式刚好开始，你看到广场上的人穿的衣服都不一样，有的穿很漂亮的托加袍，有的穿破破烂烂的短裙，有的光着脚，有的戴着金项链。卢卡给你讲，古罗马社会里不同的人有不同的身份，就像你们学校里有

卢卡说的“鼎盛时期”到底有多大呢？我们接着往下看。

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古罗马的社会结构：不同身份的人有不同的生活

<!-- 社会结构 --> 卢卡拉着你跑到广场的时候，角斗士入场仪式刚好开始，你看到广场上的人穿的衣服都不一样，有的穿拖到脚踝的羊毛托加袍，边缘还镶着紫色的边，看起来特别气派；有的穿短到膝盖的粗布短裙，光着脚，肩膀上还扛着麻袋；还有的人皮肤是深色的，脖子上戴着铁项圈，被士兵牵着往斗兽场走。卢卡给你递了块从路边摊买的无花果，边嚼边说：“就像你们学校里有校长、老师、学生还有后勤叔叔阿姨一样，古罗马的人也有不同的身份，每个身份的权利和义务都不一样哦，我慢慢给你讲！”

1. 最顶层的统治者：皇帝

卢卡抬头指了指广场尽头那座最高的白色大理石建筑，那是皇宫的入口：“我们现在是图拉真皇帝统治的时候，他是古罗马最厉害的皇帝之一，大家都叫他‘最佳元首’。他每天早上起来，会有12个奴隶帮他穿托加袍，给他梳头发，端来的早餐是蜂蜜无花果、烤鹌鹑，还有从印度运来的胡椒，撒在上面特别香。他的托加是全紫色的，因为紫色染料特别贵，要从一种叫‘骨螺’的海螺里提炼，一千个骨螺才能提炼出一克染料，只有皇帝能穿全紫的袍子。”

皇帝的权力有多大呢？卢卡掰着手指给你数：“他是整个罗马军队的最高统帅，所有士兵都要听他的；所有法律都要他点头才能生效，他说什么就是什么；他还管所有钱，帝国的税收、修路的钱、给士兵发工资的钱，都要他同意才能用。不过元老院也会给他提意见，要是他做得不好，元老院可以批评他，但是很少真的