Web Activity Lesson Plans

Chapter 5: Rome and the Rise of Christianity, 600 B.C.-A.D. 500

The Twelve Tables

Introduction

The Twelve Tables represent an early Roman attempt to form a system of civil law for the Roman Republic. Historians have only found fragments of the tables, but these fragments provide much information about early Roman life and values. Many of the principles covered in the Twelve Tables remain important today. Others would be rejected in a democratic society. This activity is an opportunity for students to place Roman laws within the context of principles with which they are familiar and to identify core values of the early Romans.

Lesson Description
Students will read a translation of the Twelve Tables on a Web site. They will answer four questions about what they have read. Students will make a list of at least ten of the laws contained in the Tables (most of the tables contain multiple laws). Students will then indicate the legal principle(s) that they think the Romans were trying to apply in each of the laws they have chosen.

Instructional Objectives

The learner will be able to identify the laws early Roman legalists considered important for a stable society.

The learner will be able to discuss the Roman history of many modern legal principles.

Student Web Activity Answers

Women were required to have a guardian because of their "levity of disposition." In other words, they were considered incapable of taking responsibility for themselves.

The punishment for defrauding a client was death.

A person had to be convicted before he or she could be put to death.

In addition to death, punishments listed at the end of the tables include fines, fetters, flogging, retaliation in kind, civil disgrace, banishment, and slavery.

Students' lists of laws will vary. In identifying legal principles, the goal is not for students to show legal expertise, but to demonstrate that they understand the basic purpose of each law.