How much of a villain was Tullus Hostilius, king of Rome?

This lesson is designed to be a succinct and clear 1 hour lesson that provides enough detail for the Ancient History OCR 9-1 GCSE Foundations of Rome Unit.

It goes through how Tullus was appointed and why, what Livy says about him in his History of Rome, and his descent into villainy throughout his reign, looking at his military achievements and religious incompetence too.

The lesson is punctuated by pertinent questions which students can either verbally respond to or write out short explanations. these help to embed the knowledge and I’ve found them pretty useful for AfL.

My students liked these kind of lessons because they’re completely dual coded and as a result it massively reduces cognitive load, allowing pupils to easily access what is otherwise quite complex information.

The lesson contains various useful embedded video clips (hence the large file size) - the first ones recap Romulus and Numa’s reforms as kings of Rome - since it is difficult to understand the significance of Tullus without looking at the actions of his predecessors. The final video clip details the extent to which we can trust Livy as a source.