Rome
Geography
- Built on 7 rolling hills around the Tiber River, near the center of the Italian Peninsula.
- It is the midway point between the Alps and Italy’s southern tip
First Romans
- From 1000 to 500 BC, three groups inhabited the region and fought for control of it
- Latins, Greeks, and Etruscans
- The Latins, built the original settlement of Rome. It was a cluster of wooden huts on top of one of the seven hills
Greek Influence
- Between 7500 BC and 600 BC ,the Greeks established colonies along the southern part of Italy and Sicily
- The cities became very prosperous and commercially active.
- They brought all of Italy, including Rome, into closer contact with Greek civilization
Etruscans
- They were native to northern Italy
- They were skilled metal workers and engineers
- They were very influenctial in the development of Roman civilization.
- Romans adopted their alphabet
- Also they adopted some of their architecture, especially the arch.
Republic
- Republic-a form of government in which the power rests with citizens who have the right to vote for their leaders
- In Rome, citizenship with voting rights was granted only to free-born adult male landowners
Patricians and Plebeians
- In the early republic, different groups of Romans struggled for power.
- Patricians- The wealthy landowners who held most of the power
- Inherited their power and social status and claimed that they had the right to rule due to their ancestry
- Barred the Plebeians from holding high offices in the gov’t
- Plebeians- the common person, but could still vote. Usually farmers and merchants
- In time, the leaders of Rome allowed the Plebeians to form their own assembly and elect their own representative to protect their rights from the Patricians
Executive
- Commands the Army, elected to serve
- US has one leader (serves 4 years), Rome has two leaders(councils, two years, advised by the Senate)
Legislative
- US-Made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate (100), make laws
- Rome- Senate: 300 males, the most powerful, high social and economic status, tribal assembly (ordinary citizens, made laws), Centuriate assembly (soldiers, pick councils), all serve for life
Judicial
- Right to a jury, legal representation
- Appointed by President
- Rome had 8 judges who served for 1 year (assigned by Centuriate assembly)
- Two oversee civil and criminal courts (others govern provinces)
Legal Code
- US gov- Constitution, supreme law,
- Rome- Twelve Tables- list of rules that was the Supreme law of the land in Rome
Army
- Took great pride in their military
- All men who owned land were required to serve in the army
- Some of the high public office positions required 10 years of military service
Romulus and Remus
- Twin brothers
- Founded ancient Rome
- Were abandoned by mother and were raised by a she-wolf
- Romulus killed Remus while fighting over what to call the city
Legions
- Roman soldiers were organized into large military units called legions
- Made up of 5,000 foot soldiers
- Group of cavalry would support each legion
- Military organization and fighting skill of the Roman army were key factors in Rome’s rise to greatness
Expansion
- By fourth century BC, the Romans dominated central Italy
- They had defeated the Etruscans to the north and the Greek city-states to the south
Treatment
- Latins on the Tiber became full citizens.
- In territory farther from Rome, the conquered people were citzens as well but didn’t have voting power
- The remaining people became “allies” of Rome
Punic Wars
- Series of 3 wars
- Rome vs. Carthage
- 1st war was over control of Sicily
- 2nd war- when Hannibal (incorporated elephant warfare) became general of Carthage and he wanted to avenge first defeat. Hannibal attempted a sneak attack through the alps to attack and capture Rome
- 3rd War-Scipio attacked Carthage and Hannibal retreated and fought back at native city
- Rome defeated Carthage in all 3 of the wars. Each war was harder for the Romans to win.
- War 1-2, Rome was on the defensive, aggressor in the last war
- Key Players-Hannibal (C) Scipio (R) Cincinnatus (R)
Lasting Effects
- Showed the civilizations in the Mediterranean that Rome was a dominant force.
- By 70 B.B, Rome had conquered a lot of land around the Mediterranean coast.
Roman Republic
- Shortly after their victories in the Punic Wars, the quick and rapid expansion began to hurt the empire
- The land was going to large estate and the small farmers were not making any money and were out of jobs.
- One of the reasons that led to a civil war
Julius Caesar
- Debate info
- Another civil war broke out because of Caesar’s death
Avengers of Caesar
- Octavian, Mark Antony, Lepidus avenged Caesar and became the 2nd triumvirate.
- Even jealousy here, Octavian forced Lepidus to retire his power
- Mark Antony fell in love with Cleopatra and followed her to Egypt, leaving Octavian to be the sole leader
Agustus
- Term given to Octavian meaning “exalted one”
- Rome was the peak of its power and at peace throughout Augustus’s Rule and even to 180 A.D.
- Pax Romana-“Roman Peace”
Roman Life
- Hannibal crossing the Alps
- One of the greatest military achievements of ancient warfare
- 2nd Punic War-one of the major achievements
- Took 16 days to cross
- Many of their elephants did not survive the journey
- Why?
- He thought that is would give him a better chance against the Romans if he came down with all of his war elephants
- The wars were fought over pure hatred by one side against the other
- Roman Trade
- Very vital to Roman Empire
- Most common: beef, corn, glassware, iron, lead, leather, marble, olive oil, perfumes, purple dye, silk, silver, spices, timber, tin and wine
- Main trading partners: Spain, France, the Middle East, and North Africa
- Made trade very simple by only using 1 form of currency
- Used the Tiber River, Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea for a trading route.
- Manufacturing of goods increased in the empire’s cities, and many opportunities for commerce existed. Rome became one of the empire’s greatest commercial centers
- Two-way trade routes extended to other commercial centers in lands as far away as Egypt, Germany, and China
- The empire’s location around the Mediterranean Sea helped make all the commercial activity possible.
- Roman Agriculture
- Used crop rotation
- Sometimes had to import food because of mountains
- After conquering Egypt, able to import lots of wheat
- Most of crops raised on large estates called latifundias
- Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations
- The main crop was wheat, and bread was present during almost every meal
- The majority of work done on the farm was by slaves and servants
- Created the main source of income for Romans
- Certain types of food were given out to the public for free (corn, wheat)
- Since Roman Empire stretched through a lot of land, there were different climates to allow a mixture of crops produced
- Romans had 4 systems of farm management- work done by owner and family, tenant farming, and share cropping forced labor (slaves), and other arrangements in which farmer lents farm out
- Slavery
- Depended on slaves
- Most were foreigners and did not depend on race
- Some Romans would sell children into slavery
- When freed, they could work the same jobs as the Plebeians
- Debt slavery was common, where a person could work off a debt by becoming a slave for a certain period of time, depending on the debt
- Some slaves were forced to become gladiators
- Saturnalia- A Christmas for the slaves in which the slaves and masters switched places
- Could be highly educated and skilled, worked as teachers an physicians
- Slaves tasks include working on farms- produced the food and materials the cities depended on
- Businesses-managed shops for store owners, in charge of shop keeping, lending of money and selling of merchandise
- Public Buildings- worked on aqueduct systems, built roads and bridges and arenas
- Gladiator
- The gladiator games were fought between and armed man and a criminal, wild animal, or another soldier.
- Fought in the Coliseum in front of large audiences
- Many of the people who fought the criminals and wild animals risked their social standing and their lives for the glory
- Had costumes and scenery which had to be set up as well
- Thumbs up means save the gladiator that’s down
- Thumbs down means let him die
- Order of events
- Animal hunts- they had a scene and the Emperor would use a bow from his box seat and shoot them
- The Bestarii-These were gladiators trained to fight tigers and lions
- Criminals were sentenced to fight wild beasts at the games but without any skills, weapons or armor
- Emperors
- Tiberius- adopted son of Agustus-22 years and 6 months- possibly assassinated by Caligula. He was a cruel tyrant who put men to death upon mere suspicion
- Caligula-great nephew of Tiberius-3 years and 10 months-assassinated in conspiracy involving senators and Praetorian guards
- Insane and once threatened to have his horse made consul, and at another time raised a great army, and marched it hundreds of miles and commanded the soldiers to gather the shells on the beach and carry them back home
- Claudius I-nephew of Tiberius and Uncle of Caligula- 13 years and 9 months- probably poisoned by his wife Agrippina
- Weak and foolish, allowed the cruelest acts to be committed in his name, then forgot them, invited the persons to dinner whom he had just put to death
- Nero-13 years and 8 months-stepson of Claudius
- Monster of vanity and cruelty; was suspected of setting fire to the city and allowing more than two-thirds of it to burn up, in order that he might rebuild it finer than it had been before
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