Rome:
- Geography: Built on 7 rolling hills around the Tiber River, near the center of the Italian peninsula; midway point between the Alps and Italy’s southern tip
- First Romans: Latins, Greeks, Etruscans. Latins built the original settlement at Rome; it was a cluster of wooden huts on top of 1 of the 7 hills (100 to 500 BC)
- Greek Influence: between 750 and 600 BC, Greeks established colonies along the southern part of Italy and Sicily. Cities became very prosperous and commercially active. They brought all of Italy, including Rome into closer contact with Greek civilization.
- Etruscans: Native to northern Italy, skilled metal workers and engineers, were very influential in the development of Roman civilization, Romans adopted their alphabet and some of their architecture (the arch)
- Republic- a form of government in which the power rests with citizens who have the right to vote for their leaders
- Citizenship-In Rome, citizenship with voting rights was granted only to free born adult male landowners
- Patricians- the wealthy landowners who held most of the power
- Plebeians- the common person, but could still vote; usually farmers and merchants
- Patricians and Plebeians- Patricians inherited their power and social status, and claimed that they had the right to rule due to their ancestry; they barred the Plebeians from holding high offices in the government.
- Tribunes- leaders of Rome allowed the Plebeians to form their own assembly and elect their own representatives to protect their rights from the Patrician officials.
Roman Republic:
- Legal Code- adopted by a state or nation, Twelve Tables- list of rules that was the Supreme law of the land (like America’s Constitution), set out in public for everyone to see
- Legislative Branch- system of checks and balances, political divisions, women are not allowed to participate, tribal assembly-consisted of ordinary people who served for life and made the laws, centuriate assembly-based of soldiers who pick consoles and serve for life, Senate- High social and economic status, serve for life, advise consuls, Rome has 300 members of the Senate
- Romulus and Remus- twin brothers, Romulus was said to have killed Remus, twins were placed in a basket and abandoned by their parents a she-wolf took them in and raised them so they founded the city of Rome
- Executive Branch- command the army, both have Senates, Rome has 2 leaders called consoles, leaders serve for 1 year, were advised by the Senate
- Judicial Branch- consisted of 8 judges who only served for 1 year, chosen by the centuriate assembly, two oversee civil and criminal courts (the others govern provinces)
- Army- Romans took great pride in their army, all land owning men were required to serve in the army, some high public office positions required 10 years of military service
- Legions- Large military units that Roman soldiers were organized into and were made up of 5,000 foot soldiers. A 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 4th century BC, Romans dominated central Italy and 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 citizens as well but didn’t having voting power, and remaining people became “allies” of Rome
- 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 which was one of the reasons leading to a civil war.
Punic Wars:
- Series of 3 Wars: Rome vs. Carthage
- 1st war was over control of Sicily
- 2nd war was when Hannibal 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 was when 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
- Wars 1 and 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 BC Rome had conquered a lot of land around the Mediterranean coast.
Julius Caesar:
- Debate Information
- Another civil war broke out because of his death
- Avengers of Caesar: Octavian, Mark Antony, Lepidus avenged Caesar and became the 2nd triumvirate. 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.
- Augustus- the term given to Octavian meaning “exalted one” Rome was at the peak of its power and at peace throughout Augustus’s Rule and even to 180 AD
- Pax Romana- “Roman Peace”
Rome’s Agriculture
- Used geometric system to lay out crops
- Used crop rotation
- Full of mountains so sometimes it was very hard to farm
- 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
- Good amount of rain for crops during winter, so had to be saved for summer planting
- Realized that they were over-farming & causing soil depletion so one of first civilizations to use manure to revitalize soil
- Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations
- Farms were small and family owned
- The main crop was wheat, and bread was present during almost every meal
- Unfortunately by end of empire, used up most of the land
- Majority of work done on the farm was by slaves and servants
- Farms created main source of income for Romans
- Cows provided mile, oxen and mules did a lot of the heavy work, Sheep and goats were used as cheese producers
- Sugar productions were centered around beekeeping.
- Some farmers raised snails as luxury food
- 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
- Agriculture was basis of survival!
- The more land a person owned, the more important they were in the city.
- Romans had 4 systems of farm management - work done by owner and family, tenant farming and crop sharing, forced labor(slaves)
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