ROME
- Roman Geography
- Rome was 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 C, three groups inhabited the region and fought for control of it
- they were the Latins, Greeks, and Etruscans
- the Latins built the original settlement at Rome. It was a cluster of wooden huts on top of one of the 7 hills.
- Greek Influence
- between 750 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 influential in the development of Roman civilization
- Romans adopted their alphabet
- also they adopted some of the their architecture, especially the arch
- Republic
- Republic - is a form of gov't 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 repbulic, different groups of Romans struggled for power
- Patricians - the wealthy landowners who held most of the power
- Plebeians - the common person, but could still cote. Usually farmers and merchants
- the Patricians inherited their power and social status, and claimed that the had the right to rule due to their ancestry
- the barred the Plebeians from holding high offices in the gov't
- in time, the leaders of Rome, allowed the Plebeians to form their own assembly and elect their own representative to protect their right from the Patrician officials, they called this their tribunes.
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