Download Academy of Lifelong Learning Daniel Stephens

Academy of Lifelong Learning
Daniel Stephens
Topics
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™  The Birth of the Republic
™  Defeat of Tarquinius
Superbus
™  Rome’s First Hero:
Horatius Cocles
™  Two Man Rule
™  The Power of the Senate
™  Patricians & Plebs
™  The Power of Pater
Familiaris
™ The Conflict of Orders
™ The Twelve Tables
™ The Latin League
™ Defeat of the Etruscans
™ Crushing Veii
™ The Gallic Invasion
™ Rome is sacked
™ Power to the Plebs
Lucius Junius Brutus
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™  Considered the Founder of the Roman
Republic, Brutus was responsible for
the Patrician overthrow of the King.
™  Brutus was the son of Tarquinius
Priscus, and nephew to Superbus.
Superbus had executed several head
men of Rome to gain their land one of
them was Brutus’s Brother.
™  Brutus avoided suspicion by playing
dumb.
™  Upon hearing of the rape of Lucretia
by Sextus, he plots to overthrow
Superbus with Publius Poplicola.
™  Legend has it Brutus Grabbed the
Dagger from Lucretia’s breast and
swore revenge.
The Rule of Two:
The Consuls
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™  Quickly Brutus, Poplicola, and
Tricipitinus gathered the people to the
forum and voted the King out of
office.
™  Brutus then made the people swear an
oath and elected himself and later
Publicola to the office of Consul.
™  The Two would share rule, each with
the power to override the other.
™  Their first law to pass is to decree that
Rome would never be ruled by a King
again.
™  They then replenished the number of
Senators to 300 which had been
thinned under Superbus.
™  They created the office of Rex
Sacrorum later to be called Pontifex
Maximus to replace the King as head
of Rome’s religious cults.
Brutus Executes his Sons
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Superbus would continue to try to get back
his throne.
First he would use subterfuge to regain
Rome.
Superbus would send ambassadors to Rome
to recover his personal belongings he had
left behind.
While there the ambassadors tried to
subvert several leading Romans to re-instate
the King.
Two of these men were Titus & Tiberius
Brutus.
They put their oath to writing and the plan
was intercepted by a slave.
The Slave brought the evidence to the
Consuls, and a public trial was held and the
men were declared traitors.
Brutus, oversaw their punishment and
showed bought of emotion but was
heralded with great respect by not showing
favoritism.
Fighting Tarquinius
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™  With the failure of the Tarquinii
conspiracy, Superbus would now
launch a full out attack against
Rome.
™  The two Armies led by Superbus
and the Consuls would meet at
Silva Arsia.
™  Brutus led one of the cavalry
detachments, was spied by his
cousin Arruns, son of Superbus.
™  They both would charge at each
other both inflicting fatal spear
wounds to each other.
™  The battle would go back and
forth but the Etruscan forces of
Veii and Tarquinii would retreat
leaving Rome victorious.
Defender of Rome:
Horatius Cocles
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™  Superbus would still one last time
try to take Rome.
™  He would go to the Etruscan state
of Lars Porsenna.
™  Porsenna would seize the
opportunity to attack Rome
himself and take it.
™  Porsenna would march his army
to the Pons Sublicius, but could
not cross.
™  Horatius Cocles with two Roman
companies held off Porsenna’s
army while the Roman’s worked
to destroy the bridge.
™  Once destroyed Horatius would
jump into the Tiber and swim to
safety.
Establishing Roman
Virtue
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™  Porsenna would then camp
overnight and regroup.
™  During the night Mucius
Scaevola would sneak into
the camp and attempt to
assassinate Porsenna. When
caught Mucius would hold
his hand to the fire to show
how brave Roman’s were.
™  In the morning Porsenna
would abandon the siege
and return home ending
Tarquinius Superbus’s hopes
of regaining his throne.
The New Constitution
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™  After Rome was safe Consul Poplicola
would establish a new constitution for
Rome.
™  First the office of king was prohibited.
™  Two Senators would be elected
annually as Consuls by the Comitia
Centuriata.
™  The office of Pontifex Maximus would
be established.
™  The constitution allowed for a
Magister Populi in times of crisis. Their
term would only last six months.
™  The leading principle of Rome’s
constitution is that no-one would have
permanent political rule over the state.
Patricians
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™  The Roman Constitution may have
allowed no-one person to rule, but
that did not mean no-one group.
™  The patricians were Rome’s ruling
elite tracing their lineage back to the
original families that settled with
Romulus.
™  Under the Comitia Centuriata the
patrician centuries had gained most of
the power to select Magistrates,
Senators, and Consuls.
™  The Senate, now that the King was
gone transitioned from a advisory
body to a ruling body.
™  The Consuls, elected annually had
virtually no power in standing up to
the Senates decrees.
Plebeians
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™  Plebeian meant everyone else.
™  These were the middle and lower
class of Rome made up of
tradesman, merchants,
immigrants, and the poor.
™  Under the new republic the Plebs
had no powers.
™  The Patricians controlling the
military and the Senate could
change laws, impress soldiers,
and do pretty much anything
they wanted.
™  Plebs had no hope of movement,
because it was illegal for a
Plebeian and a Patrician to wed.
Paterfamiliaris
Head of the Domus
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™  No matter Patrician or Plebeian the
master of the family was the
paterfamilias.
™  Meaning father of the family the
senior male would be head of the
domus or home.
™  The paterfamilias was the public face of
the home, he would have say over
every member of the family and every
slave.
™  Paterfamilias was also granted patria
potestas, the power of life and death
over those who dwelled with him.
™  The paterfamilias could sell any
member into slavery or have them
executed for disgrace of virtus.
™  Consequently the paterfamilias had to
uphold the virtus of the domus or bring
ruin and disgrace upon his family.
The People are Unhappy
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™  The division between
Patrician and Pleb would
come to a head in 450 BCE.
™  Unchecked expansion,
famine, war, debt and
mismanagement by the
Patricians plunged the
Roman state into chaos.
™  The Patricians would abuse
their powers and evict and
impress plebs at will.
™  Those who went into debt
would be executed.
The Conflict of Orders
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™  Starting at this time would begin
a period of 200 years called the
Conflict of Orders.
™  The Conflict of Orders would be
the class struggle between
partrician and plebs on who got
to call the shots.
™  Instead of rioting, in which they
were prone to do from time-totime, the plebes began to organize
strikes and deny military service.
™  The Plebs would organize
themselves into a political body
called the Concilium Plebis
Tributum or Council of the Plebs
Arranged by Tribes.
The Twelve Tables
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™  To protect their rights the
plebs would demand a law
code to be written to prevent
unchecked abuse.
™  In 453 BCE the plebs got their
way and the patricians
selected a commission of ten
to write a law code.
™  Appius Claudius, a Patrician
Senator would use this
commission to gain ruling
power, but was later
unthroned and imprisoned.
™  The Twelve tables of Law was
established in 450BCE.
Roman Laws
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™  The Twelve Tables provided for:
•  The rights and duties of the
family were defined
•  Traders had a right to get together
for a common purpose.
•  Burials had to take place outside
the city.
•  A son sold three times into
slavery by his father would be
free.
•  Women would remain under the
guardianship of the paterfamilias
even after their majority.
•  A common-law wife would
become her own master after her
husband died.
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Only a proper law court could
order the execution of a man.
Consuls had the last word over
things like military conscription.
Patricians could keep secret the
legal jargon to be used in civil
actions, so they would benefit
and control how laws could be
enforced.
Marriage between partrician and
plebian was prohibited.
Harming of Aediles, Tribunes of
the Plebes and other government
officials was punishable by death
Aediles became assistants to the
tribunes and were elected
annually.
•  In 445 BCE the law banning intermarriage was overturned
Concilium Plebis
Tributum
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™  The Concilium Plebis Tributum
would become a governing body
that would protect the interests of
the plebs within the halls of the
Senate.
™  The Plebian Tribune would
maintain the power of veto over
that of the rule of the magistrates.
™  This functionary would be
controlled by the Plebian council
and be elected annually.
™  Also appointed to the Tribune
would be two aediles, who were
originally temple officials who
oversaw civic matters with in the
city.
Lucius Quinctius
Cincinnatus
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One of the major political figures during the
Conflict of orders was Cincinnatus.
Cinncinnatus was a patrician senator who
vehemently opposed any power the plebs
gained.
His son, Caeso violently removed a Tribune
of the plebs and was charged with a capital
offense.
Cinncinnatus would have to sell much of
the family holdings to buy his son out of a
death penalty.
Retiring to farm life Cinncinnatus was
called upon twice to lead Rome as dictator
against the Aequi and later to prevent a
rogue Senator from crowning himself King.
During his tenure as Consul the Tribune of
the Plebs, Gaius Terentilius Harsa during
the war with the Volsci, was able to pass the
Twelve Tables.
Cinncinnatus would have several towns and
cities named after him for his selfless service
to Rome, including Cincinnati , OH.
The Latin League
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™  With Rome’s rise in power and their
monumental struggle with the
Etruscans, Rome’s neighbors banded
together in an effort to save
themselves.
™  Originally the Latin league was made
up of 30 cities in the Latium region
surrounding Rome.
™  Alba Longa, Bovillae, Lavinium,
Praeneste, and Tibur were the
principal cities that made up the
league.
™  These cities shared the same religion,
practices, money, and language and
banned together to protect themselves
from Etruscan invasion and Roman
domination.
Roman Expansion
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™  Rome began to expand out at this
time moving and annexing
Latium territories and clashing
with the Volsci to the South.
™  The Latin League would band
together and battle the Roman’s
at Lake Regillus in 496, declared a
Roman victory.
™  As a result the Latin league
would broker a peace with Rome
called the Foedus Cassianum.
™  With the peace with the Latins
out the way Rome will now turn
it’s attention to the Etruscans, the
Aequi, and the Volsci.
Gaius Marcius
Coriolanus
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™  Legendary General and traitor to
Rome.
™  Gaius Marcius would gain the
cognomen Coriolanus during the siege
and defeat of the Volsci at Corioli.
™  He would return to Rome a hero, but
latter due to his opposition to the
plebeians, he would be charged with
misappropriation of public funds and
exiled.
™  He would join with the Volsci and
attacked the city of Rome.
™  As legend and Shakespeare report that
at the site of his mother, wife and
daughter’s supplication Coriolanus
withdraws and retires to Antium.
™  He would later be assassinated by
Tullus Aufidius the Volsci leader for his
acts of betrayal.
War with the Etruscans
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By 426 Rome had subdued the Volsci and
the Aequi through conquest and treaty. The
only thorn left in it’s side would be the
Etruscan city of Veii.
The Roman army moved and defeated the
Veians but failed to cripple the city.
In 405, Rome was determined to destroy
Etruscan and Veian opposition once and for
all.
A ten year siege ensues and nearly cripples
all Roman resources.
Finally troops led by Marcus Furius
Camillus , tunneled under Veii’s walls and
gained entrance into the city.
Camillus ordered the execution and
enslavement of Veii’s population.
The city would then be divided and settled
by poor Roman colonist and become a part
of the greater Rome.
Gallic Invasion
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™  By 390 BC Rome was becoming a
powerhouse in the area.
™  Until… the western Celts or
Gauls pushed into the Po valley
and started ransacking Etruscan
cities.
™  The Etruscans appealed for the
Romans for help.
™  Rome would respond by sending
an army and was intercepted by
the Gauls at the River Allia.
™  There the Roman army was
soundly defeated by the superior
Gaul’s who then pushed on
towards Rome.
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Rome is Sacked
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™  Hasty defenses were put up around
the city, but the Gauls pushed through
and invaded the city.
™  The Roman home army and Patricians
fortified the Capitoline Hill and held
off the Gauls for seven months.
™  A ransom of gold was paid to the
Gauls and they withdrew.
™  The devastation to the Roman army
was drastic
™  The city and its farm lands were
catastrophic.
™  The Patrician class was severly
weakened.
™  But.. Every cloud has a silver lining.
More Power to the Plebs
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™  The Patricians had started to lose their
grip on the government due to their
drastic decrease in numbers.
™  In this power vacuum the Plebs
maneuver and increase their status.
™  There is an ever increasing influx of
new Roman citizens due to their
colonies and their relationship to the
Latins.
™  The Plebs now vote in and require
that one of the consuls must be a Pleb.
™  They pass debtor reform and fix
interest rates.
™  The Concilium Plebis Tributum was
now able to pass laws that bound not
just plebs but also patricians.
™  Now magistrates would come from
the ranks of plebs as well as
patricians.
Rome Will Learn
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Due to the Gaulish invasion the Romans
now looked at their military and defense
and found it severly lacking.
Their conscription army was made up of
farmers and poor workers with little or no
training.
With the new plebian powers, military duty
became a career step to political gain. More
and more men would join the army as
professional soldiers and receive training
and equipment like armor, the gladius, and
the pilum.
They would reorganize the army into
smaller flexible units, which would give
them greater movement and adaptability on
the battlefield.
The city itself would now build its defenses
with 24 ft. high 12 ft. thick walls making
the city impregnable to attack.
By 350BC Rome had moved out and
defeated the Etruscans and made them part
of their growing empire. They now would
look at subduing the rest of Italy.