Download The Rise of the Roman Republic

The Rise of the
Roman Republic
509 BC – 27 BC
Rome’s greatest achievements:
• Established the first Republic and the
principle of separation of powers;
• Used law and government to unite many
different regions, cultures and people.
[a trend of cosmopolitanism started during the Hellenistic Age]
• Practical engineering projects to
promote civilization: roads, bridges,
aqueducts, sewers, bath houses and
amphitheatres.
Caesar Augustus asked
Rome’s greatest poet, Virgil
to write a poem to glorify the
creation of Rome [30-19 BCE]
12 books 1-6: Odyssey & 7-12: The Iliad
Aeneas reaches Latium, Italy
Romulus
and Remustwin sons of
the god
Mars, and
Princess
Rhea who
feared for
their lives
Romulus and Remus: nurtured by a she-wolf
The Archaeological Record
• 2500 BC- Paleolithic settlements
• 1500 BC The Bronze Age
• 1000 BC tombs of cremated dead with bronze
tools and weapons
• 800 BC Distinct groups occupied the Italian
peninsula- Umbrians, the Sabines, the
Samnites, the Etruscans and the Latins
• Three
advantages
• 1) built on
several hills
• 2) Towards
the end of
the Tiber
River
• 3) Only 15
miles from
the sea
The Republic is established, 509 BC
• The last Etruscan
king, Tarquin the
Proud, ignored the
Senate and was
overthrown, the Latin
patricians (wealthy
landowners) created a
representative
government.
Two Consuls replaced the king
The Roman Senate:
• Senators came
from the
Patrician class
• Acted as an
advisory body to
the king/consuls
• Controlled the
finances; money
for public works
• Served as a Jury
for treason,
conspiracy,
murder, &
foreign relations
The Struggle of the Orders 494 – 287 BC
•
•
•
•
•
•
494 BC – Office of the Tribune created
460 BC – Voting: residence replaced wealth
450 BC – Twelve Tables
445 BC – Lex Canuleia-marriage
367 BC – Licinian-Sextian Rogation-consuls
287 BC – Lex Hortensia- Plebeian Council
Roman Expansion
•
•
•
•
493 BCE – Battle of Lake Regillus/Latin League
396 BCE – Battle of Veii/Etruscans
390 BCE – first & only setback – Gauls seige on Rome
350 BCE - Romans bounced back- rebuilt the
Servian Wall and remodeled the army
• 340- 290 BCE The Latin Wars/Roman Federation
• 282-270 BCE defeated Greeks/Tarentum & Epirus
• 264-146 BCE The Punic Wars
By 264 BC, 5 major world powers: Syria, Egypt,
Macedonia, Carthage and Rome
The Punic Wars
• Three wars against Carthage started in
264 BCE and ended with Rome an
international superpower in 146 BCE.
The Punic Wars, 264-146 BCE
Hannibal Barca
247–183 BCE
Hannibal’s army
of 50,000 men
and 37 war
elephants
crossed the Alps
Hannibal and the Second Punic War, 219- 202 BCE
• Started over
control of a city in
Spain
• Hannibal’s army of
50,000 men,
12,000 horses and
37 war elephants
crossed the Alps in
15 days
• Hannibal hoped for
support from the
Gauls and other
Latin people
• Battle of Cannae
216 BCE ended with
60,000 Romans
dead.
Publius Cornelius
Scipio
Rome sent an army under
Scipio to Carthage, forcing
Hannibal to return to Carthage
to protect his homeland
Scipio Africanus
The 3rd Punic War,
149-146 BCE
• A one-sided affair!
Effects of expansion…
•
•
•
•
The Hellenization of Rome
Rise of a business/merchant class
Immense wealth –a taste of luxury for the few
Most benefits of expansion went to the
wealthy, patrician class
• Serious economic dislocations for the
common people was under way
The legacy of wars…
• Farms had been ravaged and remained
unproductive
• Citizen-soldiers returned after prolonged
absence to find their families on the brink of
bankruptcy
• Growth of Patrician latifundia (slave plantations)
• Growing slave population drove down wages
Problems for the small, independent, selfsufficient farmer…
• The increase in the slave population displaced
the common farmers…
• In debt, without prospects for work, ruined
farmers joined the ranks of unemployed in
Rome…
• By 150BCE -a revolution was brewing!
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