Download Ancient Rome - Burlington Township School District

Ancient Rome
Three Periods
Roman Republic (509-31 BC)
Roman Empire (31 BC - 300 AD)
Late antiquity (ca. 300 AD - 600 AD)
Origins of Rome
The first civilized people to enter italy were
the Etruscans around 1000 BC.
Not much is known about them because
their language remains undeciphered.
They built a union of cities between 700 BC
and 500 BC
Other groups made in to Italian shores
including the Phoenicians, who created a
trading city called Carthage in Northern
Africa
…cont.
By 700’s, the Greeks established colonies in
Southern Italy.
Latium was a region in Italy where the
people all spoke Latin-one of these villages
was called Rome.
By 600 B.C., Rome had developed into a
city-state model and was ruled by a
chieftain or king known as a rex.
He ruled with a council known as the
senate(senex=“old man”)
Cont.
Romans developed their written language
from the Greek, which the Etruscans
introduced to them.
The phalanx formation was adopted by the
Romans from the Etruscan military.
Roman society was also based on Etruscans
where they recognized two classes: the
patricians=upper class and the
plebeians=small landowners and tenant
farmers.
Cont.
After a century of Etruscan control of
Rome, a group of patricians drove out the
last ruler and proclaimed Rome an
independent republic in 509 B.C., marking
the beginning of a new era for Rome.