Download Chapter 1 Section 2 The Roman Republic and Empire

Chapter 1 Section 2
The Roman Republic and Empire
Week 3
Establishing a Republic
Etruscans ruled Italy including Rome in
530 BC
Romans drive out Etruscans in 509 BC
and become a Republic
• Senate:
– 300 Patricians, landowning upper class
– Made laws
– Served for life
Republic
• Consuls
– Selected by Senators
– Supervised Businesses
– Commanded Armies
– Served 1 Term
– Consulted with Senate on major issues
Republic
• Dictator
– Elected during wars
– 6 month rule
Model Dictator
• Cincinnatus:
– Organized an army
– Led Romans to victory
over an attacking enemy
– Attended victory
celebrations
– Returned to his
farmlands
– How long?
Common People Demand Equality
• Plebians:
–
–
–
–
Farmers
Merchants
Artisans
Traders
• Gained the right to
elect their own officials,
or Tribunes, to protect
their interests
– Tribunes could
• Veto harmful laws
Lasting Legacy
• Common people gained access to power and won
safeguards
• US Constitution adapted Roman ideas of senate,
veto, and checks on power
From Republic to Empire
General Hannibal
Rome in 133 BC
Economic and Social Effect
• New class of wealthy
landowners made it
even more difficult for
farmers
• Tiberius and his brother
wanted reforms for the
poor
• They killed them and
their followers on the
street
Julius Caesar’s Rise to Power
•
•
•
•
He was a city-soldier
Won several battles
Senate worried about his political ambition
He forced the senate to make him dictator
Caesar as Dictator
•
•
•
•
He pushed through many reforms for the poor
Granted citizenship
Created a program to employ the jobless
He was stabbed to death when he went to see
the Senate in 44 BC
More on Caesar
Caesar’s grand-nephew, Octavian,
becomes leader
• Senate renames
Octavian, Augustus, or
Exalted One
• Had absolute power
• Rules from 31 BC- AD
14
• Created efficient civil
service to enforce laws
– Opened high-level jobs
to men based on talent
of men not class
Pax Romana
“Roman Peace”
• 200 years functioned
well under Augustus
• Peace, unity, and
prosperity in the Empire
• Trade flowed from
Egypt, India, Africa, and
China
Roman Law
• Civil law only applied to
Roman Citizens
• Needed laws for
territories they claimed
Created laws for both citizens and foreign
subjects
Based on laws of nature
Created by human ability to reason
Called law of nations
Came from Stoic philosophy
Roman Law and US Today
• Innocent until proven
guilty
• Accused has the right to
face their accuser
• Judges relied on to
make fair decisions
Justinian’s Code
• Roman Empire
Collapsed under
German Invaders in
400’s
• The East Empire in
Rome’s power was the
Byzantine Empire
• Reached it’s greatest
size between 527-565
• Emperor Justinian
– Reformed Roman laws
– Followed around the
world
– Guided international law
used today
Greco-Roman Civilization
• Roman Culture:
– Blend of:
• Greek
• Hellenistic
• Roman
• Philosophy:
– Borrowed from Greeks
– Stoicism:
• Stressed importance of
duty
• Showed concern for the
well-being of all people
Greco-Roman Civilization
• After collapse of Western Roman Empire:
– Christian Church preserved some ideals
– Muslims saved work of Aristotle and translated it
into Arabic
• Preserved ideals in philosophy, mathematics, and
science