Download The Rise of Rome

The Rise of Rome
From City-State
to Emerging Empire
c. 750-150 B.C.E.
The Origins of Rome
• According to Roman legend, Rome was founded in 753 B.C.
by the twins, Romulus and Remus, sons of the war god, Mars,
and a Latin princess
• They were supposedly raised by a she-wolf and established
Rome on the banks of the Tiber River
• According to the Roman poet, Virgil, Trojan refugees, led by
Aeneas, founded Rome after escaping the destruction of Troy
at the hands of the Mycenaean Greeks, as told in The Aeneid
I sing of arms and of a man: his fate
had made him fugitive: he was the first
to journey from the coasts of Troy as far
as Italy and the Lavinian shores
Across the lands and waters he was battered
beneath the violence of the high ones for
the savage Juno's unforgetting anger."
- Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 1, lines 1-7
Rome’s Geography
• The Latins established Rome
around seven hills along the banks
of the Tiber River
• Rome’s central location on the
Italian peninsula near the western
coast enabled it to become a
thriving trade center, but it was also
far enough inland to be protected
from sea raiders
• Rome’s central location in the
Mediterranean later enabled the
Romans to dominate the entire
region militarily
• “All roads lead to Rome”
The First Romans
• The earliest settlers on the Italian peninsula
arrived in prehistoric times. From about 1000
to 500 B.C.E., three groups inhabited the
region and eventually battled for control.
• They were the Latins, the Greeks, and the
Etruscans.
• The Latins built the original
settlement at Rome, a cluster
of wooden huts atop one of
its seven hills, Palatine Hill.
Etruscan and Greek Influences
• Etruscans to the north and Greeks
to the south heavily influenced
Latin culture
• The Etruscans shared their
alphabet, architecture (the arch),
and religious rituals but also ruled
over the Latins through a series of
kings from about 600 to 509
B.C.E.
• Greek colonists taught the Latins to
cultivate olives and grapes and
introduced their religion and
legends (the Greek Zeus became
the equivalent of the Latin Jupiter)
Etruscan tomb fresco (above), necropolis (below)
The Birth of the Roman Republic
• Roman aristocrats (known as
patricians) overthrew the last Etruscan
king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, in
509 B.C. and established a republic
• Republic = res publica (public affairs)
• Power rested with the citizens of Rome
(free-born males alone)
• The Romans banned monarchy and
threaten to kill anyone who sought to
become a king
• How was the Roman republic different
from Athenian democracy (established
at nearly the same time)?
Struggles for Power
• In the early republic, different groups of Romans
struggled for power.
• Patricians, the wealthy landowners who held most of
the power.
– The patricians inherited their power and social status. They
claimed that their ancestry gave them the authority to make
laws for Rome.
• Plebeians, the common farmers, artisans, and
merchants who made up the majority of the
population.
– The plebeians were citizens of Rome with the right to vote.
However, they were barred by law from holding most
important government positions.
Struggles for Power cont.
• In time, Rome’s leaders allowed the plebeians
to form their own assembly and elect
representatives called tribunes.
• Tribunes protected the rights of the plebeians
from unfair acts of
patrician officials.
Twelve Tables
• Plebeians forced the creation of a written law
code. With laws unwritten, patrician officials
often interpreted the law to suit themselves.
• In 451 B.C.E., a group of ten officials began
writing down Rome’s laws. The laws were
carved on twelve tablets, or tables, and hung
in the Forum. They became the basis for later
Roman law.
• The Twelve Tables established the idea that all
free citizens had a right to the protection of
the law.
Government Under the Republic
• Rome boasted that their government had
taken the best features
– of a monarchy (government by a king),
– an aristocracy (government by nobles),
– and a democracy (government by the people)
Government Under the Republic
• Rome had two officials called consuls. Like
kings, they commanded the army and directed
the government.
• Their power was limited.
– A consul’s term was only one-year long.
– The same person could not be elected consul
again for ten years.
– One consul could always overrule, or veto, the
other’s decisions.
Government Under the Republic
• Senate of 300 members, chosen from
aristocracy for life—controls foreign and
financial policies, advises consuls.
• Centuriate Assembly, all citizen-soldiers are
members for life—selects consuls, makes laws.
• Tribal Assembly, citizens grouped according to
where they live are members for life—elects
tribunes and makes laws.
Government Under the Republic
• Praetors, eight judges chosen for one year by
Centuriate Assembly—two oversee civil and
criminal courts (the others govern provinces).