Download Roman History - Bishop Ireton

Roman History
A broad (and brief) outline
Roman history went through three general phases which coincide nicely with their
form of government.
 The Monarchy -- Rome establishes itself as a city, develops basic
infrastructure, dominates the local region of Latium, and falls under
foreign (Etruscan) control.
 The Republic -- Rome establishes an oligarchodemocratic constitution
and rapidly expands throughout the Italian peninsula, subjugating and
absorbing local populations and their cultures. Rome also develops
important military innovations that allow them to defeat the other
Mediterranean superpowers and absorb their empires -- primarily
Carthage and the Hellenistic kingdoms. The huge empire proves impossible
to control from Rome without widespread corruption, and civil wars break
out.
 The Empire -- Rome becomes autocratic, i.e. ruled by the will of a single
person, although the Senate still theoretically governs. Periods of stable
rule by strong emperors alternate with instability and even occasional civil
wars, especially during times of disputed succession. There is some
expansion, but over the course of hundreds of years Rome loses ground. In
the west, the Empire breaks into kingdoms, but in the East it is eventually
absorbed by the Ottoman Empire.
The Monarchy -- The 7 Kings of Rome
Rome was (according to legend) founded by
Romulus in 753 BC. Romulus and his twin
brother, Remus, were the grandsons of the
rightful king of Alba Longa, Numitor, who
had been deposed by his brother, Amulius.
They overthrew their great-uncle and
founded a new city. Romulus killed Remus in
an argument.
Romulus established an army and a government.
After his death, six more kings ruled, bringing new
cultural and military innovations to Rome: Numa
Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinus
Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinus Superbus. The
last 3 kings were Etruscans, not Romans, and the
native Romans grew irritated with the last king’s
harsh rule. According to legend, after a prince of the
royal family raped Lucretia, a noble Roman, the
people overthrew the kings.
The Republic -- 509 BC - ?? BC (44? 27 BC?)
The ‘Republic’ was a style of government
invented by the Romans which combined
elements of oligarchy (rule by the rich) and
democracy (rule by the people). Magistrates
were elected yearly by the whole people, but
in the most important elections, wealthy
citizens were given more powerful votes, and
only the wealthy were eligible to belong to the
Senate (and could afford to run for office in
any case).
Military commands were held by government
officials, and warfare and the governing of
provinces offered chances for wealth and
advancement. Bribery and factions became
common to dominate these important
positions, and in the late Republic street fights
and even civil wars broke out between political
rivals.
The Republic and its legions grew to dominate the
Italian peninsula from the Gauls in the north to the
cities of Magna Graecia in the south. At home,
there was political tension between the plebs, who
wanted more democratic power, and the patricii,
who wanted to keep it in their own hands. More
than once, the plebeians seceded from Rome to
start their own city and had to be negotiated with,
and they gained significant power. By the late
Republic, most magistrates were plebeian, although
patricians still held important advantages.
Rome came into conflict with a number of foreign
powers, eventually defeating and absorbing all of
the Mediterranean nations. They fought constantly
with the Gauls, but also fought wars against King
Pyrrhus of Epirus (280-275), Carthage (264-146),
Macedon (215-148), Seleucid Syria (192-188), and
Ptolemaic Egypt (31-30).
The Roman Empire -- 27(ish) to AD 476, 1453
The end of the Republic saw a series of civil wars in which rival factions in the city
attempted to take control by defeating or murdering their opponents. Lucius
Cornelius Sulla held an unconstitutional multi-year dictatorship and assassinated
hundreds of enemies. The first triumvirate (Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar) wrested
power away from the conservative Senate, and Caesar again assumed the
dictatorship after defeating his former ally Pompey in a lengthy civil war.
Another triumvirate , this one composed of Antony, Lepidus, and the young
Octavian, took power after Caesar’s assassination. When this alliance also fell apart
and Octavian emerged victorious, he solidified his position, not by claiming the
unpopular office of dictator, but by claiming other constitutional powers, such as the
rights of the tribune and consul and governor of the ‘imperial’ provinces.
Augustus attempted to establish a family dynasty to
inherit has power after his death, but a number of
(often mysterious) family deaths meant that his only
acceptable successor was his adopted son, Tiberius.
Including Tiberius, there were four more emperors from
the Claudius family, but a civil war after Nero’s death
led to a year of great instability. The Flavian dynasty,
founded by Vespasian, followed, and Rome saw some
strong leaders and some very weak ones. There were
some expansions under the early Empire, and under
Trajan the empire was as large as it would ever be.
Great changes occurred later in the Empire. Raids
by new barbarian groups, such as the Goths, Huns,
and Vandals, stretched the legions to the breaking
point, and internal strife resulting from political
rivalries and the spread of cultures and religions
which did not mesh well with the old Roman way
led to the loss of territories on the Danube and in
Spain and Africa. The Empire was split in two to
make it easier to rule. Christianity (previously
persecuted) was first tolerated, then adopted as the
official religion of Rome.
The last emperor in the Western Roman
Empire was overthrown in AD 476, leading to
the European Dark Ages. The empire of
Constantinople, however, persisted for another
thousand years before finally being conquered
by Mehmet the Conqueror and absorbed as
part of the Ottoman Empire, which saw itself
as the Islamic heir to Roman rule.