Download Pax Romana

The Senate was the most powerful
governing body made up entirely of
patricians.
A dictator was granted emergency
powers to rule Rome for 6 months and
then had to give up power.
After the fall of Carthage, the Romans
conquered other regions divided up from
the empire of Alexander the Great. By
133 BCE, Roman power extended from
Spain to Egypt.
Roman armies consisted of citizensoldiers who fought without pay and
supplied their own weapons. They built a
network of all-weather military roads to
link distant province to Rome
Cincinnatus was the model dictator
because he led Rome to victory and then
gave up his power, returning to his life as
a farmer.
Rome treated its enemies with justice and
allowed them to keep their own customs,
money, and local government.
Roman engineers built many immense
aqueducts, or bridge-like stone structures
that brought water from the hills into
Roman cities.
In his epic poem the Aeneid, Virgil tried
to show that Rome’s past was as heroic
as that of Greece.
Pliny the Elder, a Roman scientist,
compiled volumes on geography,
zoology, botany, and other topics, all
based on other people’s works.
Roman artists broke new ground by
creating portraits in stone or on coins that
revealed an individual’s character.
Probably the greatest legacy of Rome
was its commitment to the rule of law
and to justice—ideas that have shaped
western civilization to today.
During the Pax Romana, Roman rule
brought peace, order, unity, and
prosperity to lands stretching from the
Euphrates Rover in the east to Britain in
the west, an area equal in size to the
continental U.S.
Gladiator contests were popular with
Roman citizens. Emperors offered
“bread and circuses” with the taxes they
collected. At the arenas, the government
provided free grain to feed the poor.
High taxes to support the army and the
bureaucracy placed heavy burdens on
business people and small farmers.
For 100 years after the Pax Romana,
political turmoil rocked the Roman
Empire. One after another, ambitious
generals seized power, ruled for a few
months or years, and then were
overthrown.
Living on large estates, poor farmers
worked for the landowner and farmed a
small plot for themselves. Although
technically free, they were not allowed to
leave the land.
For centuries, Rome had faced attacks
from the Germanic peoples who lived
along the northern borders of the Empire.
Under pressure, Rome surrendered first
Britain, then France and Spain. Rome
lost territories in a chain reaction.
In 476 CE, Odoacer, A Germanic leader
of the Visigoths, ousted the emperor in
Rome and caused the “fall” of Rome.
To meet its need for soldiers, Rome hired
mercenaries, or foreign soldiers serving
for pay, to defend its borders.
The corrupt Roman government became
more oppressive and authoritarian; it lost
the support of the people.
Dividing the empire in half at a time
when it was under attack may have
weakened it beyond repair.
The Roman Empire suffered as heavier
and heavier taxes were required to
support the vast government bureaucracy
and huge military establishment.
For centuries, worried Romans pointed to
the decline in values such as patriotism,
discipline, and devotion to duty on which
the empire was built.