Download to create the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire
 Peninsula (surrounded by
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water on 3 sides)
Only 120 miles across
Apennine: Mountain range
that runs north to south down
the middle of Italy that divides
it into east & west (did NOT
isolate the cities like they did
in Greece)
Alps: mountains that border
northern Italy
Low lying fertile lands known
as Plains (Po River Valley)
 Located 18 miles inland on the Tiber River
 Had access to the sea and also protection from
pirates/invaders
 Built on 7 hills-easily defendable
 Central location in Italy
 Latins settled central Italy in the region of Latium (spoke
Latin) with farming and herding settlements
 753 B.C- Legend that Rome was founded by Romulus
and Remus - Do you remember the story?
 The Greeks & Etruscans begin to settle Italy as colonies
 Culture is transferred to Italy/Rome
 Created the forum or marketplace in Rome
 Brick, stone & the arch
 Greek religious beliefs
 7 Estruscan kings set up harsh rule & cruel gov’t
 509 B.C: Romans revolt & drive out Etruscan’s
 Romans declare their city a Republic: officials chosen
by the people, leader is NOT a monarch
509 B.C-27 B.C
 First 200 years Rome was in constant warfare with its
neighbors
 Rome crushed Latin states, defeated Greeks &
Estruscans
 240 B.C.: Rome conquers almost all of Italy
 Roman Confederation: allowed conquered peoples
citizenship & freedom of their own affairs if they
supplied soldiers to Rome
 Sense of duty, courage & discipline
 Good diplomats but could be firm when needed
 Excelled in military matters/strategists
 They were practical
 Social Structure (2 groups)
 Patricians: wealthy landowners, ruling class, only
citizens to hold political office
 Plebeians: non-aristocratic citizens, merchants,
artisans, farmers & laborers
 All could vote but only Patricians could be elected to
office
 Roman Senate: 300 elected Patricians who served for
life & oversaw the government
 Consuls: chief executive officers elected every two
years to run the government & lead the army. Had
VETO power over the Senate
 Praetors: individuals in charge of civil law for citizens
& non citizens
 Centuriate Assembly: a “peoples’ assembly” where
elected consuls and praetors passed laws and was
organized by social classes
 Conflict often broke out between plebeians and
patricians over social & political inequality
 Plebeians eventually won the right to:
 Council of Plebs: created to give a voice to plebeians in
the government & ability to pass laws
 Tribunes: elected representatives of the plebeians in
the Senate
 Serve in public office & become consuls
 Marry patricians
 Twelve Tables: first code of laws, created to protect
the rights of plebeians…..later developed into:
 Corpus Juris Civilis: civil laws that applied to all
Roman citizens – legal questions
 Law of Nations: universal set of laws based on reason
that applied justice to ALL people
 Innocent until proven guilty
 Able to defend yourself in front of a judge
 Roman expansion met conflict with the city-state of
Carthage: extreme trading power of Mediterranean
 Carthage seized the Straits of Messina (waterway
between mainland Italy & Sicily) and cut Romans off
from the island
 Rome’s navy defeats Carthage navy in 241 B.C
 Rome forces Carthage to give up all rights to Sicily &
made Carthage pay a fine for war damages
 Carthage general Hannibal invades Italy by crossing the
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Alps with 46,000 men & cavalry & 37 war elephants
Romans met them head on at the Battle of Cannae:
Romans lost almost 40,000 men
Hannibal roams Italy but is unable to attack Rome due to
low supplies & men
Rome attacks Carthage troops and forces them out of Italy
Roman troops defeat Hannibal’s army at the Battle of
Zama in North Africa: gained Spain
Rome is now dominant power in Mediterranean and looks
to conquer Greece
 Rome completely destroys Carthage
 Survivors were sold into slavery and the territories of
Carthage became the province of AFRICA
 By 146 B.C., Rome was the master of the
Mediterranean world gaining control over Macedonia,
Pergamum & Greece
Section 2 Notes
 Wealthy landowning Senate held most of the power in
the Government
 Aristocrats stripped land from small farmers
 Poor citizens began moving to the cities (Rome)
 Tiberius and Haius Gracchus: urged the Council of
Plebs to propose land bills stripping aristocrats’ land &
giving it to the poor; BOTH men murdered by Senate
 These actions angered many peasants
 82-31 B.C. a series of civil wars occurred as individuals
competed for political power
 Crassus- richest man in Rome
 Pompey- military hero
 Julius Caesar- military commander in Spain
 These 3 men formed the First Triumvirate
 Triumvirate: a government by 3 people with equal
power
 Caesar take his troops into Gaul (France) and
conquers it- gaining fame
 Crassus is killed in battle in Syria
 Senate decides to only have one leader – Pompey – and
votes Caesar out
 Angry Caesar refuses to give up his power and illegally
crosses the Rubicon River (northern boundary of
home Roman lands)
 Caesar attacks Pompey’s troops and defeats them
 45 B.C. : Caesar gains control of Rome and forces the
Senate to name him “dictator for life.”
 Broke up lands of those disloyal to him and gave it to
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the poor
Increase the size of the Senate to 900, weakening their
power
Granted citizenship to all who supported him as a
leader
Created building projects to generate jobs
Adopted a new solar calendar (Julian Calendar) with
365 ½ days
 Many Senators believed Caesar wanted to become a
king & had no anticipation of giving his power back to
the Senate (DICTATOR)
 March 15th, 44 B.C.: group of Senators led by Marcus
Brutus assassinated Caesar (IDES OF MARCH)
Caesar’s Death
Caesar’s Death
 Octavian (Caesar’s nephew & heir)
 Marc Antony (Caesar’s general)
 Marcus Lepidus (Caesar’s cavalry commander)
 A power struggle eventually breaks out b/w the three
 Lepidus retires & Antony & Octavian divide the
Roman rule into two (Octavian west/Antony East)
 Antony & Octavian continually disagree & fight
 Antony allies himself with Egyptian queen Cleopatra
& begins withholding grains from Rome
 Octavian convinces the Senate to go to war against
Antony & Cleopatra
 31 B.C.: Octavian smashes Antony’s forces at the Battle
of Actium
 Both Antony & Cleopatra flee to Egypt where they
both commit suicide
 Antony stabs himself first thinking that Cleopatra did
the same (which she did not)
 After dying in her arms, Cleopatra is taken away but
later commits suicide by allowing herself to be bit by a
venemous snake.
 32 years old and now becomes the supreme Ruler of
Roman world
 27 B.C. Octavian proclaims restoration of the Republic,
made dictator for life and is given the name Augustus
by the Senate
 Octavian moves to create the Roman Empire
 Polytheistic: Worshipped an official state religion of
numerous Gods & Goddesses (combination with
Greek Gods)
 Tolerant of other religions as long as they also
worshipped Roman gods & emperors
 Romans sought a higher world of reality and promise
of a future life superior to the present one
 6 B.C.: old lands of Judah became the Roman territory
of Judaea under the direction of a Roman official
(procurator)
 Different groups had different opinions about Roman
rule:
 Sadducees- priests who favored cooperation with Rome
 Pharisees- scholars who believed religious law protected
them from Roman influences
 Essenes- waited for God to save Israel from Roman rule,
lived apart from society
 Zealots- called for the violet overthrow of Roman rule
 A Jewish revolt was quickly crushed by Romans
 Jewish prophet named Jesus traveled across Judaea &
Galilee preaching
 His mission was to complete the salvation God had
promised to the people of Israel
 Believed God’s command was to love God and one
another
 Taught ethical concepts of humility, charity & love
 Some thought Jesus was a revolutionary who
threatened to overthrow Roman rule/influence
 Pontius Pilate: procurator who ordered Jesus arrested
& crucified
 Followers of Jesus believed he had risen from the dead
& that he was the Messiah (anointed one) that would
save Israel
 Christianity spreads throughout the Empire
 Simon Peter: early apostle (leader) of Christianity,
Jesus’ chief disciple
 Paul: most important apostle, founded Christian
communities throughout eastern empire & taught
Jesus was the Savior whose death made up for all the
sins of humanity
 Apostles & Disciples wrote down the sayings of Jesus
to form the Gospels- core of the New Testament
 By 100 A.D. Christian churches existed in all major
cities in the eastern Roman Empire and spread to the
west in 200 A.D.
 Romans initially viewed Christianity as another sect of
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Judaism
Romans felt threatened b/c they refused to worship
state gods/emperors
Romans viewed refusal as treason- punishable by
death
Nero blamed Christians for problems in the empire
and persecuted many
Persecution continued for 200 years
 Reasons why Christianity grew so rapidly:
 It gave meaning & purpose to life, was personal, offered
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salvation & eternal life
It was easy to relate to, Jesus was a human figure, didn’t
require painful or expensive initiation rites
Provided a sense of belonging among community
Stressed spiritual equality to all classes of people
Promised salvation to all
 First Roman emperor that converts to Christianity in
312 CE.
 Edict of Milan: creates official toleration of
Christianity
 Council of Nicaea: organizes and unifies Christian
doctrine
 Roman emperor who adopts Christianity as the official
religion of the Roman Empire
 380 CE
 Council of Thessalonica
“A terrible rumor had arrived from the West. Rome is
besieged…The City is taken which took the whole
world. It had perished of famine before it died by the
sword, and only a few captives were found…….An
ancient and imperial city falls.”
 After the death of the last great Roman emperor, Rome
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experienced a period of civil war
Severan Emperors: a new ruling family who
attempted to halt the period of decline but were
unable to hold onto power
235-284 A.D.: civil war broke out resulting in 22
emperors who ruled for short periods of time
A series of plagues led to severe shortages in the labor
force & military
Decline in trade and food production
Threats of invasions from Persians & Germans
 Emperor Constantine built a “New Rome” on the sit
of the Greek city of Byzantium which became known
as Constantinople
 Despite these efforts, high taxation & inflation could
not be stopped
 Emperor Diocletian realized how big the empire was
and the need for more effective ruling
 He divided the Roman empire into 2 parts (east &
west) and created 4 tetrarchs (rulers) to rule 4
specific units
Invasion of Germanic Tribes
 Rome was the capital in the West & Constantinople
was the capital in the East
 Huns invade from Asia forcing the Germanic
Visigoths & Vandals south and west into Roman
territory
 378 A.D.: Roman army is defeated by the Visigoths at
the Battle of Adrianople
 410 A.D. Visigoths becomes first Germanic people to
sack Rome
 455 A.D.: Vandals invade Italy and sack Rome
 476 A.D.: Germanic leader Odoacer overthrows the
last Roman emperor Romulus Augustus causing the
official fall of the Roman empire in the West
 Rome falls….but what about the East???
 The Eastern Roman empire will continue as the
Byzantine Empire that will preserve Greek and Roman
heritage.
 Christianity emphasis on spiritual kingdom weakened
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Roman virtues
Roman valued declined as non-Italians gained importance
in the empire
Lead poisoning caused a mental decline in the population
Plagues wiped out as much as 1/10 of the popluation
Rome failed to advanced technologically because of
dependence on slavery
Rome couldn’t created a workable political system
following the decline of emperors
While all theories may have some sort of truth, there is still
not one theory to explain the fall of the Roman empire