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Rome as a Republic
Beginnings and Beliefs
• The Romans kicked out the last Etruscan king in
509 BC, which marks the beginning of the Roman
republic
• The Romans chose to have a system of
government in which no one person had all the
power but instead one that had “checks and
balances”
• The Roman Republic is a representative
democracy, which is what America’s founders
based the American system of government on
Structure of the Republic
• 2 types of people
– Patricians: land-holding upper class
– Plebeians: farmers, merchants, and artisans that make up
most of the population
• Early Version of the Republic:
– the Senate (made up of 300 patricians) made all the laws
and controlled the government
– Each year, the Senate picked 2 consuls from the patrician
class that supervised the government and commanded
the armies. Each consul had to approve the other and
could only serve one term.
– If there was a war, the Senate could pick a dictator to
serve for up to 6 months, but he had to give power back
Plebeians Change Things
• Plebeians had citizenship in the early republic but
little governing power (which they didn’t like, so
they demanded and won change)
• Changes:
– Plebeians elected their own officials, tribunes, that could
veto laws that they thought were harmful to plebeians
– Plebeians forced the Senate to make one of the consuls
be from the plebeian class
– Plebeians asked for laws to be made public, so that they
could defend themselves in court if they were accused
of breaking a law; the “12 Tables” were inscribed and
posted in public
Examples of Laws
• Whoever is in need of evidence, he shall go on every third day
to call out loud before the doorway of the witness
• "Marriage shall not take place between a patrician and a
plebeian.“
• "There are eight kinds of punishment: fine, fetters, flogging,
retaliation in kind, civil disgrace, banishment, slavery, death."
• "A dreadfully deformed child shall be killed.“
• "If a father surrender his son for sale three times, the son
shall be free.“
• Marriage by `usage' (usus): If a man and woman live together
continuously for a year, they are considered to be married;
the woman legally is treated as the man's daughter.
• "If any person has sung or composed against another person
a SONG (carmen) such as was causing slander or insult.... he
shall be clubbed to death."
Roman Republic Grows
• Roman armies conquered the Etruscans and the Greek citystates in the south of Italy and therefore controlled most of
Italy by 270 BC
• Carthage was a city-state on the northern coast of Africa with
settlements in Spain and parts of Mediterranean islands.
Rome fought 3 wars with Carthage over land called the Punic
Wars
– 1st Punic War: Rome defeated Carthage and won the islands of
Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia
– 2nd Punic War: Carthage wanted revenge; Hannibal (Carthaginian
general) led his army and war elephants into Italy from the North
and surprised Rome. For 15 years, Carthage won many battles but
never captured Rome itself. Finally, Rome sent an army to
Carthage and Hannibal had to go and defend it. Rome finally
defeated Carthage and won its land outside of Africa
– 3rd Punic War: Rome still saw Carthage as a rival and wanted to
destroy them completely, so they went ahead and did that.
More Growing
• Imperialism: establishing control over foreign lands and
people
• Rome focused on imperialism; they didn’t conquer and
destroy the lands they overtook (unless they had a
personal issue with them, like with Carthage) but rather
used the resources there and incorporated the people
in the new lands into the Roman empire…some even
gained Roman citizenship
• Rome continued to grow and added Macedonia,
Greece, and parts of what is now Turkey (then Asia
Minor) to its control
• Egypt allied itself with Rome
• By 133 BC: Roman power went from Spain to Egypt
But Back at Home…
• The rich people got even richer: Generals, government
officials, and traders made up a new, super wealthy class
• They bought huge farms that were like plantations, called
latifundia, and bought up smaller farms around them
• People captured from war were brought in as slaves and
people who couldn’t pay off their debts could sell themselves
(or family members) into slavery to work on the latifundia…
1/3 of Rome’s people lived in slavery near the end of the
Republic!
• Smaller farmers who went out of business moved to Rome
and other cities hoping to find jobs, joining other unemployed
and unhappy people there: OCCUPY ROME! (riots and slave
revolts)
• 2 plebeian brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, tried to
inspire and initiate reforms, but they and thousands of their
followers were killed in the midst of street violence
(encouraged by corrupt senators)
Roman Republic Declines
• Many citizen-soldiers became hired-out professional soldiers that were loyal
to commanders rather than the republic (they needed a job!)
• Julius Caesar was a military commander that had been given the job of
conquering land for Rome, which he was great at. (France and Belgium)
• He was getting powerful, so Pompey, another politician/leader, told him to
return and was going to disband his army…but Caesar wouldn’t.
• Instead, he crushed Pompey and suppressed rebellions
• He came, he saw, he conquered (veni, vidi, vici)!
• He really did do good things:
– Started a program of public works to employ jobless people much like FDR
– Reorganized the government of outlying areas & gave more people citizenship
– Introduced the calendar we still use today
• He returned to Rome and demanded that the Senate declare him to be a
dictator for life… which didn’t last long, because his friends and enemies
plotted together to kill him to save the republic.
• This led to civil war and confusion… eventually, Caesar’s grandnephew,
Octavian, came to power and established the Roman Empire