Download The glory that was Greece

PAGES 128-131
THE ROMAN WORLD TAKES SHAPE
SETTING THE SCENE
 Romans loved stories of heroes
 Horatius
 Single handedly held off Etruscan army while his fellow
Romans tore down the bridge behind him
 He then dove into the river with the bridge and swam to safety
on the other side
 This story tells us the virtues that Romans admired
 Courage
 Loyalty
 Devotion to duty
Geography
 Rome began as a small city-state on the
Italian peninsula which is centrally located on
the Mediterranean Sea.
 Rome is the center of Italy
 Italy was much easier to unify than Greece
 Apennine Mountains are less rugged.
 Broad fertile plains in the north & in the west
supported a growing population
People
 800BC Latins migrated into Italy
 Settled along the Tiber River in small villages over
seven low-lying hills
 These Latins were the ancestors to the Romans
 Their villages grew into Rome, the city on 7 hills
 Etruscans Greek colonists shared Italian peninsula with Romans
 Etruscans even ruled over Rome for a time
 Romans adapted the alphabet, the use of the arch in
building, and gods & goddesses from the Etruscans
The Roman Republic
 509BC
 Founding of the Roman state by driving out their Etruscan
ruler
 Set up a republic to keep one person from too much power
 Senate was most powerful governing body
 300 members were patricians, landholding upper class
 Made the laws & served for life
 2 consuls
 Elected by the senators
 Supervised the business of the government
 Commanded the armies
 Rome had system of checks on the power of government
 During war senate could choose a dictator, but they could only
rule for 6 months and then had to give up their power
Plebeians
 Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, & Traders
 Made up most of population, but had no influence
 450BC
 Government had laws of Rome inscribed on 12 tablets
 1st breakthrough for Plebeians because they had protested that
no one knew all of the laws because they were not written down
 Plebeians eventually gained right to elect their own officials
called tribunes
 Tribunes could veto laws they felt were harmful to Plebeians
 Plebeians eventually were elected to consuls & other high offices,
& then the Senate.
 2,000 years later U.S. adapted a Senate, the Veto, &
political checks on power
Roman Society
 Family was the basic unit of Roman society
 Roman law stated the male was the head of
household, & had absolute power
 His wife was subject to his authority, & was
not allowed to take care of her own affairs
Roman Women
 Played a larger role in society than Greek women
 Most worked at home raising their family,
spinning, & weaving
 Women gained more freedom as the centuries
passed on.
 They were eventually allowed to:
 Go to public baths
 Dine out
 Attend theater
 Have political influence
Roman Education & Religion
 Girls & boys learned to read & write
 Children began learning about history
later in the republic
 Roman gods & Greek gods shared
similarities
 Jupiter is Zeus
 Juno is Hera
 Neptune is Poseidon
Expansion




Rome succeeded because of a loyal & well-trained army
5,000 men made up a legion
Fought without pay & supplied their own weapons
Rewards & harsh punishment
 Showing courage in battle would get you gifts, but if your unit
fled from a battle….1 out of 10 men in the unit were put to death
 Defeated enemies had to acknowledge Roman
leadership, pay taxes, & supply soldiers, & in return they
got to keep their own customs & local government.
 Rome placed soldiers throughout the empire & built allweather military roads
 This began the unification of Italy under the Roman
Empire