Download notes - Fort Bend ISD

DAY 1
NAME______________________________ PER. ____ DATE _________________ TEA CHER COPY
THE 2
ND
CHAPTER 6 LESSON 1 NOTES
CLASSICAL EMPIRE OF THE WESTERN WORLD – ROME
 located in center of the Italian Peninsula which is approx. mid-
Geography
Geographical
benefits
point in the Mediterranean Sea on Europe
 Apennine Mountains run the length of most of the peninsula
 Roman ancestors, the Latins, settled along the Tiber River
 ideal location for trading & colonizing & practicing imperialism
(conquering other lands and peoples for raw materials and markets)
 mountains provided fertile land & grazing pasture, supporting a
growing population
 the Tiber became a centralized location for trade up and down the
river; the city of Rome eventually developed as center of the Tiber
 in 509 B.C. the Romans drove out the Etruscans, after having
Rome’s republic
adopted their alphabet (from the Phoenicians) and technology.
 pledging never to be ruled by kings again who abused their power,
the Romans set up a republic,
whereby some officials are chosen by the people
 in the early republic, the senate dominated the government. Its
members were patricians, or the aristocratic citizens of Rome. Two
consuls were chosen for one-year terms each. In times of crisis, a
dictator would be chosen for a 6-month term only
 Little by little, the plebeians, or common Roman citizens, gained
some political power. They received the Twelve Tables in Rome’s
Forum. They gained the right to elect their own officials called
Tribunes. The tribunes could veto, or block, laws that they felt harmed
plebeians
 the United States’ Constitution would adopt Roman ideas of
government, such as the senate, the veto, & checks & balances on
political power


Rome’s practice of
imperialism
By about 270 B.C., Rome controlled most of the Italian Peninsula.
Rome’s expansion in Italy was successful because of Rome’s:
 skilled diplomacy (art of tactful negotiations)
 a loyal, well-trained army of citizen-soldiers collectively called
legions
 fair treatment of defeated enemies (like the Persians) giving
them citizenship rights
 After gaining control of the Italian Peninsula, Rome began to build an
empire around the Mediterranean
 Romans followed a policy of imperialism, establishing control over
foreign lands and peoples
 Carthage (a Phoenician trading giant colony in what is now Tunisia,
Africa and an enemy in the Punic Wars), Macedonia, Greece, and parts
of Asia Minor became Roman provinces, or lands under Roman rule.
NAME_________________________________ PER.___DATE________________________ DAY 2
CHAPTER 6 LESSON 1 NOTES
TEACHER NOTES
Rome’s civil Wars
 Julius Gaius Caesar forms a consulate known as the [First]
Triumvirate (rule by three), eventually taking complete power when
Caesar forces the Senate to make him dictator
 Caesar institutes reforms to try to save Rome’s many poor
plebeians.
 Caesar is killed by Senate enemies on the Ides of March in 44 B.C.
because some of its members feared he planned to make himself king.
 More civil wars break out with Caesar’s assassination
 A Second Triumvirate is formed to avenge the death of Caesar.
 Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Egypt’s queen Cleopatra VII at
the Battle of Actium off the coast of Greece in a struggle for power.
 The Roman senate bestows Octavian with the title of Augustus, or
“Exalted One” in 31 B.C.
 The 500-year old “republic” comes to an end. The age of the
Roman empire begins.
 Augustus laid the foundation for a stable government that would
Rome’s empire and
the reforms of
Emperor Augustus
The Julio-Claudian
Emperors follow the
rule of Augustus
function well for over 200 years. This period is called the Pax Romana
(Roman Peace)
 created efficient civil service (government employees) to enforce the
laws
 opened up high-level jobs to men of merit rather than according to
birth.
 ordered a census, or population count, in order to make the tax
system fairer.
 set up a postal service (like the Persians)
 first to use a material called concrete to construct buildings to save
money (but overlaid the new buildings with decorative marble to make
the new constructions appear expensive and extravagant)
 added lands, including Britannia
 opened the Colosseum (Rome’s sporting arena) and the Circus
Maximus (Rome’s largest race course) to entertain the jobless masses
and provided free bread to the poor
 persecuted Christians to encourage a sense of loyalty to the Roman
gods and, therefore, to the emperors

The Good or
Adoptive Emperors
built the Pantheon temple in Rome’s Forum (the showplace of the
ancient world)
 built Hadrian’s Wall in Britannia to keep out barbarians in the Roman
Empire’s northern frontier (outer boundaries of empire)
 introduced the practice of common law (laws, based on previous
judges’ decisions that have been passed down from one generation to
the next and adopted by the U.S. and other countries
 death of Marcus Aurelius ends Pax Romana and Rome’s Golden Age
around 240 A.D.