Rome Project

By- Caroline Toran

Introduction

• ROMAN HISTORY can be divided into three convenient periods or episodes. The years 753-509 B.C. concern the years of Rome's origins. By 509 B.C., Rome had established itself by pushing the Etruscans out of northern Italy.

Part 1- 753 B.C.E. to 509 B.C.E.

THE SEVEN KINGS

• Romulus was the first king of the city. The second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius from 715 to 673 BC. The third king Tullus Hostilius from 672 to 641 BC . Marcius reigned from 640 to 617 BC. Lucius Tarquinu Priscus from 616 to 579 BC. Servius Tullius from 578 to 535BC. The seventh king, Lucius Tarquinus Suberbus was expelled.

Early Rome, 753-509 B.C.

• Roman expansion was the result of dealing with unsettled conditions, first in Italy and then abroad, which were thought to threaten Rome's security. By 270 B.C. the first phase of Roman expansion was over. Etruscans in the north, predatory hill tribes in central Italy, and Greeks in the south. Rome had defeated them all after long effort and found itself master of all Italy south of the Po valley.

Early Rome, 753-509 B.C.

• After ousting their Etruscan overlords in 509 B.C., Rome and the Latin League became an alliance against the Etruscans. It had become the chief power in central Italy. The Latin League grew alarmed at Rome's increasing strength, and war broke out. With Rome's victory in 338 B.C. and the Latin cities were forced to sign individual treaties with Rome. Treaties bound them to adhere to Rome's policy and to supply troops for the Roman army. The Romans treated their foes them fairly creating loyalty to Rome.

Early Rome, 753-509 B.C.

• After 270 B.C. only Carthage remained as Rome's rival in the West. The power of Carthage was broken forever by a harsh treaty imposed in 201 B.C.

Part 2-The Republic, 509 B.C.E. to 27 B.C.E.

Part 2-The Republic, 509 B.C.E. to 27 B.C.E.

Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus and Lucius Junius Brutus gained election as the first two consuls, the chief officers of the new Republic. The early consuls took over the roles of the king with the exception of his high priesthood in the worship of Jupiter. For that duty the Romans elected a Rex or "king of holy things.“Rome's military and diplomatic successes was due to the structures of the old city-state. Small landowners were displaced due to large slave-run estates, resulting in large numbers of unemployed landowners.

Part 2-The Republic, 509 B.C.E. to 27 B.C.E.

• Gracchus' reform was simply to put more land in the hands of veterans. Then his Senatorial opponents responded to his political ideas by killing him in the street. His younger brother Gaius Gracchus continued to reform and established the equites as a new force in Roman politics the war broke out. Rome was saved by Marius, who held multiple consulships. The Romans were only able to end the war in 88 by granting citizenship to all Italians living south of the Po River.

Part 3-The Empire, 27 B.C.E. to C.E. 476

Part 3-The Empire, 27 B.C.E. to C.E. 476

• The Romans had superiority over the barbarians on their western frontier. Then when Constantine became the first Christian emperor he changed Roman policy towards the barbarians keeping the barbarians in check by engaging in regular ethnic cleansing against them was seen as too unchristian/cruel. He decreed that the raids against barbarians would stop and instead they would be paid money in exchange for no attack toward Rome. The barbarians were allowed for the first time to settle in the lands across the Rhine.

Part 3-The Empire, 27 B.C.E. to C.E. 476

• Eventually the sums of money need to buy off the barbarians became so great that it drained the Roman treasury of money needed to maintain the Roman army and hold the empire together. The barbarians became powerful and the Roman army became so weak that the barbarians held Rome to ransom at will. Barbarians demanded they be allowed for the first time to settle in Roman lands. The Roman empire then ended in the West.

Part 3-The Empire, 27 B.C.E. to C.E. 476

• The end of the 2nd century Rome was hit with a series of plagues that swept over the empire. Soon barbarian tribes started popping up around Rome causing trouble. The Turks took the capital during the fourth crusade. Attila, a Hun leader, took command he claimed to be guided by Mars the God of war, and started attacking the eastern Romans. At first the Romans tried offering bribes, land, gold, women, and slaves, but Attila was set on taking Rome.

Part 3-The Empire, 27 B.C.E. to C.E. 476

• He wasn’t able to take Constantinople and headed to western Rome. They managed to defeat Attila in a battle. The tribes under his command revolted against his sons and soon finished the Western Roman Empire. They split it up between the main tribes; the Visigoths took the now Spanish area, the Ostrogoths got Italy. The Rome fell.