Chapter 6: Ancient Rome Section 1: Early Rome and the Republic CB World Studies

Chapter 6: Ancient RomeSection 1: Early Rome and the Republic

CB

World Studies

A. The Geography of Italy

• Main Idea:– The long, mountainous Italian peninsula has

a variety of climates and land uses.


• Land of Geographic Difference– Italy is a boot-shaped peninsula extending

southeast from a range of mountains called the Alps in the north, to the Mediterranean Sea in the south.

– The peninsula is about 700 miles long and only about 100 miles wide.

– The Apennine Mountain “the chain” runs for 857 miles from the Alps in the north, southward through the Italian peninsula and into Sicily.


• Climate and Agriculture– The region on the western side is generally

warmer and wetter than that on the eastern side– However, the Apennines are not as rugged as

the mountains of Greece, and much of the Italian peninsula has fertile soil.

– The location of this long peninsula near the center of the Mediterranean Sea has always provided profitable trade routes to surrounding areas.

B. The Early Romans

• Main Idea:– Early Romans were a blend of people who

were strongly influenced by the Etruscans and the Greeks.

B. The Early Romans

• Influences on Early Rome– The Etruscan people were a more

powerful group located in central Italy.– Around the time of the founding of

Rome, the Greeks began to colonize Sicily and southern Italy.

– The Latin's quickly saw that the Greeks had much to offer, such as a standard system of weights, measures, and money.

B. The Early Romans

• The Roman Monarchy– Rome’s first form of government was a

monarchy.– The early kings met with a council of advisor

from the upper class– In 509 B.C., a wealthy noble, Lucius Juinius

Brutus, led a successful revolt against the king.

C. Establishing a Republic

• Main Ideas– Both the government and the society of

the Roman Republic were divided into classes.


• The Government of Republican Rome– Each year, two people were elected to share

the office of head of state.– Other elected magistrates included the

praetors, who headed the judiciary; the aediles, who supervised marketplaces; the questors, who were fiancial officers; and the censors, who counted the people every five years.

– In many ways, the main governing power lay with the senate.


• Society in Republican Rome– Although they were divided into separate

classes, patricians and plebeians had their freedom in common.

– Under Roman law, masters had the power of life and death over their slaves.

– The head of each family was the paterfamilias, or the oldest male.

D. Expanding Roman Control

• Main Idea– As Rome expanded, conflicts within the

republic threatened its existence.


• The Punic Wars– Control of southernmost Italy put Rome into

conflict with Carthage, a city-state in northern Africa.

– The First Punic War lasted from 264 to 241 B.C.

– The Romans won the First Punic War and gained control of Sicily.


• Problems in the Late Republic– Wealthy landowners built large house,

whereas many poor farmers lost their land– When Romans conquered new lands, they

enslaved many captives and brought them to the city

– eventually, slaves outnumbered free people.

Chapter 6: Ancient RomeSection 2:From Republic to Empire

A. The End of the Republic

• Main Idea– Failed attempts at economic and social

reform, as well as intense rivalries between military leaders, resulted in crisis and civil war in the late republic.


• Major Changes for Rome

– Grateful Romans re-elected Marius over and over, even though the constitution stated that candidates had to wait 10 years before running for the same office.

– A legion was made up of about 5,000 foot soldiers and was the chief fighting unit of the Roman army.

– Marius rewarded his troops with money and newly conquered lands.


• Julius Caesar and Rome– Caesar was killed in 53 B.C., and Caesar

and Pompey became rivals.– Caesar set out with his army to conquer

Gaul-the region that is now France-and bring it under Roman control.

– In 49 B.C., Caesar and—his victorious army returned to Italy and to civil war.

B. Augustus and Rome’s Golden Age

• Main Idea– After Julius Caesar’s assassination, his

adopted son Octavian, later known as Augustus, succeeded in unifying Rome.


• The Augustan Principate– Octavian knew that the Roman people

hated the idea of a monarchy for more than five centuries.

– Octavian preferred to be called princeps, which mean “ first citizen.”

– Augustus’s main goal was to bring stability and order to Rome, and he largely succeeded.


• Culture in the Golden Age– Roman literature began in the late 200s B.C.

with the translation into Latin of classic Greek works, such as Homer’s Odyssey.

– Augustus saw the value of such literature for promoting patriotic feelings among the Roman people .

– The historian Livy wrote the history of Rome in 142 books.

C. The Early Empire

• Main Idea– During the first two centuries of the empire,

Rome continued to expand and to enjoy relative peace and prosperity

C. The Early Empire

• The Julio-Claudian and Flavian Emperors– Both Tiberius and Caligula were cruel and

brutal rulers.– Nero was blamed for a great fire that

destroyed much of Rome.– He committed suicide in A.D. 68.

C. The Early Empire

• Rome’s Five “Good” Emperors– From about A.D. 100 to A.D. 200, a series of five

rulers brought the Roman Empire to its heights– Writing about these emperors, the English

Historian Edward Gibbon remarked in his classic work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

– After the brief reign of Nerva, a noble who was proclaimed emperor by the senate, Nerva’s adopted son Trajan took power.

Chapter 6: Ancient RomeSection 3:The Empire Declines

A. From Commodus to Severus Alexander

• Main Idea– From A.D. 180 to 235, economic problems in

Rome increased and the military became more powerful.


• Leisure Time– To make life a little easier for all the

people of Rome, free entertainment was provided on a grand scale.

– The Colosseum’s many tiers of marble seat hold 45,000 people.

– Woman could enjoy the spectacles from the top three tiers only, and slaves were only allowed to stand as they watched.


• Increasing Tensions – The reign of Emperor Commodus began a

period of decline.– Identifying himself with the Greek hero

Hercules, he ruled as a tyrant.– When the government ran short of money,

Commodus ordered the murder of rich citizens.


• The Severan Dynasty– During Septimius’s reign, from A.D. 193-

211, life in Rome was fairly stable.– Septimius’s son, Caracalla, left his mark

by building splendid bath.– In the final years of the Severan dynasty,

Elagabalus and Severus Alexander served as rulers.

B. Fifty Year of Trouble

• Main Idea– Civil war and economic problems nearly

caused the collapse of Rome during the mid-third century A.D.


• The Role of the Army– Severus Alexander was assassinated by his

own troops because they thought his military policies were too weak.

– This murder set a pattern for the reigns of the emperors during the next 50 years.

– Invaders from neighboring regions attacked Rome’s borders.


• Economic Decline– The Roman economy during this period

suffered from a number of severe problems.– As a result of war and disease, population

declined in cities.– People in the countryside were at the mercy

of invaders.

C. Diocletian and Constantine

• Main Idea– In the late third and early fourth centuries,

two leaders, Diocletian and Constantine the Great, reorganized the empire.


• Diocletian– Diocletian was a successful military

leader from the province, or territory, of Dalmatia.

– These decisions would affect Roman history for the next 200 years.

– Several years later, each co-emperor appointed a chief assistant, or deputy.


• Constantine the Great– Soon after the abdication, or voluntary

resignation, of Diocletian and Maximian, the divided rule created by Diocletian broke down.

– The new co-emperors of the empire, one of whom was Constantine, found themselves in a bitter battle for solo control of the empire.

– The final victor was Constantine.

D. The Fall of the Western Empire

• Main Idea– The division of the empire and foreign

invasions finally toppled the western empire in A.D 476.


• Living on Borrowed Time– As the fourth century drew to a close,

problems on the empire’s borders became more severe.

– For centuries, the Roman had faced attacks from Germanic tribes that lived along their northern borders.

– Most of the battles were small and not well organized.


• Foreign Invasions and the Collapse of the West– In A.D. 410, the Visigoths, under their leader

Alaric attacked Rome, overcoming its defense and plundering it.

– For the first time in eight centuries, Rome fell to a foreign invader.

– In A.D. 429, the Vandals invaded North Africa.

Chapter 6: Ancient RomeSection 4: The Development of Christianity

A. Jesus and the First Christians

• Main Idea– The Christian religion began with the

teaching of Jesus, a Jew who lived during the early Roman Empire in the province of Judaea.


• Judaea in Roman Times– The people believed that their gods could

harm the empire if they were not respected.– This belief was so strong that Roman law

called for punishment of those who did not pay the gods proper respect.

– However, Roman control over religion was not always strictly enforced.


• The life and Teachings of Jesus– While Judaea had become a Roman province,

Judaeans still practiced their religion and listened to the preaching of religious teachers.

– One of these teachers was Jesus of Bethlehem, who had been born during Herod’s rule.

– Like other Jewish teachers, Jesus taught belief in one God and in the Ten Commandments.


• The First Christians – Before his death, Jesus had chosen 12

apostles, or main followers, to help him in his mission of teaching.

– Following Jesus’ death, the apostles and other disciples spread Jesus’ message.

– They spread the teachings of Jesus first throughout Judaea, then to other parts of the Roman Empire in which Greek was the common language.

B. The Christian Church and the Spread of Christianity

• Main Idea– Despite persecutions by the state,

Christianity grew rapidly from A.D. 100 to 300


• The Early Christian Church – Since only men were allowed to become

members of the clergy, all priests were male.

– The Christian religion was open to women as well as men— a factor that set it apart from many other religions.

– However, women played a different role in the religion, serving as teachers and officials.


• Persecution and Response– The spread of Christianity caused great

concern for Roman leaders.– Although Christian claimed there was no

conflict between Christian faith and Roman citizenship, the Romans were not so sure.

– For one thing, the Christians belief in one God seemed to go against the official state religion of Rome, which supported belief in many different gods.

C. The Basis for a World Religion

• Main Idea– The conversion of Constantine and the

edict of Theodosius 1, as well as the efforts of clergy and of missionaries, laid the basis for Christianity as a world religion.


• Disputes and Divisions– Early Christians became involved in a

number of disputes. – One source of conflicts was heresies, or

beliefs that are contrary to the official teachings of a religion.

– To end such disputes, Church leaders met to decide what official Christian teachings should include.


• Spreading the Word– Other Christian writing include the

Gospels, which describe Jesus’ life and teachings.

– The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John make up parts of the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

– The Old Testament contains the books of the Hebrew Scriptures.

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Chapter 6: Ancient Rome Section 1: Early Rome and the Republic CB World Studies