Roman Republic and Empire

■Timeline■509 BC- 27 BC- Roman Republic■27 BC- 476 AD- Roman Empire (West)■330 AD- 1453 AD- Roman Empire (East)

Size of the Empire

The Geography of Rome Rome was located on the Italian peninsula

along the Mediterranean Sea

The Romans were influenced by the Greeks and a neighboring tribe called the Etruscans

Ancient Roman SocietyRoman society was divided into three major groups

At the top were the nobles (called patricians); they controlled most of the land and held key

military and government positions

Ancient Roman SocietyRoman society was divided into three major groups

Patricians made up 5% of all Roman citizens

Ancient Roman Society

Most Roman people were commoners (called plebeians); they were farmers,

shopkeepers, or peasants

Ancient Roman Society

Plebeians paid the majority of taxes collected in the Roman Republic; they

made up 95% of Roman citizens

Ancient Roman Society

At the bottom of society were slaves and residents

of the Roman Republic who were not Roman

The Government of Ancient Rome

When Rome was first

founded, it was ruled by kings; but in 509 BC, the

Romans created a republic

The most important feature of the republic was the Senate, whose 300 members were elected by citizens to make laws and taxes

The United States also has a republican government, very similar to the one of

Ancient Rome

The Government of Ancient Rome In 451 BCE, government

officials wrote down Rome’s laws onto the Twelve Tables, which

were hung in the forum for all citizens to see

The Twelve Tables were based on the idea that

all citizens of Rome had a right to the protection

of the law

The Roman MilitaryRome had the largest army in the Mediterranean

at the time; it was also highly organizedThe Roman soldiers were divided into

groups of 5000 men called legions

The Romans went to war with a neighboring kingdom, Carthage

(based in northern Africa)

THE PUNIC WARS

THE PUNIC WARS

The Carthaginians engaged the Romans in three long wars over the

course of about a hundred years

With Carthage’s defeat, the Romans were then the most dominant power in the Mediterranean,

carving out an enormous empire

THE PUNIC WARS

Julius Caesar partnered with two

other Roman politicians to take control of Rome (they formed a triumvirate)

Julius was extremely popular with the

Roman people, due to his great military

victories

Fearing that he was becoming too powerful, members of the Roman

Senate conspired to assassinate Caesar

Caesar was cornered and stabbed to death in the Roman Senate building, which began

the end of the Roman Republic

FROM ROMAN REPUBLIC TO ROMAN EMPIRE

Julius Caesar’s death changed Rome; the people no longer trusted the Senate

to rule the Roman Republic

FROM ROMAN REPUBLIC TO ROMAN EMPIRE

Octavian exacted revenge on the Senators who assassinated Julius

Octavian became ruler of Rome, renaming himself

Augustus Caesar

“Augustus” means “exalted one”; Julius

Caesar’s last name became the title for “emperor”

FROM ROMAN REPUBLIC TO ROMAN EMPIRE

Augustus did away with the Senators’ power, ending the

representative government of Rome and becoming Rome’s

first emperor

The Senate still met, but the emperor had all of

the real power

THE PAX ROMANA

Pax RomanaPax Romana

Augustus’ 41 year reign marked the beginning of a 207-year era of peace, wealth, and

expansion called “Pax Romana” (the “Roman Peace”) from 27 BCE to 180 CE

The Empire was over 3

million square miles in size

and contained about 80

million people

Pax Romana became the “golden age” of Rome as emperors like Augustus built well-paved roads and a modern infrastructure;

they had a merit-based bureaucracy to rule the empire

Roman aqueducts brought water to cities

Emperors built arenas and used chariot races, gladiator events, and theater to

entertain the Roman people

The Roman Coliseum

Rome would have a wide range of different

emperors over the years

ROMAN EMPERORS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY

Despite having some bad emperors mixed in with the great ones, the Roman Empire grew in

size, power, and glory

CONCLUSIONS

Rome expanded from a city, to a republic, to an empire

The era of the Roman Republic introduced

representative democracy

The era of the Roman Empire led to the Pax Romana and the “golden age” of Roman

innovation and culture

Closure Activity

Would you rather live during the Roman Republic or the Empire? Provide at least 3 reasons why