THE FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

The Roman Revolution (133-27 BCE)

• 133 BCE - Final conquest of Spain, acquisition of the province of Asia

• Long political transformation that ended the Roman Republic

The Changing World of Italy:• Increase in slave population, displaced farmers,

unemployment and poverty high• Couldn’t join the army for cost of armour

Tiberius Gracchus (162-133 BCE)

• Young Roman statesman who attempted to solve the problems

of those who had lost their land

• Plebeian status through the male bloodline (mother Patrician)

• 133 BCE – became tribune of Plebeian council

• Proposed bill to assign parcels of public land to dispossessed

farmers• Create prosperous farmers & increase recruits for the army

• Opponents feared Tiberius would seize power and

lead the Plebeians into a social revolution • Clubbed to death

Gaius Gracchus (154-121 BCE)

• 123 BCE – Tiberius’ younger brother became tribune of the Plebeian Council (harsher than Tiberius)

• Sought to limit the powers of the Senate• Restricted their freedom of assigning governors to

provinces• Assigned seats for the jury of the extortion court

• Continued bill that distributed public land• Proposed Roman colony on site of Carthage (hated enemy)

• Enemies asserted he and his followers were planning a revolution• Consul suppressed Gaius• Mob hunted him, killed by his slave

THE YEARS OF THE WARLORDS107 BCE

• Roman conquests brought the state into more wars which allowed powerful generalswho had the support of their armies and used it to seize power.

• Senate vs. Powerful generals undermined the Republic dictatorship

Gaius Marius (157-86 BCE)

• Novus homo – “new man” – ancestors had not been consuls

• Changed the membership of the Roman army

• 111-106 BCE – acquired prestige by winning a war against

Numidia

• 105-101 BCE – drove back a Germanic

invasion toward northern Italy

• Consul for 5 consecutive years

• Abolished requirement that a soldier had to

own land and accepted volunteers

• Poor men who served their commander for

land when they were discharged

Sulla the Dictator (138-78 BCE)

• 80s BCE – civil war broke out in Rome overwho should command in a war againstMithridates (king of Pontus, Asia Minor)

• 88 BCE – marched and seized the city of Rome• Mithridates ordered massacre of 80,000 Romans/Italians in Asia

Minor

• 87 BCE – Sulla departed for his campaign against Mithridates• Marius seized Rome and conducted a reign of terror

• 82 BCE – Sulla returns and executes opponents• Has himself named as dictator without a time limit

• Established law that forbade army commanders from making wars outside their borders

Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great) (106-48 BCE)

• 77 BCE – another warlord, ended revolts inSpain, helped suppress a rebellion of slavesin Italy against Spartacus (Thracian slave)

• Worked with his rival, Crassus, to suppressthe revolt

• 71 BCE – marched to the gates of Rome together to demand the consulships• They cancelled many of Sulla’s arrangements

• 67-62 BCE – Pompey commanded many foreign campaigns

• 62 BCE – Pompey returns to Rome and joins in a political alliance with Julius Caesar

Cicero (106-43 BCE)

• Became the chief non-military

statesman in Rome during Pompey’s

absence

• Career in law and administration

• Dedicated to compromise and political negotiation

• 63 BCE – elected consul

• Catiline – a rival formed a conspiracy to take over the

city

The First Triumvirate• Julius Caesar – governor of Spain – returns to Rome in 60

BCE• Enemies within the Senate – refused him consulship in 59 BCE• Made a political bargain with Pompey• Crassus joined because he was at odds with Senators too

• The First Triumvirate (“body of three men”) • Caesar elected to consul in 59 BCE

• Pompey’s army secured land allotments• Crassus’ financial quarrel settled• Caesar secured command over the Po valley

• Gallic War (58-50 BCE) – series of campaigns to bring the modern France and Belgium area under Roman rule

• 53 BCE – Died during campaign against kingdom of Parthia

The Supremacy of Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)

• Senate feared Caesar would become permanent dictator• Drew Pompey onto their side

• Ordered Pompey to command the armies of Rome against Caesar (“last decree”)• Senate threatened the lives of tribunes who opposed

• Caesar could now argue he was defending the rights of the tribunes, the common people, and the loyal soldiers of Rome

• 49 BCE – “Let the die be cast”• Crossed the boundary of his province, the Rubicon River, and

invaded his own country• Pompey retreated to Greece, then sought refuge in Egypt

(unsuccessfully) • As Pompey approached the shore, he was decapitated

Julius Caesar (continued)• Caesar followed Pompey to Egypt and found he was dead• He intervened in a civil war between Ptolemy XIII and his

sister Cleopatra VII• Arranged them to share rule and had a long affair with Cleopatra

• Son was named Caesarion (the Little Caesar)

• Cleopatra’s affection guaranteed Roman control over the resources of Egypt

• 46-44 BCE – Caesar’s Rule• Took positions of dictator and consul like the model of Sulla• Series of rapid reforms in Roman life (Roman calendar – 365 days)

The Death of Julius Caesar• March 15, 44 BCE – The Ides of March

• Brutus & Cassius (his lieutenants) united against him to carry out his murder

• “You, too, my boy?”• His career is a blend of triumph and tragedy

The Second Triumvirate• Survivor of one of Caesar’s commanded

armies was Marc Antony – consul for the year 44 BCE

• Antony tried to seize the provincial command in Cisalpine Gaul but the Senate (Cicero) led an attack against him

• Octavian – Caesar’s 19 year old grandnephew was put in charge of this attack against Antony

• Antony & Octavian join together because the Senate was ultimately seeking their destruction• Marcus Lepidus joins them to invade Rome• Senate turns control over to the three of them for 5 years