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The Rise of the Roman Republic
509 BC – 27 BC
Rome’s greatest achievements:
• Established the first Republic and the principle of separation of powers;
• Used law and government to unite many different regions, cultures and people.-continued Hellenistic cosmopolitanism
• Practical engineering projects to promote civilization: roads, bridges, aqueducts, bath houses and amphitheatres.
The Myth of Rome’s birth:
Caesar Augustus asked Rome’s greatest poet,
Virgil to write a
poem to glorify the founding of Rome
• Prince Aeneas with Queen Dido on the harbor of Carthage
Aeneas reaches Latium
• Romulus and Remus- twin sons of Princess Rhea
Romulus and Remus: twin sons of Princess Rhea
The Archaeological Record
• 2500 BC- Paleolithic settlements• 1500 BC The Bronze Age • 1000 BC tombs of cremated dead with bronze
tools and weapons• 800 BC Distinct groups occupied the Italian
peninsula- Umbrians, the Sabines, the Samnites, the Etruscans and the Latins
• Three advantages
• 1) built on several hills
• 2) Towards the end of the Tiber River
• 3) Only 15 miles from the sea
The Etruscans
• 753-509 BC • Older, more
advanced culture• Drained marshes • Built sewer system• Constructed
roads, sewers. temples & public buildings
The Republic is established, 509 BC
• The last Etruscan king, Tarquin the Proud, ignored the Senate and was overthrown, the patricians (wealthy Latin
landowners) created a representative government.
Two Consuls replaced the king
• Elected by Assembly• One year position• Led an army• Defended the city• Veto power• Imperium
Assemblies debated and voted on legislation; and listened to campaign speeches
The Roman Senate: • Senators came from the Patrician class
• Acted as an advisory body to the king/consuls
• Controlled the finances; money for public works
• Served as a Jury for treason, conspiracy, murder, & foreign relations
• Early Roman society consisted of two classes: Patricians and Plebeians…
Plebeian grievances included:
Enslavement for debt
Discrimination in the courts
Intermarriage with patricians was forbidden
Lack of political representation
Absence of a written code of laws
Granting citizenship to outsiders while denying it to indigenous plebeian farmers
The Struggle of the Orders 494 – 287 BC
• 494 BC – Office of the Tribune created• 460 BC – Voting: residence replaced wealth• 450 BC – Twelve Tables• 445 BC – Lex Canuleia-marriage• 367 BC – Licinian-Sextian Rogation-consuls• 287 BC – Lex Hortensia- Plebeian Council
Roman Expansion
• 493 BC – Battle of Lake Regillus/Latin League• 396 BC – Battle of Veii/Etruscans• 390 C – first & only setback – Gauls seige on Rome • 350 BC - Romans bounced back- rebuilt the
Servian Wall and remodeled the army• 340- 290 BC The Latin Wars/Roman Federation• 282-270 BC defeated Greeks/Tarentum & Epirus
• By 264 BC, 5 major world powers: Syria, Egypt,
Macedonia, Carthage and Rome
the mythological twins, the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, on horseback.
• The Battle of Lake Regillus, 493 BC
Defeating the Etruscans- The Battle of Veii, 396 BC
Horatius At The Bridge
390 C – first & only setback – Gauls seige on Rome
350 BC: Rome renewed itself…
The Latin Wars340- 338 BC;
326-304 B.C. &
298-290 B.C. The Roman Federation
• 282-270 BC Rome fought the Greeks of Tarentum and their ally- King Pyrrhus of Epirus
• By 264 BC, Rome had achieved two important successes: – It had secured social cohesion by redressing
the grievances of the plebeians– It had increased its military might by
conquering the peninsula.
By 264 BC, 5 major world powers: Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Carthage and Rome
• ANY QUESTIONS?
