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.

• Practical engineering projects to promote civilization: roads, aqueducts, bath houses and amphitheatres.

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

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Seven_Hills_of_Rome.svg

The Republic is established, 509 BC

• The last Etruscan king, Tarquin the Proud, ignored the Senate and was overthrown, the Latin patricians (wealthy

landowners) created a representative government.

Two Consuls replaced the king

Assemblies voted…

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

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, thus insuring the human resources with which it would conquer the Mediterranean world.

By 264 BC, 5 major world powers: Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Carthage and Rome

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

• ANY QUESTIONS?