Ancient Rome Lecture Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the geography, rise, political structures, military expansion, cultural developments, and fall of ancient Rome.

Alps

The northern mountain range that protected Rome without isolating it.

Tiber River

The river in Central Italy where the city of Rome was founded.

Etruscan Kings

Rulers who conquered Rome, built its first sewers and arches, and introduced the alphabet, number system, gladiator games, and chariot races.

Patricians

Wealthy landowners who held most of the power and made up the Senate in the Roman Republic.

Plebeians

Common citizens who formed the majority of Rome's population; they could vote but were initially barred from holding ruling positions.

Tribunes

Elected representatives who protected the political rights of the plebeians and held veto power.

Consuls

Two elected officials leading the executive branch of the Roman Republic, with one directing the army and the other running the government.

Senate

A governing body chosen from the patrician upper class that created foreign and domestic policy.

Dictator

A leader appointed briefly in ancient Rome during times of extreme crisis.

The 12 Tables

Roman laws carved on twelve tablets and hung in the Forum, guaranteeing all free citizens the right to legal protection.

Forum

The most important public square in Rome, where laws were hung and political life took place.

First Punic War

A conflict between Rome and Carthage that ended with Rome gaining Sicily and a large indemnity payment.

Second Punic War

A war in which Hannibal campaigned through Italy for $10$ years without capturing Rome, ending when Scipio defeated him outside Carthage.

Third Punic War

The final conflict between Rome and Carthage that resulted in the complete destruction of Carthage.

Gracchi Brothers

Reformers who sought to ease social and political unrest by redistributing land to common workers, the lower class, and military veterans.

Marius

A Roman military leader who reformed the army by allowing poor citizens to enlist.

Social War

A conflict fought by Rome's conquered subjects to obtain Roman citizenship.

First Triumvirate

The political alliance composed of Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar.

Second Triumvirate

The political alliance formed by Lepidus, Mark Antony, and Octavian.

Princeps

A title meaning "first citizen" used by Augustus to rule for $40$ years without calling himself king or emperor.

Pax Romana

A period of Roman peace lasting from $27\text{ BC}$ under Augustus until $180\text{ AD}$ at the conclusion of the Good Emperors' reigns.

Good Emperors

Five consecutive rulers who governed for nearly a century, extended the empire to its limits, secured frontiers, and built Adrian's Wall.

Theodias

The Roman emperor who banned traditional Roman and Greek religions and instituted Christianity as the official religion.

Aqueducts

Roman engineering systems capable of delivering $500{,}000$ barrels of water every $24$ hours, freeing populations from having to settle directly next to natural water bodies.

Civil Laws

The written legal codes of ancient Rome that shaped modern legal structures.

Praetorian Guard

The private army of the Roman emperor, which contributed to corruption by auctioning or selecting new emperors.

Inflation

A rise in prices in ancient Rome driven by an insufficient influx of gold.

Byzantium

The surviving Eastern Roman Empire following the dissolution of the Western empire in $476\text{ AD}$, administered from its capital at Constantinople.