Rome

Origins of Rome

750-500 BCE

-WITH KINGS

-2 origin stories

-Original Rome was of different people, hilly terrain

-orgins of Rome were violent

-Etruscans came first

Why were Romans against Kings?

According to the traditional account, a group of aristocrats overthrow the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, in response to the rape of the noblewoman Lucretia by the king's second son, Sextus Tarquinius; after revealing the rape to some noblemen, Lucretia commits suicide.

Republican Rome

509 BCE - 44 BCE

-began with agustus, ended with assasination of Julius Ceaser

-Ending is becuase of the civil war (empire now)

Julius Ceaser

Claimed relation to venus (love) and Anied

-Related to Augustus (first emporer)

Republic versus empire

Republic = rex publica or public affair —> senatus populus que romanus

Empire = one sole ruler

12 Tables and Rule of Law

450’s for fairness, laws are written and displayyed

-RULE OF LAW: EVERYONE SHOULD BE TREATED EQUALLY UNDER LAW

What was the social class/system of Rome?

Top = Patricians (most money and politics)

Middle = Plebians

Bottom = slaves

The conflict of the orders

Plebians were disconented

Discontent 

• Income inequality: Patricians controlled most new land 

• Political Inequality: Plebeians were treated arbitrarily under the law (prejudice and exclusion)

• Debt Bondage: Hard times forced plebs into indentured servitude to pay it off

• Arbitrary treatment under the law

So they fought for their rights and postions siiliar to the patricaints and it took around 100 years but they sucsessed in politcal equality (tribunes)

Imperium

A form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or government entity, someone with imperium has absolute authority to apply law, initially a military concept the concept then led to the word “emperor

-SO MUCH POWER: couldnt really be executed

How did Rome expand?

Defensive Aggression: Romans feared invasion so they would preemptively attach countries who bordered Rome, once attacked they would take over their territory and annex it as their own, this lead to an expanded territory

Roman liberty

Accepted hierarchy based on class and gender

Punic Wars

264-146 BCE

War btween Carthage and Rome, Rome won (think elephants and Hanibal

• The First Punic War 264 - 241 BCE

• Roman forces defeated Carthage in Sicily, giving it control of another province outside mainland, Carthage rivaled Republican Rome

• The Second Punic War 218 - 201 BCE

• Hannibal (Carthage) led troops w/ elephants Spain → Italy, several victories, almost beat Rome, Roman endured 

  • Roman forces were violent and ruthless, wanting to prove power (“New Wisdom”, new foreign policy)

• The Third Punic War 149 - 146 BCE

• Carthage attacked Roman ally in Africa, Senator called for complete destruction of Carthage, Romans status as superpower

Decline of the Roman Republic

• 131 BCE - 80 BCE

• The deaths of the Gracchi brothers set the precedent that violence was a viable solution to political problems. After their rule, it became easier for dictators like Sulla and Caesar to break the law and gain political power through force.

Why were the Gracchus brothers assasinated?

They were assasinated by the senate bc they tried to help the people (not just the rich) with reforms like providing land to the poor. This would take land away from the Senate (ooo maddd)

• THEY werent just assasinated, their supporters were also assasinated

• THEY used demogoguery which is appealing to peoples emotions

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix

• There was no time limit on Sulla’s dictatorship. 

  • Dictators traditionally served for 6 months.

• He was given unchecked power to make and erase
  laws as he saw fit. 

• He was made immune from all laws. 

• He was allowed to create “proscription lists.”

  • People on the lists were murdered and their heads were placed at the entryway of Sulla’s home.

  • Sulla took the wealth of his victims and kept it, or distributed it to his friends. 

• He repealed the Gracchi law that made food more affordable. 

• He reasserted the power of the Roman Senate and doubled its size to 600 seats. 

• He restricted the power of Tribunes.

  • could not introduce laws or veto most of them.

Mos Mayorum

Unwritten consitiution

Sulla v gracchus

Populares versus optimates

or new versus old

Republican Problems

-income inequality, frequent/common violence, social unrest, farmers needed more land, soldiers wanted more pay, foodprices were too high, urban declined (ALL THESE WERE TRIED TO BE SOLVED BY THE GRACCHUS)

The Late Republic

•  (133-31 BCE)

Social classes become even more divided as wealth flows into Rome and to the top of the social order.

First Triumvirate

• Uneasy political alliance to gain power from Republic 

• G Pompey (General) → fled to Egypt where he was beheaded by Egyptians

• M.L Crassus (Rich Guy)

• Julius Caesar (General → beheaded in Turkey 

Who was the civl war betwwen (after JC death)

Caesarians (mark antonty) v conspirators (brutus and cassius, both killed JC)

Transition to Empire

• 44 BCE-31 BCE

Pax Romana

27 BC - 1800 AD (200 years of peace and prosperity)

Second Triumvirate

The Second Triumvirate: 

• Three-person dictatorship, established by law

• Caesar’s great-nephew Octavian

• Caesar’s cavalry commander Lepidus

• Caesar's right hand man Mark Antony

Imperial Rome

31 BC - 476 BC)

LOOKED LIKE A REPUBLIC BUT ONE PERSON HAD POWER

Augustan Reforms

• Reforms taxes 

• Ordered a census 

• Set up postal service

• Consistent coins 

• Built roads and temples

Marcus Auerlius 

• Follower of stoicism as philosophy 

  • Emphasis on reason and self restraint 

  • Expanded territory but “what's the point” → unique= thinking 

(THE GOOD LEAER COMPARED TO NERO AND OTHERS)

What led to the empire of Rome?

Ceaser Agustus Rome was ruled as an empire , senate met, sill consuls, but one one person has the most power