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What did the Senate control by the 2 nd century B.C.?
Foreign and domestic policy (including financial affairs)
Who controlled senate & political offices?
A small circle of wealthy and powerful families
What had always been the backbone of the Roman state?
Small farmers
What was happening to small farmers? Where did they go & what new class did they form?
They lost land to large landowners. They drifted into cities and formed a large class of landless poor.
What did Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus do?
Used council of plebs to pass land reform bills to call for large landowners to give up land to the landless Romans
Who killed Tiberius & Gaius and why?
A group of senators because they were furious and were actually large landowners
What did their death open the door for?
More instability and violence
What new method of military recruitment did General Marius develop?
He recruited volunteers
What were recruits promised in return for service?
Land
To whom did new recruits swear an oath of loyalty?
The general
What type of laws did generals want to get passed now that they were involved in politics?
Laws that would provide land to generals to distribute their armies
Who was Lucius Sulla?
The first soldier to take advantage
What did Lucius Sulla do?
He won a civil war and seized Rome, he conducted a reign of terror to wipe out all opposition. He also restored power to the Senate and eliminated the powers of popular assemblies.
What did Lucius hope to create?
A firm foundation for traditional republic governed by the senate
What did Lucius provide an example of?
Using an army to seize power
What 2 characteristics characterized Roman history until finally Octavian became the first emperor?
Competition for power and civil war caused by the competition
Who formed the first triumvirate?
Crassus, Pompey and Julius Caesar
What happened to Crassus?
He was killed in battle
What did Caesar gain while fighting in Gaul?
Military experience and an extremely loyal army
Why might leading Senators have been worried about Caesar?
Because he was increasing in popularity and power
Who did they choose as leader to stand up to Caesar?
Pompey
What did Caesar do that began a civil war? Who won?
He moved into Italy with his army and illegally crossed the Rubicon. Caeser.
What did he become in 47 B.C.?
dictator
What happened to him in 44 B.C.?
He was assassinated.
Who formed the second triumvirate? (Know what a triumvir and triumvirate are)
Octavian, Antony and Lepidus formed it; a triumvirate is a group of three men holding power
Into what territories was Rome divided & who controlled each side?
Separated into and East and West, Octavian got the West and Antony got the East
Who won at the Battle of Actium?
Octavian
What happened as a result?
Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide
What title did the Senate award Octavian?
Augustus= the revered one
Was slavery common in the ancient world?
yes
How did people become slaves for the Roman empire?
People captured in war
What was the treatment of slaves?
What was the treatment of slaves?
Know the events of the most famous slave revolt.
Most famous slave revolt was led by gladiator Spartacus and he led 70,000 slave, who defeated several Roman armies but were eventually trapped and killed
Were the Romans religiously tolerant?
Polytheistic Romans were
What did they demand?
Subjects must have ultimate loyalty to them
When did Judea become a Roman province?
6 ad
What was there much of in Judea, and what made it worse?
Unrest, made worse by divisions among Jews
Know the differences between Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots in regards to how they felt about Rome.
Sadducees favored cooperation with the Romans, Essenes tried to live apart and waited for Messiah and Zealots advocated violent overthrow of Roman rule
Where did Jesus grow up?
Galilee
What was it an important center of?
Militant Zealots
What were Jesus’ ethical concepts?
Humility, charity, and love toward others
What would they form the basis of?
Moral System
How did Jews react to Jesus?
Some welcomed him as a Messiah and some disappointed he did not free them from earthly oppression
How did the Romans feel about Jesus?
They feared him as a potential revolutionary
How did Christianity grow in the Roman Empire?
Jesus’ death and believed resurrection
How did the Romans feel about the Christians?
The viewed them as harmful to the Roman state
What would infuriate the Roman government officials?
Their refusal to worship state gods and emperors
What emperor severely persecuted Christians?
Nero
Under whose rule was the last great Christian persecution?
Diocletian
When?
In late 4 th century AD
Who was the first emperor to convert to Christianity?
Constantine
What was the Edict of Milan?
Proclaimed official toleration of the Christians
To where did Constantine change the capital of the Roman Empire?
Constantinople (modern day Istanbul in Turkey)
Who made Christianity the state religion of Rome?
Theodosius the Great
What problems were the Romans dealing with during the course of the empire?
Invasions by Germanic tribes and Persians, internal civil war and the plague
What problems were they dealing with at the end of their rule?
Severe inflation, labor shortages, and other major economic failures
What groups were beginning to defeat Roman armies?
Germanic tribes (Visigoths and Vandals) and Huns (from Asia)
What are the major theories about the fall of Rome?
Traditional Roman values declined as non-Italians gained prominence in the empire, lead poisoning through leaden water pipes and cups caused mental disease, the plague wiped out a lot of the population, Rome failed to advance technologically because of slavery, and Rome was unable to put together a workable political system
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Flashcard (244)