WCH rome terms

real one. terms only

Patricians

Members of the landholding upper class. At first, all government officials and all 300 senators were patricians.

Plebeians

Farmers, merchants, and artisans who made up most of the population. They were citizens but had little influence. Their demands for power shaped the early republic.

Consuls

Two officials nominated by the senate from the patrician class each year. They supervised the government and commanded the armies. They served one term only and had to approve each other's decisions, which was a check on power.

Tribunes

Officials plebeians gained the right to elect to protect their interests. They could veto (block) laws they felt were harmful.

Legion

The basic Roman military unit, with about 5,000 men. Soldiers were citizen

Punic Wars

Three wars against Carthage (264-146 B.C.). Their impact was that Rome gained mastery of the Mediterranean.

Latifundia

Huge farming estates bought up by wealthy families. They used slave labor, which hurt small farmers.

Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were Roman plebeian brothers who tried to help the poor through land reform and subsidized grain. Fearing a loss of power, the Senate had the brothers and thousands of their followers killed, triggering a century of political violence in Rome.

Julius Caesar

An ambitious general who conquered Gaul, defied the senate, and became dictator. He made reforms and was assassinated in 44 B.C.

Triumvirate

a political alliance or group ruled by three powerful men. Julius Caesar, Macus Anotony, Pompey

Augustus Caesar

Octavian's title (the "Exalted One"). He was the first emperor, ruled until A.D. 14, and ended the 500

Pax Romana

"Roman Peace." It lasted 200 years, from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius (details below).

Constantine

Emperor who gained the throne in A.D. 312. He granted toleration to Christians and set up a new capital, Constantinople.

Diocletian

Emperor in 284 who divided the empire in two to restore order. He kept the wealthier eastern half and gave the western half to a co-emperor.

Reasons for Decline

Four main reasons: Military assaults and invasions, Economic weakness and excessive taxation, Social decay, Political turbulence

Aqueducts

Bridge-like stone structures that carried water from the hills into Roman cities. Fresh water fed public baths and wealthy homes.

Edict of Milan

Issued by Constantine in A.D. 313. It granted freedom of worship to all citizens and ended the persecution of Christians.

Virgil

Poet who wrote the Aeneid, an epic linking Rome's past to Homer's Greek heroes. He wrote it after Augustus came to power, hoping to arouse patriotism and unite Rome after civil wars.

Christianity

A religion that began among followers of Jesus, a Jew. It spread across the Roman world and became the empire's official religion.

Ptolemy

Astronomer

Twelve Tables

Rome's laws inscribed on 12 tablets in 450 B.C. and posted in the Forum. For the first time, plebeians could appeal a judgment by a patrician judge.

Martyrs

People who suffer or die for their beliefs. Thousands of Christians became martyrs, and tradition says Peter and Paul were martyred under Nero.

Paul

A Jew from Asia Minor who had persecuted Jesus' followers, then converted after a vision. He spread Jesus' teachings to non