Roman Republic Overview

1. What led to the Romans overthrowing their kings and replacing it with a Republic?

2. What checks and balances did the Romans create to prevent any individual from becoming king?

3. What were the outcomes of the Punic Wars?

4. What factors weakened the Roman Republic?

5. What factors allowed Julius Caesar to become the leader of Rome?

People

• Romulus

  • first king of rome

• Remus

  • twin brother of romulus

• Gracchi Brothers

  • two brothers from a noble family who gained political power by serving as tribunes and representing the plebeians

• Hannibal

  • carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of carthage during the second punic war

• Sulla

  • roman senate chose the consul sulla to lead the army against mithridates

  • political opponents fired him while he was on campaign

  • sulla marched back to rome to crush the populares

  • sulla executed 3 thousand prisoners in front of the senate to terrify them

  • the senate elected sulla dictator

  • sulla’s enemies were killed as tratiors and their properties were siezed

  • sulla left the republic far weaker:

    • the divide between opitmates and populares was increased

    • armies were now loyal to powerful generals rather than the state

    • ambitous leaders like pompey and julius caesar realized they could sieze power

• Pompey

  • pompey (successful general, plebeian)

• Julius Caesar

  • born ~100 BCE to patrician family

  • became powerful general war hero in roman army

  • invaded britain

  • conquered Gaul

  • elected consul

  • ruled rome for 10 years with two other powerful leaders

    • crassus (patrician)

    • became the first triumvate

  • afraid he had become too powerful and would take over rome

    • named enemy of the state by the senate

  • marches on rome

    • enemies flee city

  • as dictator, caesar makes many reforms

    • expanded citizenship

    • make his friends senators

    • created jobs

    • gave away food

    • gave land to the poor

    • increased soldiers’ pay 

    • has love affair with cleopatra

    • many senators and patricians were afraid of losing their power and influence

    • thought caesar had become a tyrant

• civil war breaks out in rome

• Brutus

  • co-conspired to assassinate caesar

• Marc Antony

  • roman general under Caesar

  • married cleopatra

• Cleopatra

  • queen of egypt

  • had affair with caesar

Roman Government

• Consul

  • executive offices of the roman republic

  • two men elected by the assembly and served for a term of one year

  • led legions into war

• Tribune

  • eventually the plebeians rebelled and gained their own representatatives, the tribunes

  • 10 officals who looked out for the best interests of the plebeians

  • had veto power

• Senate

  • legislstive branch that advised the consuls, debated foreign policy, proposed laws and approved contracts

  • 300 members chosen from the patrician class

    • appointed by the consuls

    • insanely high wealth requirements

• Assembly

  • groups of citizend that represented the people-plebians of rome and elected the tribunes

• Patrician

  • wealthy, land owning nobles who held most of the power

• Plebeian

  • the common people who made up the majority of the population

• Roman Citizenship

  • right to holed elected office

  • right to own property, marriage

  • right to trial and appeal

  • right to migrate

  • right to trade

• Forum

  • the public square or markteplace of an ancient roman city that was the assembly place for government and public business

• Assembly

  • part of the legislative brance. the assembly was made up of representatives elected by the citizens/plebeians to make laws

• Twelve Tables

  • in 451 BC the roman laws that were engraved on bronze tablets and set in the forum for all to see

• Fasces

  • a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including and axe with its blade emerging. the faces is and italian symbol that had its origin in the etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient rome, where it symbolized a magistrate’s power and jurisdiction

• Triumvirate

• Legions

  • led by a consul

  • source of advancement (political career, plunder from campagin)

    • early legionary

      • from top classes of society

      • paid for own equipment

      • served for a single campagin

    • later legionary

      • poorest classes couid join

      • equipment provided by state

• Dictator

• Populares vs. Optimates

  • Opitmates

    • supported the senate

    • did not want change

    • protect large landowners

  • Populares

    • supported assemblies

    • land redistribution

    • grain subsidies

Events

• Social War

• Punic Wars

  • a series of three wars between rome and carthage from 264 to 146 BCE

  • fighting for control of the mediterranean sea and trade routes

    • carthage was the most dominant power of the mediterranean

    • rome was rising in power in italy

  • First punic war

    • Primarily a naval war

      • tatics were to maneuver ship to ram and sink the enemy

      • rome was at a disatvantage and were continually beat down by carthage but would not surrender

      • romans began using a corvus, an assualt bridge

        • hook enemy ship, soldiers cross onto their ship via corvus

      • rome wins after 23 years of fighting

        • carthage forced to pay huge war debt

        • rome conqured sicily, sardinia, and corsica

  • Second Punic War

    • carthage led by brilliant general hannibal

    • suprises rome by leading his army through spain and france, crossing the pyrenees and apls with 60,000 soldiers and 30ish elephants

    • hannibal gained many allies from rome’s enemies

    • hannibal defeats roman armiues that are sent to stop him several times, but hesitates to attack rome itself

    • he settles on a war of attrition, hoping to destory romes economic base

    • roman general scipio realizes they cannot defeat hannibal in italy so they draw him out by taking the mediterranean, heading to carthage

    • hannibal leaves italy to protect carthage

    • battle of zama, fought by just outside carthage, and rome wins

  • Third Punic War

    • carthage is finished agter the secons punic war

      • hannibal commits suicide

      • economy is shattered

      • rome had conqured all their territory

    • some romans still feared that carthage could revive and challenge them again

    • Rome easily wins

      • entire carthaginian population is sold into slavery, all valuables brought back to rome, everything else burned and dumped into the sea

    • by the end of the third war, rome:

      • conquered carthafinian empire

      • destroyed carthage

      • became the most powerful state of the western mediterranean

• Caesar’s Civil War

  • pardons those who surrendeer were with pompey

  • pompey is murdered in egypt

    • caesar executes those who killed pompey

  • pompey and the senate began to fear caesar’s popularity

    • his soldiers loved him because he fought and suffered with them

    • the poor loved him because he made reforms that helped them

    • defeats pompey in battle

      • pompey flees

• Assassination of Caesar

  • many senators and patricians were afraid of losing their power and influence

  • thought caesar had become a tyrant

  • March 15, 44 BCE: caesar is stabbed to death in the senate chamber

Locations

• Rome

  • located on italian peninsula

  • central location in the mediterranean sea was good for trade

  • rivers provided fertile land fot foos and allowed easy communication

  • alps provided protection from the north

  • seas created a barrier on three sides

• Italy

• Gaul

• Greece

• Carthage

• Sicily

• Spain

• Egypt