Rome+Kingdom,+Republic,+and+Empire+(259-271)

=**Rome Kingdom, Republic, and Empire (259-271)**=

= **From Kingdom to Republic** =

The city of Rome was founded in the eighth century B.C.E., and was originally a small city-state ruled by a single king. City aristocrats overthrew the king, ended the monarch, and instituted a republic (a form of government in which delegates represented the interests of various constituencies) late in the sixth century B.C.E. The Roman Republic survived for more than five hundred years.

** The Etruscans and Rome **
According to ancient legends, the city started from the flight of Aeneas, a refugee from Troy who migrated to Italy when Greek invaders destroyed his native land. Two of his descendants, the twins Romulus and Remus, almost did not survive infancy because an evil uncle abandoned them by the flooded Tiber River, expecting them to drown. However, a kind she-wolf found them and nursed them back to full health. When the boys grew older, Romulus founded the city of Rome and established himself as its first king in 753 B.C.E. Modern scholars tell a different story, although they agree that Rome grew from humble beginnings.They believe that beginning in 2000 B.C.E., bands of Indo-European migrants crossed the Alps and settled throughout the Italian peninsula. The migrants blended with the neolithic inhabitants of the region, adopted agriculture, and established tribal federations. Sheepherders and small farmers occupied much of the Italian peninsula, including the future site of Rome. Bronze metallurgy appeared about 1800 B.C.E. and iron about 900 B.C.E.

During the middle centuries of the first millennium B.C.E., Italy underwent rapid political and economic development. The people who caused this development were the Etruscans, a dynamic people who dominated much of Italy between the eighth and fifth centuries B.C.E. The Etruscans probably migrated to Italy from Anatolia and they first settled in Tuscany, but soon controlled much of the region from the Po River valley in northern Italy to the region around modern Naples in the south. They built cities and established political and economic alliances between their settlements. They manufactured bronze and iron goods, and they worked gold and silver into jewelry. They also built a fleet of ships and traded in the western Mediterranean. During the late sixth century B.C.E. the Etruscans encountered a series of challenges from other peoples, and their society began to decline. Greek fleets defeated the Etruscans at sea while Celtic peoples attacked them from Gaul.

The Etruscans deeply influenced the early development of Rome. Etruscan cities were based off of a monarch, as was Rome. Rome was a monarch during the early days after its foundation, and several kings were Etruscans. They provided the city with paved streets, public buildings, defensive walls, and large temples. Etruscan merchants drew a large volume of traffic to Rome. Rome enjoyed easy access to the Mediterranean by the way of the Tiber river, but since it was not on the coast, it did not run the risk of invasion or attack from the sea.

** The Roman Republic and Its Constitution **
In 509 B.C.E., the Roman nobility dethroned the last Etruscan king and replaced the monarchy with an aristocratic republic. In the middle of the city, they built the Roman forum; a political and civic center filled with temples and public buildings, where leading citizens tended to government business.They instituted a republican constitution that gave executive responsibilities to two consuls who managed civil and military power. Consuls served one-year terms and were elected by an assembly dominated by patricians (hereditary aristocrats and wealthy classes). The powerful Senate advised the consuls and ratified all major decisions. Because the consuls and Senate were both represented by the interests of patricians, there was a constant tension between the wealthy classes and the plebeians (common people).

In the early fifth century B.C.E., relations between the classes become so strained that the plebeians threatened to leave Rome and establish a rival settlement. In order to maintain the integrity of the Roman state, the patricians granted the plebeians the right to elect officials, known as tribunes, who represented their interests in the Roman government. Originally plebeians chose two tribunes, but the number eventually rose to ten. Tribunes had the power to intervene in all political matters, and they had the right to veto measures that they judged unfair. Even though the tribunes provided a voice for the plebeians, the patricians continued to dominated Rome. During the fourth century B.C.E. plebeians became eligible to hold almost all state offices and gained the right to have one of the consuls come from their ranks. By the early third century, plebeian-dominated assemblies won the power to make decisions binding on all of Rome.

Constitutional compromises eased class tensions, but did not solve all political problems. When faced with civil or military issues, the Romans appointed a dictator, who held absolute power for a term of six months. By providing for strong leadership during times of extreme difficulty, the republican constitution helped rome to maintain a reasonably stable society throughout most of the republic's history.

** The Expansion of the Republic **
During the fifth century B.C.E. Rome faced threats, not only from people living in the neighboring hills, but also from the Etruscans. Beyond Italy were the Gauls, a powerful Celtic people who on several occasions invaded Italy. Between the fourth and second centuries B.C.E., a remarkable expansion of power and influence transformed Rome from a small and vulnerable city-state to the center of an enormous empire. The Romans founded a large regional state in centralItaly at the expense of the declining Etruscans and other neighboring peoples. During the later fourth century, the Romans built on their early conquests and emerged as the predominant power in the Italian peninsula. Instead of ruling conquered peoples as vanquished subjects, the Romans often exempted them from taxation and allowed them to govern their own internal affairs. Conquered peoples in Italy enjoyed the right to trade in Rome and take Roman spouses. Some gained Roman citizenship and rose to high positions in Roman society. The Romans forbade conquered peoples from making military or political alliances except with Rome itself and required them to provide soldiers and military support. These policies provided the political, military, and diplomatic support Rome needed to put down occasional rebellions and to dominate affairs.

With Italy under its control, Rome began to play a major role in the affairs of the larger Mediterranean basin and to experience conflicts with other powers. The main power in the western Mediterranean during the fourth and third centuries B.C.E. was the city-state of Carthage, located near modern Tunis. Carthage enjoyed a strategic location that enabled it to trade actively throughout the Mediterranean. They became the dominant political power in north Africa (excluding Egypt), the southern part of the Iberian peninsula, and the western region of Sicily as well. Meanwhile, the three Hellenistic empires that succeeded Alexander of Macedon continued to dominate the eastern Mediterranean: the Antigonids ruled Macedon, the Ptolemies ruled Egypt, and the Seleucids included wealthy Syria and Anatolia.

The Romans clashed first with Carthage. During 264 and 146 B.C.E. they fought three devastating conflicts known as the Punic Wars with Carthaginians. The rivalry ended after Roman forces subjected Carthage to a long siege, conquered the city, burned much of it to the ground, and forced around fifty thousand survivors into slavery.

= **From Republic to Empire** =

Imperial expansion brought wealth and power to Rome, but wealth and power brought problems as well as benefits. Unequal distribution of wealth aggravated class tensions and gave rise to conflict over political and social policies. During the first century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., Roman civil and military leaders gradually dismantled the republican constitution and imposed a centralized imperial form of government on the city of Rome and its empire.

** Imperial Expansion and Domestic Problems **
In Rome patterns of land distribution caused serous political and social tensions. Conquered lands fell largely into the hands of wealthy elites, who organized enormous plantations known as //latifundia//. During the second and first centuries B.C.E., relations between the classes became so strained that they led to violent social conflict and civil war. The chief proponents of social reform in the Roman republic were the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Grachus. The Gracchi brothers worked to limit the amount of conquered land that any individual can hold. Those who lands exceed the limit would lose some of their property, which officials would then allocate to small farmers. The Gracchi brothers had little success because most members of the wealthy and ruling classes considered them dangerous radicals and found ways to stymie their efforts. The elites feared that the brothers might gain influence over Roman affairs, so they had their enemies assassinate the brothers- Tiberius in 132 B.C.E. and Gaius in 121 B.C.E.

Formal political power remained in the hands of a small, privileged class of people in Rome, and their policies often reflected the interests of their class rather than the concerns of the empire as a whole. For the century following the assassination of the Gracchi brothers, Roman politicians and generals jockeyed for power and position as they sought to mobilize support. Several military commanders began to recruit personal armies not from ranks of small farmers, but from landless rural residents and urban workers. Most import of the generals were Gaius Marius, who sided with social reformers who advocated redistribution of land, and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a veteran of several foreign campaigns who allied with the conservative and aristocratic classes. During the early first century B.C.E., Rome fell into civil war. In 87 B.C.E. Marius marched on Rome, placed the city under military occupation, and hunted down his political enemies. After Marius died the following year, Sulla made plans to take his place. In 83 B.C.E. he seized Rome and initiated a grisly slaughter of his enemies. Sulla posted lists naming individuals whom he labeled enemies of the state and encouraged the Roman people to kill these individuals on sight and confiscate their properties. During his reign of terror, Sulla brought about the murder of some ten thousand individuals. By the time Sulla died in 78 B.C.E., he had imposed an extremely conservative legislative program that weakened the influence of the lower classes and strengthened the hand of the wealthy in Roma politics.

** The Foundation of Empire **
A nephew of the general Marius, Julius Caesar favored liberal policies and social reform. During the decade of the 60s B.C.E., Caesar played an active role in Roman politics. He spent enormous amounts of money sponsoring public spectacles, such as battles between gladiators and wild animals. During the next decade Caesar led a Roman army to Gaul, which he conquered and brought into the still-grwoing Roman empire. As a result of his military victories, Caesar had become extremely popular in Rome. Cons ervative leaders sought to maneuver him out of power and regain the initiative for their own programs. Caesar refused to stand aside, and in 49 B.C.E. he turned his army toward Rome. By early 46 B.C.E. he had made himself master of the Roman state and named himself dictator for life rather than for the constitutional six-month term. He then centralized military and political functions and brought them under his control. He took property from conservatives and distributed it to veterans of his own armies and other supporters. He launched large-scale building projects in Rome as a way to provide employment for the poor. He also appointed Gauls to the Roman senate.

Caesar's policies pointed the way toward a centralized, imperial form of government for Rome and its possessions, but the consolidation of the government had to wait for a new generation of leaders. Caesar's rule alienated many members of the Roman elite classes. In 44 B.C.E. they organized a plot to assassinate Caesar and restore the republic. They attacked Caesar and stabbed him to death in the Roman forum, but the restoration of an outmoded form of government was beyond their powers.

When the struggles ended, power belonged to Octavian, a nephew and protege of Julius Caesar and the dictator's adopted son. In a naval battle at Actium in Greece (31 B.C.E.), Octavian defeated his principal rival, Mark Antony, who had joined forces with Cleopatra, last of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt. In 27 B.C.E. the Senate bestowed upon him the title Augustus, a term with strong religious connotations suggesting the divine or semidivine nature of its holder. Augustus's government was a monarch disguised as a republic. He ruled by centralizing political and military power. He accumulated vast powers for himself and ultimately took responsibility for all important governmental functions. He reorganized the miltary system, creating a new standing army with commanders who owed allegiance directly to the emperor-a reform that eliminated problems caused during the late republic by generals with personal armies. Augustus served as emperor until his death in 14 C.E. During his long reign he stabilized a land racked by civil war and enabled the institutions of the empire to take root.

** Continuing Expansion and Integration of the Empire **
During the two centuries following Augustus's rule, Roman armies conquered distant lands and integrated them into a larger economy and society. Roman expansion had especially dramatic effects in European lands embraced by the empire. Egypt, Anatolia, Syria, and Mesopotamia had long been sites of complex city-based societies, but Gaul, Germany, Britain, and Spain were scarcely populated lands occupied by cultivators who lived in small villages. When Roman soldiers, diplomats, governors, and merchants began to arrive in large numbers, they stimulated the development of local economies and states.

Within the boundaries of the Roman empire itself, a long era of peace facilitated economic and political integration from the first to the middle of the third century C.E. Augustus brought peace not only to Rome, by ending the civil disturbances that had plagued the city for more than a century, but also to the empire. His reign inaugurated the era known as the //pax romana// (Roman peace) that persisted for two and a half centuries. Roman engineers have enjoyed a reputation as outstanding road builders. Roman engineers prepared a deep bed for their roads, edged them with curbs, provided drainage, and then topped them off with large, flat paving stones. Their main roads were 6 to 8 meters wide. Roads winding through mountains were 2 to 3 meters wide. Builders placed milestones along the roads, and the imperial postal system maintained stations for couriers. Roads linked all parts of the Roman empire. One notable highway of more than 2,500 kilometers (1,554 miles) stretched along the northeast imperial frontier from the Black Sea to the North sea, parallel to the Danube and Rhine Rivers.

Under conditions of political stability and the //pax romana//, jurists constructed an elaborate system of law. Romans began a tradition of written law about 450 B.C.E. when they promulgated the Twelve Tables as a basic law code for citizens of the early republic. Roman law helped to integrate the diverse lands that made up the empire.

= **5 Themes** =

** Human-Environment Interaction **
The Romans used their location, next to the Tibris river, to be dominate traders. The fact that they were next to the Tibris river provided them easy access to the ocean and also protection from sea based attacks. The Romans were mainly traders with the areas around them and thus their empire was never very far from the water. Silicy was a very important island because there agriculture was prominent and was the central area of grain production in the empire.

** Development and Interaction of Cultures **
Because of the large area that was under the Roman rule, there were many religions and cultures that had different perspectives in the empire. Like but slightly different from persia, the romans ruled over the conquered colonies but often exempted them from taxation and allowed them to govern themselves. They could trade at roman marketplaces and even take roman spouses. The romans though, forbade them from making alliances with others and would have to support Rome with military and political aid. Wars occasionally occured when a group disagreed with the rule but for the most part times were peaceful.

** State-Building, Expansion and Conflict **
The Romans were always expanding. They took every chance they got to take control of a city. The Romans took control of Carthage and also Gaul, while making allies with neighboring settlements. The Romans also built many roads connecting all of the parts of the Roman empire.

** Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems **
Latifundia, or large plantations owned by elite but worked by slaves increased production but also allowed for prices to stay low. This let the Romans be dominant in the trade with other groups in the area because they were able to make a much larger profit. Julius caesar started many large-scale building projects to keep money flowing in the empire and also to help the lower class.

** Development and Transformation of Social Structures **
There was always a leader. Either an emperor or a legislature ruled Rome. Written law dominanted during pax romana and the principle that defendants were innocent until proven guilty. In early Rome, the elites were the main governors of Rome. However the large underclass of plebians threatened to revolt and they were allowed to be a part of the legislature system. In times of need, a supreme ruler could be voted into power for 6 months to make tough deciscions and to make them quickly.

N.H. L.F. B.P. E.F. **﻿L.K.**