Early Rome

⮚ Accordingto Roman Legends that Rome was

founded on 753 BCE by by Romulus and
Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war.

⮚ Both of them were left to drown in a basket on

the Tiber by a king of nearby Alba Longa and
rescued by a she-wolf, the twins lived to defeat
that king and found their own city on the river’s
banks in 753 B.C
⮚ His Brother Romulus became the first
King of Rome named after him after he
killed his brother during a quarrel.
⮚ About 800 BCE, three peoples from the
East began to enter Italy first as colonists
and then as rulers of various segments of
the Peninsula: the Etruscans, the Greeks,
and the Phoenicians.
Colonist of Rome
1. ETRUSCANS
⮚ Already highly civilized, came into
Italy about 800 BCE, probably by
following a route along the northern
Adriatic Sea.
⮚ The Etruscan kings ruled over early
Rome from about 750 to about 509 BCE.
⮚ The pictorial record left by the Etruscans,
mainly in recently rediscovered
underground tombs, makes it clear that
the early Romans derived much of their
religious beliefs, art forms, and
architecture from these peoples.
2. Greeks
⮚ They Influence the Romans on their attitudes
⮚ The early Romans were impressed by the
advanced culture of the Greek migrants who
had settled in southern Italy during the 700s.
⮚ Traders brought their culture with them, and,
though they learned the Etruscan alphabet, the
Greek alphabet was adapted by the Romans to
their Latin tongue.
⮚ They soon transformed southern Italy
into a prosperous and commercially
advanced civilization.
3. The Phoenicans
⮚ They influence on Italian events came through
Carthage.
⮚ This great trading city had become
independent of its homeland, Phoenicia, by 700
BCE.
⮚ During this epoch,Carthage was the most
powerful force in the western Mediterranean,
sending ships as far away as Britain and the
North Sea, as well as up the Nile, and founding
colonies of its own all over the coasts of Spain
and France.
Roman Republic
⮚ the city-state of Rome was founded by the
voluntary unification of seven agrarian villages
at approximately 753 BCE.
⮚ On 509 BCE after the Romans defeated the
Etruscans they became city became a res
Publica or Republic
⮚ Res Publica- not ruled by a King or Queen or a
monarch but the combination of Senate and the
People
The Senate
The Senate was composed of:
1. Patricians= composed the upper classmen
who made up perhaps 5 to 10 percent of the
total population and had considerable power
even under the Etruscan king.
2. Plebeians= composed the other 90 percent
and were represented in political affairs by
delegates to the elective General Assembly.
The Executive
⮚ The executive branch was composed of a
small staff of officials who were elected by
the Senate and Assembly for short terms.
⮚ Chief executive power resided in two
Consuls, elected from among the members
of the Senate for one-year term
⮚ Below the consuls were the Censors which
were originally tax assessors, but later came
to have the power to supervise the conduct
and morals of senators.
⮚ General Assembly was intended to be
as powerful as perhaps more so than the
Senate, which had only advisory powers.
⮚ By about 250, the Roman political
structure offered to all appearances a
nice balance between the aristocrats and
the common people.
⮚ the Hortensian Law (named after the
consul of the day) in 287, plebeians and
patricians had equal voting rights and
supposedly equal access to office.
⮚ Democracy eventually would fail in
Rome, just as it had in Athens.
Punic Wars
• The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts fought
between the forces of ancient Carthage and Rome
between 264 BCE and 146 BCE.

• The name Punic comes from the word Phoenician as

applied to the citizens of Carthage, who were of
Phoenician ethnicity.

• As the history of the conflict was written

by Roman authors, they labeled it 'The Punic Wars'.
 Carthage & Rome

Carthage Rome
• The most • A dominant power
powerful city in the throughout the Italian
Mediterranean region peninsula
before 260 BCE. • Emerging empire,
• Had a powerful navy and wanting to expand their
a mercenary army territories.
• The wealthiest and most • Had an invincible army
advanced city in the but no navy
region
 The First Punic War
• It started when rome intervene in the dispute between
Syracuse and Messina.
• Carthage supported Syracuse while Rome supported
Messina, and the struggle soon exploded into a direct
conflict between the two powers, with control of Sicily
at stake.
• Over the course of nearly 20 years, Rome rebuilt its
entire fleet in order to confront Carthage’s powerful
navy, scoring its first sea victory at Mylae in 260 B.C.
and a major victory in the Battle of Ecnomus in 256 B.C.
• In 241 B.C. the Roman fleet was able to win a decisive
victory against the Carthaginians at sea, breaking their
legendary naval superiority.
The Second Punic War
• Started when Hannibal and his troops (including as
many as 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and a number
of elephants) march from Spain across the Alps and
into Italy, where they scored a string of victories over
Roman troops at Ticinus, Trebia and Trasimene.
• Hannibal’s daring invasion of Rome reached its height
at the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C., where he used his
superior cavalry to surround a Roman army twice the
size of his own and inflict massive casualties.
• After this disastrous defeat, however, the Romans
managed to rebound, and the Carthaginians lost hold
in Italy as Rome won victories in Spain and North Africa
under the rising young general Publius Cornelius Scipio
(later known as Scipio Africanus).
• In 203 B.C., Hannibal’s forces were forced to
abandon the struggle in Italy in order to defend
North Africa, and the following year Scipio’s army
routed the Carthaginians at Zama.

• Hannibal’s losses in the Second Punic War

effectively put an end to Carthage’s empire in the
western Mediterranean, leaving Rome in control of
Spain and allowing Carthage to retain only its
territory in North Africa. Carthage was also forced
to give up its fleet and pay a large indemnity to
Rome in silver.
The Third Punic War

• The Third Punic War, by far the most controversial

of the three conflicts between Rome and Carthage.
It was the result of efforts by Cato the Elder, who
propose the destruction of Carthage.

• In 149 B.C., after Carthage technically broke its treaty

with Rome by declaring war against the neighboring
state of Numidia, the Romans sent an army to North
Africa, beginning the Third Punic War.
• Carthage withstood the Roman siege for two years
before a change of Roman command put the young
general Scipio Aemilianus in charge of the North
Africa campaign in 147 B.C.
• In 146 B.C. Scipio Aemilianus launched a forceful
attack on its harbor side in the spring. After seven
days of horrific bloodshed, the Carthaginians
surrendered. The surviving 50,000 citizens of
Carthage were sold into slavery.
 END OF THE REPUBLIC
WHEN DID THE REPUBLIC START ITS DECLINE?
- Traditionally, the beginning of the end of the
Roman Republic begins with Tiberius and Gaius
Gracchus(the Gracchi) and their social Reforms.

MAJOR EVENTS in the history of the fall of the

Republic of Rome:
I. The Government of the Roman Republic:
⮚ 3 Branches of Government
1.Monarchial Branch
2. Aristocratic Branch
3. Democratic Branch
 END OF THE REPUBLIC
II. THE GRACCHI BROTHERS
The Gracchi, Tiberius Gracchus, and Gaius
Gracchus, were Roman brothers who tried to reform
Rome's social and political structure to help the lower
classes in the 2nd century BCE.
★ TIBERIUS GRACCHUS works for Land Reform
-Tiberius saw the tremendous imbalance of wealth in the
Roman Republic. He was eager to distribute land to the
workers.
★ GAUIS GRACCHUS enacted a law that provided for the
construction of state granaries, and a regular sale of grain
to the citizens. Faced with the probability of execution,
Gaius committed suicide by falling on a slave's sword.
After Gaius's death, thousands of his supporters were
arrested and summarily executed.
 END OF THE REPUBLIC
III. THORNS in the Side of Rome
★ SPARTACUS
--he is a roman slave and gladiator, and a
leader of famous revolt. His rebellion was
interpreted as an example of oppressed
people fighthing for their freedin against
slave-owning.

★ MITHRIDATES
--he was the King of Pontus( on the southeast
side of the Black Sea) kept trying to increase
his holdings, but each time he tried to encroach
on the territory of others, the Roman stepped
in to push him back.
 END OF THE REPUBLIC
❑ SULLA and MARIUS
- Sulla made Rome a world leader as it always was.
However, Marius took all the credit for the
encounter. This infuriated Sulla to no end and he
wanted to revenge. Sulla marched a Roman army
into Rome and took the city by force. He
proceeded to Asia Minor where he was ordered
to defeat the Persian Empire. Marius once again,
murdered countless aristrocrat in the process.
But when Sulla finally took it back , he started
proscription and killed hundred of Marius
supporters.
First Emperor: Augustus
-born on September 23, 63
BCE in Rome

-died August 19, 14 CE in

Nola

-other title: Princeps (the first

citizen)

-adoptive name: Gaius Julius

Caesar Octavianus

- “son of god”
- At the age of 15, he became a
member of Pontifices (board of priests)

- In 46-45 BCE he joined Caesar in his

journey to Africa and Spain

- In 44 BCE, Julius Caesar had been

murdered and Augustus became his
adopted son and political heir.
- After Julius Caesar’s death, Augustus
together with General Mark Antony
and financier Lepidus, formed an
alliance known as “Second
Triumvirate”.

- They divided the empire among

themselves, Ausgutus took Italy and
the West; Antony, East and Egypt; and
Lepidus, Africa.
- On 31 BCE, Augustus won over Mark
Antony at the Battle of Actium. And it
marked the beginning of the Roman
Empire.

- Augustus ended Rome’s dictatorship

and changed it into imperial.
KINGSHIP
● THE TRIBES:

○ RAMNES (LATIN)

○ TITIES (SABINES)

○ LUCERES (ETRUSCANS)

● THE GENS SYSTEM

○ THE CURIAE

● THE SEVEN LEGENDARY KINGS

○ ROMULUS (753-717)

○ NUMA POMPILIUS (717-673)

○ TULLUS HOSTILIUS (672-641)

○ ANCUS MARCIUS (639-616)

○ TARQUINIUS PRISCUS (616-579)

○ SERVIUS TULLIUS (579-534)

○ TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS (534-510)

● THE FALL OF MONARCH

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
DICTATOR

SENATUS CENSORS

QUAESTORS
PRAETORS
CONSULS

PLEBEIAN
AEDILES

AEDILES
CURULE
COMITIA CONCILIUM COMITIA
CENTURIATA PLEBIS TRIBUTA

THE ASSEMBLY
 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
• THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE
– OCTAVIAN, MARK ANTONY AND LEPIDUS
• FROM REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY TO
CENTRALIZED IMPERIAL AUTHORITY
– THE ASSEMBLY
– THE SENATE