Transcript Roman Republic - Walker World History

5.1
Early Peoples of Italy
 800 BC Latins migrated into Italy
 Herded and farmed
 Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome
 Sons of a Latin woman and the war god Mars
 Etruscans lived north of Rome
 Ruled much of central Italy including Rome at one point
 Romans learned quite a bit from the Etruscans
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Adapted the Greek alphabet
Arch in construction
Engineering to drain marshy lands along the Tiber River
Gods and goddesses
Roman Republic
 Romans drove out the Etruscan King in 509 BC
 Formed a res publica
 That which belongs to the people
 Thought this would prevent anyone from gaining too
much power
 Roman Senate
 300 Patricians
 Consuls nominated to supervise the business of
government and command the armies
 Dictator could be chosen in the event of a war
Organizing Society
 Patricians
 Landholding upper class
 Held most of the political rights
 Plebeians
 Farmers, Merchants, Artisans
 Legal citizens, with little political rights
 Women
 Could own property
 Ran businesses
 Most worked at home
 Children
 Both boys and girls were taught to read and write
Military
 Controlled most of the Italian Peninsula by 270 BC
 Well trained army
 Legion-basic military unit
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5,000 citizen soldier
 Made good solider because they were taught to value loyalty,
courage and respect for authority
 Conquered people had to acknowledge Roman leadership,
pay taxes and supply soldiers
 Some were given citizenship, others partial citizenship
 Posted soldiers throughout the land and built a network of
roads
5.2
Building an Empire
 Punic Wars
 1st Rome defeats Carthage winning Sicily, Corsica, and
Sardinia
 2nd Carthage seeks revenge
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Hannibal surprises the Romans and ransacked the Italian
Peninsula for 15 years
Rome finally defeats Hannibal in Carthage
Carthage gives up all land outside Africa
 3rd “Carthage must be destroyed”
 Romans completely destroyed Carthage
 Killed or enslaved survivors
 While fighting Carthage in the west the empire was
also expanding to the Hellenistic east
Life in Rome
 Conquests brought newfound trade and wealth
 Latifundia
 Slave labor hurts small farmers
 New wealth leads to corruption and problems within
Rome
 Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
 Attempted reforms
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State to distribute land to poor farmers in 133 BC
Use of public funds to buy grain to feed the poor 143 BC
 Senate saw them as a threat
The Declining Republic
 Unable to solve problems civil war erupted
 Who should hold power?
 Soldiers were professionals who were loyal to their
commander first
 Julius Caesar
 Dominated Roman politics with Pompey
 58 BC Conquered Gaul
 Pompey ordered Caesar to disband his army and return
to Rome; Caesar disobeyed and when he did return he
destroyed Pompey and his supporters