The glory that was Greece
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Transcript The glory that was Greece
PAGES 128-131
THE ROMAN WORLD TAKES SHAPE
SETTING THE SCENE
Romans loved stories of heroes
Horatius
Single handedly held off Etruscan army while his fellow
Romans tore down the bridge behind him
He then dove into the river with the bridge and swam to safety
on the other side
This story tells us the virtues that Romans admired
Courage
Loyalty
Devotion to duty
Geography
Rome began as a small city-state on the
Italian peninsula which is centrally located on
the Mediterranean Sea.
Rome is the center of Italy
Italy was much easier to unify than Greece
Apennine Mountains are less rugged.
Broad fertile plains in the north & in the west
supported a growing population
People
800BC Latins migrated into Italy
Settled along the Tiber River in small villages over
seven low-lying hills
These Latins were the ancestors to the Romans
Their villages grew into Rome, the city on 7 hills
Etruscans Greek colonists shared Italian peninsula with Romans
Etruscans even ruled over Rome for a time
Romans adapted the alphabet, the use of the arch in
building, and gods & goddesses from the Etruscans
The Roman Republic
509BC
Founding of the Roman state by driving out their Etruscan
ruler
Set up a republic to keep one person from too much power
Senate was most powerful governing body
300 members were patricians, landholding upper class
Made the laws & served for life
2 consuls
Elected by the senators
Supervised the business of the government
Commanded the armies
Rome had system of checks on the power of government
During war senate could choose a dictator, but they could only
rule for 6 months and then had to give up their power
Plebeians
Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, & Traders
Made up most of population, but had no influence
450BC
Government had laws of Rome inscribed on 12 tablets
1st breakthrough for Plebeians because they had protested that
no one knew all of the laws because they were not written down
Plebeians eventually gained right to elect their own officials
called tribunes
Tribunes could veto laws they felt were harmful to Plebeians
Plebeians eventually were elected to consuls & other high offices,
& then the Senate.
2,000 years later U.S. adapted a Senate, the Veto, &
political checks on power
Roman Society
Family was the basic unit of Roman society
Roman law stated the male was the head of
household, & had absolute power
His wife was subject to his authority, & was
not allowed to take care of her own affairs
Roman Women
Played a larger role in society than Greek women
Most worked at home raising their family,
spinning, & weaving
Women gained more freedom as the centuries
passed on.
They were eventually allowed to:
Go to public baths
Dine out
Attend theater
Have political influence
Roman Education & Religion
Girls & boys learned to read & write
Children began learning about history
later in the republic
Roman gods & Greek gods shared
similarities
Jupiter is Zeus
Juno is Hera
Neptune is Poseidon
Expansion
Rome succeeded because of a loyal & well-trained army
5,000 men made up a legion
Fought without pay & supplied their own weapons
Rewards & harsh punishment
Showing courage in battle would get you gifts, but if your unit
fled from a battle….1 out of 10 men in the unit were put to death
Defeated enemies had to acknowledge Roman
leadership, pay taxes, & supply soldiers, & in return they
got to keep their own customs & local government.
Rome placed soldiers throughout the empire & built allweather military roads
This began the unification of Italy under the Roman
Empire