Transcript Slide 1 - Maria Regina

I. ITALY’S GEOGRAPHY
1.
2.
3.
Alps form a wall to the north (barrier)
Peninsula
Traded with Greece, Egypt, and others
a. influenced by a variety of cultures
A. PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS
Mediterranean Sea
2. Shaped like a boot; toe on the west - kicking
Sicily
3. Apennines
a. runs down center from north to south
b. made travel difficult
4. Volcanoes
a. Mount Etna in Sicily
b. Mount Vesuvius – destroyed
Pompeii in A.D. 79
1.
PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS CONTINUED
5. Fertile plains
a. Po River valley
b. Latium
i. west coast of central Italy
ii. The Tiber River runs through the
center.
6. Tiber River
a. Rome (start of Italy)
II. RULERS OF ROME
1.
2.
3.
Earliest people = Etruscans
510 B.C. – Etruscan kings kicked out and
Roman Republic was founded.
Republic – government leaders voted into
office
A. PATRICIANS AND PLEBIANS
1.
2.
3.
Patricians – powerful group from Rome’s
wealthiest families
Plebians – poor farmers and shopkeepers who
could not hold office
Both = citizens
a. person who is born in a country or who
becomes a member of a country by law
PATRICIANS AND PLEBIANS CONTINUED
4. Military power – conquered most of Italian
peninsula
5. Citizens
a. paid taxes
b. males – served in army
PATRICIANS AND PLEBIANS CONTINUED
6. Consuls
a. elected 2 leaders
i. prevented forming of dictator (an
oppressive ruler) or taking advantage of power
b. both had to agree, but one could veto
(turn down) other consul’s plan
c. needed Senate body to approve plans
B. PLEBEIAN DEMANDS
Citizens – who felt patrician government was
unfair
2. 494 B.C. – went on strike
a. refused to open shops
b. serve in the army
c. farmers refused to bring their crops into
Rome
3. Result – plebeians were given a plebeian assembly
to elect reps. called tribunes
a. could veto laws and review judges’ decisions
1.
PLEBEIAN DEMANDS CONTINUED
4. 50 years later – new demand
a. no idea of laws because never posted
5. Result – placed on display in Rome’s public
marketplace
6. Laws = Twelve Tables (carved on stone tablets)
C. A SLAVE REVOLT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
3rd group in Rome
Captured during wars
Anyone could become a slave
Some legal rights
a. could even buy freedom
Hard life especially for gladiators
A SLAVE REVOLT CONTINUED
6. Gladiators
a. fought each other or wild animals to the
death in large arenas (colosseums)
7. 73 B.C. – 70,000 slaves joined gladiator,
Spartacus in a revolt
a. Spartacus and the slaves were defeated,
and they were put to death.
III. A POWERFUL ENEMY
1.
2.
Carthage
a. Phoenician city in northern Africa
Punic Wars
a. between Carthage and Rome
A. THE PUNIC WARS
1.
2.
3.
218 B.C. Carthaginian army invaded Italy and
defeated Rome
a. Hannibal – Carthaginian general
Rome invaded northern Africa and Hannibal
returned
Rome defeated Carthage in 146 B.C.
a. sold survivors into slavery and burned
buildings
b. Rome ruled Mediterranean world.
B. A BATTLE FOR POWER
1.
2.
Civil War between wealthy Romans and
powerful generals
a. civil war – war between groups within a
country
Julius Caesar
a. armies conquered Gaul, present-day
France
b. led soldiers into Rome and made
himself dictator
BATTLE FOR POWER CONTINUED
2. Caesar’s changes
a. revised Roman calendar
b. gave land and grain to the poor
c. increased the number of people in the
Senate
d. granted citizenship to foreigners
3. Caesar had many enemies. (March 15th)