Transcript Main Idea 1 - Cloudfront.net

Ancient Rome
Government and Society
The Big Idea
Rome’s tripartite government and
written laws
helped create a stable society.
Main Ideas
• Roman government was made up
of three parts that worked
together to run the city.
• Written laws helped keep order in
Rome.
• The Roman Forum was the heart
of Roman society.
Roman Republic
Two groups
– Patricians - wealthy,
landowning aristocrats
– Plebeians - non-aristocratic
townspeople, merchants, small
farmers, etc..
– Both groups: right to vote,
serve in the military and both
paid taxes to the government.
Only patricians could hold public
office.
Plebeian Demands
• Bigger voice in the
government.
• Refused to serve in the
military until their
demands for
representation met.
• Patricians agreed to the
demands of the
plebeians.
Main Idea 1:
Roman government was made
up of three parts that worked
together to run the city.
• When the plebeians complained about
Rome’s government, the leaders knew
they had to do something.
• As a result, they developed a tripartite, or
three-part, government.
Magistrates
• The first part of the
government was made up of
elected officials, or
magistrates.
• The two most powerful
officials were called the
consuls.
• Each magistrate was elected
for one year and had his own
duties and powers.
– Veto power
– Consuls appointed other
government officials.
– Only a dictator could
overrule the consuls.
Senate
• The second part of
the government was
the Roman Senate.
• This was a council of
wealthy and powerful
Romans that advised
the city’s leaders.
• Members of the
senate were elected
for life.
300 senators controlled
the treasury
( the money !) and
Roman laws. Most of
the senators were
members of wealthy
Roman families. The
Senate was the most
powerful group in the
Government of the
Roman Republic.
Power rests in the Senate.
When the Senate wanted
laws passed, it had to
get the citizen assemblies
to agree. Consuls were
also elected by these
assemblies. In this way the
government of the Republic
spread its power among
different groups. This is
called "Checks and
Balances" because it
balances power between
many people.
Assemblies and Tribunes
• Protected the common
people and had two
branches.
• The first branch was
made up of both
plebeians and patricians.
Their primary job was to
elect the magistrates.
• The second branch was
made up of tribunes who
had the right to veto, or
prohibit, actions by other
officials. They were
elected by the plebeians.
Civic Duty and Checks and
Balances
• Rome’s government would not have worked without the
participation of the people. People participated because
they felt it was their duty to the city.
– Citizens attended assembly meetings.
– They also voted.
– Wealthy and powerful citizens held public office.
• Checks and balances were created to ensure that no
one part of the government had more power.
– Checks and balances are methods to balance
power. They keep one part of the government from
becoming stronger or more influential than the
others.
Main Idea 2:
Written laws helped keep order
in Rome.
• Many people were punished for breaking
laws they did not even know existed.
• To prevent this, Rome’s first law code
was written and displayed in the forum,
Rome’s public meeting place.
Plebeian Victories
– Representation by tribunes.
– Slavery by debts was abolished.
– Plebeians and patricians could marry.
– Creation of the Twelve Tables: a written code
of Roman laws that were placed in the Forum.
Romes’s first
written law code
was inscribed on
12 bronze tablets
and displayed in
the Forum. This
was known as the
Law of the Twelve
Tables, a symbol of
Roman law and
the rights of
Roman citizens
The Twelve Tables
1.If you are called to go
to court, you must go. If
you don’t show up, you
can be taken to court by
force.
2.If you need a witness
to testify and he will not
show up, you can go
once every three days
and shout in front of his
house.
3. Should a tree
on a neighbor's
farm be bend
crooked by the
wind and lean
over your farm,
you may take
legal action for
removal of that
tree.
4.If it's your
tree, it’s your
fruit, even if
it falls on
another
man’s land.
5. A person who
had been found
guilty of giving false
witness shall be
hurled down from
the Tarpeian Rock.
(The Tarpeian Rock
was a place of
execution of ancient
origin reserved for
murderers and traitors
who were hurled from
its sharp cliffs )
6.No person shall hold meetings by night in the
city.
7. A dead man shall not be buried or burned
within the city.
8.Marriages
should not take
place between
plebeians and
patricians. (As
time went on, this
law was changed.
When the tables
were first written,
this was the law.)
Main Idea 3:
The Roman Forum was the
heart of Roman society.
*The Roman Forum, where the Law of the
Twelve Tables was kept, was the heart of the
city.
*It was the site of many important
government buildings and temples.
*It was also a popular meeting place for
Roman citizens to shop, chat, and gossip.
The
Palatine
Hill was
the home
of Rome’s
richest
people
Across the forum was the Capitoline Hill,
where Romes’s grandest temples stood.