Transcript The Founding of Rome and the Republic

There are 2 stories that have merged into one
over the years.
One is rooted in fact, the other in legend
***Legend: Romulus and Remus***
*** Fact: Aeneas ***
Lets learn about the stories!
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Led his people to Rome after battle of Troy
Story of his journey told in the Aeneid (an epic)
Formed an alliance with native peoples: Latins
Married daughter of Latin King
and their son was ruler of Italy
• Him carrying his father from the burning
city of Troy
• Twins who were found floating in Tiber River, rescued by a wolf
who raised them
• Adopted by a shepherd
• Build a city where they were rescued, but fought and Romulus
killed Remus
• Named the city Rome, after himself
• Said to be the first king of Rome
• Archaeologists found evidence of another group of people
settling north of the Latins in Etruria
before Rome was founded
• People called Etruscans
• Pirates and great traders
• Dominated Northern Italy
• Rome’s last 3 kings were Etruscan
• Tyrant rulers
• 200 yrs.
• Overthrown by Roman farmer-soldiers
• Abolished monarchy
• Made contributions to Roman civilization
•Arch in building bridges
•Foundation for Rome’s first sewer system
•Alphabet borrowed by Rome
•Slave fights at funerals were a model for
gladiator games
•Gods with human forms and soothsayers
•Parade to welcome home soldiers
Pg. 328
• Republic: political system in which people elect leaders to
govern them
• Created in 509 BC
• Leader only ruled for 1 year (to limit power)
• What is the difference between a republic and a monarchy?
• A monarchy is ruled by a king or queen, not an elected ruler.
• Why wasn’t Rome a democracy?
• Even though officials were elected, they were chosen from only a small
group of people and had all the power. (average person had no say)
• The Romans were frequently
at war with those around
them. They elected
dictators, rulers with almost
absolute power, to lead
them (for six month terms)
during these times of crisis.
• Cincinnatus was a ________________. He was a ___________
Who was chosen to ____________________________________.
He was famous and considered an ideal leader because:
What do you think about the government that Rome set up?
Pros and Cons:
Patricians
Plebeians
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Magistrates
Elected officials
Consuls = 2 most powerful (2
for power check)
1 yr. term
Other magistrates each had
own job and duties
Run city and lead army
Senate
• Council of wealthy and
powerful Romans that advised
the city leaders (consuls)
• Held office for life
• 300 members
• Mostly patricians at first ->
wealthy Plebeians
Got more powerful over time and
had great influence over govt.
(more than Magistrates)
Assemblies and Tribunes
• Represented common people
• Assemblies: Patricians and
Plebeians
• Primary job: elect magistrates
• Tribunes: elected by
plebeians
• Had power to VETO (prohibit)
• Powerful
• 1 yr. term
Civic Duty
• Duty to the city to make it
prosper
• Govt. wouldn’t work without
participation of people
• Attend assembly meeting
• Vote in elections
• Hold public office (wealthy)
• Admired for participation
Limiting power
• Limiting terms
• Govt. officials had ability to
restrict powers of other
officials
• One consul could block power of
another
• Senate laws needed magistrate
approval and ratification by
assembly
Today…
• We use a 3 part govt.
system that has checks and
balances to limit the power
of any one branch.
• Much of our govt. is based
off of Rome’s
Create a chart to show how the Romans set up a system of checks and balances
• None written at first, only Patricians who wrote laws knew them
• Why would this be a bad thing????
• People didn’t want to be punished for breaking laws they
didn’t know existed
• People were unhappy and wanted written laws
• Frist Written Laws
• 450 BC
• Written on 12 bronze tablets
• Displayed in the forum. Rome’s public meeting place
• Called “Law of the Twelve Tablets”