Transcript The Roman Republicm

The Roman Republic
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VOCABULARY

REPUBLIC
A
form of government in which elected
representatives make the laws

PATRICIANS
 The
wealthy and powerful upper class of
Roman citizens; determined by birth

PLEBEIANS 90% of the citizens
 The
common citizens of Rome: farmers,
tradesmen, small businessmen,
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
IMPERIUM
 The

supreme authority in the Republic
CONSUL
 The
official and law maker chosen by the
patricians
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VETO
 The

power to stop a government act
TRIBUNES
 Roman
officials elected by the Plebeians
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Rome was located at the border of Etruria
and Latium about 15 miles up the TIBER
river
 After the overthrow of Tarquin the Proud,
the Romans declared their independence
from the Etruscans and set up a new form
of government called a republic.

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Roman society was divided into two
groups: citizens and slaves. Adult male
citizens had the right to vote and to own
property.
 The citizens were further divided into two
groups:

 PATRICIANS
 PLEBEIANS

Women were citizens BUT could not vote
or take part in the government although
they were protected by Roman laws.
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SLAVES
Most slaves in ancient Rome were
acquired through warfare, with Roman
armies bringing captives back as part of
their reward.
 Turning defeated soldiers into slaves
brought soldiers income, and could also
serve as an alternative to imprisoning or
killing them.
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In addition, people could sell their children
into slavery.
 Children abandoned at birth were also
usually collected and made slaves.
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Patricians were the only citizens allowed
to vote for the government members.
 The government had a SENATE and two
ASSEMBLIES
 The senators were patricians who served
for life and passed all the laws, agreed to
all treaties and approved all appointments
for governement jobs.
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Roman society was also divided into two
groups: citizen and slave. Adult male
citizens had the right to vote and to own
property.
 Women citizens could not vote or take
part in the government although they
were protected by Roman laws.
 Slaves which were war captives, were
owned by citizens and had no rights.

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The Assembly of Centuries directed all
military matters and was also made up of
just the patricians
 The Assembly of Tribes was made up
mostly of plebeians who represented the
35 tribes into which all citizens were
divided.

 In
reality this was also controlled by the
patricians
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
The supreme power in the Republic was in the
hands of the IMPERIUM
The Imperium was made up of two CONSULS who
were chosen by the patricians and ruled for a year.
 The consuls helped to make and carry out the laws
and controlled the army.
 Each consul had the power to stop or VETO the acts
of the other, so they had to agree with each other
before they could act.
 VETO means “ I forbid” in Latin.
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The legal system was lead by judges or
PRAETORS who interpreted the laws made
by the government
 CENSORS counted the people in Rome
and determined how much in taxes a
person would pay based on their wealth.
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In the early years of the Republic there
were many laws that controlled the lives
of the plebeians. They could not
 marry
patricians
 conduct religious ceremonies
 hold important government positions

However the plebeians did make up most
of the army
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When a poor plebeian had to borrow
money from the rich to survive, he and his
family were forced into "debt bondage",
which means he became a servant of the
man to whom he owed the money.
 He was like a slave, and, without getting
paid, he could never get the money he
needed to buy his freedom.
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In the 5th century BCE the plebeians
refused to fight for Rome until they were
given more political power;
 The Assembly of Tribes was allowed to
elect 10 TRIBUNES who could override
any act of the Senate or officials by calling
out VETO
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In 450 BCE the Romans adopted a set of
laws called the TWELVE TABLES.
 These laws were carved in bronze and put
in the Forum or religious and government
centre of Rome
 They covered nearly every aspect of life
including wills, family law, property rights
and public behaviour of citizens.
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By 339 BCE, plebeians had won the right
to marry patricians and hold the office of
consul.
 They could also sit in the senate and the
Assembly of the Tribes could pass laws
without Senate approval.
 However the plebeians soon became as
exclusive a group as the patricians and
would not allow new citizens to join them.
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THE PUNIC WARS
These were a series of three wars fought
between Rome and Carthage between 264 and
146 BCE.
 At the beginning Carthage controlled most the
trading centres in the Mediterranean.
 After 100 years of war, Rome finally defeated
Carthage and completely destroyed the city and
sold all of its citizens into slavery.
 They even covered the fields with salt so that
nothing would grow there.
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HANNIBAL& the Second Punic War
The most famous Carthiginian general was
HANNNIBAL, who travelled through Spain
and across the Alps with his war elephants
to reach northern Italy.
 For 15 years his arny fought numerous
battles in Italy but was never able to
defeat Rome.
 He finally had to return to Carthage to
protect it from Roman attack.
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Hannibal survived the Battle of Zama but
had to run away.
 Finally in 183 B.C. Romans found him in
Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and
forced him to surrender.
 As they guarded him, he secretly took
poison and ended his life
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The decline of the Republic
The hundred years of war widened the
gap between the rich and poor and
weakened the republic.
 The small farmers were most affected.
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 Wealthy
citizens bought up huge amounts of
land and threw out the small farmers and
bought tens of thousands of slaves to work on
their estates instead.
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The displaced farmers ended up in Rome
seeking work but there were very few jobs
for them because most of the work there
was also done by slaves.
 Corruption grew as the rich bought the
votes of the government officials who
made laws that favoured them.
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In the rural areas tax collectors were free
to get as much money as they could from
the people.
 Rome
would tell them how much they had to
turn in and they could keep any extra that
they collected.
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In order to try and keep the poor people
from becoming violent the politicians
offered them BREAD AND CIRCUSES
 They
were given free food and entertainment
in the form of combats to the death between:
 animals such as bears, lions and bulls,
 men and animals
 and GLADIATORS
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Two bothers called Tiberius and Gaius
GRACCHUS tried to reform the
government by giving land back to the
poor.
 Tiberius was put to death by the Senate
and Gaius committed suicide.
 This was followed by a series of generals
who made themselves dictators after
becoming heroes after winning a great
battle.
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The last of these generals was SULLA.
 He died in 78 BCE and was replaced by
JULIUS CAESAR.
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