How did Rome grow from single city to the a huge empire?
Foundation for empire-building enterprise:
The Values of the Roman republic
Virtues: Duty, Courage, Discipline & Loyalty
Rule of law, rights of citizens, upright moral
behavior, & keeping one’s word, along with a
political system that offered some protection to
the lower a classes
Victory in the Punic Wars w/Carthage (264–146 B.C.E.)
Extended Roman control over the western
Mediterranean & made Rome a naval power.
Each addition of territory created new
vulnerabilities that drove further conquests.
So the Roman Army & specifically their weapon
of choice: The Short Sword - made it happen.
Punic Wars
● The three Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome took place over nearly a
century, beginning in 264 B.C. and ending with the destruction of Carthage in 146
B.C. By the time the First Punic War broke out, Rome had become the dominant
power throughout the Italian peninsula, while Carthage–a powerful city-state in
northern Africa–had established itself as the leading maritime power in the world.
The First Punic War broke out in 264 B.C. when Rome interfered in a dispute on
the Carthaginian-controlled island of Sicily; the war ended with Rome in control of
both Sicily and Corsica and marked the empire’s emergence as a naval as well as a
land power. In the Second Punic War, the great Carthaginian general Hannibal
invaded Italy and scored great victories at Lake Trasimene and Cannae before his
eventual defeat at the hands of Rome’s Scipio Africanus in 202 B.C. left Rome in
control of the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third Punic War,
the Romans, led by Scipio the Younger, captured and destroyed the city of
Carthage in 146 B.C., turning Africa into yet another province of the mighty Roman
Empire.
How did Rome grow from a single city to the center of a huge empire?
Rome’s army was a key to its success.
Poor soldiers hoped for land, loot, or salaries.
Well-to-do or well-connected rewarded with estates,
earned promotion, & sometimes achieved public
acclaim & high political office
Wealth & resources of the less developed W. Med.
Rome’s central location in the Mediterranean basin made
empire building easier.
Political support in Rome for its continued expansion.
This ensured that the necessary manpower & resources were
committed to empire building.
Roman Soldier: Professional army expands Roman territory & builds an empire.
Opening Scene from Gladiator: “On My Signal, Unleash Hell.”
Crash Course: The Roman Empire Or Republic... Or, Which was it?
The Cultural Tradition of Classical Greece
Greek intellectuals abandoned
mythological framework
★ world is a physical reality governed by
natural laws
★ humans can understand those laws
★ human reason can work out a system for
ethical life
Socrates of Athens (469–399
B.C.E.)
★ argument, logic, questioning of
received wisdom
★ constant questioning of
assumptions
★ conflict with city authorities
over
★ accused of corrupting the
youth, Athenian democracy
★ executed
This is Socrates prison, the place who the great greek
philosopher died after he drank hemlock at 399 B.C.E.
“Is a secular outlook on the world an essentially modern phenomenon,
or does it have precedents in the classical era?”
Greek thought, with its emphasis on argument and logic,
relentless questioning of received wisdom, confidence in human
reason, and enthusiasm for puzzling out the world
without much reference to the gods, also provides a
precedent for modern secular outlooks on the world.