Warm Up: Describe the parts of
the Roman Republic.
Vocab and Reading Guide Due
Rome Maps Due Tomorrow
Rome’s Expansion
Roman Consolidation
Year after year, the Roman army
marched off to war against its
neighbors to control more and more
land and people.
The army did not always win.
In 390 B.C., Rome itself was
attacked and destroyed by the
Gauls, warlike people from the
north who were part of a larger
group called Celts.
Rome was sacked!
Never Again!
Military Build Up
Rome paid the Gauls to leave, then expands
the military.
Rome had more citizens and well-trained
soldiers than any other people in the
Mediterranean area. During the next 100
years, Rome used those soldiers to
conquer the Mediterranean world.
War with Greece
Greek colonists feeling Roman pressure seek help from Greece.
King Phyrus of Greece attacks Rome, winning most battles,
but at a high cost, and loses the war.
“Phryrric Victory”
(Hollow)
A victory at too high a cost
KEY POWER MOVES
1. How did the Romans take over Italy?
By force
2. How did they keep those people they conquered under
their control?
Made them citizens able to take part in the
government OR
Made them allies with their own government, but
they had to pay taxes and supply an army to Rome
• Powerful city located near present-day Tunis, Tunisia,
along the Mediterranean coast of Africa
– Phoenician colony founded in the 8th century BCE
– Punic is Latin for Phoenician
• Carthage had a large commercial empire
– Great harbor at Carthage
– Phoenician tradition of sailing and trading
– Controlled trade in the western Mediterranean
– Carthaginian trading empire spread to islands of
Corsica, Sardinia, and western Sicily, along with
southern Iberian peninsula (modern-day Spain)
• Major rival of Rome
PUNIC WARS
•In the 200's B.C. Rome ruled Italy.
•Carthage- Wealth city in North Africa – Controlled part of Sicily
•Rome and Carthage fought for control of Mediterranean
•Rome afraid Carthage would try to take control of Rome
•Led to war
1st
• 264-241 BCE
• Fought over Sicily
• Rome won
2nd
• 218-201 BCE
• Rome challenged Carthaginian expansion in Iberia (Spain)
• Rome won
3rd
• 149-146 BCE
• Rome feared Carthage was again becoming a threat
• Rome attacked Carthage and obliterated the threat for good
• Carthage and Rome fought
for 23 years over control of
Sicily
• Strengths
– Roman strength – army
– Carthaginian strength – navy
• Rome’s solution – build up its navy (Copied
Carthaginian ship)
– Built four fleets, each destroyed in turn, before
mastering naval warfare
• Rome’s new weapon – grappling hook (crow)
– Lashed ships together
– Forced ship crews to fight one another on deck
• Hand-to-hand fighting was a Roman strength
 Rome won Sicily and control of cheap grain.
Second Punic War (218-201 BCE)
Carthage counterattacks –Hannibal
• attacked from Spain going through the Alps with 60 war
elephants during the winter of.
• Raided Rome for the next 13 years.
• But Hannibal could not capture the city of Rome
Rome attacks North Africa and Carthage-Scipio
•forced Hannibal to leave Rome to defend.
•Hannibal is finally defeated
•Carthage lost its fleet, Iberia (Spain), and the larger part of its
territory in northern Africa
Third Punic War (149-146 BCE) - Rome Wins
• Carthage rebels against Rome’s rule.
• Rome attacks Carthage and after a three
year siege and days of street fighting,
Carthage is burned.
• Men killed; women and children sold into
slavery
• Roman soldiers
even salt the fields
so food cannot be
grown.
Results of the Punic Wars:
During and After
Rome and Carthage
had been what you
might call the
“superpowers” of the
Mediterranean at the
time
• Rome’s defeat of Carthage
left Rome as the only
remaining “superpower”
• It was much easier for Rome
to conquer the rest of the
Mediterranean once
Carthage was out of the way
Roman control of
Macedonia
• Hannibal had made an
alliance with the
Macedonian king
• Rome attacked and defeated
Macedonia in 197 BCE
Rome went on to
conquer the remnants
of Alexander the
Great’s empire in
Eurasia
• Fighting among the Greek
city-states
• Rome took over, ending
Greek independence (146
BCE)
• Kingdom of Pergamum
• In modern-day Turkey
• Under Roman rule in 133
BCE
By 144 BCE –Spain, Alps, Greece, Eastern Asia Minor
By 44 BCE – Gaul, Macedonia, All of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt,
North Africa
Yellow indicates borders
in 44 BCE
“Business” of Rome was:
War
Conquest
Slaves
Plunder
Forced Trade
Monopolies
Roman Trading Partners
Political Unrest at Home
2nd Punic War destroyed many farms
Wealthy took over many farms
Some Romans gain great wealth
while some suffer
Soldiers are out of work or dead
Farmers are undercut by:
•Cheap imported grain
•Large farms
•Imported slave labor
Unemployed farmers move
to cities – few jobs available
People also upset by slave revolt
(“I am Spartacus”)
Rome's large population of slaves caused other problems.
Most slaves were treated terribly by their Roman masters.
Desperate for freedom, the slaves, led by Spartacus, rebelled for
two years.
Death of Spartacus
Some try reforms, but are
murdered
Political power by city mobs
This sets the stage for the
rise of a military dictator.