THE RISE OF ROME
THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME
• Rome developed along the Tiber river,
a strategic location with fertile soil
• Earliest settlers arrived 1000-500 BCE
LATINS, GREEKS, AND ETRUSCANS WILL ALL
INHABIT THE PENINSULA
• 1000 BCE Latins arrive and build the original
settlement of Rome, a cluster of huts on top of
one of the seven hills
• They were the first Romans
• 750-600 BCE Greeks established colonies and
taught Romans how to grow grapes and olives
• Etruscans were native to northern Italy and
influence Roman civilization with the alphabet,
arches, engineering, and metalwork
• Romans borrow religious ideas from Greeks
and Etruscans
THE EARLY REPUBLIC
• 600 BCE an Etruscan became king
• Rome grew from villages to a city under the
Etruscan kings
• 509 BCE last king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud,
overthrown by Roman aristocrats, who resented
foreign rule
• Establish a republic, a form of government in
which power rests with citizens who have the
right to vote to select their leaders
• In Rome citizenship with voting rights was
granted only to free born male citizens
PATRICIANS AND PLEBIANS
• Patricians- aristocratic land owners who
held most of the power
• Plebeians- common people- farmers,
artisans, merchants who made up most
of the population
• Citizens who could vote but not hold
government positions
• Senate eventually allowed the plebeians
to form their own assembly and elect
representatives called tribunes
THE TWELVE TABLES
• 451 BCE officials wrote down Rome’s
laws in twelve tablets or tables and
hung them in the Forum
• Became the basis of Roman law
• Established the idea that all free citizens
had the right to protection of the law
THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT
• By 1st C BCE Romans claimed they had a
balanced government
• Rome had two consuls in place of a king who
directed the army and government but their
power was limited
• Senate was the aristocratic branch of Roman
government
• Had administrative and legislative functions
• 300 members
• Lifetime appointment
• Influenced foreign and domestic policy
• Assemblies
• More democratic side of gov
• Less power than the senate
• Later it won the right to make laws
• Republic could appoint a dictator in
times of crisis
• Lasted only for six months
• Chosen by consuls and elected by the
Senate
THE ROMAN ARMY
• All citizens who owned land were
required to serve in the army
• Soldiers organized into large units
called legions (5,000 soldiers)
• Legions further divided into centuries,
which could act independently
• Legions supported by cavalry
• The flexibility and strength of the army
led to Rome’s rise to power
ROME CONQUERS ITALY
• by 4th C BCE Rome dominated central Italy
• 390 BCE Gauls, Celtic people living the Po River
valley, sacked Rome
• Romans retaliated and went on to conquer the
Etruscans and Greeks so by 265 BCE Rome had
control over almost all of Italy
• Treatment of conquered people varied but was
overall lenient, which helped Rome’s growth
• Latins on the Tiber became full citizens
• Territories far from Rome were given all rights of
citizenship except the right to vote
• Allies of Rome were left alone as long as they sent
troops for the army and did not befriend other states
ROME’S COMMERCIAL NETWORK
• Rome benefitted from good land and
sea trade
• Traded mostly wine and olive oil for
other goods
• Carthage competed with Rome for
control over the Mediterranean (this
would eventually lead them into war)
PUNIC WARS
• 264 Rome and Carthage go to war =
Punic Wars
• 1st war 264-241 BCE
• Carthage defeated and Rome gets
Sicily, which was its first overseas
province
2ND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 BCE
• Carthaginian general Hannibal wanted
to avenge Carthage’s earlier defeat
• Hannibal invaded northern Italy and
inflicted major losses on the Romans
• Scipio – Roman general to match
Hannibal- devised a plan to attack
Carthage, which made Hannibal return
to Carthage
• Carthage finally defeated
3RD PUNIC WAR 149-146 BCE
• Romans laid siege to Carthage in
revenge for earlier destruction during
the 2nd war
• 146 Romans lit the city on fire and sold
its inhabitants into slavery
• Carthage was made into the new
province of Africa
ROME CONTROLS THE MEDITERRANEAN
• Victory in the Punic wars led to
dominance in the western
Mediterranean
• Rome then took control of Macedonia,
Greece, and parts of Anatolia
• By 70 BCE Rome’s empire stretched
from Anatolia to Spain