The Roots of Roman Civilization
How did the Roman civilization begin?
The early history of Rome is not fully known by historians today, but they do know some details. Historians agree that Rome began as a small
collection of towns along the banks of the Tiber River in the center of the Italian Peninsula. Other stories about the founding of Rome come from
the Romans themselves.
According to the legends and stories written by Roman historians and poets, the founding of Rome began with Aeneas, a hero of the Trojan War.
The Roman writer Virgil described this story in an epic poem called The Aeneid. According to the poem, after Troy was destroyed, Aeneas left the
city and settled in central Italy. He lived among the people who had already settled in this area, known as the Latins. The Latins
providedAeneas with input on their style of government and taught him their namesake language, Latin, which later became the empire’s official
language. He married the daughter of the king, and his descendants eventually became rulers of the region. Two of Aeneas’s descendants, the
twins Romulus and Remus, were abandoned at birth and rescued and raised by a she-wolf. As an adult, Romulus returned to the place where he
had been rescued as a baby. There, he built a city and named it Rome.
This legend of Rome’s founding ties the ancestry of Romulus and Remus to the Greek hero Aeneas. This is one of many ties between the history
of Rome and the history of Greece. The ancient Romans greatly admired the ancient Greeks. Roman cultural and political life was heavily
influenced by the Greeks, and by the Greek colonists who had settled on the Italian peninsula. The Romans adopted and adapted aspects of Greek
religion and political philosophy. They were also influenced by a group of people called the Etruscans, who had already settled this area of Italy.
The Roman Republic
What form of government was established after the king was removed from power?
After Tarquinius Superbus was removed from power, the Roman people needed a new form of government. In approximately 509 BCE, the Romans
established a republic. Arepublic is a form of government in which people elect their leaders. Rome was not ademocracy as we know it today,
however, because not all of the people were allowed to participate fully in the new government.
Roman society consisted of three social classes. These classes were the patricians, the plebeians, and the slaves. The patricians consisted of priests,
government officials, and wealthy landowners and were considered upper class. The plebeians were common people, such as artisans, laborers,
and farmers. Slaves were usually people who were captured in war, and did not have any role in government.
In the early Roman Republic plebeians could vote, but only the patricians could hold office. The plebeians resented this, so in 494 BCE, they
threatened to create a new city with its own government. This action forced the patricians to agree to change Rome’s government. Over time, the
plebeians fought and won the right to take part in many parts of the government.
Directions: Take notes below about what you read about the Rome’s
Founding and the Roman Republic.
The Rise of
Rome
Rome’s
Founding
Roman
Republic