Rome Study Guide
Geography of Italy:
 Peninsula
 Alps mountains are its northern boarder
 Apennines mountains run the length of Italy from north to south
 Made it hard for people to go from one side of Italy to the other
 Rome lies near the Tiber river and was built on seven hills for protection
Climate
 warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters
 Similar to climate in southern California
 Grapes and olives grow well there
Etruscans:
 Etruscan kings ruled over the people in Rome
 Built temples and Rome’s first sewer system
 Introduced the alphabet and numbers to the Romans
 Romans overthrew the last Etruscan king who was cruel and set up a republic in its place
Roman Republic: (509 B.C.)
 Republic is a type of government where people elect leaders to govern them
 Elected officials came from a small group of wealthy and powerful Romans
 Early on, the Romans elected people to rule the city for only one year so they would not
get too much power
 During times of war, the Romans chose a dictator to rule them
 Dictators could only stay in power for a maximum of six months
Roman citizens:
 Plebeians: common people
 Majority of the population
 Eventually gained a right to participate in the government (494 B.C.)
 Many wealthy because they could be traders
 Patricians: nobles, upper class
 Wealthy, powerful, small part of the population
 Originally controlled all parts of the government
Roman Government:
 Developed a government of three parts called a tripartite government
 Magistrates:
 Elected officials with the two most powerful called consuls
 Consuls elected each year, ran the city and led the army
 Had two so one could not have all the power
 All other magistrates elected for one year and did various jobs like judges
 Senate:
 Council of wealthy and powerful Romans who advised the consuls
 Held office for life
 Eventually became the most powerful branch
 Assemblies and Tribunes:
 Protected rights of common people (plebeians)
 Assemblies main job was to elect the magistrates who ran the city
 Tribunes had the ability to veto (reject) laws of other government officials
 Tribunes were elected by the plebeians and were in office only one year
 Government had checks and balances
 Method of stopping one branch of government or person from getting all the power
 Rome’s laws were originally not written down and only the patricians knew them
 Over time, plebeians forced the patricians to write the laws down
 Laws were written down on 12 bronze tablets known as the Twelve Tables
 Twelve Tables were placed in Rome’s forum which was Rome’s
public meeting place
Problems in the Late Republic:
 Violence became a political weapon and many people would kill to earn a spot in the
government
 Armies became loyal to their general and not to the republic
 Generals used their armies to gain political power (Lucius Sulla, Julius Caesar)
Roman Republic to Roman Empire:
 Julius Caesar marched his army into Rome in 50 B.C and then chased his rival Pompey to
Greece and claimed himself dictator of Rome
 Caesar took power away from the Senate who later killed him
 Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian, and Marc Antony took control of Rome after Caesar’s
death.
 They chased down and killed the murderers of Caesar
 Marc Antony married Octavian’s sister but later divorced her to marry the Egyptian
Cleopatra.
 Octavian was angered and defeated Marc Antony in battle
 In 27 B.C. Octavian was given the name Augustus (means revered
one) and becomes the first Emperor of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire (Beginning):
 First 200 years of Roman Empire was a time of peace and prosperity known as Pax
Romana
 Territory was expanded and surrounded the Mediterranean Sea.
 Everyone traded using the same currency and spoke the same language (Latin)
Roman Achievements
 Invented cement by mixing volcanic ash and rock with lime
 Built their roads in layers and made arched bridges (some are still around today)
 Roads allowed army to quickly move throughout the Empire
 Used the arch to build their aqueducts to bring fresh water from the mountains into Rome
 Latin developed into today’s languages of Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and
Romanian
 Created civil law (law system based on written laws)
Roman Empire (End):
 By 200’s emperors had given up land because the empire was too large and they could
not defend it all.
 Late 200’s emperor Diocletian split the Empire into two halves because he felt it was too
large for one person to rule
 In 476 the last Roman emperor was overthrown by a general of the Goths ending the
western half of the Roman Empire
 Reasons leading up to fall:
 Diseases like the plague killed people
 Empire to large to communicate effectively
 Officials were using threats and bribery to achieve their goals
 Leaders were no longer effective
 Rich people fled to their country estates and hired their own armies to protect their
land
 Invasions from the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Franks
 Increased taxes left people poor
Western Roman Empire:
 Also known as the Byzantine Empire
 Capital was Constantinople
 Held all the wealth from the Roman Empire
 People spoke Greek, not Latin
 Christians in this area formed the Eastern Orthodox Church and did not listen to the Pope
in the West.
 Fell to a group of Muslims called Ottoman Turks in 1453 (lasted almost 1,000 years
longer than Western half of the Roman Empire)
Themes of Social Studies
 Geography: Anything made by the Earth including mountains, rivers, deserts, oceans,
peninsulas, etc.
 Politics: Dealing with rulers and the government of a country, what leaders do, and laws
people follow
 Economics: Dealing with money and trade
 Society/Culture: Dealing with anything done by a society including behavior patterns
and how people do things. Ex. sports, school dances
 Religion: Dealing with beliefs, ideas, and people surrounding religion
 Technology/innovation: Dealing with new ideas, inventions, and creations people use