Ancient Rome Study Guide for World History
1. Italy is located in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. Rome is inland from the west-central
coast of Italy along the Tiber River. The Alps (a mountain range) lie to the north of Italy. The
Apennine Mountains run north to south in Italy. Italy, like Greece is prone to earthquakes and
volcanoes. A volcanic eruption in 79 C.E. covered the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash
freezing people and artifacts in time. This has been a great source of information about the
ancient Romans.
2. The Romans copied a lot from the Greeks, such as their gods, architectural styles, and epic
poetry.
3. Early Roman History Dates
a. 753 B.C.E.: Rome is founded by Romulus and Remus (a legend)
b. 753 - 509 B.C.E.: Regal period (Etruscan kings rule Rome)
c. 509 - 31 B.C.E.: Roman Republic (the Roman Republic its height in 150 B.C.E.)
d. 133 - 31 B.C.E.: The Roman Revolution (civil wars of the First and Second Triumvirates)
4. Roman Empire Dates
a. 27 B.C.E. to 476 C.E.: Roman Empire
b. 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E.: Pax Romana
c. 117 C.E.: Roman Empire reaches its largest size when the emperor Trajan conquered Dachia
(Romania).
5. Roman Decline Dates
a. 200s C.E.: Third Century Crisis ( 20 - 25 emperors in 50 years)
b. Late 200s and early 300s C.E.: The emperors Diocletian and Constantine stabilize the empire
c.300s and 400s C.E.: Germanic barbarians gradually establish a series of Germanic kingdoms in
the Western Roman Empire.
d. 476 C.E. The Roman Empire "falls" in 476 C.E. when the last Roman emperor in the West is
removed from power and not replaced.
e. 476 to 1453 C.E.: The Eastern Roman Empire continues for about 1,000 years after the
Western Roman Empire "falls." Historians call the Eastern Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantines, however, called themselves Romans. The Byzantine Empire's capital was
Constantine's capital (Constantinople).
6. The Romans copied a lot from the Greeks. For example, they copied epic poetry, the Greek
gods and goddesses, Greek architecture and Greek sculptural styles.
7. The poet Vergil wrote the famous Roman epic the Aeneid to connect the history of Rome to the
history of the Greeks and the Trojan War. Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city of
Rome, were descendants of Aeneis, the hero of Vergil's Aeneid.
8. The city of Rome is named after Romulus and was founded in c. 753 B.C.E. It was built among
seven hills. Rich people lived in palaces on the Palatine hill.
9. The Romans were master engineers, as is demonstrated by one of their earliest constructions,
the Cloaca Maxima, a great sewer system in Rome that was only part of the complex Roman
plumbing system.. The Romans built many other great structures including aqueducts, roads,
bridges and amphitheaters (two Greek theaters facing each other). The Romans didn't invent
the arch but, rather, made bigger arches and used them in complex structures. They also
invented waterproof concrete. This was good for structures such as bridges and aqueducts.
They used concrete to make the dome on the pantheon, possibly Rome's greatest temple.
10. The Etruscans were a Greek like people who lived north of Rome and controlled Rome from 753
to 509 B.C.E. Tuscany gets its name from the Etruscans. The Romans got their first taste of
Greek culture from the Etruscans.
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11. The Roman Republic lasted from 509 to 31 B.C.E. It started when the Romans overthrew the last
Etruscan king. During the Struggle of the Orders (494 - 287 B.C.E.), patricians (wealthy people
with important family names) and plebeians (people, rich or poor, without important family
names) vied with each other for political power without resorting to extreme violence. The
plebeians gradually gained several important rights. In 494 B.C.E., the Plebeians gained the
right to form their own assembly called the Council of the Plebeians.. They also got the right to
have officials called tribunes serve as their protectors. Tribunes could stop laws and actions by
government officials that were against the plebeian's interests (veto = I 'forbid'). In 450 and 449
B.C.E., the plebeians got the right to have laws posted (Laws of the Twelve Tables). In 367
B.C.E., Plebeians gained the right to be elected counsels (at least one of two consuls had to be a
plebeian). In 287 B.C.E., the plebeians gained the right to pass laws binding on all people,
including patricians.
12. In the 400s and 300s B.C.E., the Romans expanded their empire throughout Italy.
13. In the 200s and 100s, the Romans fought the Punic Wars against the Carthaginians. The First
Punic War (269 to 241 B.C.E.), the Romans and Carthaginians fought over and won control of
Sicily (their first overseas possession.
14. Another impact of the First Punic War was that the Romans developed a navy.
15. During the Second Punic War, the Romans fought Hannibal, Carthage's great general. Hannibal
led an army that included elephants from Spain and over the Alps into Italy. Early on, he won
several major battles. At the Battle of Cannae (216 B.C.E.), he defeated the Romans with a force
half of their size. During this battle, 45,000 to 70,000 Roman soldiers were killed in one day. His
hesitation to conquer Rome, however, gave the Romans an opportunity to conquer his home
city of Carthage (Tunis, Tunisia). The Romans won the Second Punic War and, as a result,
gained control of the Western Mediterranean region (the main impact of the Punic Wars).
16. The Romans destroyed Carthage during the Third Punic War. Carthage was not a threat at this
point.
17. The Romans conquered most of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the 200s and 100s B.C.E. Octavian
Caesar conquered the last of these kingdoms, Ptolemaic Egypt, in 31 B.C.E. More on this later.
18. The Roman forum was the place where government business took place and religious festivals
were held.
19. The Roman term res publica means "a public thing" and indicates the belief that the Romans
believed that their government should be under the control of the people. The term republic
derives from res publica.
20. In a direct democracy, all citizens can vote on all issues, while in a republican, or representative,
democracy, people elect representatives who vote for them. The idea of a republic comes from
the Romans.
21. Rome's Republican government reached its height in c. 150 B.C.E. This is the Roman
government that the Framers of the U.S. Constitution admired and copied.
22. Almost all Roman officials served one-year terms and served in office with at least one other
person with the same title and powers.
23. 2 consuls acted as commanders in chief (commanded Roman armies). They performed a variety
of other administrative functions. They were similar to the U.S. President. Each consul could
veto (forbid) the actions of the other.
24. Praetors were judges (a bit like the judicial branch of the U.S. government)
25. The Council of the Plebeians and the Senate were like the U.S. Congress. The Council of the
Plebs passed laws only after getting advice from the Senate (the council of 'old men'). The
Senate never passed laws. It simply gave formal advice that the Council of the Plebeians usually
listened to. This was because the Romans greatly respected age, experience (military and
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political) and important family names. The Senate did have other powers including the power to
make foreign policy and control over Rome's finances (the "power of the purse").
The most important reason for the spread of Christianity was that the Romans made
Christianity legal within the Roman Empire and later adopted it as their state religion.
The Roman Revolution refers to a period of civil war in the Roman Empire that stretched on and
off from 133 to 31 B.C.E. It began when the Gracchus brothers tried to pass reforms without
following the traditional unwritten rules governing Roman politics. When the Senate used
extreme violence to stop their reforms, a succession of violent civil wars began.
The first of the two most significant civil wars of the period pitted Julius Caesar against two
other members of an informal political alliance called the First Triumvirate. Julius Caesar won
this civil war but was eventually killed by some senators for having himself named "dictator for
life."
The second of the two most significant civil wars of the Roman Revolution saw Octavian Caesar
fight two other members of the Second Triumvirate. Octavian Caesar, the adopted heir of Julius
Caesar, initially worked with Marc Antony to punish Julius Caesar's killers. Eventually, however,
Octavian got the Roman senate to declare war of Cleopatra, a former lover of Julius Caesar and
the current mother of Marc Antony's children. In effect, Octavian was indirectly declaring war
on Marc Antony. Octavian Caesar defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra during the Battle of
Actium in 31 B.C.E. and chased them to Alexandria, Egypt where he found that they had
committed suicide.
Though defeating Marc Antony in 31 B.C.E. made Octavian Caesar the most powerful man in the
Roman Empire, it took him a number of years to consolidate his power. In 27 B.C.E., the Roman
Senate named him Augustus ("exalted one"). We say this is the beginning of the Roman
Empire.
Augustus did not want to get assassinated, so he acted as if he was working within the old
republican system. He called himself princeps ("first citizen") and lived modestly for his status
to make it seem like he was doing this. Princeps is the origin of the word prince. He ruled for 45
years (31 B.C.E. to 14 C.E.) and is considered one of Rome's most effective leaders.
Augustus' lengthy rule stabilized the Roman Empire. The precedents he set while ruling were
followed by future emperors. As a result, a period of peace and prosperity called the Pax
Romana started with Augustus' rule and lasted from 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. Another one of
Augustus' titles was imperator (general). This is where the words empire and emperor come
from.
To keep the masses content, Roman emperors began providing bread and circuses. This means
provided food and public entertainments such as gladiator fights and chariot races. The most
famous amphitheater gladiators fought in was the Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheater (built
from 70 - 80 C.E. Its design is based on the idea of having two Greek theaters facing each other.
The Roman Empire reached its greatest size in 117 C.E. when the emperor Trajan conquered
Dachia (Romania).
The Third Century Crisis refers to a period in the 200s C.E. when there were 20 - 25 emperors in
50 years. Al l but one emperor died violently. This political turmoil was caused by major
economic and social problems in the empire.
The emperors Diocletian and Constantine brought stability back to the Roman Empire in the
late 200s and early 300s C.E.
Diocletian is famous for being the last emperor to undertake an empire-wide persecution of
Christians. He also reorganized the Roman Empire into provinces called dioceses. The Roman
Catholic Church would use these dioceses as the basis for their bishops' areas of religious
jurisdiction.
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38. Constantine moved the Roman Empire's capital to Byzantium, a Greek fishing village along the
Bosporus, a narrow strait between Europe and Asia next to the Black Sea. He renamed this city
Constantinople. This city was in the richer half of the Roman Empire.
39. Constantine had a religious experience before a major battle and won the battle. As a result, he
heavily promoted Christianity within the Roman Empire. First, he made Christianity legal within
the Roman Empire through the Edict of Milan (313 C.E.). He didn't make it the state religion
because he knew many important Romans still believed in the old Roman gods. He also had
great Christian churches built on important holy sites. For example, he ordered the
construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem where, according to Christians,
Jesus Christ was buried and entombed. This is the holiest site for Christians. He also ordered the
construction of St. Peters' Basilica in Rome where, according to Christians, the Tomb of St.
Peter is located.
40. St. Peter was one of Jesus' apostles who was the first Bishop of Rome. Later Bishops of Rome
were called popes (a loving name that means father and is not an official title). Popes justified
their leadership of the church by saying they were successors to Peter (the Doctrine of Petrine
Succession) and by arguing that other important bishops went to them to resolve important
church disputes.
41. The apostle (original follower) of Jesus who convinced Christians to allow gentiles (non-Jews) to
convert to Christianity was Paul.
42. The Roman emperor Theodosius I through a series of acts in the late 300s made Christianity the
official, or state, religion of the Roman Empire.
43. Over time, a hierarchy (or "holy government") developed in the Roman Catholic Church.
This church government was modeled after the government of the Roman Empire.
44. The Romans controlled the southern part of the island of Great Britain from 43 to 409 C.E. They
left Britain because Germanic barbarians threatened the core of their empire in mainland
Europe.
45. The Roman Empire in the West (Western Roman Empire) "fell" in 476 C.E. when the last Roman
emperor was removed from power and not replaced.
46. In reality, the Roman Empire didn't "fall." It, rather, gradually evolved into a series of Germanic
kingdoms that blended the Roman legacy, Germanic culture and Roman Catholic beliefs. This
process happened from about 300 to 650 C.E.
47. The great Roman temple famous for its huge concrete dome is the Pantheon.
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