Overview of the Roman Republic
I. Review of Pre-Roman events, according to legend
(1184-753 BCE)
 1184 BCE: Trojan War; Aeneas departs Troy, eventually
arrives in Italy, meets Arcadian Evander on the Palatine
Hill; alliance with Latins includes marriage of King Latinus’
daughter Lavinia to Aeneas, war, between Trojan—Latin
alliance and Turnus (Rutulian, allied with Etruscans) ends
in death of Turnus at the hands of Aeneas
 Aeneas and Lavinia found Lavinium
 Ascanius (=Iulus) son of Aeneas founds Alba Longa
 Alban Kings (all had cognomen ‘Silvius’ = “of the woods”;
Numitor and Amulius; Rhea Silvia and Mars beget Romulus
and Remus
 814 traditional date of founding of Carthage by
Phoenician settlers
 753 BCE Romulus kills Remus and founds Rome
II. Roman Monarchy 753-509 BCE (Primary source:
Livy)
Legend of Romulus & Remus (twin grandsons of
Numitor, conceived by Mars & Rhea Silvia, nursed by
she-wolf, reared by king’s shepherd Faustulus and his
wife Larentia [=lupa?]; set out from Alba to found
their own city on site of their exposure; in a dispute
over seniority, Romulus kills Remus; Seven Kings follow:
 Romulus (Latin, 753-716 BCE)
Fortifies the Palatine with wall
Establishes laws
Steals women from Sabines
Archaeological evidence of 2 communities on
the Palatine and Quirinal hills that came
together about this time; perhaps a trace of
truth to Livy’s alternation of Roman and Sabine
kings, as archaeological evidence shows Sabine
influence in early Rome
Numa Pompilius, 2nd king (Sabine 715-673 BCE)
o Legendary for bringing laws and religious
observance
o Establishes calendar with fasti and nefasti
o Establishes priesthoods
o Establishes cult of Vesta (from Alba)
Tullus Hostilius (Latin 673-642)
Ancus Marcius (Sabine 642-617)
L. Tarquinius Priscus first Etruscan king (Etruscan
616-579)
Servius Tullius (Latin 578-535)
L. Tarquinius Superbus (Etruscan 534-510 BCE)
o
o
o
o
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 6th Century BCE: Etruscan Kings governed Rome
(~616-510 BCE)
o Forum laid out as public square
o Archaeological evidence: forum paved, streets
replanned, underground drainage works, 6th
century Etruscan pottery found in forum area
o City planning (pomerium, cardo[main N-S street] &
decumanus [main E-W street])
o Political / social/ military organization
o Augures and haruspices
o Gladiatorial games
o Greek alphabet transmitted by Etruscans to
Latin
o Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline (~510 BCE)
o Under Etruscan kings Rome gained control of
large section of Latium from the Alban Hills
(east) to the Tiber mouth (west)
 End of monarchy
o Livy’s version: Rape of Lucretia by son of
Sextus Tarquinius (son of the king), Brutus
avenges the rape, becomes hero & founder of
Republic
o Archaeological evidence suggests more gradual
decline of Etruscan presence
III. Roman Republic (509 BCE-31 BCE)
 New Constitution; power in hands of Senate
 2 consuls elected annually by Senate—duties
primarily military
 Senate populated by male citizens of aristocratic
families
 System geared for war and founded on ownership of
property
Problems for the new Republic
INTERNAL
5th
Feuds among Patrician
Century families
BCE
494
450
396
390
378
367
343-41
340-38
327-04
300
287
EXTERNAL
Wars in Italy with Latins,
Aequi, Volsci, Etruscans
496 Romans defeat Latin
League
Feuds between Patricians
and Plebeians; Plebian
Assembly & Tribune of
the Plebs established
12 Tables (first law code);
Decemvirate council of 10
assume magistrate power
Rome captures Etruscan
Veii
Celts (=Gauls) sack Rome
(Livy: Juno’s Geese save
the day)
SERVIAN WALL BUILT FOR DEFENSE
Law that one of the 2
Consuls each year must be
Plebeian
1st Samnite War
Latin War: Rome wins
control of Latium; Latin
League dissolved
Appian Way built
2nd Samnite War
Plebeians eligible for all
298-90 3rd Samnite War
religious offices
(extends Roman territory
from Bay of Naples to
the Adriatic
Lex Hortensia: All
by 280: All Etruscans,
decisions of the Plebeian
Assembly are binding on
all Romans
280270
264241
Via Appia extended to
Tarentum
Gauls, and Samnites had
been subdued
281-72: Rome repels
invasion by Pyrrhus
(Pyrrhic victory)
by 281 Rome controls all
of Italy
1st Punic War; Sicily
becomes Rome’s first
province
234-149 BCE: Cato the Elder (famous “Roman
traditionalist”)
254-184 BCE: PLAUTUS WRITING COMEDIES
218201
2nd Punic War: Rome
repels Hannibal’s invasion
of Italy and conquers
much of Spain; Scipio
Africanus defeats
Hannibal at Zama in N.
Africa
184179
Sumptuary legislation
under Cato the Censor
(allusions in Plautus)
149146
3rd Punic War: Romans
destroy Carthage; Africa
becomes Roman province
Temple of Jupiter Stator: Corinth sacked by Rome;
1st marble temple at Rome Greece becomes Roman
province
Pons Aemilia: 1st stone
bridge across Tiber
(Ponte Rotto surviving
146
142
fragment)
135132
by 133
First Sicilian Slave
Revolt; Eunus
Rome controls
Mediterranean world
A. The Late Republic (133-31 BCE): Internal
problems; the “Roman Revolution,”
republic gradually crumbles, replaced by oneman rule
 133
Tiberius Gracchus is tribune; attempts
land reform (read redistribution), angers
his senatorial supporters, and is
assassinated
 123-22 Gaius Gracchus tribune; continues his
brother’s work and is assassinated; efforts
of Gracchi brothers lead to civil strife
that eventually undoes the Republic
 112-105 War with Jugurtha
 109-101 Wars with Cimbri and Teutones
 107-100 Marius reforms Roman army, which now
recruits from non-propertied citizens;
results in dangerously powerful military
generals
 91-89
Social Wars: conflict with Rome’s Italian
allies; Rome wins but Italians are
granted citizenship
 83-79
Civil War: Sulla is dictator; proscriptions
 73-71
Spartacus
 70
Crassus and Pompey ar consuls; Cicero
gains notice through his successful
prosecution of Verres, corrupt Roman
governor of Sicily
 63
Cicero is consul; Julius Caesar elected
pontifex maximus
 62
Pompey returns victorious from campaigns
in the East
 60
Caesar, Crassus, Pompey: First Triumvirate
 59
Caesar is consul
 58-49
Caesar in Gaul
 58-52
Clodius (brother of Catullus’ “Lesbia”) and
Milo stir civil unrest in Rome
 55
Caesar’s daughter Julia, wife of Pompey,
dies; triumvirate weakened
 53
Crassus killed in Mesopotamia; end of First
Triumvirate
 52
Clodius killed by Milo; Pompey sole consul
 51-49
Rome annexes Gaul; concern in Rome about
Caesar’s growing power
 49
Caesar crosses Rubicon, causing civil war;
Pompey flees to Greece
 48-44
Caesar is dictator
 48
Pompey defeated at Parsalus (northern
Greece), then killed in Egypt;
Caesar and Cleopatra meet
 44
Caesar is assassinated; Cleopatra flees
Rome; Octavian named Caesar’s heir
 43
Antony, Octavian, Lepidus: Second
Triumvirate; Cicero proscribed and executed
 42
Brutus and Cassius defeated at Philippi
(Thrace)
 41-30
Antony and Cleopatra
 40
Antony marries Octavia, sister of Octavian
 37-31
strained relations between Octavian and
Antony
 31
Battle at Actium; Antony and Cleopatra are
defeated;
both commit suicide in 30
B. The Early Principate
 27
Octavian named Augustus by Senate
 2 BCE Julia is banished for adulteries
 4 CE
Augustus adopts Tiberius, son of Livia, as
heir
 8
Ovid is banished to Tomis, on the Black
Sea, by Augustus
 14
Augustus dies