The Roman Republic
Objectives for this section:
• Know the shift of Rome’s government from monarchy
to republic and what the cause of this shift was.
• Know the differences among the classes (patrician,
plebian, et al)
• Know the basic structure of the Roman republican
government and the checks and balances each division
had on the others.
• Know what the Punic Wars are and between whom they
were fought and why.
• What caused each war and what was the aftermath?
• Who’s Hannibal?
• Why was Cannae important?
• What’s the overall result of all the Punic Wars?
509 B.C. Rome becomes a
republic.
218 B.C. In the Second
Punic War, Hannibal
invades Italy.
284 Diocletian, who will
divide the Roman Empire,
becomes emperor.
A.D.
500 B.C.
264 B.C.
The First Punic War with
Carthage begins.
44 B.C. Conspirators
kill Julius Caesar.
476 Western Roman
Empire falls with the ouster
of the last emperor, Romulus
Augustulus.
A.D.
Rome’s
growth
and
decline
over the
years.
According to legend, Rome was founded Romulus and
Remus, twin sons of Mars
• Mars raped their mother who happened to be a Vestal
virgin. She was buried alive as punishment. R and R
were supposed to be exposed, but the servant left
them on the bank of the Tiber instead. It flooded and
they floated away.
• Went downriver, were rescued and raised by she-wolf.
• In a dispute over where to put the city, Romulus slew
Remus.
• Romulus proceeded to name it after himself, set up all
of its institutions, and attracted to it people who
needed a fresh start… which typically meant criminals.
• When women ran short, he just kidnapped 700 from
the neighboring Sabines.
• According to the Roman historian Livy, though, they
were treated well and weren’t assaulted.
In reality, people had been living in the region for a while.
• The area where Rome was defensible due to the hills
and was surrounded by a fertile plain
• The Tiber river was also navigable from the sea to
there and had a low point where it could be forded
• According to legend, Romulus founded Rome in 753
BC. Probably not Romulus, but archaeology suggests it
was indeed founded in the middle of the 8th century BC.
The early Romans
were strongly
influenced by
those around
them.
• There were
Etruscans to the
north, Latins to the
east, and Greeks
along the coast.
Rome, in the beginning, was a monarchy
• According to ancient sources, there were only seven
kings in 243 years, which gives an average reign of 35
years – far longer than the norm.
• There were probably more kings, but contemporary
records no longer exist.
• He was apparently elected (proposed by the Senate
and voted on by the Assembly) and the line wasn’t
entirely hereditary.
• King was the head of the religion and held most of the
power.
• There was the Senate and the Curiate Assembly, but
they had little power.
The kings were of varying quality, but most decent.
• They gradually expanded Rome’s power and territory.
• One king, Tarquinius Priscus, put in the first sewer
system, drained a swamp, and built the Circus
Maximus.
• The last king was Tarquinius Superbus. He was a jerk.
• He was Priscus’s son, but wasn’t elected to the
throne. He eventually had the elected king, Servius,
assassinated with the help of his wife, Servius’s own
daughter. After he was dead, she drove over his
body with a chariot.
• He also repealed popular reforms and was rather
violent. The Senate finally succeeded in expelling
him in 510 BC.
Tarquin the Proud
equals
Grand Moff Tarkin?!
Some speculate so (but probably a coincidence).
After getting rid of Tarquin the Jerk, the Senate decided it
had had enough of kings and reformed Rome into a
Republic 509 BC.
• Some speculation this was a backdate so that
republican Rome predated Cleisthenes’ Athens.
• That way, Rome (which had a cultural inferiority
complex towards Greece) could claim it was the first
democracy.
There were several classifications of people in Rome:
patricians, plebians, allies, and slaves.
• The patricians were the traditional wealthy aristocrats.
• Plebians were the average joe farmers and artisans.
Both patricians and plebians were citizens.
• Allies were native people of conquered territories.
They had a limited form of citizenship
• Slaves had no rights at all. They were purely property.
The patricians initially formed a kind of a republican
oligarchy.
• The plebians didn’t like this and threatened to secede
from Rome on several occasions and so established the
tribunes, who were tasked with protecting plebian
rights. If they thought a pleb was being oppressed,
they could say, “Veto,” which means, “I forbid it.”
So instead of a king, they had two consuls
• Kinda like the two Spartan kings, by having two men in
charge instead of one, you resist tyranny.
• Each consul had to consult the other before acting and
one could veto the other.
• Were patricians elected to one year terms
• Supreme commanders of the military
• Took care of daily affairs and kept other officials in line.
Also presided over the Senate.
• Would join the Senate at the expiration of their term,
so it was in their interests to cultivate good relations
with that body.
• Later, proconsuls were created – consuls whose terms
could be extended due to military matters, such as
leadership continuity during a war.
A dictator could be appointed to a six month term.
• Had supreme power and could override the consuls.
• Appointed in times of crisis.
The Senate
• A body of 300 patricians from the wealthiest families.
• Served for life.
• Advised consuls, approved projects, did foreign policy.
• Was the main power in Rome.
Centuriate Assembly
• Composed of citizen-soldiers by class.
• Appointed consuls.
• Votes weren’t individual votes. Individual votes
contributed to how the class decided. The upper
classes’ votes had more weight. Thus, it was still
patrician-controlled.
Tribal Assembly
• Included both patricians and plebians.
• People were split up depending on where they lived –
into one of 35 different tribes.
• The tribes were determined by geography and not
by population.
• Each tribe had one vote.
• Since the majority of people lived in one of Rome’s four
urban tribes, that meant the 31 rural tribes had more
influence.
• The tribal assembly grows in power and eventually
makes most of the laws.
• Also elected the tribunes.
The Twelve Tables
• The first codification of Roman law.
• Made around 450 BC in response to plebians’
complaints that the patricians were forming and
interpreting laws to their own benefit.
• They were written down on 12 bronze tablets that were
posted in the Roman forum.
• More a listing of rights than formal laws.
• For something so important, we oddly don’t know what
the exact text was, but we can piece a lot of it together
from fragments.
Here’s a sampling from the Twelve Tables:
• If someone is called to go to court, he is to go. If he
doesn't go, a witness should be called. Only then
should he be captured. If he shirks or flees, he should
be captured. If illness or old age is an impediment, let
him be given a carriage. If he doesn't want it, it should
not be covered.
• An obviously deformed child must be put to death.
• If a father sells his son into slavery three times, the
son shall be free of his father.
• If a person dies intestate without heirs, the nearest
male kinsman shall inherit. If there is no near male
kinsmen, his clansmen shall inherit.
• If one has maimed another and does not buy his
peace, let there be retaliation in kind.
• Someone who breaks another's bone by hand or club
must pay 300 sesterces; for a slave, 150; if he has
done simple harm against another, 25.
• No dead man may be cremated nor buried in the City.
• Marriages between plebeians and patricians are
forbidden.
• Men in the army may not wed until training is
complete.
• Someone who has brought a false claim shall be
brought before three judges, and shall pay a double
penalty.
The Roman system had a series of checks and balances
among the different entities.
• This carries over today.
Punic Wars
• In 390 BC, however, Rome was sacked by the Gauls.
• In response, Rome gradually expanded its power over
Italy and conquered its neighbors. By 265 BC, it
controls Italy and has a significant trade empire in the
Mediterranean.
• Its growing power naturally puts it in conflict with
Carthage, the dominant Mediterranean city at the time.
When interests among power conflict, war happens.
• Rome and Carthage fought three different wars, called
the Punic Wars because the Latin term for a
Carthaginian was Punici.
They weren’t all that far apart.
Note the artificial
harbor. A remarkable
achievement.
Then
Merchant harbor
Warship harbor
Now
The warship island.
A warship slip
• It ain’t just ancient. Compare…
German U-Boat
pens from World
War II
First Punic War
• 264-241 BC
• While war between Rome and Carthage was probably
inevitable, the spark was a power struggle in Sicily.
• It was under the control of Carthage, but Rome
backed a rebellion and sent in its forces.
Carthage’s areas of influence before the First Punic War.
• Fighting was initially restricted to Sicily, but Rome then
took the fight to Carthage. The Romans built a huge
naval force of warships and troop transports and began
attacking Carthage’s North African cities and
countryside.
• This force was eventually defeated by a Spartan
mercenary general. That and Carthage regained
control over Sicily. But the key was the naval
battles.
• Carthage was master of the seas. Rome, though, as
usual, adapted nicely.
• They copied some Carthaginian designs and also
introduced the corvus.
• The corvus was a rotating bridge with spikes on the
end. The Romans would maneuver close to an
enemy ship, drop the bridge into the deck of the
enemy, locking the two ships together.
• Roman marines would then cross over the bridge
and get to fighting.
• It did cause some problems, though, since it
made the ship more unstable.
• Despite the naval copying and innovation, and because
of some bad luck from the weather, Roman fleets were
destroyed and Carthage took the upper hand.
• The Carthaginians, thinking the war over, started
demobilizing. Rome took advantage, rebuilt its
fleets and annihilated Carthage’s fleet.
• Both sides were ready for the war to be over as they
both suffered heavily. Over 50,000 Romans had died
and a great deal of money spent.
• Rome, however, had the upper hand and could dictate
terms to Carthage… and the terms were heavy.
• Carthage had to cede Sicily and most other of its
Mediterranean islands to Rome.
• Roman prisoners were to be returned while
Carthaginians prisoners had to be ransomed.
• Carthage had to pay Rome an exorbitant sum of
money (2,200 talents of gold).
• Aftermath
• Rome was ruler of the seas.
• Carthage was now second-rate. It was also
humiliated.
• The victor’s peace imposed upon Carthage hindered
its recovery and fueled resentment, which led to the
Second Punic War.
Second Punic War
• 218-202 BC
• Carthage was angry over its treatment by Rome after
the First Punic War.
• Also, to pay off the reparations, it had to get the
money from somewhere, so it expanded its power in
Spain.
• The Carthaginian general
Hamilcar Barca began the
conquering of Spain and
then it fell to his son
Hannibal.
• Hannibal especially hated
the Romans.
• He attacked a Roman ally
in Spain as well as
making other provocative
moves and Rome
declared war on
Carthage.
• Hannibal gradually advance towards Italy, subduing
people along the way by force or diplomacy.
• He had around 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry and
some war elephants.
• He crossed his force over the Alps… in winter. Did I
mention he had elephants? This was an amazing feat
and caught the Romans flat-footed. They had expected
to fight Hannibal in Spain and had even sent forces
there.
• A chunk of his forces died along the way, though.
• Suddenly, the enemy was in Rome’s back yard. You
have to understand how this felt to Rome’s mentality.
• Hannibal got the support of rebellious locals and was
good at avoiding battles. When he did fight, he pasted
the Romans.
• He was a military genius and the generals sent
against him weren’t.
The Battle of Trebia is an example.
• The worst defeat, though, was the Battle of Cannae on
8/2/216 BC
• Nearly 87,000 Romans engaged around 55,000 of
Hannibal’s troops. Rome had never before fielded
such an army.
• Hannibal, being a military genius, developed a
cunning plan. He was helped by the stupid Roman
commander.
• Though the Romans had more soldiers and so could
have had a longer, flanking line of troops, they were
arrayed with depth such that the line stretched
about as long as Hannibal’s. The idea was to break
through Hannibal’s center.
The initial set up
• Hannibal put
his weaker
troops in his
center and his
good troops on
the flanks.
• When the
Romans
attacked, they
gradually drove
back
Hannibal’s
center. This
was intentional
on Hannibal’s
part.
Hannibal also had an advantage in sun and wind.
• Once the Romans drove in, the superior troops on the flanks
closed in while the cavalry swung around and attacked the Roman
rear. The Roman force was completely enveloped and they were
slaughtered. Their massed forces also made it impossible to
maneuver and the slaughter was made worse by panic (as usual).
Hannibal counting the rings of
defeated Roman elites that he
sent back to Carthage as
proof of his victory.
• About 60,000 of the original 87,000 Roman troops
were killed, including a consul and 80 senators.
Nearly 600 legionaries were killed per minute.
• Another 10,000 were taken prisoner. That means
only about 17,000 made out of Cannae alive and
free. About 80% of Rome’s overall military was
gone.
• It’s one of the greatest tactical defeats in history
as well as one of the greatest losses of life in a
single battle.
• To compare:
• U.S. WWI battle deaths: 53,402
• Over two years and was 1.1% of total
service member.
• U.S. WWII battle deaths: 291,557
• That’s over four years in two theaters of
operation. It’s also 1.8% of the total
service members.
• Iraq War battle deaths: about 3,500 so far
• Over 4.5 years and is about 0.3% of the
total service members.
• After Cannae, the Romans were terrified and didn’t
know what to do. Furthermore, many of Rome’s
regional allies decided to side with Hannibal and
Carthage.
• They were also shocked. Everyone in Rome
either knew or was related to someone lost at
Cannae.
• Hannibal opted not to attack Rome directly, thinking
he wouldn’t be able to take the fortified city.
• He offered reasonable peace terms to Rome. Rome,
even though it was on the ropes, refused Hannibal’s
offer in true Roman style.
• Rome drew up a new army, enlisting a good chunk of
the male populace. The word ‘peace’ was prohibited
and only women could shed tears in public.
• Instead of engaging Hannibal in big battles, they
merely harassed him in Italy and denied him the
supplies he needed. Whenever he could get the
Romans to attack, he always beat them.
• Meanwhile, Rome took the war to Carthage.
• They attacked Carthaginian forces in Spain,
Carthage’s main source of wealth, which prompted
Carthage to send reinforcements and supplies there
instead of to Hannibal.
• They also attacked Carthage’s allies in Sicily and
Macedon.
• While Hannibal was the better of any Roman
commander, he’s gradually worn down by the
Romans attacking his support system and supply
lines.
• Finally, Scipio, who was successful in Spain, is elected
consul and he takes an army to North Africa.
• Carthage recalled Hannibal from Italy in 203 BC to
face the threat.
• Scipio defeated Hannibal in the Battle of Zama
(finally!).
• Scipio comes back a hero and is given the name
Scipio Africanus Major.
Scipio on coin and
as bronze bust.
• On the brink of destruction, Carthage sues for peace.
• Rome again imposes a victor’s peace:
• Spain becomes Rome’s.
• Carthage has to pay a lot in reparations.
• Its navy can only have 10 ships to fight pirates.
• It couldn’t raise an army without Rome’s
blessing.
• Carthage, once proud and powerful, is essentially
reduced to a Roman client state.
Third Punic War
• 149-146 BC
• While Carthage had been stripped of most of its power,
its continued existence made many Romans uneasy.
They had, after all, fought two wars with Carthage and
the barbarians had been at the gates of Rome itself.
• Another problem was that when a border dispute arose
between Carthage and its neighbor Numidia, the
Roman Senate kept finding in Numidia’s favor.
• Carthage was also raising an army in order to deal
with Numidian incursions. But, even though it was
defensive, it was still a no-no under the terms of the
treaty.
• Rome also insisted on Carthage continuing to pay its
annual tribute even though the reparations had, by 151
BC, all been paid back under the terms that ended the
Second Punic War.
• Some Romans openly agitated for war.
• The great statesmen Cato would end his Senate
speeches with “Carthago delenda est,” or “Carthage
must be destroyed.”
• He had also traveled to Carthage in 157 BC and
feared what he saw as growing prosperity there.
• In one dramatic act, he flung ripe figs from a fold
in his toga, declaring they had been plucked in
Carthage just two day ago.
• What do you think this was supposed to
illustrate?
• So Rome engages in a pre-emptive war against
Carthage.
• It may not have been unfounded. After the Romans
got there, there were indications Carthage was
rearming, especially its navy because its harbor had
been improved.
• Rome beats Carthage and the Carthaginians sue for
peace. Rome keeps giving more conditions until it
finally says the population will have to move inland and
Carthage will be burned.
• The Carthaginians resist, Rome lays siege to
Carthage (it lasts three years), the Romans storm
the city, and Carthage falls.
• The city is razed and burned to the ground. Those
who didn’t die in the siege or the city’s capture are
sold into slavery… about 50,000 people.
• Carthage as it had been ceases to be and it becomes a
Roman province.
• Rome officially takes over the western Mediterranean
as well as North Africa.