Republic to Empire
Successful Strategies
• They believed they were
successful because of their
sense of duty, courage, and
discipline.
• Good diplomats
– Extended citizenship
• Excelled in military matters
• Brilliant strategists
– Colonies, roads
Successful Strategies
• Practical
– Did not try to build ideal govt.
Instead, created political
institutions in response to
problems.
Roman Law
• (450 B.C.) Rome’s first code of
laws was the Twelve Tables.
• Publically displayed.
• Protected rights for patricians
and plebians.
• Included civil law.
• It proved inadequate for later
Roman needs.
Roman Law
• The Law of Nations followed.
– Based on natural law, or reason.
• Standards of justice were
created that applied to all
people.
– Innocent until guilty
– The accused had a right to
defend themselves
– Judge needed to weigh evidence
The First Punic War
• Phoenicians had founded
Carthage around 800 B.C.
• With colonies from Spain to
Sicily, they were the largest
and richest state in the area.
• 264 B.C. war begins between
Carthage and Rome.
• Punicus is the Latin word for
Phoenician.
First Punic War
• Fought at Sicily.
• Romans built a large navy and
won.
• Carthage gave up Sicily and
paid a fine.
• Carthage added new lands in
Spain to make up for loss.
• Rome encouraged Spaniards to
revolt, which led to 2nd war.
Second Punic War
• Hannibal, the greatest
Carthaginian general, entered
Spain and moved east with
46,000 men, horses, and 37
battle elephants.
– Lost elephants crossing the alps.
• (216 B.C.) Romans met
Hannibal head-on and lost an
army of 40,000 men at the
Battle of Cannae.
The Second Punic War
• Although Hannibal remained
free to roam Italy, he had
neither the men nor equipment
to attack major cities.
• Romans rebuilt troops, took
back some cities, pushed
Carthaginians out of Spain,
and invaded Carthage rather
than fight Hannibal in Italy.
Second Punic War
• Carthaginians recalled
Hannibal.
• (202 B.C.) Battle of Zama
– Romans led by Scipio Africanus,
crushed Hannibal’s forces,
ending the war.
• Spain became a Roman
province
More Conquests
• (146 B.C) Carthage was
destroyed in the Third Punic
War.
• Romans burned city for ten
days.
• Inhabitants were sold into
slavery.
• Territory became a province
called Africa.
• Also took Macedonia, Greece,
and Pergamum
• Hannibal the Child Soldier
• Hannibal's War Elephants
• The Death of Hannibal
Growing Unrest
• The backbone of Rome had
been the small farmers.
• However, aristocrats kept
taking land from them by
buying them out and
developing large estates
– Used slave labor
• A new large class of the
landless poor drifted to the
cities.
Growing Unrest
• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
– Brothers that urged the council of
the plebs to pass land-reform
bills.
• Senators, who were large
landowners, had them killed.
• Instability in the govt.
A New Role for the Army
• (107 B.C.) General Marius
began to recruit armies
differently.
– Used volunteers from the urban
and rural poor who owned no
property.
– He promised them land and they
swore an oath to him, not to the
Roman state.
• Army was no longer under
state control.
A New Role for the Army
• Generals were forced to get
into politics to provide land
they needed for veterans.
• General Lucius Cornelius Sulla
followed suit with his new
army.
• Senate gave him command of
Asia Minor.
• Council of Plebs wanted
Marius there instead.
A New Role for the Army
• (82 B.C.) Civil war broke out
and Sulla seized Rome, wiping
out all opposition.
• Restored power to the Senate.
• He set the example of using an
army to seize power.
The First Triumvirate
• (82-31 B.C.) Civil wars.
• Crassus, Pompey, and Julius
Caesar emerge as victors.
• They joined together to form a
triumvirate—a government by
three people with equal power.
• Crassus got killed in battle.
• Senators didn’t want Caesar to
rule so they ‘backed’ Pompey
The First Triumvirate
• They voted for Caesar to lay
down his command.
• He refused and led his army
across the Rubicon, the river
that formed the southern
border of his province.
• The phrase “Crossing the
Rubicon” means to take a
decisive action that cannot be
taken back.
The First Triumvirate
• Pompey’s army gets defeated
by Caesar’s.
– He had complete control.
• (45 B.C.) He was made
dictator, or absolute ruler.
– Usually only a temporary
position
Caesar’s reforms
• Gave land to the poor
• Weakened the Senate
– Increased size to 900 members
– Filled positions with his
supporters
• Introduced solar calendar
• Many Senators thought he had
plans to continue as dictator
– Assassinated
The Second Triumvirate
• Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus
formed second triumvirate.
• Divided the Roman world
– Octavian took east
– Antony took west
– Lepidus lost his power
• Too small for two masters
• Antony allied himself with the
Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII
The Second Triumvirate
• (31 B.C.) Battle of Actium in
Greece.
– Octavian’s forces smashed their
army and navy
• Antony and Cleopatra fled to
Egypt and committed suicide
– Antony by sword
– Cleopatra by poisonous snakes
The Age of Augustus
• Senate awarded Octavian the
title of Augustus—the revered
one.
• They also gave him the title
imperator, or commander in
chief
– English word ‘emperor’ is
derived from this
• He had a large army
– 28 legions of 151,000 men
The Age of Augustus
• He claimed to restore the
republic (though he really
became the first emperor).
• he began a new system for
governing provinces
– Senate no longer appointed
governors to provinces
– Now he appointed deputies
instead
The Age of Augustus
• His attempt to conquer
Germany failed
– General Varus’ troops were
massacred by Germans
– Rome’s power was not
unlimited.
Later Emperors
• Augustus’s new political
system allowed the emperor to
select his successor from his
family.
• Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius,
and Nero followed Augustus.
• They took power from Senate
and became more corrupt
• This leads to civil war where
the Roman legions revolted.
Pax Romana
• Five so-called good emperors
followed
– Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius
Pius, and Marcus Aurelius
• (27 B.C.- 180 A.D.) They ruled
during a 200 year period of
peace and prosperity called the
Pax Romana—the Roman
Peace.
• They adopted capable men as
their sons to be their successors
New Social
Programs
•Built aqueducts,
bridges, roads and
harbor facilities
•Provided state funds to
assist poor parents in the
raising and educating of
their children
Roman aqueduct in Spain