From Village to Empire
Legend
Abandoned on the Tiber River and raised by a SheWolf, the twin sons of the god Mars and a Latin
princess decide to build a city near this spot.
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Developed because of
strategic location
Fertile soil important
to the agriculture
Built among seven
hills along a bend in
the Tiber River
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The Seven Hills of Rome east of the Tiber
form the heart of Rome. The Seven Hills
of early Rome – the Cermalus, Cispius,
Fagutal, Oppius, Palatium, Sucusa and
Velia – figured prominently in Roman
mythology, religion, and politics. The
original city was held by tradition to have
been founded by Romulus on the Palatine
Hill. The other six are now the Aventine,
the Capitoline , the Quirinal , the Viminal
, the Esquiline and the Caelian.
The hills of Rome were of great strategic
importance because of their height and
position. They have gradually been cut
away and built over although they are
still evident to the expert eye.
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Midway between the
Alps and Italy’s
southern tip
Located midpoint in
the Mediterranean Sea
“Not without reason did gods and men choose this spot for the site of our city…the river
brings us produce from the inland regions and sea-borne commerce from abroad, the sea
Itself, near enough for convenience yet not so near as to bring danger from foreign fleets
, our situation in the very heart of Italy…all these advantages make it of all places in the
world the best for a city destined to grow great” – LIVY, The Early History Of Rome
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Three groups
inhabited the region
and battle for control:
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Latins
Greeks
Etruscans
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Skilled metal workers
and engineers
System of writing
Architecture
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Greeks settle between
750 and 600 B.C
Settle along southern
coast and Sicily
Develop prosperous
and commercial activity
Teach Romans to grow
olives and grapes
Romans borrow
religious ideas
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The Early Romans
accept an Etruscan
monarchy
Under this leadership
Rome grows from
swamp village to a
major city
Tarquin the Proud is
the last king of Rome
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Tarquin the Proud
was a harsh tyrant
Driven from Rome in
509 B.C. by wealthy
landowners who
resented his heritage
Romans declare they
will never be ruled by
a king again
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The Latin term res publica (from
which comes the word
“republic”) is usually translated
as “state” or “commonwealth”.
At no time was Rome a
democracy (that is, rule by the
people) in the Greek, or true,
sense. Its society was rigidly
divided by legal status (free or
enslaved) and by class.
Free men or women were
further classified, for example,
according to whether they were
so by birth or by release from
slavery, were Roman citizens or
Latins, or were independent or
answerable to a guardian or
other person in authority.
PATRICIANS
PLEBIANS
WOMEN
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Women could not
partake in government
decisions, office or
voting
Slaves made up 1/3 of
population
Slave mostly war
captives who were soley
owned by citizens and
had no rights
SLAVES
PATRICIANS VS. PLEBIANS
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Patricians inherited their
power and social status
Ancestry gave patricians
authority
Plebeians were citizens
w/ rights to vote
Barred from holding office
Tribunes were finally
developed to protect the
rights of plebeians from
unfair patricians
•Rome claim a balanced
government
•Consuls (leaders) were limited in
power
•Limited terms
•Senate represented Aristocrats of
society
•Senators were in office for life
(continuity)
•Major influence
•Centuriate / Tribune Assemblies
•Tribal Assembly represented the
Plebeians and made laws for the
common people
•In times of crisis, a Dictator
assumed absolute power for six
months
•A plebeian named Terentilius proposed
in 462 BC that an official legal code
should be published, so that plebeians
could not be surprised and would know
the law.
•Like most other early codes of law,
they combine strict and rigorous
penalties with equally strict and
rigorous procedural forms.
Senatus Populusque Romanus
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All citizens required to serve in
the army – Citizen Soldier
Military units = Legions (5,000)
Legions divided into smaller
groups of 80 = Century
Organization/fighting skills
were key to Rome’s rise to
greatness
Daily training: swimming,
running, jumping, fencing and
javelin throwing
To secure public office, ten years
of service was required
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Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519
BC) was an ancient Roman political
figure, serving as consul in 460 BC
and Roman dictator in 458 BC and
439 BC
Cincinnatus was regarded by the
Romans as one of the heroes of early
Rome and as a model of Roman virtue
and simplicity
After defeating Rome’s enemies,
Cincinnatus resigns his office and goes
back to being a farmer
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Fight to control Italian
penninsula
Conquer the Etruscans, the
Latins and the Greek City-States
in the south
Good diplomacy with those
conquered – Citizenship and
rights
Good location = Good Trade
Built infrastructure to support
trade
War with Carthage: The Punic
Wars
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The main cause of the Punic Wars was
the clash of interests between the
existing Carthaginian Empire and the
expanding Roman Republic.
The Romans were initially interested in
expansion via Sicily
At the start of the first Punic War,
Carthage was the dominant power of the
Western Mediterranean
By the end of the third war, after more
than a hundred years and the deaths of
many hundreds of thousands of soldiers
from both sides, Rome had conquered
Carthage's empire and razed the city,
becoming the most powerful state of the
Western Mediterranean.
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Hannibal was a master strategist who
knew that the Roman cavalry was, as a
rule, weak and vulnerable. He therefore
enlisted superior cavalry into his
armies, with devastating effect on the
Roman legions.
Hannibal surprised the Romans in
218 BC by directly invading Italy
after traversing the alps with, most
famously, two dozen African war
elephants
Although Hannibal surprised the
Romans and thoroughly beat them
on the battlefields of Italy, he could
not invade the crucial city of Rome
itself, thus making him unable to
draw the war to a decisive close.
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Rome’s victories in
the Punic Wars give it
dominance in the
Mediterranean world
Rome conquers the
eastern half
Rome’s empire
expands from Spain
and Britain to Asia
Minor