The Legacy of Rome
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Republic Government
Roman Law
Latin Language
Roman Catholic Church
City Planning
Romanesque Architectural Style
Roman Engineering
• Aqueducts
• Sewage systems
• Dams
• Cement
• Arch
The Geography of Rome
Italy in 750 BCE
Influence of the Etruscans
 Writing
 Religion
 The Arch
Etruscans Cont’d
• Very Influenced by Greeks. Had Citystates.
• Men and Women seen as equals
• Aristocratic Society.
• Ruled over Rome (city-state at the time)
• About 509 B.C. the Romans (patricians)
run off Tarquin the Proud.
• Vow to never have a Monarchy again.
• Set up a Republic
The Mythical Founding of
Rome:
Romulus & Remus
Romulus and Remus
• 2 twin brothers. Mother was a Vestile
Virgin.
• Jealous Uncle got rid of them.
• Raised by She-Wolf.
• Go back and kill uncle.
• Set out to build city where they were found
by she-wolf.
• Find 7 hills.
• Romulus kills Remus following a feud.
• Romulus is 1st king of Rome.
• Story Legend? ……or True?
Republican Government
2 Consuls
(Rulers of Rome)
Senate
(Representative body for patricians)
Tribal Assembly
(Representative body for plebeians)
The Twelve Tables, 450
BCE
 Providing political and social
rights for the plebeians.
The Roman Forum
Rome’s Early Road System
Roman Roads
Roman Aqueducts
The Roman Colosseum
The Colosseum Interior
Circus Maximus
Carthaginian Empire
Punic Wars
• Series of 3 different Wars
• 1st was 264- 241 B.C.
– Fought over the island of SICILY.
– Rome had no Navy, but copied a stolen Carthage ship into
their own fleet. Added the Corvus to it.
– Rome’s navy will conquer in the end
– Rome gets Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
• 2nd was 218- 202 B.C.
– Hannibal great leader of the Carthagenians
– Defeated by Scipio.
– Carthage ceded Spain to Rome, paid war tax, limit fleet to
10 ships
• 3rd was 146 – 145 B.C.
– Romans totally destroy Carthage. Pour salt on ground.
– Nothing to grow there.
– Became part of Rome
Hannibal’s Route
Reform Leaders
 Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
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the poor should be given grain and
small plots of free land.
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Both are killed for their reforms
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Gaius Marius
Military Reformer
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recruited an army from the poor
and homeless.
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professional standing army.
People owed allegience to him and
not Rome
The First Triumvirate
 Julius Caesar
 Marcus Licinius Crassus
 Gaius Magnus Pompey
Civil War & Dictators
Julius Caesar
Pompey
Crossing the Rubicon, 49
BC
The Die is Cast!
Julius Caesar Notes
• Joined forces with Crassus and Pompey – 1st
Triumverate.
• Served 1 year as consul, then Governor of
Gaul
• Great General; Loyalty of men
• Pompey becomes Jealous; Crassus Dies.
• Senate orders Caesar to come home.
• Pompey and Caesar battle. Caesar wins 44
B.C.
• Dictator for life in 44 B.C.
• Fed the poor; gave jobs; gave land
• Had an affair with Cleopatra in Egypt
• Senators feared his rise to power.
Beware the Ides of
March! 15
44 BCE
60 Senators decide to kill Caesar.
Main men Brutus; Et Tu Brute!?
The Second
Triumvirate
 Octavian Augustus
 Marc Antony
 Marcus Lepidus
Octavian Augustus:
Rome’s First Emperor
The First Roman
Dynasty
Pax Romana: 27 BCE – 180
CE
Pax Romana
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Stands for “Peace in Rome”
207 year time period
Population= 60-80 million
Size of Empire= 3 million sq. miles
Starts with Augustus
Daily Life in Rome
• Eldest Male= Paterfamilia….could
disown children, sell into slavery,
banish family members
• Women had many rights but can’t
vote
• Noble boys= school; graduate at 16
• Women married between 12-15yrs.
Old
• Coliseum= 50,000 people
• Circus Maximus= 300,000 people
Daily Life Cont’d
• Slaves made to fight Gladiator style
• Honored gods and goddesses of
Greeks; different names
• Rich people ate Ostrich and parrot
tongue pie!?
• Poor were given rations of grain
• 150 days a year were holidays
• Poor offered free games and
gladiator fights; kept them
distracted
• Christianity begins to filter into empire
The Greatest Extent of
the Roman Empire – 14
CE
The Rise of
Christianity
Christianity Basic Beliefs
• Embraced all people
• Gave hope to the powerless
• Appealed to those who did not like
extravagances of Rome
• Personal relationship with God
• Promised eternal life after death
Beginnings of Christianity
• Romans allowed to worship as they
wished as long as they honored Roman
Gods and the Emperor. Contradicts
Christianity
• Zealots(Jewish)= only wanted to worship
their God. Fought against Romans
• Romans destroy their Temple except for
Western Wall= Wailing Wall
• Jews banned from Jerusalem
• Religion spreads with Jesus of Nazareth
Christianity Cont’d
• Jesus traveled countryside teaching to
love God above all else and to love
others
• Roman Gov’t feared Jesus and arrest
and Crucify him
• After his death, Jesus arose and walked
the earth, appearing to followers before
ascending into heaven.
Timeline of Christianity
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6 B.C. Jesus born
1A.D.-----First year in Christian calendar (a.d. = anno Domini)
27-29 A.D.? John the Baptist begins ministry
27-34 A.D. ? Jesus baptized by John the Baptist
33-34 A.D. John the Baptist arrested and killed by Herod
Antipas
33-36 A.D. Jesus' ministry
36 A.D. Jesus crucified, Friday, March 30th, Last Supper
would have been Thursday evening.
100 A.D. Roman Law outlaws Christianity
300 A.D. Roman Law accepts Christianity again
312 A.D. Constantine gets baptized on his deathbed (Edict of
Milan)
391 A.D. Theodosius makes Christianity official religion of
Rome.
Roman Palestine
The Beginnings of Christianity
in Bethlehem
Jesus’
Mission
Baptism
Agony in the Garden
Crucifixion
St. Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles
St. Paul:
Apostle to the Gentiles
The Spread of
Christianity
Imperial Roman Road
System
The Empire in Crisis:
3c
Diocletian Splits the
Empire in Two: 294 CE
Constantine: 312 - 337
Constantinople: “The 2nd
Rome” (Founded in 330)
Barbarian Invasions: 4c5c
Attila the Hun:
“The Scourge of God”
Byzantium:
The Eastern Roman
Empire
The Byzantine Empire
During the Reign of
Justinian
The Byzantine Emperor
Justinian