Republican and Imperial Rome
 Romans created one of the most remarkable civilizations on the
earth.
 It started with a small village in Italy, stretched from Scotland
to Iraq, lasted almost 1200 years (western Rome lasted 500
years), created unprecedented civilization, peace and prosperity.
 It put the Greek culture into Hellenistic civilization in arts, laws
and sciences.
 There was a tremendous Greek admiration in Rome.
 It created the base for today’s western culture and even
languages.
 Their language created the base for French, Italian,
Spanish, Romanian, Austrian and many small languages in
the territory of old Romans.
 They have substantial influence on English and other
Western European languages.
 Rome was a multi-cultural empire encompassing territories
and cultures in Africa and the Middle East as well as
northern and central Europe.
 Romans knew how to maximize their benefits when they
conquer a territory.
 Egypt was considered their breadbasket.
 Romans are descendants of tough mountain people who
infiltrated into Italian peninsula about 800 B.C.E.
 In the sixth century B.C.E. those people controlled the town of
Rome.
Government
 At the beginning of Roman expansion, it was a nonmonarchical republic.
 It was a kingship, although it remained in the family of the king
every time, it was elective.
 The Roman Senate approved the candidate for the office and the
people voting in assembly, formally granting the imperium.
 The Senate would meet only when summoned by the king
and then only to advise him.
 The role of Senate was in great importance and the
members, like the king, would serve for life.
 This way, the state would have continuity and experienced
members of ruling power.
 Those people would be chosen from the most powerful and
respected man in the state.
 Their importance and decisions could not be ignored.
 There was a third branch of government also.
 This was called the curiate assembly, which was made up
of all citizens and divided into 30 groups.
 This assembly would also meet only when summoned by
the king.
 They would be called on to listen and approve the decision
taken by the king and the Senate.
 The votes were counted by group, not by individuals.
 The majority vote in each group would be accepted for the
decision.
Family
 The king of the family was the father.

His power was unquestionable.

He could even sale his children or could kill them.
 The wife’s position was to manage the household.
 She could divorce with the permission of her male relatives
who could take care of her after divorce.
 When it comes to social classes, there were mainly two
social classes: The wealthy Patrician upper class and the
Plebeian lower class.
 Patrician upper class held the monopoly of power and
influence.
 They could conduct state religious ceremonies, sit in the
Senate, or hold office.
 They created a closed caste by forbidding marriage outside
their own class.
 The Plebeian lower class must have consisted of originally
of poor, dependent small farmers, laborers, and artisans, the
clients of the nobility.
 Some segments of this last class in the time acquired
wealth as the Rome grew and life got more sophisticated,
but the class difference remained firm in general.
The Republic
 The outrageous behavior of the last kings provoked the
noble families to revolt in 509 B.C.E. leading to the
creation of the republic.
 The Roman constitution was an unwritten accumulation of
laws and customs.
 The king, the chief magistrate had a great power.
 They elected two patricians to the office of consul and
endowed with imperium.
 Assisting the consul were financial officials called
quaestors.
 The consul led the army, had religious duties and served as
judges.
 Their power was limited legally and institutionally.
 The power of the consulship was granted for a year only.
 But, after leaving the consul, they would continue to serve
till end of their lives as members of Senate.
 After the middle of the 5th century B.C.E. the job of
identifying citizens and classifying them according to age
and property was delegated to a new office, that of censor.
 The Senate elected 2 censors every 5 years. They
conducted a census and drew up the citizen rolls.
 The classification was important and done for the purpose
of fixing taxation and status.
 The importance of the job made the member of this censor
important too.
 In the 4th century B.C.E. they acquired additional powers
and could even exclude some senators from the Senate
based on moral and financial grounds.
 Over the time, the struggle between the two social classes
gained momentum after patricians monopolized power in
the early republic.
 Plebeians were barred from all political and religious
offices and the struggle lasted about 200 years.
 Plebeians made up much of the Roman army, which gave
them great political leverage.
 After the long struggle, the Romans created laws that were
written on 12 tablets and placed on public view in the
Roman forum.
 This way, in 445 B.C.E. plebeians won the right to marry
patricians.
 Still, till 367 B.C.E. they could not be part of one of the
consuls. They were given a rank then.
 This struggle brought the order which led the domestic
peace under a republican constitution dominated by
capable, senatorial aristocracy.
 Most Romans welcomed this system and leadership, which
secured them great benefits and a growing empire.
 As the Roman imperial system expended and conquered new
territories they did some changes in their military system and
economic system as well.
 The new soils and their people did not have to be citizens of
Rome and serve in the military.
 They just needed to pay their tribute and their taxes.
 The tax system was run by tax collectors who would get that
right by auction and giving the highest bidding.
 These tax collectors were powerful and squeezed Roman
provinces hard.
Religion
 Their belief system was influenced by the Greek
mythology.
 They incorporated Greek belief system into theirs.
 Until the 3rd century B.C.E., their belief system was rather
simple practice of family piety, which consisted of local
deities.
 In the 2nd century B.C.E. the influence of Babylonian
astrology grew.
 Government, particularly the Senate was approving a new
belief system or banning it.
Education
 The education was informal in ancient Rome.
 The place of education was family.
 Fathers were teaching their sons; not clear if the girls were also
educated.
 Even if they did not get education in early Rome, we know that
they got education in later times.
 The boys would learn how to read, write, farm, and memorize
the 12 tablets codes of laws in ancient Rome.
 Also, they would be taught religious rituals, military techniques,
and history; heroism of their ancestors.
 The aim of training can be coined in these words: moral
education, pious act, patriotic notion, law-abiding citizens,
and respectful of traditions.
 Later on, after they interacted with Greeks, great Greek teachers
came to Rome to educate children of Rome in language,
literature, philosophy, and humanities in general.
 Their first educational need was to learn Greek. Later on, those
who were educated by Greek teachers were expected to be
bilingual.
 Later on, girls started taking same sort of education in Roman
society.
 This type of education made Romans admire even more to
Greeks.
 Understanding of Greek culture made Roman rulers and
army to expend Hellenistic culture as far as they broadened
their physical boundaries.
Roman Imperialism
 Rome’s expansion in Italy and overseas was not part of a
grand plan.
 It happened as the events came about.
 Almost all new territories were acquired by wars.
 The policy in going wars was to provide security for Rome
on Rome’s terms, which were often unacceptable to others
and caused continuous wars.
 As they kept winning the wars their power and prosperity
increased.
 Lands were private property.
 Grain, olives and grapes for wine were the main crops for
Romans.
 Size of land that a Roman had determined the level of
wealth also.
 Big landlords emerged over the time.
 These pushed those small land owners aside and the gap
between classes widened.
 As a result many political, social and ultimately
constitutional conflicts threatened the republic.
 Social unrest broke out and it continued for a while.
 After about a century of civil war and political unrest,
historians speak of Rome’s first emperor as Augustus and
of his regime as the Principate.

He brought the peace and prosperity to Rome.
 Augustus made important changes in the government of
Rome, Italy and the provinces.
 He intended to reduce inefficiency and corruption. He
reduced the distinction between Romans and Italians.
 Therefore, those who were regular people, not part of nobel
class could serve as an administrator and governor.
 Thereafter, those once non-nobel people became members
of Senate.
 Augustus was always careful to treat them with respect and
dignity.
 Augustus took over Egypt; serious increase was made in
commerce and industry.
 Public works were expended and farming was done by
those war veterans whom he settled.
 Augustus created true professional armed forces.
 Rome would enlist the armed forces for 20 years and the
pay was relatively good.
 They would also give them bonuses time to time and also
promise of pension upon retirement in the form of land or
money.
 The sizes of these forces were around 300 thousand men.
 One important concern was declining morality in Rome at
the time of Augustus.
 He favored new laws to curb adultery and divorce and to
encourage early marriage.
 Protection of legitimate children was important part of law.