Chapter 5
Section 1
The Land and Peoples of Italy
 Italy
is a peninsula extending
about 750 miles from north to
south
 The Apennine
 fairly
mountain range
large fertile plains ideal for
farming
Greek Influence
Arrived in Italy in large numbers during
their colonization period
 Cultivated olives and grapes
 Passed on their alphabet
 Gave Romans artistic and cultural model
through their developed art styles

Etruscan Influence
Etruscans – people located north of
Rome in Etruria
 Greatly influenced early development of
Rome

 Toga
 Army organization
 Building projects
Government

In 509 BCE, the Romans overthrew the last
Etruscan king and established a
 Republic – a form of government in which the
leader is not a monarch and certain citizens
have the right to vote

Roman Confederation created to rule Italy
 Full Roman citizenship to all peoples
War and Conquest

Rome was surrounded by enemies at
the beginning of the Republic

Engaged in almost continuous warfare
over 200 years

Conquered people remained free but
contributed to new government
Reasons for Success

1. The Romans were great diplomats
 a person who is tactful and skillful in
managing delicate situations, people, etc.
 Extended Roman citizenship

2. The Romans excelled in military
matters

Early Rome was divided into 2 groups:
 Patricians
○ Great landowners / ruling class
○ Could be elected to gov’t positions
 Plebeians
○ Larger of the two groups, included
craftspeople and small farmers
Unbalanced Power

The CEO of the Roman Republic were
the consuls and praetors:
 Two consuls ran the gov’t and led the army
 The praetor was in charge of civil law
The Roman Senate
 Held an important position in the Republic
 A select group of 300 patricians who served
for life
 Very influential advice that had the force of
law
The Struggle of the Orders

Often conflict between patricians and
plebeians

By 287 BCE, all male Roman citizens were
supposedly equal under the law

In reality, wealthy patrician and plebeian
families formed a new senatorial ruling
class that came to dominate the political
offices
Roman Law

Rome’s chief gifts to the Mediterranean
world was the Twelve Tables (adopted in
450 BCE)
 This helped the Romans developed a more
sophisticated system of civil law

Some of these standards are still recognized
today
CARTHAGE

After their conquest of Italy, the Romans
found themselves face to face with
 Carthage , a strong Mediterranean power
with an enormous trading empire just off the
coast of North Africa

Largest richest state

In 264 BCE, struggled with Rome for
control of the Med
First Punic War

Rome’s first war with
Carthage began in
264 BC and is
known as the First
Punic War
 This was fought over
control of Sicily

After a long struggle, a Roman fleet
defeated the Carthaginian navy off the
coast of Sicily and the war came to an
end.

In 241 BCE, Carthage gave up all rights
to Sicily and paid a fine to the Romans

Carthage vowed revenge

In response, Hannibal, the greatest of
the Carthaginian generals, struck back
beginning the Second Punic War
The Second Punic War
Lasted from 218-201 BCE
 Hannibal decided to bring the war to
Italy
 He entered Spain, moved east, and
crossed the Alps with an army of 30-40
thousand men and 6,000 horses and
elephants


Rome decided to invade Carthage
rather than fight Hannibal in Italy

This forced Carthage to recall Hannibal

In 202 BCE the Romans crushed
Hannibal’s forces

Carthage lost Spain, which became a
Roman province

Rome became the dominant power in the
western Med.

Carthage was destroyed in 146 BCE

Carthage became a Roman province called
Africa.
Chapter 5
Section 2



The Senate controlled both foreign and
domestic policy, and financial affairs
The Senate and political offices were
increasingly controlled by a small circle of
wealthy and powerful families
Many small farmers drifted to cities like Rome
and formed a large class of landless poor

General Marius recruited his armies in a new
way
◦ Recruited urban poor and homeless by promising
them land


All volunteers swore and oath to the General
Originally the Roman army had been made up
of small farmers who were landholders


To get laws passed for land for Veterans,
Generals got involved politics
Marius created a new system of military
recruitment that placed much power in the
hands of the generals


For the next 50 years (82-31 BCE) Roman
history was characterized by civil wars
Three men emerged as victors:
◦ Crassus
 Known as the richest man in Rome
◦ Pompey
 Military hero
◦ Julius Caesar
 Held a military command in Spain

The combined wealth and power of these
men was enormous and enabled them to
dominate the political scene

In 60 BCE, Caesar
joined w/ Crassus
and Pompey to
form the First
Triumvirate
◦ A triumvirate is a
gov’t by three people
with equal power
Pompey was given
power over Spain
Crassus over Syria
Caesar in Gaul (Modern
France)


When Crassus was killed in battle in 53 BCE,
leading senators decided that Pompey should
be the only ruler
They voted Caesar to lay down his command
◦ Caesar refused


Caesar marched on Rome, defeated Pompey’s
forces, and was left in complete control of the
gov’t
Caesar was officially made dictator in 47 BCE
◦ A dictator is an absolute ruler

Caesar gave land to the poor and increased
the Senate to 900 members
◦ This in turn weakened the power of the Senate
◦ In 44 BCE, a group of leading senators assassinated
him


A new struggle for power followed Caesar’s
death
3 men joined forces and formed the Second
Triumvirate:
◦ Octavian
 Caesar’s grand-nephew
◦ Antony
 Caesar’s ally
◦ Lepidus
 Caesar’s commander of cavalry


Octavian and Antony soon came into conflict
At the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, Octavian’s
forces smashed the army and navy of Antony
◦ Antony and Cleopatra Story



Octavian, at the age of 32, stood supreme
over the Roman world
The wars had ended and so had the republic
This period (31 BCE- 14 AD) became known
as the Age of Augustus


Octavian became the first Roman emperor in
27 BCE
The Senate awarded him the title Augustus –
”the revered one”

Name Change:
◦ Octavian = Augustus


Augustus control of the army was the chief
source of his power
The Senate gave him the title of imperator –
commander and chief
◦ Imperator gave us our word emperor


Lasted from 14-180 AD
Augustus’s new political system allowed the
emperor to select his successor from his
natural or adopted family


The first 4 successors came from his family
As the emperors grew more powerful, they
became more corrupt
◦ EX: Nero – had people killed if he wanted them out
of the way. Eventually the legions revolted and he
chose to commit suicide.


Under the 5 good emperors, the powers of
the emperor cont’d to expand at the expense
of the Senate
They also created new programs to help the
people

The good emperors were praised for their
building programs throughout the provinces
of Rome
◦ Aqueducts, bridges, roads, and harbor facilities


Rome expanded further during the period of
the Early Empire
Soon the emperors realized that the empire
was too large to be governed easily


At its height, the empire covered 3.5 million
square miles and had a pop of over 50 million
The privileges of Roman citizenship were
granted to many people throughout the
empire


Cities were important in the Spread of Roman
culture, law, and the Latin language
Local city officials acted as Roman agents,
performing gov’t duties….esp taxation


Latin was the language of the western part of
the empire --- Greek the east
These cultures mixed freely and the result =
Greco-Roman civilization


The Early Empire was a period of peace which
lead to high levels of trade
Despite the active trade and commerce,
farming remained the chief occupation
Culture and Society in the
Roman World
Chapter 5, section 3

The Romans excelled in architecture

Romans still used columns and
rectangular buildings but they also
developed the arch, vault, and dome

Use concrete on a massive scale

Network of 50,000 miles of roads
throughout the empire
THE ROMAN FAMILY

At the heart of the Roman social
structure stood the family

Headed by the paterfamilias – the
dominant male

All Roman upper-class children were
expected to learn to read

Roman boys learned reading and writing,
moral principles and family values, law, and
physical training to prepare them to be
soldiers
Changing Roles

By the 2nd century CE, important changes
were occurring in the Roman family
◦ Women were no longer required to have
guardians
Upper-class women had considerable freedom
and were appreciated as enjoyable company
and at the center of household social life
Slavery
Slavery was common throughout the
ancient world, but no people had more
slaves or relied on their labor more than
the Romans
 The slaves were most likely from Italy and
were regarded as part of the family
household


Slaves built roads and public buildings, and
farmed the large estates of the wealthy

Some slaves revolted against their owners
and even murdered them
The most famous slave revolt in Italy
occurred in 73 BCE
 Led by the gladiator, Spartacus, the
revolt broke out in S. Italy and involved
70,000 slaves


Spartacus managed to defeat several
Roman armies before being trapped and
killed in 71 BCE

6,000 followers of Spartacus were
crucified
Gladiator
The most famous of all the public
spectacles were the gladiatorial shows
 These events were an important part of
society and were free to the public


Games were held from dawn to dusk

Most gladiators were slaves or
condemned criminals who had been
trained for combat in special gladiatorial
schools

Sometimes, criminals of all ages and both
sexes were sent to the arena w/o
weapons to face death from wild animals
◦ Numerous kinds of animal contests were held
as well
◦ 5,000 beasts were killed in one day when the
Emperor Titus inaugurated the Coliseum in 80
CE
Bloody spectacles were indeed popular
w/ the Roman people
 The gladiatorial games and public
entertainment fulfilled a political need
 The games served to keep the minds of
the idle masses off any political unrest.

Chapter 5, section 5


After the death of Marcus Aurelius, the last of
the 5 good emperors, Rome fell back into civil
war
A military gov’t under the Severan rulers
restored order
 After this short dynasty Rome fell back into civil
war


For nearly 50 years, 235-284, the Roman
throne was occupied by whoever had military
strength to seize it
In this period, there were 22 emperors, 20 of
which experienced a violent death

At the same time, the empire was troubled by
a series of invasions
 From the east: Sassanid Persians
 From the North: Germanic tribes

Invasions, civil wars, and plague came close
to causing an economic collapse of the
Roman Empire

There was a noticeable decline in trade and
small industry

A labor shortage created by plague (an
epidemic disease) affected both military
recruitment and the economy

Farm production declined

The Roman Empire gained new lease on life
through the efforts of two emperors,
Diocletian and Constantine

The empire was changed into a new state:
The Late Roman Empire:
 New gov’t structure
 Rigid economic and social system
 New state religion: Christianity

Diocletian (r. 284-305), feared the empire was
too large for a single ruler and split the
empire into 4 units

Maintained a higher power thus making him
the ultimate authority

Constantine (r. 306-337) cont’d Diocletian’s
policies

Both rulers significantly strengthened and
enlarge the admin bureaucracies of the
Roman Empire and increased the size of the
army

The reformations of these two rulers
enlarged both the army and civil service
institutions of Rome
 This in turn drained most of the public funds
 More money was needed but the population
wasn’t growing
▪ This means the tax base could not be increased

To fight inflation – a rapid increase in prices –
Diocletian issued a price edict in 301 that set
wage and price control
 Despite heavy penalty, this failed to work


When Constantine began his reign, he was
the sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire
He built a new capital in the east, Byzantium
 The city eventually became known as
Constantinople and was considered the “New
Rome”

Constantine split the empire into Western
and Eastern Empires

Constantinople would became the center of
the Eastern Roman Empire and one of the
great cities of the world



The capital of the Western Roman Empire
remained in Rome
Constantinople remained the capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Western empire came under increasing
pressure from the invading Germanic tribes


The Huns who came from Asia, moved into
Eastern Europe causing native German
Visigoths to move south and west and into
Roman territory
Initially they settled but soon revolted against
Roman rule

In 410, the Visigoths sacked Rome

Another group, Vandals, poured into Roman
territory and crossed into Italy from Northern
Africa
 In 455 they too sacked Rome

In 476, the western emperor, Romulus
Augustulus, was overthrown as the head of
the military by German soldiers
 This date is taken as the date of the fall of the
Western Roman Empire

While the Western Empire was collapsing, the
Eastern Empire cont’d to thrive for centuries