English: Magazine 18 Early Romans Espanol: Revista 49 Los Primeros Romanos
Study Guide: Roman Empire -The Italian Peninsula is a boot-shaped area of land surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean Sea. -There are many volcanoes on the Italian Peninsula. Most are no longer active. When these volcanoes erupted in the past, they spread mineral- rich ash across the land. - The mild climate of the Mediterranean provides a long growing season, which makes the farmland even more productive. - In around 1000 BCE people who would eventually be known asLatins began migrating to the Italian Peninsula. They settled on and around the seven hills along the Tiber River, in the area that later became Rome. When the Latins arrived, the Etruscans were already living in central Italy. Later, the Greeks began to colonize southern Italy. - The early Latin settlers were farmers and herders. - A typical Latin village was made up of one-room huts and located on a hill. - The Latin people who would become known as Romans often encountered their Etruscan and Greek neighbors. - The Latin alphabet was borrowed from the Etruscans, who had borrowed and adapted it from the Greeks. - The Romans also adopted aspects of the Greek religion, giving the Greek gods Latin names. - The Etruscans helped to improve agricultural practices and probably introduced metalworking to the Latins. They introduced city planning to early Rome. Latin people also borrowed some religious and cultural practices from the Etruscans. - The earliest surviving Roman histories were written more than 500 years after the founding of Rome. - Legend says that the city was founded by twins named Romulus and Remus. They were said to be descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas. - Romulus and Remus probably were not real people. - n the legend, Aeneas made a heroic journey not for treasure or fame, but so that his descendants could one day found Rome. For the Romans, this showed that their civilization was chosen for greatness. - In the legend, Romulus and Remus grew up and returned to Alba Longa to restore their grandfather to the throne. They decided to found a new city on the site where they had been rescued as babies. But the brothers argued, and Romulus killed Remus. The new city was named Rome after Romulus, who became its first king. - According to legend, Romulus and Remus were the grandsons of the king of Alba Longa. - The king’s brother seized power and sent the rightful king into exile. - He ordered the babies to be thrown into the nearby Tiber River. But the babies’ basket washed up on the riverbank, where a mother wolf found and rescued them. - The Tiber River connected Rome to the Mediterranean Sea. - the prosperous eastern Mediterranean region was ideal for trade. - In this region, the Greeks, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and other cultures were trading and exchanging ideas. -As Rome grew, it eventually connected eastern Mediterranean trading routes with markets to the west. - The earliest settlement in what would become Rome was a collection of hilltop villages. In the mid-600s BCE, - A government was formed. Early Rome had a type of government called a monarchy. - Rome’s earliest kings were Latins, elected by an assembly of respected men. - In 616 BCE, the Romans elected the first of three Etruscans to be kings of Rome. These kings brought ideas and knowledge from the Etruscan culture that led to Roman advances in engineering and government. - The Etruscan kings created an organized system of government. They built an army, conquered neighboring Latin tribes, and brought new lands under Roman control. - The forum was the town square, where people met for public business and trading. - The Etruscan kings also built sewers, roads, temples, and many other things that cities need to function well. All this construction set Rome up for future growth. - The third Etruscan king, Tarquinius Superbus, was not a good ruler. - Tarquinius and his sons treated the Roman people very badly. After 25 years of suffering under his rule, the people were ready to revolt. - In 509 BCE, while Tarquinius Superbus was away fighting a war, the people of Rome voted to overthrow him. - Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.Brutus gave several famous speeches supporting the removal and banishment of the king. He argued that Rome should form a new government without a king. The citizens of Rome voted to approve these proposals. - When the Romans ended the monarchy, they created a republic in its place. - The Romans took ideas from the Athenian model of democracy, but created a different democratic system. -The Roman system used a body of representatives to make laws. - Instead of a king, there would be two leaders called consuls. The consuls would share power equally. Instead of ruling for life, the consuls would have one-year terms. Brutus and Collatinus were elected as the first consuls in 509 BCE. - Under the early Roman kings, the Roman Senate elected and advised the kings. But the kings did not have to take the Senate’s advice. -In the new republic, the Senate had a more important role. It advised and directed the consuls and other government officials. - In times of emergency, the Senate or consuls could appoint a dictator who had absolute power for a term of six months. Symbols from Ancient Rome • Thetoga praetexta was worn by high officials like consuls and magistrates. • Only patricians could wear red shoes. • The fasces, a bundle of rods and an ax, symbolized authority. - In ancient Rome, as in many cultures, symbols helped to remind people of everyone’s place in society. A consul displayed his rank through his clothing and symbols of office. - The U.S. House of Representatives still uses the fasces as a symbol of the strength and stability of the 50 states united as one nation, with a government elected by the people. - It is 458 BCE. The Romans are at war with a tribe called the Aequi, who have the Roman army trapped in the mountains. - Cincinnatus is working on his small farm when the messenger arrives to tell him that he has been appointed dictator. That gives him absolute power over Rome. Cincinnatus defeats the Aequi in a single day, then gives up all that power and goes back to his farm. - The Romans saw Cincinnatus as a model citizen because of his selfless commitment to public service. - His story inspired later leaders such as George Washington. But he followed the example of Cincinnatus and returned to his farm in Virginia. - The Roman Republic had a tripartite (or three-part) government; the consuls, Senate, and assemblies. Checks and balances on one another, ensuring that no one part had too much power. - The consuls took the place of a king in carrying out laws, running the government, and judging court cases. The consuls’ power was balanced by the power of the Senate and assemblies. - Every male citizen of Rome belonged to one of the assemblies. - There were several assemblies for different purposes, but together, the assemblies made the laws for Rome and elected the consuls. The assemblies could also declare war and try court cases. - There were two types of citizens in the Roman Republic – patricians and plebeians. - Patricians were the upper class. - All other citizens were plebeians, who were usually poorer and had fewer rights. - In 494 BCE, the plebeians protested by leaving the city in a group. Without soldiers, craftsmen, and merchants, the patricians saw how they depended on the plebeians. The plebeians also gained the right to elect representatives called tribunes. The tribunes could veto any law the plebeians saw as unfair.In Latin, “veto” means “I forbid.” - Beginning in 341 BCE, the Romans waged a series of wars to take over neighboring lands. They first defeated the 30 allied cities called the Latin League. Then they conquered the Etruscans to the north of Rome and the Samnites to the east.Finally, the Romans took over the Greek colonies in the south. By 272 BCE, the entire Italian Peninsula was under Roman control. The republic was set to expand its territory around the Mediterranean. Expansion was important to Rome for several reasons. - First, the neighboring lands in Italy were controlled by enemies of Rome. - Second, natural resources. - Third, they could enslave their defeated enemies to provide free labor and collect taxes. - After the Romans conquered new lands, they set up colonies there. Many people in the conquered lands adopted parts of the Roman culture and way of life. - Carthage was a city in North Africa. The Romans hoped to take control of the trading routes in the western Mediterranean from Carthage.Between 264 and 146 BCE, Rome and Carthage fought three wars, called the Punic Wars. - To win the First Punic War, the Romans had to build many new ships very quickly. The Romans also figured out a way of stopping and boarding Carthaginian ships.This allowed the skilled Roman soldiers to attack the Carthaginian sailors, who were not as good at fighting. The Romans won the war and gained control of Sicily. - In the Second Punic War, the expert Carthaginian general Hannibal nearly defeated the Romans in a surprise attack. But the Roman general Scipio took the battle to Africa. There, the Romans defeated Hannibal. - In the Third Punic War, the Romans destroyed Carthage and sold many of its people into slavery. By conquering Carthage during the Punic Wars, Rome gained huge areas of wheat-growing land in Sicily and North Africa. - Rome was also expanding its power throughout the eastern Mediterranean.Rome’s powerful armies conquered many of the Hellenistic, or Greek-like, kingdoms in this region that had once been part of Alexander the Great’s empire.Major victories included the defeats of Macedonia and Corinth. - The republic was becoming less stable. The many enslaved people arriving in Rome from conquered lands caused problems for the economy. - Roman workers, especially farmers, couldn’t compete with the free labor of enslaved people. - Enslaved people were the poorest of the poor. Their lives were very hard, and they were crowded into the dirtiest, noisiest areas of the city. - Governors made the people pay high taxes without providing any services to the people. This led to rebellions in many conquered lands. - The growing political conflict and violence of this period had a destabilizing effect on the republic. - Political unrest made the republic a target for rebellions, slave revolts, and outside attacks. - Before Sulla, no Roman general had ever marched on Rome. After that, it became common for generals to use force to gain control of the government. Sulla again marched on Rome in 83 BCE, starting a civil war. When he won, Sulla became the first dictator to rule without a six-month term limit. - After 88 BCE, political violence spread. Military power began to overshadow the rule of law in Roman government. In this environment, generals with loyal armies, like Julius Caesar, had great power. - In 59 BCE, three powerful Roman generals agreed to share power in an arrangement called a triumvirate, or group of three rulers. Pompey and Crassus were experienced commanders and politicians. - Julius Caesar was young and ambitious. When it was time to return to Rome, Caesar learned that Pompey had turned against him. In 49 BCE, Caesar led his army across the Rubicon River into Italy and started a civil war. - In 44 BCE, Caesar was assassinated by a group of 60 men. The leaders of the assassination plot were the senators Brutus and Cassius. - After the Second Triumvirate ended, Mark Antony formed an alliance with Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. Octavian stirred up anger against the idea of a foreign queen having power over Roman lands. Octavian won the war and conquered Egypt. - Octavian returned from his conquest of Egypt to a hero’s welcome in Rome. In 27 BCE, the Senate gave him the title Augustus, which means “majestic one.” Augustus Caesar, as he is now known, became the first emperor of Rome. - Augustus brought peace and stability to Rome. His strength and popularity meant that politicians stopped fighting over power; places as different as Western Europe, Greece, Egypt, and Asia Minor.
"I have experienced this in others and in myself, for I walked not in the way of righteousness. … But the Almighty God, who sits in the court of heaven, granted what I did not deserve." Constantine
WEDNESDAY 4/26
OBJECTIVE FOR WEDNESDAY 4/26: Try to Finish Roman Empire
THURSDAY 4/25 & FRIDAY 4/26
THURSDAY and Friday Objectives: Thursday: Hopefully Finish Roman Empire Friday: Hopefully Finish Roman Empire