the people of italy first came into
TRANSCRIPT
The people of Italy first came into contact with the Greeks around 900 B.C. as the Greeks sailed the east and west coast of the Italian Peninsula.
The Greeks would eventually build farming communities in the southern part of Italy and on the Island of Sicily.
The Greeks planted olive trees and grapevines and introduced the Greek alphabet to the Italians.
The Greeks were interested in colonizing Italy for several reasons: Italy was centrally located in the Mediterranean and
ideal for trade with Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Italy’s rich soil and mild climate were suitable for farming.
From about 900 to 500 B.C. the Etruscans ruled northern Italy.
It is unclear where the Etruscans came from.
The wrote in an alphabet similar to that of the Greeks but scholars have only been able to identify a few Etruscan words.
Etruscan art was expressive, needing no translation.
In wall paintings, Etruscan figures dance and play music, enjoying a pleasant life.
Etruscan sculptures show men and women feasting, soldiers, and gods.
Etruscan society consisted of wealthy overlords, aristocratic priests, and slave-labor.
The wealthy overlords enslaved conquered people for their comfort and priests forced them to duel to the death to appease their gods.
Conquered people and the Etruscan lower classes would eventually overthrow their Etruscan overlords.
According to legend a man by the name of Romulus was building a city when his brother Remus jumped over his half built walls. Romulus killed him and uttered this warning:
“So perish whoever else shall over leap my battlements.”
Around 600 B.C. an Etruscan family gained control of Rome.
The Tarquins taught the Romans how to build with brick and roof their houses with tile.
The drained marshy lowlands and laid out streets.
At the center of the city they built a square called a forum, which would become the center for Roman government.
In 534 B.C. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (the proud) came to power by murdering his father in law Servius Tullius.
Tarquin the proud was a cruel ruler and his son would rape a noblewoman by the name of Lucretia.
The Romans would eventually revolt and drive he and his family from the city.
Latin nobles, or patricians declared Rome a Republic after the exile of their Tarquin King.
A Republic is a community in which people elect their leaders.
Roman society was divided into two groups:
Patricians - Latin nobles
Plebeians – Wealthy non-aristocratic townspeople and landowners as well as merchants, artisans, shopkeepers, small farmers, laborers
The Roman Republic was organized into an executive branch and a legislative branch.
Two patrician officials, called Consuls, elected for one-year terms handled the running the city’s day to day affairs. They also oversaw other executive officials such as praetors (judges) and censors (tax officials).
The Roman legislative branch originally consisted of the Assembly of Centuries and the Senate.
The power of the Senate outweighed the Assembly as the Senators debated foreign policy, advised the Consuls, proposed laws, and approved contracts for constructing roads, temples, and defenses.
The plebeians became frustrated with their inability to hold public office.
In an attempt to fix the issue they would go on strike in 494 B.C.
At first they refused to fight in the army.
Later they would threaten to leave the city altogether.
The Patricians were forced to give in to some of the demands of the Plebeians.
They granted the Plebeians the office of Tribune.
The Tribunes could veto any government decision and were protected by law.
The Tribunes were protected by law under the penalty of death to anyone who injured them.
The Patricians also recognized the Council of Tribes which elected the Tribunes.
The Plebeians continued to fight the Patricians on various issues and would win. The laws were written down in 451 B.C. on 12 Bronze
tablets for all citizens to read.
Soon after the Plebeians won the right to hold certain public offices.
From 500 to 300 B.C. Rome faced threats from its neighbors in Italy.
To protect their republic they conquered their enemies or forced them to ally with Rome.
By 264 B.C. they had conquered all of the Italian Peninsula.
In 107 B.C. Gaius Marius made the Roman Legion a professional, permanent force.
Legions comprised of over 5,000 men, organized into small groups called cohorts.
The Legion consisted of the first cohort of 800 men and nine other cohorts of 480 men.
Each ordinary cohort was broken down further into centuries of 80 men.
Each century was divided into 10 contubernia of 8 men each.
Centurions and their deputies (optios) wore a crest on top of their helmets as a sign of authority.
Soldiers helmets were primarily the same with cheek guards and neck protection.
Legionaries wore a segmented breastplate made from overlapping iron and copper bands fixed to leather strips, allowing easy movement.
Members of the Legion were all outfitted with primarily the same equipment.
Each soldier carried a shield or scutum made of plywood covered in leather and then in linen. Each scutum had a metal disc or boss which soldiers could punch opponents.
Every Legionary was armed with a javelin known as a pilum.
The pilium was designed to buckle and not be able to be thrown back.
The sword or gladius was short (2ft) and was used in a stabbing motion.
The gladius was also used in the fights in the coliseum. This is where the term gladiator originated
In 264 B.C. Carthage, a city on the coast of Africa would become Rome’s chief competition.
Carthage would threaten to gain control of the Strait of Messina, a waterway between the Island of Sicily and Italy.
Rome sent an army to secure the area and a full scale war erupted.
The Roman Legions conquered the Carthaginian colonies in Sicily.
The Romans could not however overcome the superior navy of Carthage.
Rome would undertake the construction of a fleet of ships to combat Carthage at sea.
The Romans knew that if they could not defeat Carthage at sea the would lose the war.
To defeat Carthage at sea Rome would use new tactics of land warfare on the water.
The use of a corvus would allow the Romans to lock their ships with the Carthaginians and send their legions on board to capture and kill the enemy.
The Romans would gain control of the sea and threatened to invade Carthage.
Carthage would lose the war giving up its Sicilian cities and pay Rome an indemnity.
In 221 B.C. a Carthaginian by the name of Hannibal became general of the Carthaginian army.
He provoked war against Rome by attacking a Roman city in Spain.
Hannibal would lead 40,000 soldiers and 40 elephants in attack on Italy itself.
Marching out of Spain, across Gaul and into the Alps.
The Alps, hunger, and sickness would kill half of Hannibal’s army and most of his elephants.
Hannibal would defeat the Romans, although outnumbered, at the battle of Cannae in southeastern Italy in 216 B.C.
The Romans in a desperate attempt invaded North Africa in an attempt to draw Hannibal’s army out of Italy.
The plan worked and at Zama in 202 B.C. Scipio defeated Hannibal.
Hannibal knowing he was defeated killed himself to avoid capture by the Romans.
Carthage would be forced to give up their lands in Spain, all but 10 of their warships, and pay Rome another large indemnity.
50 years after the Second Punic War Rome decided to end Carthaginian independence for good.
In 149 B.C. Carthage fought and lost a defensive battle against a Roman ally in North Africa.
The Romans used this an and excuse to attack and burn Carthage to the ground.
The Romans sold the survivors into slavery and sowed salt into the ground so nothing would grow in the area.
Expansion and Crisis: The Third Punic War
1. __________ The date the Greeks are believed to have settled in Italy.
2. __________ From 900 to 500 B.C. these peoples ruled northern Italy.
3. __________ Roman military formation.
4. __________ Series of wars fought with Carthage.
5. __________ Roman shield.
6. __________ Roman javelin.
7. __________ A large settlement for damages paid by the loser of a conflict.
8. __________ General from Carthage who invaded Italy with Elephants.
9. __________ Roman General who defeated Carthage in the Second Punic War.
10. __________ Final Battle of the Second Punic War.
11. ___________ Roman invention that allowed for boarding of ships.
12. ___________ The First Cohort of a Legion consisted of this many men.
13. ___________ Latin nobles.
14. ___________ Latin commoners.
15. ___________ Two Roman politicians who were elected for one year terms.
16. ___________ Body of elected politicians in Rome.
17. __________ Name of the waterway fought over in the First Punic War.
18. __________ Etruscans that were overthrown in Rome.
19. __________ Representative of the plebeians who had the right to “veto”.
20. __________ Roman Governors.
21. __________ King of Macedonia defeated by the Romans.
22. __________ King of the Greeks defeated by the Romans.
23. __________ Commander of 80 men in a Legion.
24. __________ The legendary founder of Rome.
25. __________ A Roman soldiers sword.
26. __________ The plebeians did this in order to gain more rights in Rome.
27. __________ Rome would force these two places into an alliance.
28. __________ After gaining control of the Mediterranean the Romans started to call it this…
The Republic in Crisis: Between 230 and 210 B.C Rome was fighting to bring
the eastern Adriatic under its control.
They also defeated King Phillip V of Macedonia and the Seleucid king Antiochus III which gave them control of the Balkan Peninsula (Greece and Macedonia).
The Romans would seize territory in Asia Minor and forced Syria and Egypt into obedient alliances.
The Republic in Crisis: Rome organized its non-Italian territories into provinces that
had to pay tribute.
The provinces were governed by Senate-appointed governors, called proconsuls.
Government officials often accepted bribes and stole money from provincial treasuries. This corruption would lead to revolts in many provinces and legions would be permanently stationed in the areas.
Land in the provinces would be given to Roman citizens and they would combine many small plots into large estates called Latfundia.
Republic in Crisis:
Many Romans believed the latfundia were ruining Italy and had to be reduced.
The latfundia were worked by slave labor and could undersell farms back in Rome, putting farmers out of business.
The urban poor had to be helped before they toppled the state as they were becoming very large in number and discontent with their state of affairs.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals
Tiberius Gracchus- Tried to take land from the latfundia or large Roman estates, and give it to landless citizens. He and 300 of his followers were killed in a riot.
Gaius Gracchus- He convinced the plebeian assembly to give more land to farmers and set up a government program to sell grain at low prices..
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals General Gaius Marius:
Gave the poor jobs in the army. He paid them and promised them land when they were discharged.
This created the first professional Roman Army. Armies now owed allegiance to their commander and not to Rome.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals General Lucius Cornelius
Sulla: Persuaded his legions to
capture Rome
Exiled Marius to Africa
Appointed himself dictator
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals
In 70 B.C. Gnaeus Pompey and the politicians Marcus Licinius Crassus were elected consuls along with Julius Caesar they formed the first rulingtriumvirate or ruling group of three.
The group would have equal power among them but would prove to be unstable.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals Caesar would take military
command of Gaul, what is now northern Europe, and would conquer the people living there known as the Celts.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals Crassus who wanted to prove he was a great military
commander took command of an army in the east but was killed in battle at Carrhae in 53 B.C.
Pompey grew scared of Caesar’s growing power and popularity and with the death of Crassus he now equally shared power with the conquering hero.
Caesar would be ordered by the Senate (under Pompey’s suggestion) to disband his army and return to Rome.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals When ordered to disband his
army and return to Rome Julius Caesar made the decision to march his army towards Rome.
His crossing of the Rubicon river signaled the beginning of a civil war between Pompey and Caesar.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals
In 45 B.C. Caesar became dictator for life. He gave jobs to the unemployed, public land to the poor, and citizenship to many people in the provinces and added people from the provinces to the Senate.
His actions brought a few Senators to consider him a threat to democracy and the Republic so on 15th of March 44 B.C. he was assassinated by Gaius Cassius and Marcus Brutus.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals
After the death of Julius Caesar his 18 year old grandnephew Octavian joined forces with Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus and formed a second ruling triumvirate.
The defeated and killed Julius Caesar’s enemies by 42 B.C. and divided the Roman world between them. Octavian commanded Italy and the west, Antony ruled in Greece and the east, and Lepidus took charge of North Africa.
Republic in Crisis: Reformers and Generals
Octavian after defeating Marc Antony and Cleopatra would have himself proclaimed, First Consul, Tribune, and commander in chief for life.
He would give himself the title Augustus or majestic one.
He would become Rome’s first Emperor.
Augustus Caesar would rule for 40 years from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. He would improve roads, rebuild Rome, import grain from North Africa, and re-organized the government.
Augustus once said he “found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.”
The Julian Emperors ruled from 14 A.D. to 68 A.D. and were all in some way related to Julius Caesar.
Tiberius who succeeded Augustus would become paranoid and kill anyone he suspected of treason.
Caligula became mentally unstable and was assassinated by his palace guard in 41 A.D.
Claudius showed promise but as he aged found it hard to focus on affairs of state.
Nero was cruel, vain and insane. He was willing to bankrupt Rome for the love of horse racing and music. He killed his mother and aunt as he became paranoid. He eventually committed suicide claiming “What a loss I shall be to the arts.”
In 96 A.D. the Senate chose its own candidate for emperor: Nerva.
He was followed by Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and Marcus Aurelius
Roman Government: Under Caesar Augustus the Empire was organized
under the rule of experienced governors rather than letting the Senate appoint inexperienced proconsuls every year.
New roads were built to improve communication between Rome and the provinces.
Augustus also served as pontifex maximus, or chief priest of a national religion which helped unite the empire.
Roman Law: Two sections of law existed in ancient Rome. One for
non-citizens, jus gentium and one for citizens, jus civile. Over time the peoples of the provinces would be granted citizenship and the two law codes would become one.
Roman law stressed the authority of the state over the individual and considered people innocent until proven guilty.
Christianity: Christianity began as a sect, or group within Judaism.
Christians followed the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth who they believed to be the Messiah, or savior.
Christianity: Jesus of Nazareth would travel through Judea
preaching to the Jews and would gain followers called disciples.
Using parables or symbolic stories to explain his message.
Many Jews began to believe Jesus was the long awaited Messiah or Savior who would lead them out of Roman rule. While others disagreed with Jesus being called the Messiah
Christianity: The controversy over the question of just who Jesus
was would lead the Roman’s along with the Pharisees (Jewish High Priests) and King Herod to worry.
As a result Jesus would be crucified, a customary Roman way of punishing criminals.
Christianity: After the death of Jesus his disciples claimed he had
risen from the dead pointing that this proved he was indeed the Messiah.
His disciples would take on the name Christians from “Christos” Greek for “Messiah”.
Followers would write their stories about Jesus which would come to make up the New Testament.
Christianity: The Christian belief that their religion was the one
true faith, rejection of military service, and criticism of Roman festival and games, brought the dislike of many Romans.
As a result the Christians would be persecuted and many would become martyrs, or people who are willing to die for what the believe in.
Constantine: In 312 A.D. the Emperor
Constantine while leading his army into battle witnessed a flaming cross in the sky and beneath it appeared In hoc signo vinces: “With this as your standard you will have victory.”
Constantine: Constantine would become the defender of
Christianity and would allow for complete freedom of worship of all religions in the Roman Empire.
He would call the Christian leaders together and resolve their differences and ordered churches built on the sites of Christian shrines in Rome and Jerusalem.
The Decline of the Empire: With the death of Marcus Aurellius came the end of
the Pax Romana.
Marcus Aurellius son, Commodus, spent a great deal of Rome’s money on himself and in 192 A.D. his own troops killed him.
From 192 A.D. to 284 A.D. the Roman army installed 28 Emperors, only to kill most of them off.
The Decline of the Empire: Political instability led to economic decline. Warfare
disrupted travel, production, and trade.
Inflation (the rise in prices and the lowering of the value of money) spread throughout the empire.
The Roman empire was spiraling downward as it faced pressure from internal and external forces.
The Decline of the Empire: The emperor Diocletian raised the
number of Roman Legions to 60 from 28 to help defend the empire from invasion.
He would also divide the empire in two sharing power with a co-emperor Maximian.
Diocletian would issue a price and wage freeze to try and slow the economic decline of the empire.
The Decline of the Empire: In 378 A.D. a Germanic warrior group known as the
Visigoths defeated the Roman Army at Adrianople, killing the eastern emperor.
In 410 A.D. the Visigoths again under their leader Alaric would invade Italy and capture and sack Rome.
The Decline of the Empire: The Roman Empire was formally divided in 395 A.D.
by the Roman Emperor Theodosius.
In order to distinguish the two Empires, the Eastern Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire after the capital city of Byzantium, which had been renamed Constantinople by Constantine.
The Decline of the Empire: The Huns led by Attila would be the next to invade the
Roman Empire. In 451 A.D. the Romans with the help of the Visigoth’s would defeat Attila in Gaul.
The Vandals would raid Rome in 455 A.D. and then in 476 A.D. Odoacer and his men would sack Rome and he would pronounce himself king of Italy symbolizing the end of the Roman Empire.
