THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

IT IS THE NATURE OF A ROMAN TO DO,

AND TO SUFFER BRAVELY.

- LIVY

INTRODUCTION

• THE SUCCESSOR TO THE GREEK AND PERSIAN CIVILIZATIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN AND THE NEAR EAST WAS ROME, THE ITALIAN CITY-STATE THAT GREW TO BE THE DOMINATING POWER IN THE EAST AND WEST ALIKE.

• ALTHOUGH ROME IS USUALLY CALLED THE SUCCESSOR TO HELLENISTIC GREECE, THEY ACTUALLY OVERLAPPED IN TIME.

• CHRONOLOGICALLY, ROME EMERGED AS A COMMUNITY DURING THE SAME ERA AS ATHENS AND SPARTA, BUT DID NOT BECOME IMPORTANT UNTIL MUCH LATER.

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS

• ROME IS SITUATED ABOUT HALFWAY DOWN THE WESTERN COAST OF THE ITALIAN PENINSULA, WHERE ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S VERY FEW SIZABLE RIVER, THE TIBER, FLOWS THROUGH A GOOD-SIZED FERTILE PLAIN BEFORE EMPTYING INTO THE SEA.

• THE RIVER AND THE PLAIN (LATIUM) WERE THE REASON EARLY SETTLEMENTS WERE LOCATED HERE, AND IT IS ONLY IN MODERN TIMES THAT THEIR SIGNIFICANCE TO THE CITY’S PROPENSITY HAS FADED.

• VERY EARLY ITALY AND THE ITALIANS ARE EVEN MORE OF A MYSTERY THAN GREECE AND THE GREEKS.

• WE DO KNOW THAT THE INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES SETTLED CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ITALY AS EARLY AS THE MINOAN DAYS (CIRCA 1500 B.C.), REACHING A HIGH DEGREE OF NEOLITHIC CULTURE.

• THEY DEVELOPED FARMING AND VILLAGES, BUT LAGGED SERIOUSLY BEHIND THE PEOPLE OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THE NEAR EAST, ESPECIALLY IN HAVING A WRITTEN LANGUAGE.

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS

• ABOUT 800 B.C., THREE PEOPLES FROM THE EAST BEGAN TO ENTER ITALY FIRST AS COLONISTS AND THEN AS RULERS OF VARIOUS SEGMENTS OF THE PENINSULA: THE ETRUSCANS, THE GREEKS, AND THE PHOENICIANS.

• EACH OF THESE CIVILIZED GROUPS CONTRIBUTED SUBSTANTIALLY TO ITALIAN DEVELOPMENT, AND THE FIRST TWO HAD A DECISIVE EFFECT ON ROMAN CIVILIZATION’S EARLY FORMS.

• THE ETRUSCANS CAME INTO ITALY ABOUT 800, PROBABLY FOLLOWING THE ROUTE ALONG THE NORTHERN ADRIATIC SEA, AND WERE ALREADY HIGHLY CIVILIZED AT THAT TIME.

• THEY ESTABLISHED A SERIES OF SMALL CITY-STATES IN THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL AREAS OF THE PENINSULA, RULING OVER THE NATIVE ITALIANS BY VIRTUE OF THEIR SUPERIOR WEAPONRY AND ORGANIZATION.

• THEY LEFT A SMALL AMOUNT OF WRITING, BUT IT HAS NEVER BEEN DECIPHERED SO WE HAVE NO HISTORICAL RECORD.

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS

• DURING THAT TIME, THEY BROUGHT CIVILIZED LIFE TO THE ROMANS.

• IT IS CLEAR THAT THE EARLY ROMANS DERIVED MUCH OF THEIR EARLY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, ART FORMS, AND ARCHITECTURE FROM THE ETRUSCANS.

• THE ONE THING THAT THE ETRUSCAN UPPER CLASS PRIZED, BUT THE ROMANS HELD IN CONTEMPT, WAS PHYSICAL COMFORT.

• THE ROMANS WOULD EVENTUALLY DEFEAT THE ETRUSCANS BECAUSE THEY WERE SOFT AND COULD NOT STAND UP TO THE RIGORS OF WAR.

• AFTER THE ROMAN VICTORY, THE ETRUSCANS GRADUALLY FADED FROM HISTORY AS THEY WERE ABSORBED BY THEIR FORMER SUBJECTS AND OTHERS.

• IN THE LONG RUN, THE GREEKS HAD EVEN MORE INFLUENCE ON ROMAN ATTITUDES AND MANNERS THAN DID THE ETRUSCANS.

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS

• WHEREAS THE ROMANS VIEWED THE ETRUSCANS AS RIVALS AND DEFEATED ENEMIES, THEY REGARDED THE GREEKS AS THE ONE PEOPLE WHO WERE SUPERIOR TO THEMSELVES IN CULTURE, IMAGINATION, AND COMMERCE.

• THE ROMANS WERE AWED BY THE GREEK TOWNS AND CITIES, BY THE GREEKS’ SKILLS IN ORGANIZING AND GOVERNING, AND BY THEIR EXPERIENCE IN THE GREAT WORLD OUTSIDE ITALY.

• OVERCROWDING AT HOME AND THE LOVE OF ADVENTURE HAD CAUSED THE GREEK COLONISTS TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES IN CORINTH, THEBES, AND OTHER GREEK CITIES AND SETTLE IN ITALY.

• THE GREEKS TRANSFORMED SOUTHERN ITALY INTO A PROSPEROUS AND COMMERCIALLY ADVANCED CIVILIZATION FOUND THAT THEY HAD TO FIGHT THE ETRUSCANS AND THE PHOENICIANS TO HOLD ONTO IT.

ROMAN FOUNDATIONS

• PHOENICIAN INFLUENCE ON ITALIAN EVENTS CAME THROUGH CARTHAGE, ALTHOUGH THIS GREAT TRADING CITY HAD BECOME INDEPENDENT OF ITS MOTHER COUNTRY BY 700.

• BEFORE THE RISE OF ROME, CARTHAGE WAS THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN.

• IT SENT SHIPS AS FAR AWAY AS BRITAIN AND THE NORTH SEA, AS WELL AS INTO THE NILE, AND HAD FOUNDED COLONIES OF ITS OWN ALL OVER THE COASTS OF SPAIN AND FRANCE.

• THE CARTHAGINIANS FOUGHT THE GREEK CITIES OF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY TO A DRAW UNTIL THE ROMANS WERE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR MUTUAL EXHAUSTION TO CONQUER BOTH OF THEM AROUND 200 B.C.

EARLY GOVERNMENT

• ACCORDING TO ANCIENT ROMAN TRADITION, ROME WAS FOUNDED BY THE TWIN BROTHERS ROMULUS AND REMUS, LEGENDARY DESCENDANTS OF THE SURVIVORS WHO FLED BURNING TROY AFTER THE TROJAN WAR.

• BY 753 B.C., THE POPULATION HAD GROWN TO THE POINT THAT THE SETTLEMENT COULD BE CONSIDERED A TOWN.

• MODERN HISTORIANS AGREE THAT THE CITY-STATE OF ROME WAS FOUNDED AT APPROXIMATELY THAT DATE.

• ACCORDING TO ROMAN HISTORY WRITTEN MUCH LATER, THE TOWN WAS UNDER ETRUSCAN RULE UNTIL 509 B.C.

• IN THAT YEAR, A BLOODLESS REBELLION OUSTED THE LAST ETRUSCAN KING, AND THE CITY BECAME A REPUBLIC RULED BY A COMBINATION OF THE SENATE AND THE PEOPLE – SENATUS ET POPULUS.

ROMULUS AND REMUSBORN TO RHEA SILVIA AND THE GOD MARS, THEY WERE ABANDONED TO DIE IN THE RIVER TIBER BUT WERE SAVED MY MIRACULOUS INTERVENTIONS.

THEY EACH FOUND A SITE TO BUILD A NEW CITY AND AGREED TO DETERMINE WHERE THE SITE WOULD BE BASED ON AUGURY – THE INTERPRETATION OF OMENS BASED ON THE FLIGHT PATTERNS OF BIRDS..

EACH CLAIMED THE RESULT IN THEIR OWN FAVOR AND ROMULUS KILLED REMUS.

EARLY GOVERNMENT

• HOW DID THE NEW REPUBLIC GOVERN ITSELF?

• THE SENATE WAS COMPOSED OF THE UPPER CLASS, THE PATRICIANS (PATRES OR “FATHERS”), WHO MADE UP PERHAPS FIVE TO TEN PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION AND HAD CONSIDERABLE POWER EVEN UNDER THE ETRUSCAN KING.

• THE PLEBEIANS OR COMMONERS (PLEBS OR “THE MASS”) COMPOSED THE OTHER NINETY PERCENT AND WERE REPRESENTED IN POLITICAL AFFAIRS BY DELEGATES TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WHOM THEY ELECTED BY WARDS WITHIN THE CITY AND BY SO-CALLED TRIBES OUTSIDE IT.

• ORIGINALLY, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WAS INTENDED TO BE AS POWERFUL OR EVEN MORE SO THAN THE SENATE, WHICH HAD ONLY ADVISORY POWERS.

• SOON AFTER THE FOUNDATION OF THE REPUBLIC, THE SENATE OBTAINED DECISIVE POWER WHILE THE ASSEMBLY BECAME A SELDOM-SUMMONED RUBBER STAMP.

EARLY GOVERNMENT

• THE EXECUTIVE WAS A SMALL STAFF OF OFFICIALS WHO WERE ELECTED BY THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY FOR SHORT TERMS.

• THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE POWER RESIDED IN TWO CONSULS, WHO WERE ELECTED FROM AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE FOR ONE-YEAR TERMS THAT COULD NOT BE REPEATED.

• EACH CONSUL HAD A VETO POWER OVER THE OTHER, AN INDICATION OF THE ROMANS’ FEAR OF PERMANENT DICTATORSHIP.

• WHEN ONE CONSUL WAS IN THE FIELD AS A LEADER OF THE REPUBLIC’S FORCES, THE OTHER WAS THE HEAD OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT AT HOME.

• BELOW THE CONSULS IN AUTHORITY WERE THE CENSORS, WHO WERE ALSO ALWAYS DRAWN FROM THE RANKS OF THE SENATORS.

• THE CENSORS WERE ORIGINALLY TAX ASSESSORS BUT LATER CAME TO HAVE THE POWER TO SUPERVISE THE CONDUCT AND MORALS OF THEIR FELLOW SENATORS.

EARLY GOVERNMENT

• FOR TWO CENTURIES, THE PLEBEIANS STRUGGLED TO ATTAIN EQUALITY.

• THEIR MOST IMPORTANT GAINS WERE THE ADOPTION OF THE LAW OF THE TWELVE TABLES, THE FIRST CODIFIED ROMAN LAW IN 450 B.C. AND THE ENACTMENT OF THE HORTENSIAN LAW IN 287, WHICH EXPANDED THE POWERS OF THE ASSEMBLY, MAKING IT SUPPOSEDLY EQUAL TO THE SENATE.

• BY ABOUT 250, THE ROMAN POLITICAL STRUCTURE HAD OBTAINED A NICE BALANCE BETWEEN THE ARISTOCRATS (PATRICIANS) AND THE COMMON PEOPLE (PLEBEIANS).

• THE CHIEF OFFICERS OF THE PLEBEIANS WERE THE TRIBUNES, WHO WERE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE VARIOUS TRIBES.

• THERE WERE ABOUT TEN TRIBUNES AND THEY HAD GREAT POWER TO SPEAK AND ACT IN THE NAME OF THE COMMON ROMANS.

• THE TRIBUNES WERE ORIGINALLY CHOSEN FROM THE COMMON PEOPLE AND WERE TRUE REPRESENTATIVES OF THEM; HOWEVER, AFTER 200, THE TRIBUNES WERE OFFERED MEMBERSHIP IN THE SENATE.

LAW OF THE TWELVE TABLESTHE LAW OF THE TWELVE TABLES WAS THE ANCIENT LEGISLATION THAT ACTED AS THE FOUNDATION OF ROMAN LAW, AND WOULD ULTIMATELY FORM THE CENTERPIECE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC AND THE CORE OF THE CUSTOM OF THE ANCESTORS.

SIMILAR TO MOST FORMS OF EARLY CODE, THE LAW OF THE TWELVE TABLES COMBINES STRICT PENALTIES WITH EQUALLY STRINGENT PROCEDURAL FORMS.

EARLY GOVERNMENT

• AFTER THE PASSAGE OF THE HORTENSIAN LAW IN 287, PLEBEIANS AND PATRICIANS HAD EQUAL VOTING RIGHTS AND SUPPOSEDLY EQUAL ACCESS TO OFFICE.

• BUT IN PRACTICE, THE GOVERNMENT WAS NOT REALLY DEMOCRATIC – DEMOCRACY EVENTUALLY FAILED IN ROME, JUST AS IT HAD IN ATHENS.

• WHEN A CRISIS AROSE, THE ROMAN REPUBLIC AND DEMOCRACY DIED AN INGLORIOUS DEATH.

ROME’S CONQUEST OF ITALY• UNDER THIS MIXED GOVERNMENT OF ARISTOCRATS AND COMMONERS, THE

ROMAN CITY-STATE GRADUALLY AND PAINFULLY BECAME THE MASTER OF ITALY.

• ALTHOUGH ROME SUFFERED A DEVASTATING INVASION BY CELTIC TRIBES CALLED GAULS IN 390, THE ROMANS AND THEIR LATIN ALLIES RULED MOST OF CENTRAL ITALY BY 340 OR SO.

• WHEN THE LATINS ATTEMPTED TO REVOLT AGAINST ROMAN OVERLORDSHIP, THE ROMANS CRUSHED THEM.

• NEXT THEY TURNED THEIR ATTENTION TO THE SAMNITES, A GROUP OF ITALIC TRIBES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE PENINSULA.

• THE WAR AGAINST THE SAMNITES WAS LENGTHY AND VERY DIFFICULT, BUT IT PROVED SIGNIFICANT, FOR DURING THIS CONFLICT THE ROMANS PERFECTED THEIR MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND CREATED THE MYTH OF ROMAN INVINCIBILITY.

ROME’S CONQUEST OF ITALY• THE SURRENDER OF THE SAMNITES IN 282 B.C. BROUGHT THE ROMANS INTO CONTACT

WITH A NEW RIVAL: THE GREEK CITY-STATES OF SOUTHERN ITALY LED BY PYRRHUS.

• AFTER A COUPLE OF COSTLY VICTORIES, PYRRHUS WAS DEFEATED AND ROME BEGAN TO INSERT ITSELF INTO THE ONGOING STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE GREEKS AND THE CARTHAGINIANS IN SICILY.

• DURING THESE ALMOST CONTINUOUS CONFLICTS, THE ROMANS LEARNED HOW TO ASSURE THAT YESTERDAY’S ENEMIES BECAME TODAY’S FRIENDS AND ALLIES.

• THE ROMANS SOON REALIZED THAT THEIR ORIGINAL PRACTICE OF HUMILIATING AND ENSLAVING THE CONQUERED WAS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.

• INSTEAD, THEY BEGAN TO ENCOURAGE THE SUBJECT POPULATIONS TO BECOME INTEGRATED WITH ROME – TO BECOME “GOOD ROMANS” REGARDLESS OF THEIR ETHNIC OR HISTORICAL AFFILIATIONS.

• THE ROMANS GAVE PARTIAL CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS TO THE CONQUERED ITALIANS AS LONG AS THEY DID NOT REBEL AND AGREED TO SUPPLY TROOPS WHEN ROME CALLED.

THE PUNIC WARS

• ALTHOUGH THE ROMANS WERE NEARLY CONSTANTLY AT WAR BETWEEN 500 AND 275 B.C., THESE CONFLICTS WERE GENERALLY DEFENSIVE IN NATURE.

• SOME WERE RESPONSES TO THE CALLS OF ITALIAN ALLIES FOR HELP.

• IN THESE WARS, THE ROMANS WERE DEALING WITH PEOPLES WHO WERE SIMILAR TO THEMSELVES AND WHOSE CONQUERED LANDS WERE ADJACENT TO ROMAN POSSESSIONS.

• THE TWO PUNIC WARS AGAINST MIGHTY CARTHAGE WERE DECISIVE IN ROME’S RISE FROM BEING A MERELY ITALIAN POWER TO BECOMING THE CENTER OF A GREAT EMPIRE.

• NOT UNTIL THE FIRST PUNIC WAR (264-241 B.C.) DID ROME MORE OR LESS OPENLY EMBARK ON IMPERIAL EXPANSION.

• WITH THIS WAR, ROME BECAME AN EMPIRE IN FACT, THOUGH IT RETAINED THE LAWS AND POLITICS OF A DEMOCRATIC CITY-STATE.

THE PUNIC WARS

• THE FIRST PUNIC WAR BROKE OUT OVER THE QUESTION OF DOMINANCE IN SICILY.

• IT LASTED FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS OF SPORADIC COMBAT UNTIL BOTH SIDES WERE ALMOST EXHAUSTED AND MADE A RELUCTANT PEACE.

• IN THIS WAR, ROME FOR THE FIRST TIME DEVELOPED A NAVY, WHICH WAS NECESSARY TO COUNTER THE LARGE CARTHAGINIAN FLEETS.

• THE FIRST PUNIC WAR ENDED WITH THE SURRENDER OF SICILY AND SARDINIA TO ROME, BUT CARTHAGE WAS FAR FROM COMPLETELY SUBDUED.

• DURING THE ENSUING TWENTY YEAR TRUCE, CARTHAGE BUILT UP ITS FORCES, ESPECIALLY IN THE LARGE COLONY OF SPAIN.

• THERE, THE BRILLIANT GENERAL HANNIBAL AMASSED AN ARMY OF 50,000 MEN, WHICH SUCCESSFULLY CROSSED THE ALPS IN MID-WINTER AND DESCENDED ON ITALY.

HANNIBAL OF BARCAINTERESTING FACTS

HANNIBAL OFTEN IS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST MILITARY STRATEGISTS IN HISTORY AND LATER CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST GENERALS OF ANTIQUITY ALONG WITH ALEXANDER THE GREAT, JULIUS CAESAR, SCIPIO…

LIKE HIS FATHER HAMILCAR, HANNIBAL CHOOSE SUICIDE RATHER THAN DISHONOR AT THE HANDS OF HIS ENEMY – DENYING THE ROMANS THEIR ULTIMATE VICTORY.

THE PUNIC WARS

• THE ENSUING YEARS WERE CRITICAL TO ROME’S SURVIVAL AND ITS EVENTUAL IMPERIAL GLORY.

• HANNIBAL WON BATTLE AFTER BATTLE AGAINST THE DESPERATE ROMANS, BUT LOST THE WAR.

• FINALLY, AFTER RAVAGING ITALY FOR FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE SECOND PUNIC WAR (218-202 B.C.), HANNIBAL WAS FORCED TO RETURN TO CARTHAGE TO DEFEND THE CITY AGAINST A ROMAN COUNTER-INVASION.

• THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF ZAMA IN 202 WAS A CLEAR ROMAN VICTORY, AND CARTHAGE WAS FORCED TO GIVE UP MOST OF ITS EXTENSIVE HOLDINGS IN AFRICA AND SPAIN.

• THE PUNIC WARS DETERMINED THAT ROMAN, AND NOT CARTHAGINIAN, CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION WOULD CONTROL THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE.

THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST• VICTORIOUS AGAINST CARTHAGE, THE ROMANS AT ONCE TURNED THEIR EYES

EASTWARD.

• UNTIL NOW THEY HAD STAYED OUT OF THE CONTINUOUS QUARRELING OF THE HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS.

• IN THE 190S, IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PUNIC WARS, AMBITIOUS CONSULS DID JUST THAT BY TAKING SIDES IN AN INTERNAL GREEK STRUGGLE.

• WITHIN A VERY SHORT TIME, THE GRECO-MACEDONIAN KINGDOM WAS UNDER ROME’S CONTROL.

• THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST WAS EXECUTED BY AN OUTSTANDING MILITARY MACHINE.

• IT WAS COMPOSED MAINLY OF INFANTRY WITH THE PATRICIANS AS THE COMMANDERS AND THE PLEBEIANS SERVING IN THE RANKS.

• COMMONERS SERVED INDEFINITE TERNS AND HAD NO SOURCES OF INCOME TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR FAMILIES ARMY SERVICE WAS CONSIDERED AN HONOR, THEREFORE SOLDIERS WERE NOT PAID).

THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST• AS EARLY AS THE MID-300S, MILITARY NEEDS WERE GREAT

ENOUGH THAT A GROUP OF PERMANENT COMMANDERS CALLED PROCONSULS WAS CREATED.

• THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR GIVEN AREAS OF NEWLY CONQUERED LANDS.

• THERE WAS NO CUSTOM FOR ELECTING COMMANDERS BECAUSE IT WAS EVIDENT THAT MEN OF TALENT WOULD BE NEEDED FOR MORE THAN A YEAR.

• SO LONG AS THEY CONTINUED TO REGARD THE SENATE AND THE CONSULS WHOM THE SENATE ELECTED AS THEIR RIGHTFUL SUPERIORS, ALL WENT WELL.

THE LATE REPUBLIC’S CRISIS• AS IMPERIAL EXPANSION CONTINUED, THE STRAINS OF ROME BEGAN TO

SHOW.

• MANY POVERTY-STRICKEN EX-FARMERS FLOCKED INTO THE CITY, SEEKING ANY KIND OF WORK AND READY TO LISTEN TO ANYONE PROMISING THEM A BETTER EXISTENCE.

• MANY HAD SERVED IN THE ARMY AND WERE DISCHARGED ONLY TO FIND THAT THEIR LANDS HAD BEEN SEIZED FOR DEBT OR CONFISCATED BY THE WEALTHY.

• THE MEMBERS OF THE NEW URBAN PROLETARIAT – PEOPLE WITHOUT SOURCES OF INCOME EXCEPT THE DAILY SALE OF THEIR LABOR – WERE CITIZENS WITH VOTES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER AMONG THE UPPER-CLASS DEMAGOGUES WHO WANTED POWER.

• THEY WERE READY TO FOLLOW ANY GENERAL WHO PROMISED THEM A DECENT LIVING IN HIS ARMY OF LONG-SERVING VETERANS.

THE LATE REPUBLIC’S CRISIS• STARTING ABOUT 150 B.C., ROMAN PUBLIC LIFE THUS BECAME A

COMPLEX STRUGGLE BETWEEN UPPER-CLASS INDIVIDUALS WHO SAW THE GROWING NEED FOR SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORM AND THOSE WHO WERE AGAINST IT.

• THE OUTSTANDING REFORMERS WERE THE TWO GRACCHI BROTHERS, WHO WERE ELECTED TRIBUNES IN THE 130S AND 120S AND ATTEMPTED TO HELP THE PROLETARIAT.

• THE GRACCHI RECOGNIZED THE LAND DILEMMA AS THE FUNDAMENTAL WEAKNESS OF THE ROMAN SYSTEM.

• IN ATTEMPTING TO REMEDY THE DILEMMA, THE BROTHERS OUTRAGED THE WEALTHY, AND THE BROTHERS WERE MURDERED.

GRACCHI BROTHERS

INTERESTING FACTSTHE GRACCHI BROTHERS, TIBERIUS AND GAIUS, ATTEMPTED TO REFORM ROME’S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUCTURE TO HELP THE LOWER CLASSES.

IN 133, TIBERIUS AND MORE THAN 300 OF HIS SUPPORTERS WERE BEATEN TO DEATH WITH CLUBS AND STAVES AND THEIR BODIES WERE THROWN INTO THE TIBER.

GAIUS, WHO TOOK UP HIS BROTHER’S MISSION, LOST CONTROL OF HIS COALITION AND FACED WITH ARMED OPPOSITION, FELL ON A SLAVE'S SWORD.

THE TRIUMVIRATES

• THE FINAL COLLAPSE OF THE REPUBLICAN SYSTEM WAS BROUGHT ON BY THE PATRICIAN GENERAL AND POLITICIAN JULIUS CAESAR, WHO SAW THAT IT WAS UNSUITED FOR GOVERNANCE OF A FAR-FLUNG EMPIRE AND TRIED TO CHANGE IT.

• HE CONSPIRED WITH OTHERS WHO WERE DISCONTENTED WITH THE SENATE LEADERSHIP TO FORM AN ALLIANCE KNOWN AS THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE (RULE OF THREE).

• THE OTHER MEMBERS WERE THE WEALTHY SPECULATOR CRASSUS AND THE BRILLIANT GENERAL POMPEY.

• DURING THE 50S B.C., CAESAR MADE HIS REPUTATION BY CONQUERING THE SEMI-CIVILIZED GAULS IN WHAT IS NOW FRANCE, WHICH HE TURNED INTO A ROMAN PROVINCE OF GREAT POTENTIAL.

• HE AMBITIONS WERE FULLY AWAKENED AND HE WISHED TO BECOME CONSUL AND USE THAT POWERFUL OFFICE TO MAKE BASIC CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT.

JULIUS CAESARINTERESTING FACTS

A BRILLIANT POLITICIAN AND GENERAL, CAESAR’S INFLUENCE WAS SO SIGNIFICANT THAT OTHER LANGUAGES HAVE WORDS MEANING “RULER” THAT DERIVE FROM HIS NAME – “KAISER” AND “CZAR.”

ANOTHER LASTING TRIBUTE: THE MONTH QUINTILIS WAS RENAMED JULIUS OR JULY IN HIS HONOR.

HE IS FAMOUSLY QUOTED FOR “VENI, VIDI, VICI” OR “I CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED.”

CRASSUS POMPEY

THE TRIUMVIRATES

• CAESAR WAS OPPOSED BY HIS FORMER ALLY POMPEY AND THE LARGE MAJORITY OF THE SENATE, WHO VIEWED HIM AS A DANGEROUS RADICAL.

• ARMED STRUGGLED BROKE OUT BETWEEN POMPEY AND CAESAR (CRASSUS HAD DIED) IN 49 AND AFTER A HARD FIGHT, CAESAR EMERGED AS THE VICTOR.

• RETURNING TO ROME IN TRIUMPH, HE MADE HIMSELF DICTATOR AND FULLY INTENDED TO START A ROYAL DYNASTY.

• HE SUBORDINATED THE SENATE ENTIRELY TO HIMSELF AND INITIATED SEVERAL MAJOR REFORMS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE ROMAN CALENDAR.

• BUT, IN MARCH 44, HE WAS ASSASSINATED BY TWO CONSERVATIVE SENATORS.

• HIS ONLY SURVIVING MALE RELATIVE WAS HIS GRAND-NEPHEW, OCTAVIAN CAESAR, WHOM HE HAD ADOPTED AS A SON AND MADE HIM HIS POLITICAL HEIR.

AUGUSTUS CAESARINTERESTING FACTS

AUGUSTUS DIED IN A.D. 14, HIS EMPIRE SECURED AND AT PEACE.

HIS REPORTED LAST WORDS WERE TWO-FOLD: TO HIS SUBJECTS, “I FOUND ROME OF CLAY; I LEAVE IT TO YOU OF MARBLE,” AND TO HIS FRIENDS HE ADDED, “HAVE I PLAYED THE PART WELL? THEN APPLAUD ME AS I EXIT.”

THE ROMAN SENATE OFFICIALLY DECLARED THEIR DEPARTED EMPEROR, LIKE JULIUS CAESAR BEFORE HIM, TO BE A GOD.

THE TRIUMVIRATES

• OCTAVIAN, HOWEVER, WAS ONLY EIGHTEEN WHEN CAESAR DIED.

• HE HAD LITTLE POLITICAL EXPERIENCE AND LACKED MILITARY PROWESS SO IT APPEARED VERY UNLIKELY THAT HE WOULD EVER FILL THE OFFICE OF HIS ADOPTIVE FATHER.

• WHEN THE SENATORIAL ASSASSINS OF JULIUS CAESAR COULD NOT AGREE ON WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO RESTORE THE REPUBLIC, OCTAVIAN, LEPIDUS, AND MARK ANTONY FORMED AN ALLIANCE KNOWN AS THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE.

• THE THREE ALLIES CRUSHED THE ASSASSINS AND THEN DIVIDED THE EMPIRE: ANTONY TOOK THE EAST AND EGYPT; OCTAVIAN TOOK THE WEST AND ITALY; AND LEPIDUS TOOK AFRICA.

• OCTAVIAN SOON SHOWED HIMSELF TO BE A GIFTED POLITICIAN, BUT HE STOOD IN THE SHADOW OF THE RENOWNED GENERAL MARK ANTONY.

MARK ANTONYINTERESTING FACTS

AS OCTAVIAN ENTERED ALEXANDRIA, BOTH ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA RESOLVED TO COMMIT SUICIDE.

ANTONY, THINKING HIS LOVER ALREADY DEAD, STABBED HIMSELF WITH A SWORD BUT WAS THEN BROUGHT TO DIE IN CLEOPATRA’S ARMS.

CLEOPATRA WAS CAPTURED BUT MANAGED TO KILL HERSELF VIA A POISONOUS SNAKEBITE.

THE TRIUMVIRATES

• ANTONY SOON MADE HIMSELF UNPOPULAR IN ROME BY SUCCUMBING TO THE CHARMS OF THE PTOLEMAIC QUEEN OF EGYPT, CLEOPATRA, AND MALTREATING HIS NOBLE ROMAN WIFE AND HER INFLUENTIAL FAMILY.

• OCTAVIAN CLEVERLY BUILT HIS POLITICAL STRENGTH IN ITALY AND ACQUIRED MUCH EXPERIENCE IN HANDLING MEN AND WHEN THE TEST CAME, HE WAS READY.

• IN 32 B.C., OCTAVIAN MANEUVERED ANTONY INTO DECLARING WAR AGAINST HIM, THEREBY THREATENING TO RENEW THE BLOODY CIVIL WAR THAT HAD ALIENATED THE ROMAN POPULACE.

• THE VICTORY OF OCTAVIAN’S FORCES AT THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF ACTIUM IN 31 B.C. MARKED THE EFFECTIVE BEGINNING OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

BATTLE OF ACTIUM

31 B.C.ACTIUM WAS THE DECISIVE CONFRONTATION OF THE FINAL WAR OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN OCTAVIAN AND THE COMBINED FORCES OF MARK ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA ON THE IONIAN SEA NEAR THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF EPIRUS VETUS IN GREECE.

ROMAN CULTURE IN THE REPUBLIC• ALTHOUGH THE ROMANS ALWAYS CONSIDERED THE GREEKS INFERIOR TO

THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF GOVERNMENT AND WAR, THEY GENERALLY ADMIRED THE GREEKS’ CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS, ESPECIALLY IN THE ARTS.

• THE ROMANS BORROWED HEAVILY FROM THE GREEK HERITAGE IN PHILOSOPHY, THE SCIENCES, AND THE ARTS, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY HAD NO NATIVE CULTURE.

• THEIR OWN GENIUS AND INCLINATIONS LAY MORE IN THE FIELDS OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATION THAN IN THE REALM OF IMAGINATION OR THE FINE ARTS.

• IN THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF LIFE, THE ROMANS HAD FEW EQUALS.

• THEY WERE ALWAYS WILLING TO EXPERIMENT UNTIL THEY FOUND A WINNING COMBINATION OR AT LEAST ONE THAT WAS ACCEPTABLE TO THE MAJORITY OF CITIZENS.

ROMAN CULTURE IN THE REPUBLIC• ROMAN LAW DEVELOPED MUCH MORE FULLY IN THE EMPIRE THAN IN THE

REPUBLIC.

• ONE OF THE GREATEST ROMAN ACHIEVEMENTS WAS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEM OF LAW WITH FLEXIBILITY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF PEOPLES AS DIVERSE AS THE BRITONS AND SYRIANS.

• LAW AND A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT COMBINED EFFECTIVE CENTRAL CONTROL WITH WIDE LOCAL AUTONOMY ARE THE BEST-KNOWN ROMAN GIFTS TO LATER WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

• THE LATIN LANGUAGE EVOLVED RAPIDLY AND BRILLIANTLY AS THE REPUBLIC EXPANDED ITS CONTACTS WITH OTHERS.

• ROMAN LITERATURE BEGAN IN THE THIRD CENTURY WHEN POETRY OF SOME EXCELLENCE, HISTORIOGRAPHY OF A RATHER INFERIOR SORT, AND DRAMA MODELED ON THE GREEKS BEGAN TO APPEAR.

• THE BEST DAYS OF ROMAN LITERATURE WERE STILL AHEAD.

ROMAN CULTURE IN THE REPUBLIC

• IN THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL ARTS, THE EARLY ROMAN SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS WORKED FROM BOTH ETRUSCAN AND GREEK MODELS TO PRODUCE SOMETHING SPECIALLY ROMAN BY THE END OF THE REPUBLICAN ERA.

• ROMAN PORTRAIT SCULPTURE, ESPECIALLY BUSTS, WERE AMAZINGLY REALISTIC AND SEEM MODERN IN A WAY OTHER ANCIENT ART DOES NOT.

• THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE FAVORED IN THE REPUBLIC WAS STRONGLY REMINISCENT OF THE GREEK TEMPLE, BUT IT ALSO INCORPORATED ARCHES AND CIRCLES, AS IN THE CUPOLA ROOFS AND SEMICIRCULAR ALTARS, TO A MUCH GREATER DEGREE.

ROMAN RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY

• THE RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS OF THE ROMANS DURING THE REPUBLICAN ERA CENTERED ON THE STATE AND THE FAMILY HEARTH.

• TOWARD THE STATE, THE ROMAN PATRICIANS FELT A PERSONALIZED ATTACHMENT, A SENSE OF DUTY, AND A PROUD OBEDIENCE TO TRADITION HANDED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.

• TOWARD THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND ITS SYMBOL, THE HEARTH, THE ROMANS FELT THE SAME ATTACHMENT AS MOST ANCIENT PEOPLES, WITH THE HONOR OF THE LINEAGE BEING OF THE USUAL IMPORTANCE TO THEM.

• ROMAN RELIGION WAS A MATTER OF MUTUAL PROMISES:

• THE GODS PROMISED THE PROTECTION OF THE COMMUNITY AND SURVIVAL OF THE INDIVIDUAL WHILE THE HUMAN PROMISED CEREMONIAL WORSHIP AND DUE RESPECT.

ROMAN RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY

• PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES EXISTED IN ROME BUT HAD RELATIVELY LITTLE POWER AND PRESTIGE AMONG THE PEOPLE.

• IT WAS A RELIGION OF STATE, RATHER THAN OF INDIVIDUALS, AND IT WAS COMMON FOR ROMANS TO WORSHIP OTHER GODS BESIDES THOSE OF THE OFFICIAL CULT.

• THE GODS OF THE ROMAN STATE WERE TAKEN FROM BOTH ETRUSCAN AND GREEK SOURCES.

• CHIEF AMONG THEM WAS JUPITER, A FATHER FIGURE SIMILAR TO THE GREEK ZEUS.

• ALSO IMPORTANT WERE APOLLO, NEPTUNE (POSEIDON), VENUS (APHRODITE), MINERVA (ATHENA), AND MARS (ARES).

• LIKE THE RITUALS OF THE GREEKS, THE WORSHIP GIVEN TO THESE DEITIES WAS MORE LIKE A PRESENT-DAY PATRIOTIC CEREMONY THAN A MODERN CHURCH SERVICE.

ROMAN RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY

• THE ROMANS DID NOT LOOK TO THE GODS FOR ETHICAL GUIDANCE OR TO SECURE PERSONAL IMMORTALITY BY PASSING A LAST JUDGMENT.

• THE ROMAN NOTION OF AN AFTER-LIFE CHANGED FROM PERSON TO PERSON AND FROM AGE TO AGE DURING ROME’S LONG HISTORY.

• THE EXISTENCE OF AN AFTERLIFE WAS AN OPEN DISCUSSION, BUT IF IT DID NOT EXIST, ONE COULD KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT THOUGH THE GODS.

• ROMAN PHILOSOPHY WAS ENTIRELY A PRODUCT OF GREEK MODELS.

• EDUCATED ROMANS BELIEVED THAT SERVICE TO THE STATE AND THE COMMUNITY WAS THE HIGHEST DUTY.

• THEY THOUGHT THAT THE ONLY WAY TO ENSURE AGAINST THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF EARTHLY LIFE WAS TO RENOUNCE THE PURSUIT OF WEALTH AND POWER AND LIVE A LIFE OF MODEST SECLUSION; HOWEVER, THE ROMANS TOOK MUCH PLEASURE IN WORLDLY POSSESSIONS.

ROMAN RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY

• MORE THAN MOST, ROMANS WERE CAUGHT BETWEEN THE DEMANDS OF TRADITION AND THE DESIRE TO EXCEL IN NEW WAYS.

• A PEOPLE WHO MADE MUCH OF MILITARY VIRTUE AND UNQUESTIONING OBEDIENCE, THEY ALSO INSISTED ON THE AUTONOMY OF THE INDIVIDUAL’S CONSCIENCE.

• A PEOPLE WHO WERE VERY CONSCIOUS OF THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE AND THE RULE OF LAW, THEY HAD MANY MOMENTS OF COLLECTIVE BLIND RAGE WHEN THEY EXERTED SADISTIC POWER OVER OTHERS.

• NOBILITY OF THOUGHT WAS SOMETIMES MARRED BY IMMORAL ACTIONS AND EVEN MORE DISHONORABLE MOTIVES.