1. ANCIENT ROME
Mountains, rolling hills
Mediterranean Sea
1000 BCE- 500 BCE Latins on Roman hill
750 BCE - 600 BCE Greeks on S. tip of Italy & Sicily
- Etruscans N. (metal-work; engineers)
Well organized government allowed expansion into other lands
Trade and sea-faring on Mediterranean Sea becomes important
Farming important
Patricians could buy slaves for farming, wealth increases
Mild climate
750 BCE united Roman city-state
600 BCE Etruscan king rules; 509 BCE Tarquin the Proud (harsh tyrant rules)
Rebellion: patricians- wealthy landowners = power;
plebians- commoners, farmers artisans, merchants no power
Form a REPUBLIC: citizens (males) elect leaders
12 Tables written law code, made things fair, helped plebians, hung in forum
IDEA: all free citizens had protection under the law
*2 consuls: 1 yr term, direct gov’t, command army, vetos
*Senate: (aristocratic) legislative/laws; 300 members
* Assembly: (democratic) organized by plebians
Dictator: could be appointed during war/crisis for 6 months
Army: all citizens with land served: legions, centuries
Big gap between rich and poor; poor moves to city: urban poor
-Caesar: military dictator for life reforms; citizenship to provinces, gave
poor jobs
-Triumvirate 2: Marcus Lepidus, Mar Antony, Octavian rule 10 yrs
Christian persecution
Christianity influences government when Constantine converts
Theocracy: Theodosius makes Christianity STATE religion
Diocletian splits empire: East & West
-Etruscan technology & influence used in Rome;
-Rebellion after Tarquin the Proud leads to new civil government
-REPUBLIC is formed by patricians
264 BCE well-organized gov’t allows Rome to conquer territories ---tolerant
of conquered people, allowing some citizenship = expansion of Rome’s
borders
-RIVAL to Rome: Carthage (control access to trade routes)
-Punic Wars 1st: over Sicily; Rome wins 2nd: Hannibal; Scipio defeats;
3rd: Rome salts & enslaves Carthage
-Rich & poor gap; Gauis Marius (consul who allowed paid soldiers)
-Military upheaval: Julius Caesar, Crassus, Pompey rule as 1st Triumvirate
-Betrayal: Caesar ordered home without army; he crosses Rubicon River,
inciting civil war
-Caesar takes control as dictator for life; murdered by Senate
2nd Triumvirate: Octavian, Marc Antony, Lepidus
-Betrayal: Battle of Actium: Octavian defeats Antony & Cleopatra’s armies;
becomes Augustus Caesar 27 BCE
-Pax Romana: 27 BCE- 180 CE: ag, trade, common coinage
-Bad emperors (Tibirius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero)
- Good emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelias)
- Constantine supports Christianity in Rome
- 180CE Rome declines; Diocletian splits Rome E & W
- 400s invasions: 476 CE German Odoacer invades; END of W Roman Empire
-Romulus & Remus myth
-Etruscans influence Romans: writing, architecture, metal work, engineering
-Adopted Greek technologies & religions when Greece falls
-Familly: man head of home; woman run household
-New government: REPUBLIC- Roman Law = strengthening rights of citizens
-Roman culture: practical (strength over beauty, power over grace ,usefulnness over
elegance)
-Polytheism to Christianity;
-Christianity- Pope
-Slavery, Free entertainment to
distract poor: gladiator games in
Colosseum, 150 holidays
-Roads & architecture
-Art: realistic, mosaics, frescoes
-History: Livy, Tacitus
-Stoicism
-Poetry: Virgil, Ovid
WEST: Latin EAST: Greek
(Italy, Gaul, (Syria, Greece
Britain, Spain) Anatolia, Egypt)
*falls after Const. Capital moved to
dies *Byzantium:=
Constantinople
*becomes wealthy;
1,000 yrs
*ROMAN *EASTERN
CATHOLOCISM ORTHODOX