The Roman Republic a Review of Some of the Salient Points in Its History for the Use

Start in the eighth century B.C., Aboriginal Rome grew from a small town on central Italy'due south Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed near of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. Among the many legacies of Roman dominance are the widespread utilize of the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) derived from Latin, the modern Western alphabet and calendar and the emergence of Christianity equally a major world religion. After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar'due south rise and fall in the first century B.C. The long and triumphant reign of its showtime emperor, Augustus, began a golden age of peace and prosperity; by contrast, the Roman Empire's decline and fall past the fifth century A.D. was one of the nearly dramatic implosions in the history of human civilization.

Origins of Rome

As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. Left to drown in a basket on the Tiber by a king of nearby Alba Longa and rescued by a she-wolf, the twins lived to defeat that king and institute their ain city on the river'southward banks in 753 B.C. Subsequently killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named for him. A line of Sabine, Latin and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilizations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession. There are 7 legendary kings of Rome: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder), Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud (534-510 B.C.). While they were referred to as "Male monarch," or "King" in Latin, all the kings later Romulus were elected past the senate.

Rome's era equally a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. with the overthrow of its seventh rex, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom ancient historians portrayed as savage and tyrannical, compared to his benevolent predecessors. A popular uprising was said to have arisen over the rape of a virtuous noblewoman, Lucretia, by the king's son. Whatever the cause, Rome turned from a monarchy into a republic, a world derived from res publica, or "property of the people."

Rome was built on seven hills, known equally "the seven hills of Rome"—Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Aventine Colina, Capitoline Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill and Caelian Hill.

The Early Republic

The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates chosen consuls. They as well served equally commanders in principal of the army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were fatigued largely from the Senate, which was dominated by the patricians, or the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus. Politics in the early commonwealth was marked past the long struggle between patricians and plebeians (the common people), who eventually attained some political ability through years of concessions from patricians, including their own political bodies, the tribunes, which could initiate or veto legislation.

The Roman forum was more than than just dwelling to their Senate.

In 450 B.C., the starting time Roman police code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets–known every bit the Twelve Tables–and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum. These laws included bug of legal procedure, civil rights and property rights and provided the footing for all future Roman civil law. By around 300 B.C., real political power in Rome was centered in the Senate, which at the time included only members of patrician and wealthy plebeian families.

Military Expansion

During the early on democracy, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the unabridged Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Rome and so fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful urban center-state in northern Africa. The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome in full control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the 3rd Punic War (149–146 B.C.), the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a section of northern Africa a Roman province. At the aforementioned time, Rome likewise spread its influence east, defeating Male monarch Philip V of Macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into another Roman province.

Rome's military conquests led direct to its cultural growth as a club, every bit the Romans benefited greatly from contact with such advanced cultures every bit the Greeks. The get-go Roman literature appeared effectually 240 B.C., with translations of Greek classics into Latin; Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy and religion.

Internal Struggles in the Late Commonwealth

Rome's complex political institutions began to crumble nether the weight of the growing empire, ushering in an era of internal turmoil and violence. The gap betwixt rich and poor widened as wealthy landowners drove small-scale farmers from public land, while access to government was increasingly express to the more privileged classes. Attempts to address these social problems, such every bit the reform movements of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus (in 133 B.C. and 123-22 B.C., respectively) ended in the reformers' deaths at the easily of their opponents.

Gaius Marius, a commoner whose military machine prowess elevated him to the position of consul (for the first of six terms) in 107 B.C., was the first of a series of warlords who would boss Rome during the belatedly republic. By 91 B.C., Marius was struggling against attacks by his opponents, including his fellow full general Sulla, who emerged every bit military dictator around 82 B.C. After Sulla retired, one of his former supporters, Pompey, briefly served as consul earlier waging successful military campaigns against pirates in the Mediterranean and the forces of Mithridates in Asia. During this same period, Marcus Tullius Cicero, elected consul in 63 B.C., famously defeated the conspiracy of the patrician Cataline and won a reputation as ane of Rome's greatest orators.

Julius Caesar's Rise

When the victorious Pompey returned to Rome, he formed an uneasy alliance known every bit the Starting time Triumvirate with the wealthy Marcus Licinius Crassus (who suppressed a slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 B.C.) and another ascent star in Roman politics: Gaius Julius Caesar. After earning military glory in Kingdom of spain, Caesar returned to Rome to vie for the consulship in 59 B.C. From his alliance with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar received the governorship of three wealthy provinces in Gaul beginning in 58 B.C.; he then prepare about conquering the rest of the region for Rome.

After Pompey's wife Julia (Caesar'due south daughter) died in 54 B.C. and Crassus was killed in battle confronting Parthia (nowadays-mean solar day Iran) the following twelvemonth, the triumvirate was broken. With onetime-style Roman politics in disorder, Pompey stepped in every bit sole consul in 53 B.C. Caesar'due south military glory in Gaul and his increasing wealth had eclipsed Pompey's, and the latter teamed with his Senate allies to steadily undermine Caesar. In 49 B.C., Caesar and one of his legions crossed the Rubicon, a river on the border between Italy from Cisalpine Gaul. Caesar's invasion of Italy ignited a ceremonious war from which he emerged every bit dictator of Rome for life in 45 B.C.

Gyre to Continue

From Caesar to Augustus

Less than a year later, Julius Caesar was murdered on the ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.) by a group of his enemies (led by the republican nobles Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius). Consul Mark Antony and Caesar'due south great-nephew and adopted heir, Octavian, joined forces to crush Brutus and Cassius and divided power in Rome with ex-consul Lepidus in what was known as the 2d Triumvirate. With Octavian leading the western provinces, Antony the east, and Lepidus Africa, tensions developed by 36 B.C. and the triumvirate soon dissolved. In 31 B.C., Octavian triumped over the forces of Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Arab republic of egypt (too rumored to exist the erstwhile lover of Julius Caesar) in the Battle of Actium. In the wake of this devastating defeat, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.

Past 29 B.C., Octavian was the sole leader of Rome and all its provinces. To avoid meeting Caesar's fate, he made sure to make his position as absolute ruler acceptable to the public past apparently restoring the political institutions of the Roman commonwealth while in reality retaining all existent power for himself. In 27 B.C., Octavian assumed the championship of Augustus, becoming the first emperor of Rome.

Age of the Roman Emperors

Augustus' dominion restored morale in Rome afterwards a century of discord and corruption and ushered in the famous pax Romana–two full centuries of peace and prosperity. He instituted diverse social reforms, won numerous military victories and allowed Roman literature, art, architecture and organized religion to flourish. Augustus ruled for 56 years, supported past his great army and past a growing cult of devotion to the emperor. When he died, the Senate elevated Augustus to the condition of a god, beginning a long-running tradition of deification for popular emperors.

Augustus' dynasty included the unpopular Tiberius (fourteen-37 A.D.), the bloodthirsty and unstable Caligula (37-41) and Claudius (41-54), who was best remembered for his army'south conquest of U.k.. The line concluded with Nero (54-68), whose excesses drained the Roman treasury and led to his downfall and eventual suicide. 4 emperors took the throne in the tumultuous yr afterwards Nero'due south expiry; the fourth, Vespasian (69-79), and his successors, Titus and Domitian, were known as the Flavians; they attempted to temper the excesses of the Roman court, restore Senate authority and promote public welfare. Titus (79-81) earned his people's devotion with his handling of recovery efforts afterwards the infamous eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

The reign of Nerva (96-98), who was selected past the Senate to succeed Domitian, began some other golden historic period in Roman history, during which iv emperors–Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius–took the throne peacefully, succeeding i some other past adoption, as opposed to hereditary succession. Trajan (98-117) expanded Rome's borders to the greatest extent in history with victories over the kingdoms of Dacia (at present northwestern Romania) and Parthia. His successor Hadrian (117-138) solidified the empire'due south frontiers (famously building Hadrian'south Wall in present-day England) and connected his predecessor's work of establishing internal stability and instituting authoritative reforms.

Under Antoninus Pius (138-161), Rome connected in peace and prosperity, simply the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161–180) was dominated by conflict, including state of war confronting Parthia and Armenia and the invasion of Germanic tribes from the northward. When Marcus fell ill and died near the battlefield at Vindobona (Vienna), he broke with the tradition of non-hereditary succession and named his xix-year-old son Commodus as his successor.

Decline and Disintegration

The decadence and incompetence of Commodus (180-192) brought the golden historic period of the Roman emperors to a disappointing terminate. His death at the hands of his own ministers sparked another period of civil war, from which Lucius Septimius Severus (193-211) emerged victorious. During the third century Rome suffered from a bike of almost-abiding conflict. A total of 22 emperors took the throne, many of them meeting violent ends at the hands of the aforementioned soldiers who had propelled them to ability. Meanwhile, threats from outside plagued the empire and depleted its riches, including continuing assailment from Germans and Parthians and raids by the Goths over the Aegean Body of water.

The reign of Diocletian (284-305) temporarily restored peace and prosperity in Rome, but at a high toll to the unity of the empire. Diocletian divided power into the and so-called tetrarchy (rule of four), sharing his title of Augustus (emperor) with Maximian. A pair of generals, Galerius and Constantius, were appointed as the assistants and called successors of Diocletian and Maximian; Diocletian and Galerius ruled the eastern Roman Empire, while Maximian and Constantius took power in the west.

The stability of this system suffered greatly subsequently Diocletian and Maximian retired from office. Constantine (the son of Constantius) emerged from the ensuing power struggles as sole emperor of a reunified Rome in 324. He moved the Roman majuscule to the Greek urban center of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, Constantine fabricated Christianity (once an obscure Jewish sect) Rome's official religion.

Roman unity under Constantine proved illusory, and 30 years subsequently his expiry the eastern and western empires were once again divided. Despite its standing battle against Western farsi forces, the eastern Roman Empire–later on known as the Byzantine Empire–would remain largely intact for centuries to come. An entirely unlike story played out in the west, where the empire was wracked past internal conflict as well equally threats from abroad–particularly from the Germanic tribes now established within the empire'due south frontiers like the Vandals (their sack of Rome originated the phrase "vandalism")–and was steadily losing money due to abiding warfare.

Rome eventually collapsed under the weight of its ain bloated empire, losing its provinces one by i: Britain around 410; Spain and northern Africa by 430. Attila and his brutal Huns invaded Gaul and Italia around 450, further shaking the foundations of the empire. In September 476, a Germanic prince named Odovacar won control of the Roman army in Italian republic. Afterward deposing the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, Odovacar'south troops proclaimed him king of Italy, bringing an ignoble end to the long, tumultuous history of ancient Rome. The fall of the Roman Empire was complete.

Roman Architecture

Roman architecture and applied science innovations take had a lasting impact on the modernistic earth. Roman aqueducts, commencement developed in 312 B.C., enabled the rise of cities by transporting water to urban areas, improving public health and sanitation. Some Roman aqueducts transported water up to 60 miles from its source and the Fountain of Trevi in Rome still relies on an updated version of an original Roman aqueduct.

Roman cement and physical are part of the reason ancient buildings like the Colosseum and Roman Forum are still continuing strong today. Roman arches, or segmented arches, improved upon before arches to build strong bridges and buildings, evenly distributing weight throughout the structure.

Roman roads, the most advanced roads in the ancient world, enabled the Roman Empire—which was over 1.7 1000000 square miles at the pinnacle of its ability—to stay connected. They included such mod-seeming innovations equally mile markers and drainage. Over 50,000 miles of road were built by 200 B.C. and several are however in use today.

PHOTO GALLERIES

Roman Leaders and Emperors

Roman Architecture and Engineering

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Source: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/ancient-rome

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