World History I: Rome

All roads lead to...

Rome

but Rome wasn't built in a day..

Romulus and Remus

Twin brothers raised by a she-wolf who were removed from power when they were young, but discovered who they were and killed Amulius and put their grandfather back on the throne.

Rome was built on 7 hills.

In 509 BCE, a group of Roman nobles drove the Etruscan king, Tarquin, from power. Without a king, Rome had become a republic. Power passed to Rome's aristocratic council of elders, the Senate.

Roman Republic

began with the overthrow

of the Roman monarchy

around 508 B.C.

The Roman Senate was a

political institution in the

Roman Republic.

The Senate's principal role was

to handle matters of foreign

and military policy, handle public

affairs, and try individuals accused of

political crimes.

Society

The social structure of ancient Rome was based on heredity, property, wealth, citizenship and freedom. It was also based around men: women were defined by the social status of their fathers or husbands. Women were expected to look after the houses and very few had any real independence.

Although the classes were strictly defined, there was a lot of interaction. Slaves and some freemen worked the in homes of the upper classes, like the senators and patricians. Soldiers also mixed with their officers.

Families were dominated by men. At the head of Roman family life was the oldest living male, called the "paterfamilias," or "father of the family." He looked after the family's business affairs and property and could perform religious rites on their behalf.

The influence of women only went so far. The paterfamilias had the right to decide whether to keep newborn babies. After birth, the midwife placed babies on the ground: only if the paterfamilias picked it up was the baby formally accepted into the family.

If the decision went the other way, the baby was exposed – deliberately abandoned outside. This usually happened to deformed babies, or when the father did not think that the family could support another child. Babies were exposed in specific places and it was assumed that an abandoned baby would be picked up and taken a slave.

The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 B.C to 146 B.C.

The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflict of interests between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic.

Hannibal surprised the Romans in 218 BC by leading the Iberians and three dozen elephants through the Alps. This move had a double edged effect. Although Hannibal surprised the Romans and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Italy, he lost his only siege engines and most of his elephants to the cold temperatures and icy mountain paths. In the end it allowed him to defeat the Romans in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Rome itself, thus making him unable to win the war.

Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and one of the most powerful cities in classical antiquity.

The Third Punic War (149–146 BC) involved an extended siege of Carthage, ending in the city's thorough destruction.

Roman Empire

By 48 BC, after having defeated the last of his major enemies, Julius Caesar wanted to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed. He assumed these powers by increasing his own authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political institutions.

Caesar = Roman Dictator

In 46 BC, Caesar was given the powers of Censor, which he used to fill the senate with his own partisans. Caesar then raised the membership of the senate from 600 to 900.

After Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Mark Antony formed an alliance with Caesar's adopted son and great-nephew, Gaius Octavian. Along with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, they formed an alliance

Antony and Octavian fought against

each other in one last battle in

31 BC, at the Battle of Actium.

Antony was defeated, and in 30 BC he committed suicide.

The reign of Octavian, whom history

remembers as Augustus, the first

Roman Emperor, marked the dividing

line between the Roman Republic and

the Roman Empire. By the time this

process was complete, Rome had

completed its transformation from

a city-state with a network of

dependencies into the capital

of a world empire.

The Crossing of the Rubicon

Roman Achievements

Architectural

styles

Concrete/

mortar/

cement

Efficient

highway

system

Mass

entertainment

Aqueducts

& viaducts

Thermal baths,

central heating,

floor heating

Wine-making

Roman

alphabet

Carnivals,

Christmas, etc.

Latin

language

The Julian

calendar

Roman legal

system

The Republic

& Senate

3 Course meal

What caused Rome to fall?

Vandals

Barbarian Invaders

Bad economy

Internal conflict

Famine

Loss of civic virtue

Clash of civilizations

Waste of resourses

Disease

23 emperors, 20 of which were murdered

How are the U.S.

and

Rome different?

U.S.

Too much

technology

Women's

rights

Common man

holds power

Rome

Lead

poisoning

lack of

new

technology

Rich and elite

hold power

How are they the same?

• Economy in toilet
• Military strength
• Mass immigration
• Models of government
• "Natural laws" = "undeniable rights"

THE END

BY: G. Mick Smith, PhD

Arches, columns, domes, scultures, frescoes, and mosiacs

Festivals

stadiums &

ampitheatres

Starter, main dish, desert

"Advance!" with a piercing blast

he crossed to the other side. At this

Caesar cried out, 'Let us go where

the omens of the Gods and the crimes

of our enemies summon us!

THE DIE IS NOW CAST!'

It was January 49 BC, Caesar was staying in the northern Italian city of Ravenna and he had a decision to make. Either he acquiesced to the Senate's command or he moved southward to confront Pompey and plunge the Roman Republic into a bloody civil war. An ancient Roman law forbade any general from crossing the Rubicon River and entering Italy proper with a standing army. To do so was treason. This tiny stream would reveal Caesar's intentions and mark the point of no return.

Caesar marched his army into Rome,

took over the place, and had a new

Senate installed, one that included

mostly men favorable to his intentions.