Roman History

1. Roman History A broad (and brief) outline

2. Roman history went through three general phases which coincide nicely with their form of government. • The Monarchy -- Rome establishes itself as a city, develops basic infrastructure, dominates the local region of Latium, and falls under foreign (Etruscan) control. • The Republic -- Rome establishes an oligarchodemocratic constitution and rapidly expands throughout the Italian peninsula, subjugating and absorbing local populations and their cultures. Rome also develops important military innovations that allow them to defeat the other Mediterranean superpowers and absorb their empires -- primarily Carthage and the Hellenistic kingdoms. The huge empire proves impossible to control from Rome without widespread corruption, and civil wars break out. • The Empire -- Rome becomes autocratic, i.e. ruled by the will of a single person, although the Senate still theoretically governs. Periods of stable rule by strong emperors alternate with instability and even occasional civil wars, especially during times of disputed succession. There is some expansion, but over the course of hundreds of years Rome loses ground. In the west, the Empire breaks into kingdoms, but in the East it is eventually absorbed by the Ottoman Empire.

3. The Monarchy -- The 7 Kings of Rome Rome was (according to legend) founded by Romulus in 753 BC. Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, were the grandsons of the rightful king of Alba Longa, Numitor, who had been deposed by his brother, Amulius. They overthrew their great-uncle and founded a new city. Romulus killed Remus in an argument. Romulus established an army and a government. After his death, six more kings ruled, bringing new cultural and military innovations to Rome: NumaPompilius, TullusHostilius, AncusMarcius, TarquinusPriscus, ServiusTullius, and TarquinusSuperbus. The last 3 kings were Etruscans, not Romans, and the native Romans grew irritated with the last king’s harsh rule. According to legend, after a prince of the royal family raped Lucretia, a noble Roman, the people overthrew the kings.

4. The Republic -- 509 BC - ?? BC (44? 27 BC?) The ‘Republic’ was a style of government invented by the Romans which combined elements of oligarchy (rule by the rich) and democracy (rule by the people). Magistrates were elected yearly by the whole people, but in the most important elections, wealthy citizens were given more powerful votes, and only the wealthy were eligible to belong to the Senate (and could afford to run for office in any case). Military commands were held by government officials, and warfare and the governing of provinces offered chances for wealth and advancement. Bribery and factions became common to dominate these important positions, and in the late Republic street fights and even civil wars broke out between political rivals.

5. The Republic and its legions grew to dominate the Italian peninsula from the Gauls in the north to the cities of Magna Graecia in the south. At home, there was political tension between the plebs, who wanted more democratic power, and the patricii, who wanted to keep it in their own hands. More than once, the plebeians seceded from Rome to start their own city and had to be negotiated with, and they gained significant power. By the late Republic, most magistrates were plebeian, although patricians still held important advantages. Rome came into conflict with a number of foreign powers, eventually defeating and absorbing all of the Mediterranean nations. They fought constantly with the Gauls, but also fought wars against King Pyrrhus of Epirus (280-275), Carthage (264-146), Macedon (215-148), Seleucid Syria (192-188), and Ptolemaic Egypt (31-30).

6. The Roman Empire -- 27(ish) to AD 476, 1453 The end of the Republic saw a series of civil wars in which rival factions in the city attempted to take control by defeating or murdering their opponents. Lucius Cornelius Sulla held an unconstitutional multi-year dictatorship and assassinated hundreds of enemies. The first triumvirate (Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar) wrested power away from the conservative Senate, and Caesar again assumed the dictatorship after defeating his former ally Pompey in a lengthy civil war. Another triumvirate , this one composed of Antony, Lepidus, and the young Octavian, took power after Caesar’s assassination. When this alliance also fell apart and Octavian emerged victorious, he solidified his position, not by claiming the unpopular office of dictator, but by claiming other constitutional powers, such as the rights of the tribune and consul and governor of the ‘imperial’ provinces.

7. Augustus attempted to establish a family dynasty to inherit has power after his death, but a number of (often mysterious) family deaths meant that his only acceptable successor was his adopted son, Tiberius. Including Tiberius, there were four more emperors from the Claudius family, but a civil war after Nero’s death led to a year of great instability. The Flavian dynasty, founded by Vespasian, followed, and Rome saw some strong leaders and some very weak ones. There were some expansions under the early Empire, and under Trajan the empire was as large as it would ever be.

8. Great changes occurred later in the Empire. Raids by new barbarian groups, such as the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, stretched the legions to the breaking point, and internal strife resulting from political rivalries and the spread of cultures and religions which did not mesh well with the old Roman way led to the loss of territories on the Danube and in Spain and Africa. The Empire was split in two to make it easier to rule. Christianity (previously persecuted) was first tolerated, then adopted as the official religion of Rome. The last emperor in the Western Roman Empire was overthrown in AD 476, leading to the European Dark Ages. The empire of Constantinople, however, persisted for another thousand years before finally being conquered by Mehmet the Conqueror and absorbed as part of the Ottoman Empire, which saw itself as the Islamic heir to Roman rule.