Dispute over control of Sicily and trade routes in the western Mediterranean brought Rome into...
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Transcript of Dispute over control of Sicily and trade routes in the western Mediterranean brought Rome into...
Dispute over control of Sicily and trade
routes in the western Mediterranean
brought Rome into conflict with the powerful North
African city-state of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage had been
founded as Phoenician colony 500
years earlier
Result was the three Punic Wars
264-146 BC
FIRST PUNIC WAR• Primarily a naval war
– Tactics involved maneuvering your ship in such a way so that you could ram and sink enemy
• Carthage very good at this because of long experience as naval power
• Rome had small navy and little experience in naval warfare
– Defeated time and time again by larger and more experienced Carthaginian navy
ROME WINS THE FIRST ONE• Rome would not surrender
– Finally turned the tables on Carthage by changing rules of naval warfare
• Equipped ships with huge hooks and stationed soldiers on ships
– Would hook enemy ship, pull it nearby, and board it with soldiers
– Converted naval warfare into mini-land battles
• Something Rome was very good at
• Won First Punic War as a result
SECOND PUNIC WAR
• Carthagian general Hannibal surprises Romans, leads army from Spain, through southern France and the Alps, and invades Italy from the north– Defeats Roman armies sent
to stop him several times but hesitates to attack Rome itself
• Too well fortified• Settles instead on war of
attrition in hope of destroying Roman economic base
ROME WINS THIS ONE TOO
• Unable to defeat Hannibal in Italy, a Roman army sailed across the Mediterranean, landed in North Africa, and headed for Carthage– Led by patrician general
Scipio Aemilius Africanus– Hannibal forced to leave Italy
to protect Carthage• Defeated at the Battle of
Zama, fought outside the walls of Carthage
Hannibal
THIRD PUNIC WAR
• Carthage finished after Second Punic War– Hannibal committed suicide– Economy shattered– Lost all territory to Rome– But some Romans feared it
might revive someday and challenge Rome again
• Notably Cato the Elder– Pushed for another war
that would wipe Carthage off the face of the map
Cato the Elder
ROME WINS A THIRD TIME• Due to Cato’s persistent efforts,
Rome declares war against defenseless Carthage– Wins easily– Entire population of city sold
into slavery– Everything of value carried
back to Rome– Everything else burned and
dumped into the sea– Site sown with salt so that
nothing would ever grow there again
– Carthage completely disappeared
Rome drawn into the affairs of the successor
kingdoms
Successor kingdom
increasingly called on Roman aid in their incessant
wars against each other
Rome always responded in the
belief that achieving a balance of power in the east
was better than having one
successor kingdom become too
powerful and challenge Rome
Rome eventually became weary of
playing this endless refereeing role and
realized that the continued
independence of the successor kingdoms
threaten Roman interests
Took over Greece, Macedonia, some of Asia Minor, Syria, Aegean and eastern Mediterranean islands
by 133 BC
Later, the conquests of Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Pompey
Magnus, and Julius Caesar would add more territory
Gaul, the rest of Asia Minor, Mesopotamian, Mediterranean Middle
East, Belgium
ROMAN REPUBLIC
• Was not a static institution but rather a continually evolving structure
– Political participation and eligibility to run for office widened over time
– Powers of various assemblies and elected officials also changed with time
– But it also became increasingly corrupt
BIG PROBLEM
• Ambitious politicians (who were also always military commanders) all tried, and eventually succeeded, in subverting republican institutions in order to achieve personal dictatorial power over the empire and its wealth– Marius, Sulla, Publius
Clodius, Pompey, Marcus Crassus, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Octavian/Augustus
Julius Caesar
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
FALL OF THE REPUBLIC• Civil wars racked the empire during
the last century BC– Marius vs Sulla; Pompey vs
Caesar; Octavian vs Marc Antony– Together they ultimately
destroyed the Republic• Accompanied by increased
level of political violence within Rome, the murder of political opponents, the destruction of property, physical intimidation, riots, armed clashes
– All became part of everyday politics and contributed to decay and death of the Republic
PATRICIANS• Original aristocracy of Rome
– Had been distinguished citizens who advised Latin kings
– Played leading role in overthrowing Etruscans• Control strengthened by institution of clientage
– Client was a free man who pledged himself to a patrician (called patron)
• Honor-bound to serve interests and obey wishes of patron
– In return the client received favors– Originally used to create political bases for
patricians• Wealth based primarily on ownership of farmland
and/or urban real estate– Originally possessed monopoly on membership in
Senate and various elected offices
PLEBEIANS • Free men who could not trace their
ancestry back to advisors of Latin kings– Did not become clients– Number swollen by immigrants
who moved to Rome during Etruscan period
– Many were well-off and served in the army under Etruscans
• Etruscans had promoted their interests and protected their civil status
– With overthrow of Etruscans they lost protector
• Patricians would not let them share in government
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION
• Result was long-term power struggle within Rome as patricians attempted to preserve their exalted status and monopoly of political power and plebeians tried to gain a share of power that corresponded to the contribution they made to Rome’s success and prosperity– Result was a blurring and mixing of original social
distinctions and gradual emergence of a new hierarchy based on wealth
– Parallel political evolution in which the patrician monopoly on government gave way to the domination of the wealthy (whether patrician or plebeian)
ROMAN CITIZENSHIP• Entitled a man to vote in
elections• Could not be flogged as
punishment• Entitled to the Roman trial
process and had right of appeal
• Originally, both parents had to be citizens for that person to be considered a citizen– Later, only a person’s
father had to be a citizen to qualify his offspring as citizens
A NEW SYSTEM• By the late Republic, citizens divided into five classes and a large
group known as the capite censi (Head Count)• Membership in a class was based on wealth determined by a “means
test” given every five years– First Class was wealthiest, then Second Class, etc.
• Political power determined by class membership– Only members of First Class could become senators and highest
officials in Rome• By 100 BC, only 12 patrician families had means to be in First Class
– Patricians still possessed certain social distinctions but their automatic and unquestioned domination of society and politics was a thing of the past
• Historians don’t know precise economic criteria for membership in each class– But even the 5th class was wealthy enough to at least arm and equip
itself and serve in army
THE HEAD COUNT• Too poor to arm and equip
themselves for military service– Even after they became
eligible for military service with the reforms of Gaius Marius, they were still considered as a group too poor to be included in the five classes
– Most clients drawn from this group
– Freed slaves with citizenship belonged to this group
• Below them came non-citizen resident foreigners and slaves
SENATE
• Most powerful governmental institution in Rome during the Republic– Made up of 300
members– Descended from
the ancient advisory body to Septimontium kings
SOURCES OF POWER• Since most elected magistrates served
one-year terms, while senators had lifetime terms, the Senate was the only governmental body that could maintain a continuous policy
• Senators had to be members of the First Class– Only richest and most powerful men,
with hordes of clients, sat in the Senate• Almost all candidates for elected office
were selected from the Senate– Giving it indirect control over entire
government– Elected officials returned to Senate once
their term was up, making it a reservoir of political experience and wisdom
LIMITS AND STRENGTHS• Also had limits of power since it was an advisory body, not a legislature
– Did not possess initiative– Could not convene itself or initiate discussion
• However, once a senator’s advice was requested, he was free to talk about anything he wanted
• Opinions were requested of each senator in set order– Process continued until a viable proposal was produced
• After a passing vote, it was a senatus consult (decree of the Senate)
• Senate did reign supreme in certain areas– Controlled treasury– Declared war and appointed military commanders– Appointed provincial governors and regulated affairs– Had right, in times of civil emergency, to override all other bodies of
government and establish martial law• Senatus consultum de republica defenda
ELECTED OFFICIALS• Consuls
– 2 elected each year– Dual chief executives
• Censors– 2 elected ever 5 years– Kept and updated voting lists– Conducted means test for class
membership and Senate• Praetors
– 6 elected each year– Served as state’s attorneys
• Quaestors– 12 elected each year– Oversaw financial matters
• Aediles– 4 elected each year– Organized public ceremonies
POLITICS
• Candidates for public office seldom offered a program and organized political parties did not exist– Men were generally elected by the amount of bribes they offered,
the lavishness of their public entertainments, the prestige of their family name, and their family connections
– They also saw nothing wrong in using their elected office to get richer and oppose every measure aimed at helping the poor
• Such as cheap grain, distribution of free land, and cancellation of debts
POWER TO THE PEOPLE?
• Members of the Head Count also held political power (at least in theory)– Their assemblies, the Centuriate Assembly and
Tribal Assembly, held the power to elect magistrates, ratify treaties, and pass laws
– Yet the structure of these assemblies was rigged to give the wealthy good control of them too• These were the same men who already
controlled the Senate and monopolized elected offices
CENTURIATE ASSEMBLY
• Every citizen in Rome belonged to it– Regardless of economic status– Its main job was to elected magistrates
• Voting in assembly was not done on individual basis– All citizens were divided into voting units called centuries
• Each century had one vote in Assembly• Centuries were not equal in size
– Entire Head Count in Rome (300-500,000 people) were lumped together in one century
– The wealthy divided into numerous small centuries• Whenever a vote was taken, the wealthy, given their
control of the majority of centuries, always won
TRIBAL ASSEMBLY• Primary function was to pass laws• Voting also not done on an individual basis
– Done according to tribe• 35 in all; each having one vote• Rich and poor fairly equally distributed in each tribe
• Two stumbling blocks– Many members of Head Count did not attend meetings because that
meant taking off work• Attendance at Assembly therefore tended to be dominated by the
wealthy and their clients– Assembly could not do anything without the collaboration of a tribune
• Who only could introduce legislation• Any tribune of the ten could veto legislative proposal
– All ten had to agree before a bill became law» Not hard for wealthy to find one tribune to do their dirty work
for them
SUMMARY
• Roman Republic was strongly rigged to work only in the interests of the wealthy classes– No way a sincere reformer could “work within the
system” to change things• Everything was stacked against him
• The only way to effect change within this rigged system was to either threaten or use violence against the ruling class
• The rigged structure of government in republican Rome was therefore the first factor that contributed to the growth of political violence in the city-state