The Roman Republic

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VOCABULARY

REPUBLIC A form of government in which elected

representatives make the lawsPATRICIANS

The wealthy and powerful upper class of Roman citizens; determined by birth

PLEBEIANS 90% of the citizensThe common citizens of Rome: farmers,

tradesmen, small businessmen,

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IMPERIUMThe supreme authority in the Republic

CONSULThe official and law maker chosen by

the patriciansVETO

The power to stop a government actTRIBUNES

Roman officials elected by the Plebeians

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Rome was located at the border of Etruria and Latium about 15 miles up the TIBER river

After the overthrow of Tarquin the Proud, the Romans declared their independence from the Etruscans and set up a new form of government called a republic.

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Roman society was divided into two groups: citizens and slaves. Adult male citizens had the right to vote and to own property.  

The citizens were further divided into two groups:PATRICIANS PLEBEIANS

Women were citizens BUT could not vote or take part in the government although they were protected by Roman laws. 

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SLAVES

Most slaves in ancient Rome were acquired through warfare, with Roman armies bringing captives back as part of their reward.

Turning defeated soldiers into slaves brought soldiers income, and could also serve as an alternative to imprisoning or killing them.

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In addition, people could sell their children into slavery.

Children abandoned at birth were also usually collected and made slaves.

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Patricians were the only citizens allowed to vote for the government members.

The government had a SENATE and two ASSEMBLIES

The senators were patricians who served for life and passed all the laws, agreed to all treaties and approved all appointments for governement jobs. 10

Roman society was also divided into two groups: citizen and slave. Adult male citizens had the right to vote and to own property.  

Women citizens could not vote or take part in the government although they were protected by Roman laws. 

Slaves which were war captives, were owned by citizens and had no rights.     

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The Assembly of Centuries directed all military matters and was also made up of just the patricians

The Assembly of Tribes was made up mostly of plebeians who represented the 35 tribes into which all citizens were divided.In reality this was also controlled by the

patricians

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The supreme power in the Republic was in the hands of the IMPERIUMThe Imperium was made up of two CONSULS

who were chosen by the patricians and ruled for a year.

The consuls helped to make and carry out the laws and controlled the army.

Each consul had the power to stop or VETO the acts of the other, so they had to agree with each other before they could act.

VETO means “ I forbid” in Latin.16

The legal system was lead by judges or PRAETORS who interpreted the laws made by the government

CENSORS counted the people in Rome and determined how much in taxes a person would pay based on their wealth.

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In the early years of the Republic there were many laws that controlled the lives of the plebeians. They could notmarry patriciansconduct religious ceremonieshold important government positions

However the plebeians did make up most of the army

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When a poor plebeian had to borrow money from the rich to survive, he and his family were forced into "debt bondage", which means he became a servant of the man to whom he owed the money.

He was like a slave, and, without getting paid, he could never get the money he needed to buy his freedom. 19

In the 5th century BCE the plebeians refused to fight for Rome until they were given more political power;

The Assembly of Tribes was allowed to elect 10 TRIBUNES who could override any act of the Senate or officials by calling out VETO

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In 450 BCE the Romans adopted a set of laws called the TWELVE TABLES.

These laws were carved in bronze and put in the Forum or religious and government centre of Rome

They covered nearly every aspect of life including wills, family law, property rights and public behaviour of citizens. 21

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By 339 BCE, plebeians had won the right to marry patricians and hold the office of consul.

They could also sit in the senate and the Assembly of the Tribes could pass laws without Senate approval.

However the plebeians soon became as exclusive a group as the patricians and would not allow new citizens to join them.

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THE PUNIC WARS

These were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 BCE.

At the beginning Carthage controlled most the trading centres in the Mediterranean.

After 100 years of war, Rome finally defeated Carthage and completely destroyed the city and sold all of its citizens into slavery.

They even covered the fields with salt so that nothing would grow there.

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HANNIBAL& the Second Punic War

The most famous Carthiginian general was HANNNIBAL, who travelled through Spain and across the Alps with his war elephants to reach northern Italy.

For 15 years his arny fought numerous battles in Italy but was never able to defeat Rome.

He finally had to return to Carthage to protect it from Roman attack.

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Hannibal survived the Battle of Zama but had to run away.

Finally in 183 B.C. Romans found him in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and forced him to surrender.

As they guarded him, he secretly took poison and ended his life

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The decline of the Republic

The hundred years of war widened the gap between the rich and poor and weakened the republic.

The small farmers were most affected.Wealthy citizens bought up huge

amounts of land and threw out the small farmers and bought tens of thousands of slaves to work on their estates instead.

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The displaced farmers ended up in Rome seeking work but there were very few jobs for them because most of the work there was also done by slaves.

Corruption grew as the rich bought the votes of the government officials who made laws that favoured them.

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In the rural areas tax collectors were free to get as much money as they could from the people.Rome would tell them how much they

had to turn in and they could keep any extra that they collected.

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In order to try and keep the poor people from becoming violent the politicians offered them BREAD AND CIRCUSESThey were given free food and

entertainment in the form of combats to the death between:

animals such as bears, lions and bulls, men and animals and GLADIATORS 34

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Two bothers called Tiberius and Gaius GRACCHUS tried to reform the government by giving land back to the poor.

Tiberius was put to death by the Senate and Gaius committed suicide.

This was followed by a series of generals who made themselves dictators after becoming heroes after winning a great battle.

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The last of these generals was SULLA.

He died in 78 BCE and was replaced by JULIUS CAESAR.

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