Presentation Plus

1
Chapter 14 The Roman Republic
2
Contents
SECTION 1 The Government SECTION 2 Roman
Expansion SECTION 3 The Punic Wars SECTION
4 Effects of Conquest SECTION 5 Roman Leadership
3
Chapter Focus 4
Terms to Learn
People to Know (cont.)

• republic

• Hannibal Barca

• patricians
• plebeians
• consuls
• legionaries
• dictator
• triumvirate

• Tiberius Gracchus
• Julius Caesar
• Mark Antony
• Octavian

Places to Locate

• Carthage

• Sicily
• Gaul
• Corinth

People to Know

• Tarquin the Proud

4
Section 1-1
The Government

• At the head of the Roman Republic were two
  consuls, administrators and military leaders, who
  were chosen each year.

• As each had the power to veto, or say no to, the
  acts of the other, both had to agree before any
  law was passed.
• Next in importance was the Senate.
• Three hundred senators were chosen for life to
  handle daily problems and advise consuls.

5
Section 1-2
The Government (cont.)

• Judges, assemblies, and tribunes, or government
  officials who protected the rights of plebeians,
  were also part of the Roman government.

• In 450 B.C., Roman laws were carved on 12 bronze
  tablets known as the Twelve Tables and placed in
  the Forum.
• The election of tribunes and recording of laws
  were the first steps to a more democratic
  government.

6
Section 2-1
Roman Expansion

• The Romans worked to protect their republic
  because they were afraid that the Etruscans would
  try to get back control of Rome.

• To protect their new boundaries, the Romans
  either conquered their neighbors or made
  alliances with them.
• By 146 B.C., Rome ruled most of the Mediterranean
  world.
• The Romans gained territory because their strong
  army was organized into legions.

7
Section 2-2
Roman Expansion (cont.)

• Each legion contained some 5,000 soldiers called
  legionaries and was divided into groups of 60 to
  120 soldiers.

• The Romans were mild rulers, and as a result many
  enemies of Rome became loyal Roman allies.

8
Section 3-1
The Punic Wars

• By 264 B.C., the Romans had conquered some Greek
  city-states in southern Italy, bringing them into
  contact with the Phoenician city of Carthage.

• The Romans felt threatened by the Carthaginians,
  and they also wanted Sicilys granaries.

9
Section 3-2
The First Punic War

• In 264 B.C., the Romans and Carthaginians clashed
  in a war that lasted for 23 years.

• It was the first of three wars between Rome and
  Carthage that came to be known as the Punic Wars.
  
• Carthages military strength lay in its navy,
  while Romes lay in its army which defeated the
  Carthaginians.
• In 241 B.C., the Carthaginians agreed to make
  peace and left Sicily.

10
Section 3-3
Hannibal and the Second Punic War

• In 218 B.C., the Second Punic War began.

• The Carthaginians, led by General Hannibal Barca,
  attacked the Roman army by land from the north.
• He was unable to capture Rome.
• Then, the Romans attacked Carthage, and Hannibal
  was called home to defend it and he lost his
  first battle.
• In 201 B.C., Carthage agreed to pay Rome a huge
  sum of money and to give up all its territories,
  including Spain.

11
Section 3-4
The Third Punic War

• To prevent Carthage from gaining power, the
  Romans attacked in 149 B.C., the Third Punic War.

• In 146 B.C. the Greek city-state of Corinth and
  some of its allies refused to obey a Roman order.
  
• The Romans attacked Corinth and burned it to the
  ground.
• Rome became the leading power of the
  Mediterranean world.

12
Section 4-1
Effects of Conquest

• The conquests and the wealth changed Romes
  economy and government.

• Among the changes were

• the replacement of small farms by large estates.
• the coming of slavery.
• a movement from farms to cities.
• the decline of the Roman Republic.

13
Section 4-2
Agricultural Changes

• Romes conquests brought changes in agriculture.

• Large estates called latifundias replaced the
  small farms.
• Hannibals invasion was the main reason for this
  change. Roman farmers had burned their fields and
  crops to prevent Hannibals soldiers from living
  off the land.

14
Section 4-3
Agricultural Changes (cont.)

• By the end of the Second Punic War, much of the
  land was ruined, and small farmers could not
  afford to restore the land.

• Patricians and rich business people bought small
  farms and combined them to make latifundias.
• Another change in agriculture was in who worked
  the land.
• The Romans sent thousands of prisoners to Rome as
  enslaved people to live and work on latifundias.

15
Section 4-4
From Farm to City

• The farmers who had sold their land could stay
  and work for the new owner or move to the city.

• Almost all moved to Rome into crowded apartments
  with terrible living conditions.
• Most farmers could not get jobs and got money by
  selling their votes to politicians.

16
Section 4-5
Decline of the Roman Empire

• As Romes rule spread beyond Italy, the Romans
  began to demand taxes and enslaved people.

• Tax contracts were sold to people called
  publicans who collected taxes from the conquered
  people.
• By about 135 B.C., Rome was in a great deal of
  trouble.
• The gap between rich and poor and political
  unrest grew greater and Rome was no longer
  politically stable.

17
Section 5-1
Roman Leadership

• Over the next 100 years, many different popular
  leadersreformers and generals tried to improve
  conditions in Rome.

18
Section 5-2
The Reformers

• Tiberius Gracchus became a tribune in 133 B.C.
  and was the first reformer.

• He wanted to limit the amount of land a person
  could own.
• He was killed in a riot staged by the Senate when
  he ran for a second term as tribune.
• In 123 B.C., Tiberius Gracchuss younger brother,
  Gaius Gracchus, was elected tribune.
• When the Senate began to feel threatened by his
  ideas in 121 B.C. they had him killed.

19
Section 5-3
The Generals

• In 107 B.C., General Gaius Marius, a military
  hero, became consul.

• Marius thought he could end Romes troubles by
  setting up a professional army, open to everyone.
  
• Another general, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, was
  given a military command that Marius wanted.
• Marius tried to get the assembly to take the
  command away from Sulla.

20
Section 5-4
The Generals (cont.)

• An angry Sulla marched his army and seized Rome
  and civil war broke out.

• When it was over, Sulla made himself dictator, or
  absolute ruler, of Rome.

21
Section 5-5
Julius Caesar

• When Sulla retired, a new group of generals
  fought for control of Rome.

• In 60 B.C., political power passed to a
  triumvirate, or a group of three persons with
  equal power.
• Julius Caesar finally gained control, after a
  power struggle, in 48 B.C.
• In 58 B.C., Caesar was named governor of a Roman
  province and built up a large, strong loyal army.

22
Section 5-6
Julius Caesar (cont.)

• The Senate ordered him in 50 B.C. to break up his
  legions and return to Rome.

• Instead, Caesar entered the city at the head of
  his troops, and by 46 B.C., he was dictator of
  Rome.
• Caesar brought about many reforms of land and
  wealth distribution.
• Some Romans were afraid that Caesar planned to
  make himself king.
• As he entered the Senate on March 15, 44 B.C.,
  Caesar was stabbed to death.

23
Section 5-7
End of the Republic

• Political power passed to another triumvirate.

• Marcus Antonius, or Mark Antony, Caesars closest
  follower and a popular general, took command of
  Romes territories in the East.
• Octavian, Caesars grand-nephew and adopted son,
  took charge of the West.
• Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, one of Caesars top
  officers, took over the rule of Africa.

• For a while, the triumvirate worked. Then fights
  broke out, leaving Octavian as sole ruler of the
  Roman Empire in 31 B.C.