TRA: Lesson - Rome: Growing an Empire

Rome: Growing an Empire

The Roman Republic

The Greeks were not the only empire emerging on the Mediterranean Sea. To the west, on the Italian peninsula, a city-state was steadily growing larger, steadily expanding its control over the peninsula. That city was called Rome.

Rome was fortunately located in the middle of the Italian Peninsula—it had the Alps Mountains to the north (serving as a barrier from European invaders,) and it had the sea all around the peninsula (serving as a quick means of travel for trade and military campaigns.) During the Hellenization of the Mediterranean World, Rome never came under direct rule by the Greeks but it did choose to adopt some aspects of Hellenism. For example, they developed an appreciation of art, architecture, and storytelling from the Greeks. As a specific example, the Romans were polytheistic but adapted their pantheon of gods to match up with the Greek gods, including borrowing their stories.

The Roman Republic

The Greeks in Athens were not the only city-state experimenting with democracy. The Romans also formed a type of representative government in the 6th century BCE, which they called a republic. A Republic is a government led by elected representatives. The Romans used a set of written laws called the Twelve Tables of Rome, which were written so that all citizens could understand their meaning and follow their instructions. Rome was governed by a system that included an Assembly (ruling group of common people) and a Senate (ruling group of aristocratic people). The Romans elected two consuls as chief executives to enforce the laws and lead armies. Consuls were nominated by the Senate and then elected by the Assembly to rule jointly for one year. Under this system, all male citizens had a voice, though it was not a direct democracy - a citizen's vote was their voice.

Perhaps the greatest trait that the Romans had in common with the Greeks was the desire to grow beyond their traditional homelands. With each new conquest, the wealth of Rome increased, especially among the patricians (the Roman upper class). The patricians used this large-scale wealth to buy more land and used slave labor. This had two major effects. First, peasants abandoned farming and turned to military jobs. The military paid in land, which meant Rome needed to constantly expand to pay its military. Second, from roughly 135 to 71 BCE, the Roman Republic experienced a series of slave revolts known as the Servile Wars. The slaves weren’t successful but indirectly led to the downfall of the Roman Republic due to the disruptions caused to the regular social order.

Julius Caesar and the End of the Republic

In 59 BCE, Julius Caesar became a consul. He later formed an alliance with a rich man, named Crassus, and a military man, named Pompey. They wanted to bring peace back to Rome as well as power and wealth to themselves. He served his term, and then had a successful decade in the military, conquering a large amount of land in modern day France (it was called Gaul at the time). However, Crassus was murdered and Pompey turned against Caesar, leading to a civil war. Caesar won the civil war against Pompey and took over as consul once more in 48 BCE. This time, he added a new name to his position: dictator. He was eventually appointed as Dictator in Perpetuum (dictator for life), an emperor in everything but name.

As the sole ruler of Rome, Julius Caesar created land pensions for soldiers, reduced debts, created jobs, expanded Roman citizenship, and created a new calendar: the Julian Calendar. However, his power grab made him an enemy of the Senate and they assassinated him by stabbing him on the Senate floor.

Augustus Caesar and the Birth of the Roman Empire

Julius Caesar adopted a son, named Octavian. Octavian eventually changed his name to Augustus Caesar after he took over Rome. Augustus managed to consolidate power and was eventually granted the title Imperator (Emperor). This meant that Rome wasn’t really a republic anymore but was now the Roman Empire. Just like under Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar’s reign was generally positive for the Roman Empire. He revived the civil service system and ruled a vast empire. He also began a period known as Pax Romana or 200 years of internal peace in Rome. This period contrasted the previous years of internal strife, between the Servile Wars and the Civil Wars of the 1st century BCE.

Getting to the Pax Romana was not without problems as Augustus Caesar faced challenges from two powerful female leaders. The first was Cleopatra, the pharaoh of Egypt. She and her husband Marcus Antonius (popularly called Mark Antony, a close ally of Julius Caesar) led a civil war against Augustus. Before Caesar's death, Cleopatra had an affair with the Roman dictator and they had a son. After Caesar died, she had hoped that her son would unite Egypt and Rome. Unfortunately for Cleopatra, the civil war failed, and she and Mark Antony committed suicide. Augustus Caesar took over Egypt and pushed south to Nubia. When he tried to enforce taxes on Meroë, Kandake (queen) Amanirenas led battles against Rome. She persisted until Augustus Caesar agreed to stop the tax and left Nubia. Nubia remained independent of Rome for another 400 years.

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

Below is a graphic that shows how Rome grew from a city-state in the middle of the Italian peninsula to a broad Empire with territory on three continents.

Red = Roman republic 510 BCE-40 BCE
Purple = Roman Empire 20 CE-360 CE
Blue = Western Roman Empire 405 CE-480 CE
Green = Eastern Roman Empire 405 CE-480 CE

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