1 THE ORIGINS OF ROME

When it was founded in the 8th century BC, Rome was just a small village on
the banks of the Tiber River in the region of Latium on the Italian
Peninsula. The region was well protected as it was surrounded by seven hills.
Rome was inhabited by the Latins.
In the 6th century BC, the Etruscans conquered and gained control of
Latium. They organised the territory into city-states, one of which was
Rome itself. At the time, Rome’s main economic activity was maritime trade.

ETRUSCAN ART
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The Etruscans had a significant cultural influence on Rome. They left
behind evidence of funerary art, such as sarcophagus sculptures.

sarcophagus from Cerveteri (5th century BC)

THE ITALIAN PENINSULA (6TH CENTURY BC)

2 THE MONARCHY

From its foundation until the year 509 BC, Rome was ruled by seven
different kings. The first four were Latins and the final three were
members of the Etruscan families which had conquered Latium.

During this period of Monarchy, the king ruled with the help of the Senate.
This was an advisory assembly but couldn’t make decisions. The Senate was
made up of patricians, a minority group that controlled the land. At the
time, only patricians had citizenship rights.

Plebeians, who were peasants, traders and artisans, made up the rest of
society. They had no political power.
THE FOUNDING OF ROME
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The Roman calendar began the year the city of Rome was founded.
Therefore, they dated events ab abbe condita, which means ‘since the city
was founded’. This year was 753 BC.

3 THE REPUBLIC

In 509 BC, the Romans overthrew the Monarchy and expelled the Etruscan
kings, and Rome became a Republic.

A series of representative institutions were formed during the Republic:

The Roman assemblies. They were citizen assemblies which elected people
for public office. They passed legislation, or laws, and made decisions on
war and peace.
The Senate. It was formed by 300 patricians. The former advisory
board dealt with foreign policy and ratified the decisions of the
assemblies.
The magistrates. They were elected annually by the assemblies. Two people
were elected for each position to prevent abuse of power. Some of the
most important were the consuls.

At the beginning, the patricians monopolised power. However, the plebeians

demanded political rights to participate in governing the city. Finally, they
achieved the right to be elected magistrates through the figure of
the tribune of the plebeians. This was an elected position to defend the
interests of plebeians against abuses of power.

The basis for the Roman Republic was the Law of the Twelve Tables, from
451 BC. It declared the rights and obligations of plebeians. Their most
important rights were to vote in the assemblies, and to elect and be
elected as magistrates. Their main duties were to serve in the army and pay
taxes.
THE LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF ROME
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The foundation of the city of Rome had its origins in legend. The
Romans attributed it to Romulus and Remus, twins who were thrown into
the Tiber River. They were rescued and suckled by the Capitoline Wolf, the
symbol of the city.

Romulus would later kill his brother and become the first king of Rome.
THE CRISIS OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
From the 3rd century BC, Rome expanded throughout the Mediterranean.
This significant territorial expansion allowed Rome to acquire wealth, but it
was not distributed equally among all social groups.
A period of instability arose in the 1st century BC. This was due to the
difficulty of controlling the large conquered territories. There was also
social unrest caused by the unequal distribution of wealth.
To try to solve this, the Senate and the magistrates handed over command
to three military leaders who formed a triumvirate: Crassus, Pompey and
Julius Caesar. Following a civil war, Julius Caesar defeated his rivals and
was appointed dictator by the Senate. This position made him the sole
magistrate. In other words, he held all the power.
Julius Caesar became famous for conquering Gaul (in modern-day France).
Despite his military and political prestige, he was murdered in 44 BC by
supporters of the republican system. They were unhappy with the increase
in his personal power.

4 THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Octavian Augustus, Mark Antony and Lepidus formed a new triumvirate
after the death of Julius Caesar. A war started between them that ended
in 27 BC with the victory of Octavian Augustus. He was proclaimed emperor
by the Senate, but he preferred to use the title of prince.
This proclamation marked a new period in the history of Rome: the Empire.
It lasted until AD 476. The representative republican institutions lost
power during this time because the emperor held all the power of Rome
throughout his whole life.
OCTAVIAN AUGUSTUS
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After defeating his rival Mark Antony and incorporating Egypt into Rome’s
domains, Octavian Augustus received the following titles:
 Imperator: This title corresponded to the leader of the military.
 Princeps: first citizen of Rome.
 Augustus: This title was later given to all emperors and put him on
the same level as the gods.
 Pontifex Maximus: the highest religious authority in the Empire.
  statue of Octavian Augustus

He was also consul, tribune of the plebeians and president of the Senate.
EGYPT AND ROME
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Egypt was conquered by the Romans in 30 BC. This conquest was related to
the war between Octavian Augustus and Mark Antony. The latter asked for
help from the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII. In return, she wanted
support in her struggle for power with her brother and husband Ptolemy.
Cleopatra, who had already supported Julius Caesar in
his confrontation with Pompey, was the last monarch of the Hellenistic era
of Egypt.

THE PAX ROMANA

The period between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD is called the High
Empire. The Empire was not hereditary and this sometimes caused
struggles for succession.

During this period, Rome was consolidated as a great power. Its territory
was organised into administrative provinces. There were two types of
provinces:
Senatorial provinces. They were under the authority of the Senate and
their governors were known as proconsuls.
Imperials provinces. They were under the direct authority of the emperor
and their governors were known as legates.
There was the extension of the right to Roman citizenship, a process that
had begun during the Republic. In AD 212, Emperor Caracalla granted all
the freemen of the Empire citizenship. This helped the Roman culture and
its customs spread to all the territories of the Roman Empire.

In the 3rd century AD, the period of the Lower Empire began. Rome
experienced a deep crisis which led to its disappearance in AD 476.
SUCCESSION IN THE EMPIRE
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The heir of the Empire was not the son of the emperor, but a successor
appointed by him. This form of succession caused problems with the
stability of power. This was proven by the fact that many emperors during
these times were assassinated.
THE LIMITS OF THE EMPIRE
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The borders of the Empire with non-romanised territories were

called limes. Fortifications were built to protect them.
remains of Hadrian’s Wall, limes of the Roman Empire in the north of
modern-day England

02 THE EXPANSION OF ROME THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN

The Romans were the most powerful people in Ancient History. Their
economic and cultural power was strengthened by their conquest of all the
territories surrounding the Mediterranean. The Romans’ domination over
this sea was so significant, they started calling it Mare nostrum, or ‘our
sea’.
The success of this conquest was based on different factors:
The political unity of all peoples under their command thanks to military
conquests and the effectiveness of their administration.

The Romanisation of the conquered peoples. The Romans exported their

language, their laws and their culture.

Commercial strength based on an excellent communications network and on

the currency.

The importance of slave labour as the basis of its economy. This was the
result of its conquests, as many slaves belonged to conquered peoples.
The assimilation of the cultural elements of conquered peoples, especially
the Greeks.

ROMAN SOLDIERS’ EQUIPMENT

Rome’s military success was due to the effectiveness of its army. It
allowed Rome to expand its territory throughout the Mediterranean and
maintain stability in its conquered territories.

THE ARMY
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The basic unit of the army was the legion. Each legion was made up of
between 5,000 and 6,000 infantry soldiers and a few hundred horsemen,
known as equites. The infantry was also organised into smaller units of
100 soldiers. At the head of each one was a centurion.

Roman soldiers used military artefacts in combat and battles around

fortresses. One was the battering ram, a log used to hit walls. Another was
the tower, a wooden structure used to assault fortresses.

Roman territorial expansion began during the period of Monarchy, when it

took control of Italian territory. However, the period of greatest
expansion was in the 3rd century BC. That was when Rome went to war with
Carthage, an old Phoenician colony in North Africa that was building an
empire in the western Mediterranean. These wars were known as the Punic
Wars. During the Empire, Rome was at the height of its territorial
expansion.
03 THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

1 THE CRISIS OF THE 3RD CENTURY AD

A crisis began in the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD. It manifested
itself in different ways:
Territorial conquests came to an end. In their place, there were numerous
military uprisings with the aim of bringing down emperors and crowning new
ones. This created great political instability which resulted in the weakness
of some emperors controlled by the army.

At the same time, the military became less effective in defending the
borders of the Empire. As they weakened, foreign peoples, known
as barbarians, began to attack. They included Germanic tribes, Persians and
Mauritanians.

The Roman economy weakened, as they lost their income from territorial
conquests. Therefore, there were fewer slaves, the economy’s main labour
force, and fewer precious metals to manufacture coins.
Border instability and a lack of currency meant that trade was negatively
affected. This led to food shortages in the cities.

Society became more rural, as people began to move from the cities to the
countryside. This was a response to food shortages in the cities and
attacks by the barbarian peoples.

Taxes were increased to finance the military which led to social unrest.

Emperor Diocletian tried to resolve the crisis by reforming the system of

government. In AD 284, he established a tetrarchy. This was a system of
government that divided the Empire between four rulers. The tetrarchy
established by Diocletian lasted until the year AD 305, when his reign came
to an end as this system failed with its successors.
The power of the emperor became very weak during the 4th century AD.
This is reflected in the end of the imperial cult, related to the success of
the Christian religion.
Christianity was promoted due to measures taken by the emperors
Constantine and Theodosius I.
Emperor Constantine permitted freedom of worship through the Edict of
Milan (in AD 313).

In AD 380, Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of

the Roman Empire through the Edict of Thessalonica.

ROME AND CHRISTIANITY

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Christianity originated in the 1st century AD in Judea. It was prohibited in

the Roman Empire because it endangered the stability of the official
religion of the Empire. Therefore, Christians were persecuted.

However, Christianity began to be accepted in the 4th century AD.

2 THE DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE AND GREAT INVASIONS
Theodosius I died in AD 392, and the Empire was divided among his sons
due to pressure from the Germanic peoples. The western half of the
Empire (Western Roman Empire) was given to Honorius and the eastern
half (Eastern Roman Empire) was inherited by Arcadius. Constantinople was
the capital of the eastern half.
Relations between Rome and the Germanic tribes were tense, as some took
advantage of the Empire’s weak borders and settled around them during
the 3rd and 4th centuries.
In some cases, Germanic people began to hold positions in the Roman army
and administration. Germanic tribes, such as the Visigoths and the
Ostrogoths, became quite romanised. Other tribes, such as the Huns and
the Vandals, remained very hostile towards the Empire. In AD 406, some of
these tribes settled in some parts of the Roman Empire, but it was in AD
476 when a Germanic military leader, Odoacer, brought down the last
emperor of Rome, Romulus Augustus.

THE GERMANIC TRIBES

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The Germanic tribes originally came from Central Asia. They settled near
the borders of the Roman Empire, where they stayed for centuries. They
began to move into the territory of the Empire in search of resources
to sustain their growing population. The Germanic tribes were led by a king
who was chosen by an assembly of free men. The king was the head of the
military. He ruled with the help of warriors with whom he made pacts of
loyalty.