The Roman Empire

Gr. 7
 Rome’s Beginnings
 Looking at the geography…
 Rome’s Beginnings
 What is a Peninsula?

 A piece of land surrounded on 3 sides by water.

 Look at Italy on a map, you will see it is surrounded on 3 sides by

the Mediterranean Sea. (Also mark on your map the Med. Sea

 What shape does Italy look like?

 Let’s look at Google Earth 

 Rome’s Beginnings
 Other key geographic terms…

 On the top of the boot, the Alps, a long mountain range that
separates Italy from Europe.

 Would the mountain range be a good thing or a bad thing for

Italy?

 The Strait of Messina; located between the toe of the boot and
Sicily. A strait is a narrow body of water which passes between
two large land masses
 Rome’s Beginnings
 The Apennines, is another mountain range which runs all the
way down the boot of Italy.
 Unlike Greece and her mountain ranges, the mountains of
Italy did not create city-states and weren’t nearly as
cumbersome for people to pass for place to place.
 Rome’s Beginnings
 So how did Rome become Rome?
 Well, although not much is known about the people who
settled Rome and Southern Italy, we can say some time
between 1500 B.C.E and 1000 B.C.E., Latin speaking people
had crossed into Italy and settled.
 A steady stream of settlers probably settled here due to the
mild climate and rich soil.
 Interesting note here about the location of Rome,
 Rome’s Beginnings
 Tiber River is about 15 miles from Mediterranean Sea,
offered protection from Naval attacks and offered trade
routes to and from the Med. Sea
 Rome also built on 7 hills, each hill offered defensive
protection.
 Rome also became a prosperous trade city, because one
could cross the Tiber River easily.
 With many people crossing into and out of Rome, gold,
silver, precious metals also came with it.
 Rome’s Beginnings
 Romulus and Remus is the traditional story of how Rome
began.
 While the story is Roman, the plot will be seen in other
originations of empires we will study this year.
 See page 264 in your textbook for the story of Romulus and
Remus.
Rome’s Beginnings
 Rome’s Beginnings
 Two groups of people influenced the growth of Rome:
 The Greeks had been settling Southern Italy and Sicily from
750 B.C.E – 550 B.C.E.
 Greece, still a world power, was busy building overseas
colonies.
 Greeks taught Romans how to grow olives and grapes.
 Romans also adopted the Greek alphabet and would later model
their architecture, sculpture and literature after the Greeks
 Rome’s Beginnings
 However the people how had a greater influence on Roman
life was the Etruscans.
 From North of Rome, after 650 B.C.E., they moved south into
Rome and took control of Rome.
 Were skilled metalworkers; became rich from mining and trade.
 Had slaves do the heaviest work, made own lives comfortable.
 Some famous Etruscan murals,
Rome’s Beginnings
 Rome’s Beginnings
 Etruscans greatest significance to Rome;
 Turned Rome from a village of straw-topped homes into a city
built of wood and brick buildings.
 Laid out streets, temples, public buildings and central squares
 Also influenced fashion, with the wear of short cloaks and
togas
 Most important, the Etruscan army would serve as the model
for what became the mighty Roman army, which would be the
greatest fighting force the world had seen to this point
 The Birth of a Republic
 The Romans rebelled in 509 B.C.E against the ruling
Etruscans. The ruling family, the Tarquins, had grown more
and more cruel.
 With the overthrow of the Tarquins, a Republic was
established.
 A Republic is a form of government in which the leader is
not a king or queen but someone put into office by citizens
with the right to vote.
 The Birth of a Republic
 Being surrounded by enemies, the Romans would spend the
next 200 years or so fighting war after war against their
neighbors.
 By 338, the Romans had conquered other Latin cities and by
267, they had conquered the Greeks in Southern Italy.
 Rome had control of the Italian peninsula.
 Take out your maps.
 The Birth of a Republic
 So how do you do this…
 Well you have a fighting force which is excellent.
 How did the Romans become such good soldiers?
 Your thoughts…
 The Birth of a Republic
 The Roman army…
 In the beginning, Romans fought like the Greeks, lining up
thousands upon thousands of men, marching shoulder to
shoulder, keeping their shields together with longs spears.
 Roman generals found this slow and hard to control, thus
they created legions
 A legion is made up of about 6,000 men and was further
divided into smaller groups of 60 – 120 soldiers.
 The Birth of a Republic
 As Rome conquered Italy, they set up permanent military
settlements in areas they controlled.
 The Roman Confederation was created to establish rule over
these areas.
 To make transportation easier, Romans built roads from
Rome to its new territories.
 Let’s look at page 266 and see what a typical Roman
legionary would wear…
 The Birth of a Republic
 With its new conquests, Rome did something unique;
 It gave full citizenship to some people, especially other Latin’s.
 They could vote and serve in government and were treated the
same as other citizens in the eyes of the law.

 Allies were allowed to run their own local affairs but did have to
pay a tax to Rome.

 Rome rewarded those allies who were friendly to Rome and

sought to punish those who were not.
 The Birth of a Republic
 Rome’s generosity I suppose paid off because conquered
people became more loyal to Rome than their local
authorities.
 Rebellions were swiftly put down in done in a way to
strongly discourage others from doing the same.
Rome at its height
 Rome’s Vitals
 At the height of the Roman Empire, the 2nd century A.D., the
Roman Empire included some 65 million people.
 According to sources, the Roman Legion were as big as 28
legions with approximately 4800 men per legion. Each man
would serve 25 years. (This is an estimate due to the
inconsistency to determine the correct definition of the
legion. Some have a legion consisting up to 15,000 men.)
 Rome’s Vitals
 Rome was as big as 2.2 million square miles. The USA is 3.79 million square miles.

 147 Emperors served the Roman Empire (mot a perfect number)

 Latin was the official language

 Official religion of the Roman Empire changed from a polytheistic society which religion
was less a spiritual experience than a contractual relationship between mankind and the
forces which were believed to control people's existence and well-being to one which
believed in one God, in which the Pope would become more powerful than the Emperor.
 Life Expectancy Table
 For a 15-year-old to live to age 20 about 93% chance...to 25 = .93 x .92 = 86%

 ...to 30 = 78%

 ...to 35 = 69%

 ...to 40 = 61%

 ...to 45 = 52%

 ...to 50 = 44%
...to 55 = 34%

 ...to 60 = 26%

 ...to 65 = 17%.

..to 70 = 10%

...to 75 = 5%

...to 80 = 1.5%

...to 85 = < 1 in 200

 The Fall of Rome
 Rich vs. Poor: While the rich or elite ran the Roman
government and directed the wars, many small farmers,
whom owned a plot of land to arm, were off to fight Rome’s
wars.
 These farmers could not pay for their farms because they
could not farm them.
 Conversely, to avoid foreclosure (losing the farm yet still
having to pay for it,) these farmers, now soldiers would sell
their lands.
 To whom do you think they sold their farms to?
 The Fall of Rome
 So know the farmer and his family were “homeless.”
 The people who were brought in to work the land were the
now enslaved, former enemy soldiers.

Legion

Slaves Enemy Soldier

 The Fall of Rome
 These homeless soldiers would turn to the cities and if they
could find work, it was for low wages.
 Thus the appeal of working for a general and having the
General take care of you and the family, establishing a new
home outside of Italy became so appealing.
 You may have actually had a situation where more non-
Romans lived in Rome than Romans.
 The Fall of Rome
 The real crime was that Roman Senators would violate and
break the law when it served them best to do so.
 When you have a government which purposely violates the
very essence of what it is suppose to represent, it will fail to
govern itself with any sense of guidance and prosperity.
 The military becomes the power and governance of the
Roman Empire.
 Cicero
 Was a political leader and considered Rome’s greatest public
speaker.
 He had argued against dictators and called for a
representative government with limited powers.
 Cicero’s speeches and books swayed many Romans.
Centuries later, his ideas would influence the writers of the
United States Constitution.
 Fall of Rome
 Octavian – became to be known as Augustus Caesar. His
leadership (in the spirit of Cicero) lead the way to the Pax
Romana.
 Which is translated to “Roman Peace”
 Augustus did 3 things very well,
 1. Stengthen the army – became a permanent army.
 2. Turned Rome from a city of brick to a city of marble
 3. Rebuilt the government to resemble and act as a Republic.
 Republic
 What is a Republic?
 a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of
citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives
chosen directly or indirectly by them.
 2. any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth.
 3. a state in which the head of government is not a monarch
or other hereditary head of state.
 Fall of Rome
 What Augustus did in each province was to promote or
appoint a proconsul, or governor, for each province.
 Augustus was quite the watch dog – He would travel to the
provinces frequently and audit each province to make sure
the governor was doing his job and doing it in the best
interest of the people and not themselves.
 Augustus also improved the tax system.
 He also improved the legal system.
 Fall of Rome
 When Augustus died in 14 A.D., he had reshaped Rome
from a collection of provinces looking out for their own
interested, to one united under a common flag and an empire
working within the same system.
 In American History, Augustus would be Abraham Lincoln.
Group work
 The efforts of Augustus would influence human history to
this very day.
 Fall of Rome
 Writing assignment:
 Augustus overcame the obstacles of illness and political
enemies to become a great emperor. Can you think of any
present-day individuals who overcame to excel at
something?