The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire

The Legend of Romulus and Remus

750 BCE

Romulus and Remus were twin brothers

Abandoned by their parents as babies and put into a basket that was

then placed into the River Tiber.

Twins discovered by a female wolf.

Wolf nursed the babies for a short time before they were found by a

shepherd.

The shepherd then raised the twins.

The Founding of Rome

Romans shared the Italian peninsula with other peoples, namely

the Greek and the Etruscans, who lived north of Rome

The Etruscans ruled much of central Italy, including Rome

Romans learned the alphabet from the Etruscans

Rome Conquers Italy

The Romans defeat the Etruscans in the north and the Greek city-states in the south.

By 265 B.C., Rome controls the entire Italian peninsula.

Rome treats the conquered peoples justly. This enables Rome to grow.

Determined never to be ruled by a monarch, Rome set up a

new government

A Republic

Romans believed that a Republic would keep any one

individual from gaining too much power.

Conquered Lands

Treated defeated enemies with justice

Must acknowledge Roman leadership

Pay taxes

Supply soldiers

Kept own traditions and cultures

Retain own local government

Privileged were given cull citizenship

Problems with Carthage: The Punic Wars

The First Punic War Carthage had, in the 260s, control of much of Sicily.

Internal dispute within the city of Messana pitted Carthage

against Rome

Rome forces the Punic (the Roman word for Carthaginian) fleet

to withdraw

Carthage responds, Rome responds, armies get bigger, Rome

matches

Last for 20 years

Peace Treaty; Carthage loses Sicily; heavy indemnification

Problems with Carthage: The Punic Wars

The Second Punic War

In 202 BC Rome's second war with Carthage came to an end. Rome

again forced Carthage to pay a terrible price: this time, Carthage had to give

up her entire empire. Spain, the islands, North Africa, her navy, her army,

all of it was either gone or drastically reduced

Hannibal in exile

TTYN: Name three lands that were part of the Roman Empire

From Republic to Empire

In 71 BC the Roman senate sent a large army to deal with Spartacus. Outnumbered, Spartacus' army was defeated at a place called Apulia. The 6,000 slaves who were taken prisoner were crucified along the Appian Way (the main road into Rome). Their bodies were left to hang on the crosses for several months as a warning to other slaves who might consider the possibility of rebelling against their Roman masters.

Next In Line

In the line of succession …some were weak and some were just bad Caligula and Nero – Evil, perhaps a little nuts

Legend has it, Caligula appointed his horse as consul Nero persecuted Christians Nero blamed for starting the great fire that destroyed much of Rome The good – Hadrian

Codified Roman laws - same law for all the provinces Soldiers built at wall in Britain to hold back attackers

Anyone up for a chariot race?

Circus Maximus

The Decline

Despite the reforms, internal and external problems persisted

Foreign Invaders – As the empire declined, it was unable to fight

back the Germanic people from the north

Britain, France, and Spain depart the empire

The Visigoths

Attila the Hun “scourge of God”