The Roman Empire
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Transcript of 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”