The Roman Republic

1
The Roman Republic

• Res Repulica
• That which belongs to the people.

2
500 B.C.

• Republic people chose some of the officials
• Republic was designed to prevent any one
  individual from gaining too much power

3
Structuring the Republic

• The Senate made laws and controlled the
  government
• Originally its 300 members were patricians
• Patricians aristocracy
• Consuls each year the senators nominated two
  consuls from the patrician class
• Role of Consul supervise government and control
  the army
• Dictatorship the senate would appoint a
  dictator in times of war
• Cincinnatus

4
Plebeians Fight for Their Rights

• Plebeians farmers, merchants, and artisans who
  made up most of the population
• Tribunes- Plebeians gained the right to elect
  their own representatives and to protect their
  interests
• Given the right to veto or block laws
• Over time given the right to serve as consuls

5
Citizen-Soldiers

• Legion 5000 men
• Like early Greece soldiers were not paid
• Given the spoils of war
• Eventually received a stipend
• Rome conquered with the carrot and stick
• Privileged few given citizenship others partial
  citizenship
• Remember the roads!

6
Republic to Empire

• Rome gains the Italian peninsula
• Expand around the Mediterranean
• Conflict with Carthage
• Punic Wars 246 BC 146 BC
• Second Punic War 218 BC Hannibal
• Romans committed to a policy of Imperialism
• Establishing control over foreign lands and
  peoples
• Latifundia huge farms or estates worked by
  slaves
• Labor unrest

7
Republic Declines

• Plebeian Reforms fail
• Gracchus Brothers killed
• Citizen soldiers become a professional army loyal
  to commanders
• Julius Caesar returns from a victorious battle
  and declares himself dictator in 48 BC
• Launches reforms public works, redistribution
  of land, grants citizenship to more people
• 44 BC assassinated by senators
• Plunged Rome into a series of civil wars

8
Emperor Augustus

• Octavian defeats Antony in 31 BC
• Rome becomes an Empire
• Opens the civil service to merit
• Census make taxes more fair
• Postal service
• Issues coins
• Problems with succession
• Good rulers Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius (Pax
  Romana)
• Bad Rulers Caligula and Nero

9
The Rise of Christianity

• 380s-390s AD becomes official religion of Rome
• Reshaped Roman beliefs
• When the Roman Empire falls the Christian Church
  too over much of its role
• Becomes the central institution of Western
  civilization for 1000 years

10
Some Facts

• Rome conquers Judea in 63 BC
• Zealots unwilling to live under Roman rule
• Looking for a messiah
• 66 AD rebellion
• Rome destroys (General Vespatian) Jewish temple
  in Jerusalem
• All that is left today is the Western Wall
• Rome killed thousands of Jews, enslaved thousands
  more, and many left
• Eventually Jews were seen as outsiders,
  marginalized and seen as Christ killers by
  Christian Europeans

11
Jesus

• Born in 4 BC in Bethlehem
• Accepted the 10 Commandments
• Emphasized Gods love and taught the need for
  justice, morality, and service to others, and
  forgiveness
• Love God with all your heart and love your
  neighbor as yourself
• After his death the Apostle Paul spreads his
  message
• Nero scapegoats Christians many martyrs

12
His Message Appeals

• Jesus had welcomed all people including the poor
  and the oppressed
• People found comfort in his message of love,
  dignity and equality and the promise of a better
  life beyond the grave
• Persecution of Christians came to an end in 313
  AD when the emperor Constantine converts

13
Structure of the Church

• Men could be clergy or priests
• Each Christian community were organized together
  in a diocese
• Bishops in charge of each diocese
• Rome, Antioch (Syria), Alexandria (Egypt or
  Coptic), Jerusalem, and Constantinople gained
  greater authority
• Bishops of these cities gained the title
  Patriarch power over bishops
• Bishop of Rome become Pope