Roman Kingdom

Founding of Rome

 We are not certain about true origin of Rome, but there are few legends that
surrounds its foundation
 In one of them, Aeneas, Troyan prince and son of Aphrodite who escaped the
siege of Troy, fled here and found it
 Another one is about brothers Romulus and Remus, who were supposed to be
killed on the order of his uncle, who was king and did not want to lose power
 Servants couldnt carry the order, so they put them into basket and set them down
the river
 Then wolf found them and nourished them until shepherd found them and took
them
 When they grew up, they found out about their true origin and
took up revenge against their uncle
 They decided to build a city on the place where they were found,
but there was a disagreemend between brothers
 Romulus killed Remus and became the first king of Rome (753
B.C.)
 City was located in the central part of peninsula on river Tiber, it
was strategic locality for future expansion
 The peninsula itself provided places with fertile land, Apennine
hills provided raw material and in the north was surrounded by
Alps which provided natural defence from outsiders
 Some of the cultural aspects were similar to Greeks, gods were named after
planets
 King was elected by the senate which consisted of 100 members of aristocracy,
their descendants would be known as patricians
 Prototype of good Roman was farmer, citizen and soldier in one person
Roman kings (753-509 B.C.)

 There were 7 kings who ruled during this period, late kings had Etruscan origin
 Etruscans were advanced civilization which gradually merged with Roman empire
they had their own writings and culture, probably influenced by Greek
colonization
 Rome needed to fight the neighbours they possibly kidnapped women from
neighbouring country, because they had few women
 Last king Tranquinius Suberbus was not popular, he abused his power and ignored
senate
 Brutus led the efforts to overthrow the king, he was successful and Rome became
republic
Roman Republic
 Roman politics
 Romans despited kings and despotism and continued their legacy without it, they basically continued with
administration as it was giving other positions more power and creating new ones
 The Senate was the main legislative body, they proposed laws, controled finances and foreign policies, in the
beginning it had 300 members from patricians (upper class), later there were more members and also plebeians
could join
 Other people could be part of Centuriate Assembly – divided based on wealth: they could elect consuls, voting
system is in favor of the rich, rich could also hold better positions in the army
 Tribal Assembly – citizens divided to tribes based on where they lived – they enacted laws
 2 consuls voted each year held executive power, they commanded army and directed government, could be
elected only once per 10 years and 1 consul could veto another one
 In case of crisis, the senate could appoint a dictator for six months who would be able to efficiently solve
problems
 Other offices were for example praestors – judges, censors – tax officials and questors, who were responsible for
finances
Patricians vs. Plebeians

 Patricians had a dominant position in Roman society, you could only be born as
patrician and only marry another patrician
 They could hold important positions and influence the politics
 Plebeians who were in majority, wanted more power and they made some
uprisings against patricians
 To calm things down, the senate granted them possibility to elect Tribunes in
Tribal assembly
 Tribune protected rights of plebeians, he could propose laws and he had a power
to veto laws if it was unjust towards plebeians
 Eventually, till 287 B.C. plebeians had the same rights as patricians, but still,
being patrician ment social prestige
Twelve Tables law
 In order to limit patrician´s power, plebeians demanded fixed set of laws, which would
stop the abuse of law from patricians
 In 451 B.C. the 12 Tables were built in the Forum in center of Rome containing the
laws and basis for Roman law
 Laws were based on eye for an eye principle and were foundation for future
development of the Roman law which became inspiration for modern countries
 There was presumption of innocence and patricians with plebeians were treated under
the law equally
Roman citizenship

 If you were Roman male adult, you were a citizen and you could participate in the
assemblies and stand for public offices
 As a citizen, your obligation was to be part of the army and be active in public life
 When Roman territory expanded, they did not destroy their neighbours, they
made them allies and slowly asimilated them granting them citizenship
 Roman citizen could not be tortured, had a right for legal trial, did not have to pay
some taxes, could sue someone in court, make legal contracts
 Non- Roman subjects were motivated to gain these privileges, so they obeyed
Roman rule in hope to one day be granted citizenship
Roman Expansion

 Romans slowly conquered Apenine peninsula, they crushed some tribes but most
of them they merged with their empire
 The most challenging oponents were Gauls in the north, in 390 B.C. they even
pillaged Rome, after that Rome was not conquered by foreign country for around
800 years
 Gauls did not want to conquer Rome, they only plundered it and left it alone, so
Romans were able to recover from defeat
 Since North was harder to conquer, Romans focused on the Southern cities, which
belonged to Greeks
 280-270 B.C. – Greek leader Pyrrhus tried to defeat Romans, he succeed twice,
but with heavy losses so he eventually had to surrender (Pyrrhic victory)
Punic Wars

 There were 3 Wars with Carthage, they were called Punic wars, because they
were descendands of Phoenicians
 Carthage was a major naval state with dominance over sea trading routes
 Expanding Rome and Carthage both seek to spread their influence on Sicily
 The conflict began when occupied city of Messina asked both Rome and
Carthage for assistance
 Rome did not have a navy so they copied a design from Carthage shipwreck and
built a navy
 In addition, they armed their ships with corvus, a bridge which allowed footmen
to cross over to the ship and capture it rather than just ram it
End of the 1st war

 Romans won the first Punic War (264-241 B.C.) because they were more resilient
and Carthage was not able to pay for their mercenary army, Rome had armies
from citizens
 Rome gained Sicily and eventually also Sardinia and Corsica islands, Sicily
became the first province governed by former praetor (commander and
politician)
 Carthage had to pay reparations, they were weakened but still was a formitable
foe
2nd Punic War

 Carthage began expansion on Iberian Peninsula (today´s Spain) they wanted to

 Romans elected new dictator Fabius Maximus, who realized that Hannibal is too
strong in open battle, so he chose a guerilla tactics, he attacked Hannibal´s food
supply chains and was provoking him
 This tactic was disliked by the senate and public, because it was dishonorable, so
they later replaced him
 They mustered huge army around 86 000 versus Hannibal´s 50 000 and they met
at Cannae (216 B.C.)
 Hannibal put himself in the middle of the army and he strenghten his wings,
Romans began to push the middle but Hannibal´s line did not break, only bended
 Then the cavalry and strenghten wings attacked surrounding whole Roman army
resulting in their total defeat (around 50 000 Romans were lost)
Rome´s comeback

 Hannibal although victorious he did not really believed that he was able to capture
the city of Rome, because he lacked siege engine
 He hoped to gain more allies from Italian people but most of them remained loyal
to Rome and he also did not have great support from Carthage politicians
 Rome decided to bring the war to Carthage, since Hannibal was roaming through
their country for years without defeat
 They convinced Numidians who were allied to Carhtage to switch sides and gave
Rome powerful cavalry
 Hannibal needed to return to Africa to defend Carthage in battle of Zama (202
B.C.) where he was defeated by Scipio Africanus
Consequences

 Rome won a great victory, Carthage had to give up all oversea territories with
some African ones and pay high reparations
 They had to diminish their fleet to only 10 ships and give up war elephants
 They were also fobidden to wage a war without Rome´s consent
 Hannibal was fleeing Romans for some time, then he committed suicide rather
than be captured
 Carthage was broken they were no longer powerful, Rome gained dominancy in
the Meditterranean and gained Hispania and new allies
3rd Punic War 149-145 B.C.

 Carthage never regained their former power, but Rome still had not forgotten the
humiliation inflicted by Hannibal
 They wanted to destroy Carthage for good, when they finished paying reparations,
Rome was afraid that they would rise again, even though they posed no military
threat
 Romans encouraged their allies Numidians to provoke Carthage to go to war
 Carthage had no other option but to defend themselves, which violated the
agreement with Romans
 Romans besieged the city for more than 2 years and then destroyed it, killing or
enslaving everyone
 The city was demolished and a curse was placed on anyone who would want to
rebuild it