The Rise of Rome Chapter 5-1 500 B.C.E.

Italy & It’s People Italy, though a peninsula like Greece had more arable land to farm on. This allowed Italy to sustain a much larger population. The Apennines mountain range divides the peninsula in 2 along East – West lines. The range was not as treacherous as Greece. Due to this there was a lot of interactions amongst the people of Italy, very different from Greece. The Romans were descendants of a group of Indo-European people known as Latins, they spoke a language known as Latin.

Italy & It’s People The Greeks also had a presence on Italy. They arrived when they began establishing colonies around the Mediterranean. The Greeks also occupied the island of Sicily, Off the coast of Italy. The Etruscans, were another group of people that occupied Italy. Originally starting in the Northern portion of the peninsula, they later moved into Latium and established the village of Rome, which would eventually become a city. In 509 B.C.E. the Romans overthrew the last Etruscan King establishing a republic. Within this republic, certain democratic principles were applied much like in some Greek city states.

The Roman Republic At the beginning of the Roman Republic, the territory was at war for over 200 years with surrounding enemies. After defeating the Latins and other groups, the Romans now control a vast majority of Italy. Rome extended citizenship to the Latins 7 other allies thus making these conquered people feel like they were part of Rome.

Rome’s Political Structure Rome was divided into 2 groups, wealthy patricians, and the poorer plebeians. Although both were citizens and could vote, only Patricians could run for office. The head of the roman republic were known as consuls and praetors. - 2 consuls were elected yearly to run the government and Army. - Praetors were in charge of civil issues.

The Roman senate included 300 patricians and eventually came to control all of Roman political life.

Roman Expansion The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts between the Romans and a group of people from a settlement in Northern Africa known as Carthage. The conflicts began due to the fact that the Romans feared that Carthage. The Romans eventually built a Navy. As a result of these conflicts, Carthage gave up their territory in Sicily to the Romans. As a result Sicily became the first Roman province. During the 2nd Punic Wars, Carthage led by Hannibal took the conflict to Rome. He was able to take the majority of the Roman territory. The Romans encouraged the Carthage’s colony in Spain to revolt. As a result, Hannibal was recalled from Italy. The romans subsequently defeated Hannibal army and Spain became a Roman provinence.