1. The Classical Civilization of
Rome 1750 and 800 BCE
World History
Unit 2

2. Classical Civilization Rome
SSWH3 The student will examine the political, philosophical, and cultural interaction of Classical Mediterranean societies from 700 BCE to 400 CE.
a. Compare the origins and structure of the Greek polis, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.
b. Identify the ideas and impact of important individuals; include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and describe the diffusion of Greek culture by Aristotle’s pupil Alexander the Great and the impact of Julius and Augustus Caesar.
c. Analyze the contributions of Hellenistic and Roman culture; include law, gender, and science.
d. Describe polytheism in the Greek and Roman world and the origins and diffusion of Christianity in the Roman world.
e. Analyze the factors that led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

3. Classical Civilization of Rome
Essential Questions:
How was the Roman Republic founded?
How did the Republic rule the people of Italy?
How was the Roman Empire Established?
How did Augustus govern this huge empire?
What were the accomplishments of the Pax Romana?
Why did Christianity develop in Rome? What affect did it have?
How did the Roman Empire fall?

4. Geography/ Geographical Features
What is the location of the Roman Empire?
In Europe on Italian peninsula
Rome at the center of the peninsula
Surrounded by
The Mediterranean Sea

5. Geography/ Geographical Features
How did Rome’s Geography affect its structure?
Geography also had a great deal to do with the structure of the Roman Republic
The Italian Peninsula juts into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This central location allowed them to easily conquer first Italy, then the Mediterranean Region
Because of its geography, it was easier to unify
The peninsula has less rugged mountains that allowed for easier movement. Due to this, a common government was possible.
They also had a larger amount of fertile land in the north that allowed them to grow enough food to support a growing population.

6. Early Foundations: How did Rome form? Who started it?
Between and 800 BCE the Italian peninsula home to two groups:
Etruscans: An advanced civilization that lived in the Tiber River Valley on the Italian Peninsula.
Latins: In 800 BCE, a group of Indo-European people called the “Latins” migrated to the central part of the Italian Peninsula.
Greeks had numerous trading colonies on the Southern Part of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, and Sardinia.

7. Early Foundations: The Greeks were quickly conquered by the Etruscans
Etruscans did not allow intermarriage
The Latins established city of Rome
They traded with the Greeks and Etruscans.

8. Government: Rome
In 509 BCE, the Latins overthrew the Etruscan King “Taraquin the Proud.”
They took a blood oath to never be rule by one man again.
After they won their independence, two classes of people emerged in Rome
Patricians: The wealthy upper class minority that controlled the Roman government.
Plebeians: All other citizens including the middle class and the lower class that made up the Majority of Rome.

9. Structure of the Roman Republic
Since the Latins did not like how they were ruled by the Etruscans, they adopted a Republic
Republic: A form of Government in which power rests with the citizens who have the right to vote and elect their leaders.
Only adult males who were citizens were entitled to vote and participate in government.
The Patricians dominated the republic.

10. Structure of the Greek City-State
Parts of the Republic:
The Assembly: Comitia Centurata: The Roman assembly made up of patrician citizens that voted on laws, enforced laws, and decided to go to war.
Praetors: Military commanders and judges
Censors: People who registered people according to their wealth and took out Anti-Romans

11. Structure of the Roman Republic
The Assemblies of Tribes (Tribal Assembly): The Plebian Assembly that passed decrees that applied to the city of Rome and protected the Plebeians
Tribunes:
Elected officials
Protected rights of the Plebians
Could veto senate bills and actions of public officials

12. Structure of the Roman Republic
The Senate: The most important legislative body of the Roman Republic. They served as advisors to the Consuls, made Laws, and controlled the money
Consuls: Two heads of the government
Elected for one year terms
Ran the government
Served as army commanders who were elected for one-year terms. They ran the government and served as army commanders.
Dictator: appointed by the senate during times of crisis, this person had absolute power for 6 months.

13. Structure of the Roman Republic
Other Aspects:
Had a written code of laws called the 12 tables.
The 12 Tables: A written code of laws that gave all free citizens had a right to protection of the law.
Established the Principal of Checks and Balances that prevented any one part of the government from becoming too powerful.
How does this compare to our present day government?

14. The Roman Military
After consolidating their government, Roman wanted to expand its empire.
Their military
Rome’s army, and later their navy, was very well organized and trained.
Every adult male had to serve in order to receive citizenship
Legion: basic roman military unit made up of 4500 to 6000 men that were highly trained.
Loyal to the general that paid their salaries and not to the state.
Citizenship was tied to military service.

15. The Roman Military
Roman Legion

16. The Roman Empire: Building it Empire
Their policies toward conquered people.
conquered people were allowed to keep most of all of their culture and freedom if they promised to pay taxes, provided troops, and not rebel.
Conquered people could also earn citizenship if they served in the army for 20 to 30 years.
They also took some of the land and gave it to Roman citizens to move there. This allowed the conquered people to learn Roman culture.
its network of Trade
Rome became the dominate trading nations in the Mediterranean Sea due to its location and economic power
They built a network of all weather military roads.
at its peak, Rome had 53,000 miles of roads that linked its empire
these roads were durable
Uses: Military movement and trade.

17. Roman Empire: Benefits / Problems
The Roman Republic continued to expand its power. This expansion brought great benefits and problems
Benefits: The Empire became wealthy, controlling the trade routes in Western Europe and the Mediterranean.
This made them wealthy and monopolized trade

18. Roman Empire: Benefits / Problems
The Roman Republic continued to expand its power. This expansion brought great benefits and problems
Problems:The system was unfair to the Plebeians.
Plebeians majority of the population but had almost no rights.
Only people who were wealthy (patricians) could serve in office.
Since the Patricians were wealthy, they began to buy votes.

19. Roman Empire: Benefits / Problems
The Roman Republic continued to expand its power. This expansion brought great benefits and problems
Problems:
The economy hurt the poor
The gap between rich and poor widened
As the Romans conquered land the wealthy created huge farms.
These farms could produce more food.
The small farmers could not produce food as cheaply as the larger estates could and lost their land.
The homeless went to Rome and turned to crime and violence

20. Roman Empire: Benefits / Problems
The Roman Republic continued to expand its power. This expansion brought great benefits and problems
Corruption
The wealthy began to use their money and political power for their own gain
Most employed the homeless to be their personal army.
Rome became a very dangerous place to be.
These armies were important because there was no police force in Rome.
Civil Wars broke out between wealthy patricians.

21. Roman Empire: Benefits / Problems
The Roman Republic continued to expand its power. This expansion brought great benefits and problems
Taxes:
Most of the taxes collected went into the pocket of the wealthy and not the government.
This was due to the Tax Farming system.

22. The Rise of Julius Caesar
Because of these problems, the Empire fell into a series of Civil Wars
The Rise of Julius Caesar
Early Life
He was born in 100 or 102BC to a Patrician Family
He was educated and worked as a politician, Lawyer, and Military commander.
Rise to Power
In 60BC, he entered into a political arrangement with Pompey and Crassus known as the “First Triumvirate” (rule of three)
He led Military campaigns in Spain, Gaul, and England. In most, he was successful and became very popular in Rome
Crassus died in battle. Due to Julius’s rising popularity and food riots in Rome, Pompey declared himself “sole consul”. He ordered Julius home without his army.
Julius returned with his army and a new civil war broke out.
He won

23. The Rise of Julius Caesar
The Reforms of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar established reforms that changed the Roman Government and help the masses
He began a building program in Rome that gave the poor jobs
He took land from the rich and gave it to the poor
He granted citizenship to more people
He adopted the Julian calendar, a calendar that is ours today.
Not happy with their loss of power, some senators assassinated Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44BC (Known as the Ides of March) by 60 senators who were upset because he took their power.
A new series of Civil Wars broke out. In 31BC, Octavian took over.

24. The Rise of Augustus Caesar
After the assassination of Julius Caesar, new triumvirate between Marc Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus was formed.
Marc Antony: A leader in the army of Julius Caesar who had risen in the ranks o become the second in command
Octavian: A nephew of Julius Caesar who was adopted by Julius and made his heir.
Lepidus: A wealthy supporter of Julius Caesar.
Marc Antony and Octavian often quarreled,
Lepidus was forced into exile by Octavian and the land was split.
Octavian ruled the west from Rome and Marc Antony ruled the east from Alexandra.
Octavian defeated Marc Antony and became Augustus Caesar.
He established the Roman Empire.

25. The Rise of Augustus Caesar
Augustus Caesar created a new government to rule his huge empire.
Parts:
The position of Emperor was created. He had total power.
The senate was kept, but became an advisory council to the emperor.
Creation of an efficient, well trained civil service. These officials enforced the law and made sure that the government kept order
Civil Service: Highly trained workers of the government
These jobs were open to any man who had the abilities.
The provinces were given a degree of self government to ensure their loyalty.
Economic changes were made to help the poor.
A reformed tax system in which more revenue went to the government instead of the wealthy
New coins made trade easier
He continued the building program that was started by Julius.
Re-organization of the army to protect the empire and allow trade to take place.

26. The Pax Romana
As a result of Augustus Caesar’s changes, the Pax Romana began.
A Pax Romana: A 200 year period of peace and prosperity in the Roman Empire.
During this time, Rome achieved its greatest height.

27. The Classical Culture of the Romans
The Culture of the Romans: Golden Age
The Culture of the Romans was called “Greco-Roman Culture”
Greco-Roman Culture: The culture of the Roman Empire that was a combination of Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman traditions.
Features:
The Romans respected Greek and Hellenistic Culture and felt that it was the highest form of civilization.
They adopted Greek and Hellenistic achievements and blended in their own.

28. The Classical Culture of the Romans
The Religion of the Romans:
The roman religion was a copy of the Mythology practiced by the Greeks
Mythology: A polytheistic religious system in which the gods have human abilities and character traits, yet have powers that set them above common humans.
The religion of the Romans was connected to every aspect of daily life
All public festivals had a religious connection
The religion demanded that people have the correct civil attitude. This provided a key social control
People wanted two things from their religion

29. The Classical Culture of the Romans
Roman Legacy:
Law
The Roman legal system was very advanced
provided the foundation for modern European and American legal systems
The main idea for this system was the idea of justice for all.
Two main accomplishments
Duel systems of law, one that applied to its citizens and another to the other people that they ruled.
It established the principals that our legal system is based on
An accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty
The accused is allowed to face the accuser and offer a defense against the charge.
Guilt had to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and all decisions had to be guided by the law.

30. The Classical Culture of the Romans
Gender:
The male still dominated society
Women had a larger role in society than in the Greeks or Hellenistic Classical Civilization
Women from all classes were provided a basic level of education
Women continued to enjoy the ability to go out in public.
Women were able to run all sorts of businesses, but most still worked in the home and raised a family

31. The Classical Culture of the Romans
Science:
The Romans excelled in engineering
They used this to develop new machines and large structures
Aqueducts: Bridge like stone structures used to bring water to a city from the surrounding countryside.
Many of the scientific accomplishments were achieved by the people that they ruled
Ptolemy: A Greek astronomer and mathematician that lived in Alexandria who proposed the Geocentric Theory. This theory stated that the Earth was the center of the universe.
Galen: A roman doctor that compiled a medical encyclopedia summarizing all known medical knowledge at the time. This became the basis for all medical knowledge for the next 1000 years.

32. The Rise of Christianity
Rome was the home of many polytheistic religions.
-Due to their ruling over many different cultures, the Romans had to accept the many different religions.
-Different religions were tolerated as long as all of the Roman gods were honored and the divine spirit of the emperor was worshiped
-Romans conquered Judea, the Jewish Zealots refused these two things. As a result, the Romans conducted the “Diaspora”
Diaspora: The removal of all Jews from Judea to scattered communities around the Mediterranean and Europe.

33. The Rise of Christianity
During the turmoil in Judea, Christianity developed
The new religion was based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
Monotheism
Acceptance of the 10 commandments
Salvation to all who believed in him
Equality in the eyes of god
Jesus was crucified because the Romans felt he was a threat to lead the Jews in a rebellion.
After the death of Jesus, his followers journeyed around the empire and established churches.
Christians were persecuted in the Roman empire because the Emperors suspected of disloyalty
The Christians refused to worship the divine spirit of the emperor

34. The Rise of Christianity
Rise in Popularity
Christianity appealed to most Romans because:
It treated all as equal. I did not matter what class a person was in, all people were equal in the eyes of god.
it allowed woman to have a role equal to men
The ideas of discipline and moderation appealed to Romans.
it provided peace and comfort to those whose lives were bad.
Edict of Milan
A decree by Emperor Constantine that allowed for religious toleration and legalized Christianity in 313AD.
When the Roman Empire fell in 476AD, Christianity took over the role of governing people.

35. The Fall of The Roman Empire
Background Info for Fall of Roman Empire:
With the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180AD, the Pax Romana came to an end. For the next 100 years, The Roman Empire slowly rotted from the inside until it fell.
Political Problems
A political pattern emerged after the death of Marcus Aurelius. Again and again, emperors were overthrown by tricks and ambitious generals who seized power with the support of their army.
Many were assassinated
Political violence and instability replaced the order and efficiency of the Pax Romana.
Economic Problems
Taxes continued to rise and agricultural production when down.
Inflation made the costs of goods skyrocket.
Social Problems
The people of the empire forgot their duty as Romans and became very selfish
Many new people came to the empire, people of a different culture. They did not adopt roman culture.

36. The Fall of The Roman Empire
Background Info for Fall of Roman Empire:
Invasion of the Germanic Tribes:
Rome had always faced many Germanic tribes that lived just outside of their borders
They called these people “Barabi” or Barbarians because they were uncivilized
When Rome was strong, they could hold these people out.
As Rome weakened, more Barbarians came across the borders

37. The Fall of The Roman Empire
Background Info for Fall of Roman Empire:
Invasion of the Germanic Tribes:
The continuous wave of Germanic Groups weakened the empire.
The empire faced invasion by different Germanic Tribes. Each time they lost some of their land.
During the 400’s continuous waves of Germanic Tribes overran the Empire and in 476AD, the Western Roman Empire Fell.

38. The Fall of The Roman Empire
The coming of the Huns
The Huns were a warlike group from Central Asia. They came to Eastern Europe
These people attacked the natives of Eastern Europe, forcing them to flee and enter the Roman Empire.

39. The Fall of The Roman Empire
Why did Rome fall?
Military:
The Military, the backbone of the empire, had been weakened by new people. These people were loyal to the general that paid them and did not adopt roman culture.
Political:
The Government became too corrupt and could no longer solve the problems. People were not loyal to the government.
Economics:
The Economy crashed and people became poor. Trade stopped because this was not safe.
The people became more interested in themselves rather than the state.