CHAPTER 6 ANCIENT ROME and THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY

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CHAPTER 6ANCIENT ROME and THE RISE OF
CHRISTIANITY

• 509 B.C. A.D. 476

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Essential Questions

• How did geography shape the early development of
  Rome?
• What were the major characteristics of government
  and society in the Roman republic?
• Why was Romes expansion in Italy successful?

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How did geography shape the early development
of Rome?

• Geography
• Peninsula centrally located in the Mediterranean
  (Boot)
• Rome ?center of Italy
• Much easier to unify than Greece.
• Mountains less rugged
• Broad, fertile plains

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Peoples

• Latins? Roman ancestors
• Settled along the Tiber River
• People herded and farmed in villages on seven low
  lying hills
• Small villages grew into Rome, city on seven
  hills
• Shared peninsula with Greeks and Etruscans

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Etruscans

• Ruled much of central Italy, including Rome
  itself.
• Provided the alphabet to the Romans (acquired
  from the Greeks).
• Adapted engineering techniques to drain the
  marshy lands along the Tiber.

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The Roman Republic

• 509 B.C. Romans drove out the Etruscans
• Date marks the founding of the Roman state
• Republic? a government in which some officials
  were chosen by the people
• Republic means - Thing of the people

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The Government Takes Shape

• Senate
• Most powerful governing body
• Patricians were
• senate members
• Landholding upper class
• Served for life
• Made the laws

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Senators, contd

• Consuls
• Supervise government and command the armies
• Elected from the patrician class
• Could serve only one term
• Expected to consult with the senate

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Cincinnatus

• Dictator
• Chosen by senate in the event of war
• Granted complete control over a government
• Power to rule for 6 months

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Cincinnatus, contd

• 16 days
• Organized an army
• Led Romans to victory
• Attended victory celebrations
• Returned to his farmland

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Roman Society

• Male the head of the household
• Wife, subject to his authority not allowed to
  administer her own affairs
• In later Roman times, women from all classes ran
  businesses.
• Girls and boys learned to read and write
• Jupiter? Roman god who ruled over the sky and all
  the other gods.

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Expansion in Italy

• 270 B.C. Rome controlled most of the Italian
  peninsula
• Legion? basic military unit made of about 5,000
  men
• Roman armies
• Consisted of citizen-soldiers who fought without
  pay and supplied their own weapons.

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Conquered Lands

• People had to acknowledge Roman leadership
• Pay taxes
• Supply soldiers for the Roman army
• Rome let them keep their own customs, money and
  local government
• Some gained full citizenship

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Protection and Unification

• Posted soldiers throughout the land
• Built a network of all-weather military roads to
  link distant territories to Rome
• Local peoples incorporated Latin into their
  languages and adopted many Roman customs and
  beliefs.