The Roman Republic

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The Roman Republic

• White Right
• Yellow Left
• Red Do Not Write

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The Origins of Rome

• The First Romans
• Latins, Greeks, and Etruscans compete for control
  of the region.
• Etruscans native to northern Italy influence
  Roman civilization

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The Early Republic

• Early Rulers
• Around 600 B.C. Etruscan kings begin to rule
  Rome.
• Romans overthrow cruel Etruscan kings in 509 B.C.
• Romans found a republica government in which
  citizens elect leaders.

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The Early Republic

• Patricians and Plebeians
• Different groups struggle for power in early
  Roman Republic
• Patricianswealthy landowning class that holds
  most of the power
• Plebeiansartisans, merchants and farmers can
  vote, but cannot rule
• Tribuneselected representatives who protect
  Plebeians rights

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The Early Republic

• Twelve Tables
• In 451 B.C. officials carve Roman laws on twelve
  tablets.
• They become the basis for later Roman law.
• Laws confirm the right of all free citizens to
  the protection of the law.
• Citizenship is limited to adult male landowners.

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The Early Republic

• Government Under the Republic
• Rome elects two consulsone to lead the army and
  one to direct government.
• Senatechosen from Roman upper class makes
  foreign and domestic policy.
• Democratic assemblies elect tribunes and makes
  laws for common people.

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• The plebeians in time acquired other fundamental
  rights and safeguards
• They secured the right to APPEAL A DEATH SENTENCE
  imposed by a consul and to be retried before the
  popular assembly.
• The tribunes gained a VETO POWER over any
  legislation or executive act that threatened the
  rights of the plebeians.
• MARRIAGE between patricians and plebeians,
  prohibited by the Law of the Twelve Tablets, was
  legalized.
• The enslavement of citizens for DEBT was
  abolished

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The Early Republic

• The Roman Army
• Army is powerful and a key factor in Romes rise
  to greatness.

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Rome Spreads Its Power

• Rome Conquers Italy
• The Romans defeat the Etruscans in the north and
  the Greek city-states in the south.
• By 265 B.C., Rome controls the entire Italian
  peninsula.
• Rome treats the conquered peoples justly. This
  enables Rome to grow.

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Rome Spreads Its Power

• Romes Commercial Network
• Rome establishes a large trading network.
• Access to the Mediterranean Sea provides many
  trade routes.
• Carthage, a powerful city-state in North Africa,
  soon rivals Rome.

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Slaves in the Roman Republic

• When the Romans conquered the Mediterranean, they
  took millions of SLAVES to Italy, where they
  worked on the large plantations or in the houses
  and workplaces of wealthy citizens.
• The Italian economy depended on abundant slave
  labor, 40 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION were slaves.
• Slaves served as singers, scribes, jewelers,
  bartenders, and even doctors. One slave trained
  in medicine was worth the price of 50
  agricultural slaves.

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