If the Hebrews - were distinguished by their prophets (and religion); the Greeks - by their philosophers and culture

Romans genius - found in law and government

Italy: variety of tribes => Latins, Umbrians, Samnites (each speaking its own Italic or other Indo -European language) - they inhabited Latium (central part of the peninsula)
       the Etruscan - dominated the region between Tiber and the Arno
- Etruscans: great workers in metal; they had a similar alphabet to the Greeks; in art they were influenced by the Greeks => but: Etruscans did not like the idealization of human figure (tendency toward distortion for emotional effect)
- Etruscan religion: they were preoccupied with the uncertainty of fate and the horrors of the afterlife => pessimist attitude
- Etruscans: lived in cities => their economy was based on trade and manufacturing; they also practiced agriculture
                    designed their cities - symmetrical and axial city plan (new element) => they influenced the Romans
                   system to drain low lying areas or brought fresh water for the consumption of the towns people; they invented the arch and the vaulted ceilings
- Etruscan society: rigidly stratified; a handful of reach families dominated each of the 12 cities
    - Etruscans had slaves
    - the king - was elected
5th c. B.C. - they adopted hoplite tactics => replaced their king with aristocratic magistrates
BUT: no movement toward democracy

- the Etruscan cities - were not united (they would come together for sports or religious festivals) but: they competed with each other for markets

Origins of Rome:

- founded on Tiber (the largest river in central Italy) => and on 7 hills (which provided refuge from floods and invaders)
- 8th c. B.C. - one hill - the Palatine - was occupied by a tribe who spoke a version of Latin; another hill - Aventine - was occupied by a related group => those settlements formed the nucleus of ancient Rome
- those Romans => were under the influence of Etruscans => the first Roman kings - had Etruscan names
- the relation between Romans and Etruscans is unclear => BUT: Etruscan influence contributed to the birth of Roman civilization (Romans took up the Etruscan alphabet  - but not the language - took up the metallurgy, civic planning and architecture and some religious ideas)

- until 6 c. B.C. (late) - Rome was dominated by Etruscans => from those the Romans - acquired technological and artistic influences
- the Roman patricians - overthrew the Etruscan king (c.509 B.C.) => established a republic (dominated by patricians) - the republic was ruled by two magistrates
- Rome: for a time - was just a member of the Latin League => by 5th C. the Romans reasserted themselves
- 338 B.C. => all Latium was subdued => the towns nearest Rome received full citizenship; far away cities - received municipal status (their citizens could marry of trade with Romans but had no voting rights outside their communities)
- for communication and common defense - paved (all weather) roads were built linking rome with her allies => this policy was followed until the end of the empire ( All roads lead to Rome) - some are still in use today

- the early history of the Roman Republic: 200 year conflict ( the Struggle of the Orders) - between patricians and plebeians => plebeians would achieve legal equality; the right to sit in the Senate; the right to hold high office
patricians: the hereditary aristocracy of the Roman Republic
plebeians: free citizens - had grown poorer => their farms (never large) were divided by inheritance => until many citizens were landless
=> in reality: official power was wielded by an oligarchy composed of patricians and wealthy plebeians
- the Roman government - originally performed important religious functions => in time it became increasingly secular and rational
- the Roman constitution evolved slowly over the centuries, as reforms were made in response to practical needs
- Rome: unified Italy under its domination
=> military superiority
     strength and devotion of its people
     generous treatment of defeated adversaries + its ability to convert them into loyal allies or new citizens
     security that provided against internal disorder and external aggression

Military system:
- during the monarchy - they used hoplites flanked by cavalry (took it from Etruscans)
- after 400 B.C. - they paid their troops
- abandoned the phalanx - for smaller units (maniples) of 100  - 120 foot soldiers, commanded by an officer (centurion)
- 30 maniples + 5 in reserve made up a legion
- in battle => the maniples were arranged in three lines, with a space between each unit (for movement)

Roman expansion:

- Rome initially expanded overseas for political and strategic reasons => to achieve security, protect its allies, and thwart would be conquerors of Italy
- the expansion - took place without a predetermined plan
- the expansion in the western Mediterranean - during the Punic Wars (fought against Carthage -3/2 c. B.C.) => when Carthage allied with Macedonia => Rome became involved in the eastern Mediterranean => extended its hegemony over the Hellenistic world as well

Consequences of expansion:

1. the fashioning of a new concept of law => the jus gentium (law of nations), incorporating the legal experiences of other people
2. the influx of large numbers of slaves to Italy (treated very harshly)
3. Roman administration of the provinces - which was often corrupt and exploitative (BUT: the Romans brought peace) - allowed their subjects a large measure of self-government; did not interfere with religion and local customs, and built many public works

- Roman conquest: brought Rome into contact with the Hellenistic Greek culture => profound impact on the Romans
    => Rome assimilated the Greek achievements and extended the orbit of Hellenism - by transmitting those achievements to others

> Greek influence - obvious in the works of playwrights: Plautus and Terence + the lyric poet Catullus
> Lucretius - the leading Roman Epicurean philosopher => On the Nature of Things - advanced a materialist philosophy of nature, denounced superstition and religion for creating psychological distress; expressed the belief that a simple life devoid of political involvement was the highest good
> Cicero - was the leading statesman, orator and student of the philosophy of Stoicism => the Stoic stress on virtuous conduct and doing one's duty conformed to Roman ideas; the doctrine of natural law => which maintained that there were principles of law that applied to all people => provided support for the Romans attempt to create a world empire

The collapse of the Roman Republic:
1. because of internal dissension => brought about by a decline of civic patriotism and the growth of rivalry for wealth and status
- the Senate - degenerated into a self-seeking oligarchy
- class tensions grew as small farmers dispossessed from their land flocked to the city becoming part of the embittered urban underclass
- power hungry demagogues arose
- social harmony broke down

- Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus: reformers -who attempted to solve the agricultural crisis - brought by neglect and devastation of farms and the creation of large slave plantations (latifundia); those reforms ran counter to the interests of old ruling elite => both were killed in the violent political struggles that erupted
- Marius (general) - threatened the political stability of the Republic => Sulla (general) - defeated Marius and reformed the Senate => he tried to restore its former authority => he failed and Rome moved toward one man rule

- Julius Caesar - established the condition of one man rule - before he was assassinated by conspirators representing the senatorial party; his work was completed by Octavian - when he became, in effect, the first Roman emperor

Social structures:

- theoretically and legally: the father (paterfamilias) => had absolute power of life and death over his children and slaves; the wife - under the will of the father; BUT: he could not kill her or sell her
- 2nd C. B.C. => women had more rights (control over their person and dowries)
- sale and execution of a child - not very popular; took place only with the approval of the entire family (public opinion was important; like Greece, the Roman society was a shame society => reputation was vitally important)
- the Roman family was part of a larger social grouping - clans - that influenced their conduct
clans = a powerful individual protects the interests of others in return for their political and economical support
- kinship ties - strong

All those arrangements were sanctioned by religion
- the Roman pantheon of Gods copied that of the Greeks:
> Jupiter (Zeus)
> Juno (Hera)
> Venus (Aphrodite)
Romans believed in a host of spirits - governed places and natural processes
- priests of both sexes - took care of the temples, read the future
- in the house: the father presided over religious rites and was responsible for making sure that the family did not offend the gods

Roman Government:

- power: in the hands of the patricians => rooted in law and custom
BUT: the infantry - laid at the core of the Roman army => Roman survival - depended upon plebeians
- pressure from the plebeian assembly (they refused to fight) - won the right to elect tribunes ( represented their interests and defended them against unjust decrees by the magistrates)
- 451 - 450 B.C. => under pressure form plebeians => Twelve Tables - published
    > the first body of written law in Roman history
    > inscribed on bronze - displayed in the forum
The codified laws reinforced the privileges of the patricians + recognized the plebeians as a distinct order and gave them legal protection
- introduced the notion of equality before the law (aequatio iuris) - patricians and plebeians had equal status under the law
- the principle of patria potestas - gave the husband the powers of head of the family and instructed him to kill a deformed baby
- women were perpetual minors - under the guardianship of their fathers or husbands
- the recognition of wealth in addition to birth - as a measure of social stratification

445 B.C.: Lex Canuleia - permitted intermarriage between patricians and plebeians

Property - important => Romans were ranked according to property => this determined their military role + their right to participate in the public or centuriate assembly that elected the magistrates
- Censor: a new official => elected to determine the rankings => census became an important civic and religious ritual
- the body of male citizens - were divided into centuries - corresponding to the size of a maniple
- centuries - divided in classes (from to 5)
- the patricians: equites (cavalry)
- proletarii (who owned only their children) - outside the class system

Institutions:

> Consuls (2) - both responsible for everything (leadership of the state including the army) - they served 1 year terms (could be re-elected every 10 years)
 in emergency their power could be suspended - replaced by a dictator (for 6 months)
C: executed the laws voted by the popular assembly (all citizens)
> Magistrates - Quaestor (in charge with the police)
                       - Aediles (in charge with the public buildings)
                       - Censor (registered the citizens and supervised morals and public contacts)
                       - Praetors (administered justice
> Tribunes - they have the power to veto bills but they can not initiate bills; to check the laws => the plebeians
> Senate - all the former consuls and magistrates; they don't have legislative power; but they can influence and advice the consul; Senate could veto the consuls

> the Senate: the most powerful institution of the Roman state; members of the Senate - were men of great wealth and experience - the leading citizens of Rome
> the Senate - was responsible for provincial affairs; this included the distribution of newly acquired public lands and income derived from provinces

During the Republic => territorial expansion outside the mainland started with the wars against Carthage (the Punic Wars)
- 264 B.C. - struggle with Carthage (lasted for a century)

Carthaginians - great merchants and colonizers => they assumed control of the colonies they had planted in western Sicily, Spain, Sardinia, Corsica and Balearic islands (a big empire)
Rome - still an agrarian state - without commercial interests in the region - not a threat for the Carthaginians

First Punic War - started over Sicily => a nest of pirates and mercenaries (Mamertines) => the Syracusans sent an army to take them out => Carthage intervened on the side of Mamertines => the Sicilian Greeks appealed to Rome
> the Senate agreed to help (Carthage by taking Sicily could threaten the basis of Roman power in the south)
> the war was long => Romans would build a navy (only seapower could defeat Carthage) => destroyed the main Carthaginian fleet  (Trapani/ March 241) => Carthage sued for peace
=>> Sicily became the first Roman province; its people were not granted  - citizenship or allied status; Roman governors exercised full powers unlimited by local custom; raised taxes and distributed the land to wealthy Romans - who worked the land with slaves captured in the war
> after the victory:  Senate - more aggressive attitude: they believed that the best defense was a good offense
> in 238 B.C.: Carthage's army rebelled => the Romans took advantage and annexed the islands of Corsica and Sardinia => Carthaginians: the Roman imperialism had to be stopped

> Carthage: took advantage of the new war between Romans and Gauls => to consolidate the Carthaginian hold on Spain (the interior tribes were bound to Carthage by force or negotiation)

The Second Punic War: the result of the Roman attempts to interfere with this process; the war nearly ended in the destruction of Rome
> the new Carthaginian commander - Hannibal (247 -183B.C.) - had dreamed of avenging his country's defeat from the first Punic War
> the Romans raised ana army to invade Spain => Hannibal took the war to Italy => threatening Rome and forcing the Romans to divide their forces

* Hannibal: Spanish army, African mercenaries and his contingent of war elephants => he crossed the Alps and allied himself with the Gauls (he hoped to disengage the Italian allies from their allegiance - he was not successful)
> more success in the battle: Hannibal defeated the Romans => Fabius Maximus (Roman dictator) tried to avoid a battle (drew Hannibal's army in the southern Italy) => Romans didn't like this strategy (of cowards)
> Fabius successor sought a battle at Cannae (216 B.C.) - the Roman legions were annihilated
* Hannibal uncovered the tactical weakness of the Roman legions: they were trained to move forward; were vulnerable to cavalry attacks from the sides and rear
> the defeat led to the defection of Capua and to a revolt in Syracuse (threatened Roman control over Sicily) => the Romans besieged both cities while reverting to Fabian tactics
> the agriculture and economy - devastated
> at this point Hannibal made an alliance with Philip V of Macedon => Rome was engaged on five fronts
207 B.C. - Hannibal's brother (in command of the Carthaginians garrisons in Spain) - crossed the Alps to reinforce Hannibal => the Romans (made tactical improvements) attacked and destroyed this army (Hannibal's brother was killed) => the Roman commander - Publius Cornelius Scipio entered Spain => drove the Carthaginians out of Spain (206 B.C.)
204 B.C. Scipio landed in Africa => Hannibal was recalled from Italy => 202 B.C. at Zama - Hannibal fought his last battle (Hannibal's allies deserted him) => Scipio used tactics similar to those used by Hannibal at Cannae => after the victory Scipio took the title Africanus
> Carthaginians - agreed to peace: gave up Spain and the islands + agreed to dismantle their war fleet
===>>>Rome became the master of the western Mediterranean