Being originally just a colony of a few settlements lying on the hills, within a few centuries Rome grew to the size of a huge empire that dominated the area of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Romans saw themselves as descendants of Aeneas, Trojan, who escaped after the Greeks conquered and destroyed his hometown. Rome itself was to be founded by Romulus, one of the two twin sons of the god of war - Mars.
In reality, however, Rome was originally a settlement on the Palatine, and a city-state that included seven surrounding hills. Thanks to its convenient position at the intersection of trade routes running through Italia, the city prospered very well. Nevertheless, for a long time the Romans were in the shadow of another ethnic group - Etruscans from which many Roman rulers originated.
The new republic
About 510 BC, the Romans expelled the last king of Etruscan origin, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and established a republic in their city. However, it took another two centuries of conflicts between the patricians (the privileged) and plebeians (lower class) before it the country settled into relative stability.
In the republic it was the senate that passed new laws took important state decisions was. It was composed of representatives of the aristocracy, and the executive power was in the hands of two consuls. The consuls were elected each year by the centurial congregation which comprised representatives of the people. Despite this, the congregation was usually called upon to choose candidates of the aristocracy, and therefore the interests of commoners were represented only by the tribunes, having the right to veto the Senate resolutions and decisions of officials. In practice, however, this system gave the people a sense of civic belonging to Rome which was one of the strengths of the state.
Roman citizenship
This strength contributed to the Romans' ability to create and dominate a confederation of peoples of Latium as well as defeat the Etruscans, Samnites and Gauls. One of the secrets of their success was that their allies and defeated enemies - after some time - were granted Roman citizenship. This meant that the number of Romans increased with their conquests, thus boosting their strength further. This way they gained the favor of the conquered peoples, which would otherwise constitute a permanent threat to the expanding country. These new allies remained generally loyal to the Romans, even in the case of periodic failures, resulting in the latter usually winning the wars, despite the fact that they quite often lost the battle.
By 272 BC The Romans dominated the entire Italian peninsula. Allied with with Carthage, they subjugated the Greek cities of southern Italy, and then expelled king Pyrrhus from Sicily. This island later became the subject of a conflict with Carthage, a north African Phoenician colony, which was the main rival of Rome in attempts to dominate the western areas of the Mediterranean. This led to the First Punic War (264-241 BC). Roman legions, which were primarily land army, fared very well with the mercenary armies of Carthage, but it was only when the Romans decided to create a strong fleet that the fate of the war was set. The war ended with the Carthaginians leaving Sicily and soon after the Romans managed to control the Sardinia and Corsica.
Hannibal
However, this was only the beginning of the conflict whose continuation would put the Roman state to a severe test. A brilliant Carthaginian commander Hannibal (whose father made him swear eternal hostility to Rome) captured Saguntum in Spain in 219 BC and daringly crossed the Alps with his battle elephants. His attack on Italia started the Second Punic War (218-202 BC). Although Hannibal had fewer troops, the Romans suffered a defeat at the Trebbiano (218 BC), Lake Trasimeno (217 BC) and at Cannae (216 BC). However, he failed to make it to Rome itself and despite remaining on the peninsula for 16 years he did not win the final victory. In the meantime, the Romans began to be successful in the fight against the allies of the Carthaginians, conquered Spain and invaded North Africa. Summoned from Italy, Hannibal was defeated at the Battle of Zama (202 BC), and Carthage surrendered.
From that moment the power of Rome grew steadily. In order to avoid any possible threat in the future, the Romans started the Third Punic War (149-146 BC) that resulted in the conquest and destruction of Carthage. Shortly afterwards Greece was conquered too. In total, in the second century BC the Romans subdued even Macedonia, Pergamon in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the coast of present-day France. Weakened internal conflicts, Egypt remained officially independent, but in reality it was within Roman sphere of influence. Mediterranean Sea was gradually becoming Rome's inland sea.
Reluctance
Expansion on this scale had a huge impact on the lifestyle of Roman citizens. The wealth and luxury did not have beneficial effect on characters of Romans who used to live strict and simple life. The political system of Rome, created for the city-state, could be barely adapted to the conditions of a great empire. Increasingly prosperous class of soldiers reluctantly watched monopolizing power of the aristocracy. The Romans imported huge quantities of war slaves who were cheap labor, which resulted in massive relocation of peasants from the countryside to the cities. There, their growing discontent was becoming a threat to the stability of the state. At the same time, rising numbers of slaves made the outbreak of a rebellion more and more likely. Also the free inhabitants of Italy who had not yet been granted Roman citizenship began to express their opposition to the uneven distribution of privileges in the state.
The time of civil wars
All these factors led to a period of wars and political conflicts that started in the end of 2nd century BC and continued to rage through most of the first century BC, making disintegration of the state a real threat. They resulted in the growth of rivaling parties: optimates who favored the aristocracy and populares who opposed them. The conflict between the two groups largely contributed to the fall of the republic.
State weakness became evident during the invasion of Teuton and Cimbri tribes (113-101) who were eventually driven out by the leader of the populares - Gaius Marius. Then broke out the War of the Allies (91-88 BC) which ended only after Italic allies of Rome were granted Roman citizenship. In 87 BC Marius was driven from Rome by Sulla, the leader of the optimates and winner in the fist Civil War (88-81 BC). Sulla declared himself a dictator in 82 BC, arranged a series of purges and conducted several political reforms that strengthened senate's authority.
After he gave up his power in 79 BC, external and internal crises in the country were addressed by prominent individuals who also began to consolidate their personal power. They were Pompey the Great, the man behind great conquests in the East, and Crassus - the one who suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus.
In 60 BC, they made a gentleman's agreement with Julius Caesar (I triumvirate), which allowed for effective governance of the whole country. In 58 BC, Caesar received a lieutenancy of Cisalpine Gaul and proved his military genius by conquering the entire Gaul (58-51 BC) and carrying two famous expeditions to distant Britain (55 and 54 BC).
In the meantime, the balance within the triumvirate staggered with the death of Crassus during his expedition against the Parthians. Considering his position at risk, in 49 BC Caesar marched with his army to Italy, thereby starting the second civil war. In 45 BC Caesar came out victorious as the new dictator of Rome, but in 44 BC he was murdered by the Republicans.
This gave rise to the third civil war, in which Republicans, led by Cassius and Brutus, were defeated by Octavian (Caesar's relative and adopted son), Antony and Lepidus who formed the second triumvirate. Lepidus was soon ousted, while Octavian and Antony turned against each other. Defeated at the Battle of Actium, Antony committed suicide and all power fell into the hands of Octavian.
Octavian, who went down in history under the honorary nickname Augustus ("dignified"), was the first Roman Emperor and ruled until 14 AD. Though republican system was never officially lifted, Augustus held absolute power in the country by holding all key civil and military offices. Republic was therefore fiction, despite the fact that its traditional institutions (eg the Senate) still existed.
Octavian was a skilled ruler - during his reign borders of the empire reached as far as the Danube. The rule of his successors - Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero - who lacked Octavian's restraint were tyrants whose reigns were marked by scandals. However, this had little impact on the functioning of the whole empire, whose heyday was the result of "Roman peace" (Latin: Pax Romana) - giving up further conquests in favor of preserving status quo and excellent organization of the state. Granting citizenship to the inhabitants of the provinces also helped stabilize society of the Empire. Somewhat less glorious was the policy of "bread and circuses" that was meant to keep the masses in the idle, persistent state of contentment by regularly organizing various events that included the struggles of gladiators and other bloody demonstrations.
The only exception to Pax Romana was an attempt to conquer Britain in 43 AD during the reign of Claudius. As a result, the territory roughly corresponding to present-day areas of England and Wales fell under Roman control.
Nero (54-68 AD) was the last ruler related to Caesar and Octavian, but the title "Caesar" (from which the words "emperor", "tzar" and "Kaiser" are derived) was also passed on to his successors. After a bloody conflict that took place in 69 AD it was granted to Vespasian. It was a tough and determined ruler who gained popularity through a program of public works, including the construction of the Colosseum.
The end of the dynasty
Flavian dynasty (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian) could boast of many achievements, though its reign ended as early as in 96 AD with the assassination of Domitian. However it's the Nerva-Antonine dynasty (96-192 AD) that is credited with bringing the times of political, economic and cultural flourishing of the state. The period was marked by the rule of "Five Good Emperors" (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius). Characteristic feature of this dynasty was that each of the rulers assigned his successor not from the circle of his closest relatives, but among the most talented individuals in the country. During the Nerva-Antonine rule the area of the empire reached its peak size.
However, the situation changed for the worse after Marcus Aurelius (161-180) appointed his own son Commodus (180-192) as his successor. He proved to be a tyrant whose death in a plot marked the end of the dynasty. The civil wars that followed were the beginning of the crisis that engulfed the country in the third century.
IMPORTANT DATES
- 753 BC
Founding of Rome (according to tradition) - 264-241 BC
First Punic War - 202 BC
Victory of the Romans at Zama - 146 BC
The conquest of Greece - 91-88 BC
War of the Allies - 82-79 BC
The dictatorship of Sulla - 73-71 BC
Slave rebellion under the leadership of Spartacus - 58-51 BC
Caesar conquers Gaul - 49-45 BC
Second Civil War: victory of Caesar - 44 BC
Caesar's assassination - 31 BC
Augustus brings together all the power in his hands - 43 BC
The beginning of the conquest of Britain - 96-192
Nerva-Antonine dynasty - 122-128
The construction of Hadrian's Wall
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