The Roman Republic and Empire

[Pages:8]22 SECTION

Standards-Based Instruction

Standards-at-a-Glance

? History-Social Science Students have learned about how the Greek philosophers viewed the law. Now they will learn the Roman views of law and identify the components of Greco-Roman civilization.

? Analysis Skills CS3 Students use a variety of maps and documents to interpret human movement, including major patterns of domestic and international migration, changing environmental preferences and settlement patterns, the frictions that develop between population groups, and the diffusion of ideas, technological innovations, and goods.

? English-Language Arts Writing 2.4

Prepare to Read

Build Background Knowledge L3

Ask students what they know about how ancient Rome was governed. If needed, have them preview the headings.

Set a Purpose

L3

WITNESS HISTORY Read the selection aloud or play the audio.

AUDIO Witness History Audio CD, Augustus Becomes Emperor

Do you think Tacitus approved of Rome's becoming an empire? (Probably not--he seemed to despise the first emperor, and he was critical of other emperors.)

Focus Point out the Section Focus Question and write it on the board. Tell students to refer to this question as they read. (Answer appears with Section 2 Assessment answers.)

Preview Have students preview the Section Standards and the list of Terms, People, and Places.

Have students read this

section using the Guided Questioning

strategy (TE, p. T20). As they read,

have students fill in the chart describing

the shift from monarchy to republic.

Reading and Note Taking

Study Guide, p. 8

22

Augustus Caesar, Emperor of Rome in marble and in ivory cameo (above)

WITNESS HISTORY AUDIO

Augustus Becomes Emperor

Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian, was known for his critical characterizations of Roman emperors. Here he describes how the first emperor, Augustus Caesar, achieved that position:

" Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap grain, and all men with the sweets of repose, and so grew greater by degrees, while he concentrated in himself the functions of the Senate, the magistrates, and the laws. He was wholly unopposed, for the boldest spirits had fallen " in battle, . . . Focus Question How did the government of Rome develop into an empire?

The Roman Republic and Empire

Standards Preview

H-SS 10.1.1 Analyze the similarities and differences in Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman views of law, reason and faith, and duties of the individual. H-SS 10.1.2 Trace the development of Western political ideas of the rule of law and illegitimacy of tyranny, using selections from Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics.

Terms, People, and Places

republic consul dictator tribune veto

Carthage Julius Caesar Augustus Caesar Justinian

Reading Skill: Understand Effects Use a chart like the one below to record the effects of changes in Rome's government.

From Monarchy to Republic

Effects

? ? ? ?

Rome began as a small city-state in Italy but ended up ruling the entire Mediterranean world. In the process the Romans established traditions of government that continue to influence the modern world. The story of Roman success starts with the geography of Italy. The Italian peninsula looks like a boot jutting into the Mediterranean Sea. The peninsula is centrally located in the Mediterranean, and the city of Rome is in the center of Italy. That location helped the Romans as they expanded, first in Italy and then into lands around the Mediterranean.

Establishing a Republic

Because of its geography, Italy was much easier to unify than Greece. Unlike Greece, Italy is not broken up into small, isolated valleys. Its mountains, which run like a backbone down the length of the peninsula, are less rugged than the mountains of Greece. Finally, Italy has the advantage of broad, fertile plains, both in the north, under the shadow of the towering Alps, and in the west, where the Romans settled. Farms in these plains supported a growing population.

Etruscan Rule The ancestors of the Romans migrated into Italy

by about 800 B.C. They settled along the Tiber River in small villages scattered over seven low-lying hills. There they herded and farmed. Their villages would in time grow into Rome, the city on seven hills.

The Romans shared the Italian peninsula with other peoples. Among them were Greek colonists, whose city-states dotted southern Italy, and the Etruscans, who lived north of Rome. For a time, the

Vocabulary Builder

Use the information below and the following resources to teach the high-use word from this section. Teaching Resources, Unit 1, p. 7; Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 3

High-Use Word commodity, p. 25

Definition and Sample Sentence

n. any article that is bought and sold Silk is a commodity that people have valued since ancient times.

20 Sources of the Democratic Tradition

Etruscans ruled much of central Italy, including Rome itself. An aristocracy of nobles, led by a king, controlled each Etruscan city-state.

A New Government The Romans drove out the Etruscans in 509 B.C.

They set up a new government in which the people chose some officials. They called it a republic, or "thing of the people." A republic, Romans thought, would keep any individual from gaining too much power.

In the early republic, the most powerful governing body was the senate. Its 300 members were all patricians, meaning they belonged to the landholding upper class. Senators, who served for life, made the laws. Each year, the senators elected two consuls from among the patricians. The consuls supervised the business of government and commanded Rome's armies. Consuls, however, could serve only one term. Also, they had to consult with the senate on major issues. By limiting the consuls' time in office and making them responsible to the senate, Rome had a system of checks on the power of government.

In the event of war, the senate might choose a dictator, or ruler who has complete control over a government. The law granted each Roman dictator the power to rule for six months. Then he had to give up power. Romans admired Cincinnatus as a model dictator. Cincinnatus organized an army, led the Romans to victory over an attacking enemy, attended victory celebrations, and returned to his farmlands--all within 16 days.

Common People Demand Equality The common people, or plebe-

ians, made up the bulk of the Roman population. Yet they had little influence on government. The efforts of these farmers, merchants, artisans, and traders to gain power shaped politics in the early republic.

The plebeians' first breakthrough came in 450 B.C., when the government had the laws of Rome inscribed on 12 tablets and set up in the Forum, or marketplace. Plebeians had protested that citizens could not know what the laws were, because they were not written down. The Laws of the Twelve Tables made it possible for the first time for plebeians to appeal a judgment by a patrician judge.

Over time, the plebeians gained the right to elect their own officials, called tribunes, to protect their interests. The tribunes could veto, or block, laws harmful to plebeians. Little by little, Rome's common people forced the senate to choose plebeians as consuls and finally to open the senate itself to plebeians.

A Lasting Legacy Although the senate

still dominated the government, the common people had gained access to power and won safeguards for their rights without having to resort to war or revolution. More than 2,000 years later, the framers of the United States Constitution would adapt such Roman ideas as the senate, the veto, and checks on power.

Standards Check How did the Roman Republic differ from government under the Etruscans? H-SS 10.1.1

The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum (below) was a collection of buildings that stood at the heart of ancient Rome. Buildings included temples, monuments, and the Curia--the meeting place of the Roman Senate. The Twelve Tables (inset) were displayed in the Forum so that everyone would know what the laws were.

Teach

Establishing a

Republic H-SS 10.1.1

L3

Instruct

Introduce: Key Terms Have students find the term republic (in blue) in the text and explain its meaning. Ask How does a republic differ from a monarchy or an aristocracy of nobles? (People do not choose a monarch or members of an aristocracy.) Is everyone in a republic considered equal? (Not necessarily; the plebeians in Rome had much less power than the patricians, for example.)

Teach Explain that after the Romans overthrew the Etruscan monarch, more than 60 years passed before the rights of the common people significantly improved. Ask How did the Laws of the Twelve Tables help the plebeians? (It gave them the right to appeal a judgment handed down by a patrician judge.) How did the tribunes serve as a check on the power of government? (They could veto laws that might be harmful to the plebeians.)

Quick Activity Invite the class to debate the Roman senate's practice of appointing a dictator in times of crisis. Encourage students to support their opinions with reasoned argument. You might extend the debate by asking whether this practice should ever be used in the present-day United States.

Solutions for All Learners

L1 Special Needs L2 Less Proficient Readers

Have students scan this page to find nouns that name Romans who held different levels of power in the republic. List their responses on the board. Ask them to describe each one briefly. Then have them create a diagram showing the powers of each of these Romans in relation to the others.

L2 English Language Learners

Use the following resources to help students acquire basic skills.

Adapted Reading and Note Taking Study Guide

Adapted Note Taking Study Guide, p. 8 Adapted Section Summary, p. 9

Answer

Under the Etruscans, a group of nobles, led by a king, controlled Rome. At first a group of patricians, the senate, controlled the Roman republic. Instead of a powerful king, however, two consuls with limited power ran the affairs of government. Over time, the common people gained more influence in the government.

Chapter 1 Section 2 21

Independent Practice

Link to Literature To help students better understand Roman law, have them read the selection from Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and complete the worksheet.

Teaching Resources, Unit 1, p. 11

Monitor Progress

As students fill in their graphic organizer, circulate to make sure they understand where to look in the text for the main ideas. For a completed version of the graphic organizer, see Note Taking Transparencies, 50A

Check to see that students have correctly answered the questions on the worksheet.

INFOGRAPHIC

SPQR

senatus populus que Romanus

"The Senate and the Roman People"

Aristocratic Elements

Like the rulers of Ancient Rome,

the creators of the United States Constitution created a republic--a system of government in which sovereign power is held by those eligible to vote and political power is exercised by representatives chosen by those citizens. The concepts of checks and balances between branches of government, the veto, and limiting terms of office are also borrowed from the Roman Republic.

Senate

Chief governing body that consisted of 300?600 officials and ex-officials who served for life unless expelled by Censors. The Senate controlled finances and foreign affairs, debated and proposed laws, and advised the Consuls.

Monarchical Elements

20 Quaestors

Financial officers who served in the treasury or with army commanders making payments to troops and ordering supplies and equipment.

2 Aediles

Officials who administered the city of Rome itself including its public buildings, aqueducts, public games, and religious festivals.

2 Consuls

Chief officials who presided over the Senate and assemblies. Consuls initiated legislation, served as the chief generals of Rome's armies, and conducted civil activities within Rome. The consuls could veto each others' actions.

2 Censors

Officials who oversaw public contracts, tax collection, and conducted a census of citizens to create voter lists.

8 Praetors

Chief law officers who took over for Consuls when they were absent from Rome. Praetors also governed the provinces.

Democratic Elements

Assemblies

10 Tribunes

Assemblies

10 Tribunes Officials elected by plebeians to protect their lives and property and to propose legislation. Tribunes could veto (Latin, "I forbid") the act of any official or the Senate and could arrest other officers, including the Consuls.

Assemblies All full Roman citizens were members of the assemblies and could vote when present. The assemblies accepted or rejected laws passed by the Senate, declared war, and elected all officials.

Thinking Critically

1. Identify Main Ideas Cite three examples of checks and balances in the Roman Republican government.

2. Identify Central Issues List three institutions created to protect Plebeians. H-SS 10.1.1

Answers

Thinking Critically

1. Tribunes could veto the acts of the Senate; assemblies accepted or rejected the laws of the Senate; censors could expel people from the Senate.

2. Tribunes, assemblies, and the Laws of the Twelve Tables

22 Sources of the Democratic Tradition

Link to Civics

Civic Responsibility Male Roman citizens voted in assemblies on proposed laws and on candidates for high office. At first, voting was public, but starting in the 130s B.C., citizens used secret ballots--small wooden tablets covered with wax. Each citizen scratched a letter representing "for" or "against" on the tablet to support or oppose legislation, or wrote the name of a candidate for election. Then the citizen

dropped his ballot into a large urn. In modern American elections, voters no longer use wax. The method varies by polling station. Voters may mark an x on a paper ballot, pull a lever in a voting machine, punch a card with a pin, or use a computerized voting method. As in Rome, however, American citizens still use secret ballots to cast their votes.

From Republic to Empire

As Rome's political system evolved at home, its armies expanded Roman power across Italy. Roman armies conquered first the Etruscans and then the Greek city-states in the south. By about 270 B.C., Rome controlled most of the Italian peninsula. Rome then began to build an empire around the Mediterranean Sea.

Continuing Conquest Rome's conquest of the Italian peninsula

brought it into contact with Carthage, a city-state on the northern coast of Africa. Carthage ruled an empire that stretched across North Africa and the western Mediterranean. Between 264 and 146 B.C., Rome fought three wars against Carthage. Rome won the first two of these Punic Wars. In the second, however, the Carthaginian general Hannibal led his army, including dozens of war elephants, on a destructive rampage through Italy. In the third Punic War, the Romans completely destroyed Carthage and established themselves as masters of the western Mediterranean.

While Rome fought Carthage in the west, it was also expanding into the eastern Mediterranean. There, Romans confronted the Hellenistic rulers who had divided up the empire of Alexander the Great. One by one, Macedonia, Greece, and parts of Asia Minor surrendered and became Roman provinces, or lands under Roman rule. Other regions, like Egypt, allied with Rome. By 133 B.C., Roman power extended from Spain to Egypt. The Romans justly referred to the Mediterranean as mare nostrum, or "our sea."

Economic and Social Effects Conquests and control of busy trade

routes brought incredible riches into Rome. Generals, officials, and traders amassed fortunes from loot, taxes, and commerce. A new class of wealthy landholders emerged. They bought up huge estates and forced people who were captured in war to work on the estates as slaves. This use of slave labor hurt small farmers, who could not produce food as cheaply as the estates could. Compounding farmers' problems, huge quantities of grain pouring in from conquered lands drove down grain prices.

Expansion created further strains within Roman society. Rome could not have grown without its army, made up of loyal citizens who fought without pay and supplied their own weapons. Yet these citizen-soldiers gained little from Rome's success. Addressing plebeians, the Roman tribune Tiberius Gracchus pointed out this injustice:

Primary Source

" The beasts of the field and the birds of the air have their holes and their hiding places, but the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy only the light and the air. . . . You fight and die to give wealth and luxury to others. You are called the masters " of the world, but there is not a foot of ground that you can call your own. --Plutarch, Parallel Lives

Tiberius Gracchus and his brother Gaius hoped to improve the lot of the plebeians. The social reforms they tried to enact included distributing land to poor farmers and using public funds to buy grain to feed the poor. Senators did not like these reforms and saw the Gracchus brothers as a threat to their power. The brothers, along with thousands of their

Reading Skill: Identify Cause and Effect Complete a chart like the one below as you read this section.

Causes

? ? ?

From Republic to Empire

Effects

? ? ?

The Punic Wars

The Carthaginian general Hannibal, shown here on an elephant, invaded Italy during the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage.

From Republic

to Empire H-SS 10.1.1

L3

Instruct

Introduce: Vocabulary Builder Have students read the Vocabulary Builder term and definition. Ask them to predict what kinds of commodities traveled over trade routes into the Roman empire.

Teach Point out that Roman expansion greatly increased trade, but it also created strains within Roman society. Ask How did continual warfare affect the plebeians? (They made up the army of citizen-soldiers, fighting without pay and thus gaining little from the success and wealth they brought to Rome.) How did the rise of professional armies affect Rome? (Soldiers became loyal not to the state but to their military commanders, which allowed generals like Julius Caesar to gain great power.)

Quick Activity Use the Numbered Heads strategy (TE, p. T23) and ask students to discuss the following: Some historians have said that the Roman empire really began with Julius Caesar. Do you agree?

History Background

Tricks and Tactics In the Second Punic War, Hannibal led his army on a daring march from Spain across France and into northern Italy. The general and his dozens of elephants and thousands of soldiers forded rivers and crossed mountains, including the towering Alps. The narrow, icy trails and blinding snowstorms of the Alps took a huge toll on Hannibal's forces. However, this bold maneuver surprised the Romans, who had expected an invasion from the

south. The army went on to win three great battles against the Romans over the next 15 years. Lack of supplies and reinforcements hindered Hannibal's progress. In the end, the Romans outflanked Hannibal by sending an army to attack Carthage. When word of this reached Hannibal, he and his troops returned home to defend their city, where the Romans finally defeated them.

Chapter 1 Section 2 23

Independent Practice

Have students fill in the

chart showing the causes and effects of

the shift from republic to empire.

Reading and Note Taking

Study Guide, p. 8

Have students access Web Code mzp0122 to take the Geography Interactive Audio Guided Tour and then answer the map skills questions in the text.

Have students fill in the Outline Map The Roman Empire at Its Height and label various parts of the empire and the goods that flowed into Rome from these regions.

Teaching Resources, Unit 1, p. 15

Monitor Progress

As students fill in their charts, circulate to make sure they understand the causes and effects of the shift from republic to empire. For a completed version of the chart, see Note Taking Transparencies, 50B

Check students' Outline Maps for accuracy. Administer the Geography Quiz.

Teaching Resources, Unit 1, p. 16

followers, were killed in waves of street violence set off by senators and their hired thugs.

Julius Caesar's Rise to Power Soon Rome was plunged into a series

of civil wars. At issue was who should hold power--the senate or popular political leaders looking to enact reforms. During this time the old armies of citizen-soldiers evolved into professional forces, loyal first to their commanders, not to Rome. One of those military commanders, Julius Caesar, emerged from the chaos of civil war to take charge of the republic.

By 51 B.C., Caesar had completed his conquest of Gaul, the region that is now France. Fearful of his political ambition, the senate ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome. Caesar defied the order and marched his army toward the Roman capital. The brilliant general crushed the army sent to stop him and then swept around the Mediterranean, suppressing rebellions. Later, upon returning to Rome, he forced the senate to make him dictator. Although he kept the senate and other

Roman Empire, A.D. 117

For: Interactive map Web Code: mzp-0122

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BRITAIN

Roman Empire, A.D. 117

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New Carthage

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Carthage

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NUMIDIA

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anube River

MACEDONIA

Black Sea

Byzantium

ASIA MINOR

Athens 20? E

Antioch S Y R I A

CRETE

CYPRUS Damascus

Mediterranean Sea

30? E

Cyrene

Alexandria

ARABIA

EGYPT

Cas

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Tigris R

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Conic Projection

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iver Thebes

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Nile R

Answers

Map Skills

1. Review locations with students. 2. parts of northern Africa and Spain 3. The Romans launched public works programs to

employ the jobless, gave public land to the poor, and granted citizenship to many people in the provinces. Augustus cemented the allegiance of cities and provinces to Rome by allowing them a large measure of self-government. Trade and travel flourished because the Roman army protected travelers on the vast road system and kept pirates at bay.

24 Sources of the Democratic Tradition

Map Skills Through wars and diplomacy, the Roman republic gradually gained control of lands around the Mediterranean Sea. At its height, the Roman empire included lands in Europe, Africa, and Asia. An extensive

system of roads (above) linked distant parts of the empire. 1. Locate (a) Spain (b) Gaul (c) Carthage

(d) Egypt (e) Macedonia

2. Regions What territory was added to the Roman empire as a result of the Punic wars?

3. Summarize What techniques did the Romans use to keep peace and order throughout the empire?

History Background

Julius Caesar Julius Caesar's bold rise to power echoed his boldness on the battlefield. His brilliant conquest of Gaul made him enormously popular. Romans thrilled to reports of his many victories, which added great riches and huge territories to the empire. In nine years of campaigning, Caesar lost only two battles. His tactics in Gaul are still studied at military

academies today. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon-- the river separating Gaul from Italy--he said, "alea iacta est," or "the die is cast," meaning there was no turning back. Today, people use the phrase crossing the Rubicon to mean making a fateful decision from which there is no turning back. In this way, Caesar's legendary boldness lives on.

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