Rome
Rome grew from a small Italian city into an empire spanning the Mediterranean, leaving lasting legacies in law, language, and government.
The Roman Republic
According to tradition, Romans expelled their last king in 509 BCE and founded a republic. Power was shared among elected officials: two consuls with one-year terms, a Senate of aristocrats, and assemblies of citizens. Conflict between patricians (aristocrats) and plebeians (commoners) led to reforms, including written laws in the Twelve Tables.
Expansion
Rome conquered Italy and then defeated Carthage in the Punic Wars (264-146 BCE), despite Hannibal's famous march across the Alps with elephants. By the first century BCE, Rome controlled most of the Mediterranean. Conquest brought wealth and enslaved people but also inequality and instability.
From republic to empire
Generals with loyal armies fought civil wars. Julius Caesar became dictator and was assassinated in 44 BCE. His adopted heir Octavian defeated rivals and in 27 BCE became Augustus, the first emperor, keeping republican forms while holding real power. The Pax Romana, about two centuries of relative peace, followed.
Roman achievements
Romans built roads, aqueducts, bridges, and concrete structures such as the Pantheon and the Colosseum. Roman law, including ideas such as the presumption of innocence and legal rights for citizens, influenced later European legal systems. Latin became the basis of the Romance languages, including Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian.
Christianity
Jesus of Nazareth preached in Roman Judea and was crucified around 30 CE. His followers, including the apostle Paul, spread Christianity across the empire. Despite periodic persecution, it grew. Emperor Constantine converted and legalised Christianity in the Edict of Milan (313 CE); Theodosius I made it the official religion in 380 CE.
Crisis and division
In the third century CE, Rome faced civil wars, invasions, inflation, and plague. Diocletian divided administration among co-emperors. Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 CE as a new capital. In 395 CE, the empire permanently split into Western and Eastern halves.
The fall of the West
Pressure from Germanic peoples and the Huns, internal instability, and economic problems weakened the Western Empire. Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 CE. In 476 CE, the Germanic leader Odoacer deposed the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, a traditional date for the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire, lasted until 1453.
Worked example
Historians have proposed many causes for Rome's fall in the West: invasions, political instability, economic decline, overextension, and plague. Rather than a single cause, most see a combination. Some historians prefer 'transformation' to 'fall', since Roman law, language, Christianity, and cities continued to shape the successor kingdoms.
Key takeaways
Rome became a republic around 509 BCE with consuls, a Senate, and assemblies. It defeated Carthage and dominated the Mediterranean. Civil wars ended the republic; Augustus became the first emperor in 27 BCE, starting the Pax Romana. Romans left roads, aqueducts, law, and Latin. Christianity spread and was legalised by Constantine in 313 CE. The empire split in 395; the West fell in 476 CE, while the East lasted until 1453.
Flashcard
Founded about 509 BCE
Check your understanding
What happened in 476 CE?