Chapter 6 LO1

Notes on LO1:

• Roman values= they like to take the Greeks way of life but improve them
• The rise of Rome began as a continuation of Greece's early westward expansion through the Mediterranean Sea, which brought the Greek model of civilization to the people of Italy during the eight century.
• About 500 B.C Rome became a Greek style city state that was not longer ruled by kings but the Roman government system, The Republic, was for several centuries more stable and more effective than any in Greece.
• The roman armies were more consistently successful than those of the Greeks
• In five centuries Rome became the center of an empire that stretched from the borders of Mesopotamia to the Atlantic Ocean.
• City- State and Empire: The Roman Republic
•  Tribes arrived in a Mediterranean land with farming resources that were basically similar to those of Greece or Palestine, but able to support a larger population and in time larger armies.
• Italy was situated astride the Mediterranean  commanding every direction; southward and eastward to the territories of Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian civilization, northward and westward to the lands of barbarian Europe.
• The Indo- European settlers formed various tribal groups, among them the Latin people of central Italy.
• Some settled near the mouth of the Tiber River
• they built a cluster of dwellings on low lying hills along the river called the " Seven Hill
• Around 750 B.C these settlements joined to form a single city state called Rome
• The Estruscans and the Greeks lived in Italy and had an influence on the growth of the Roman civilization
• From the Etruscans the Romans adopted such features as a gridiron street plan for cities,gladiatorial combats, and the masonry arch.
• The Romans learned the alphabet and knowledge of Greek city states from the Greek colonies in southern Italy.
• The Roman Republic: The Senate and the People
• At first, their city state was ruled on the Etruscan model by powerful Kings, including actual Etruscan conquers.
• The King was advised by a council of elders called the Senate, whose members he appointed.
• Usually he chose from among the patricians or " men with fathers"
• Patricians= upper- class citizens who belonged to the oldest and noblest Roman families
• Around 500 B.C Rome overthrew its Etruscan rulers and established a monarchy
• The government of the Roman city- state became officially the " people's business"
• The Roman Republic underwent a long turbulent development but the result was a system of government that was neither a Greek style democracy nor an oligarchy but a mixture of both.
• Republic= In reference to ancient Rome, the system of city-state government in which decision making power was shared between the Senate and assemblies of male citizen
• Patricians and Plebeians:
• There were two sides in the conflicts of the Republic: The patricians and plebeians
• Plebeians= the roman common people, including workers, small farmers, and wealthy people who were not patricians  
• In the earliest times of the Republic, the "peoples business" was in practice run by the Senate.
• Senate=In ancient Rome, a government assembly appointed by the king, and under the Republic by the consuls; originally all members were patricians, but in time wealthy plebeians were appointed as well.
•  Two among the senators functioned as consuls.
• Consuls= In the Roman Republic, two senators who led the government and military for one year terms and appointed their own successors.
• The Romans were eager to avoid monarchy that for every public office position they appointed two or more men
• This slowed down government decisions and actions, but in time of emergency the consults, on the advice of the Senate, could appoint a dictator, with full power to give orders and make laws for a maximum period of six months.
• The plebeians at first deferred to patrician rule, but as Rome grew and the plebeians became more numerous and often wealthier  they began to resent being treated as second class citizens.
• Among the chief complaints of the plebeians was that they lacked legal protection.
• Before the fifth century B.C there had been no written code of law
• Instead, the sacred tradition laws were passed down orally and interpreted by judges, who were, of course patricians.
• About 450 B.C in response to the plebeians demand, the laws of Rome were set down in writing. The new code was said to have been engraved on twelve slabs if wood or bronze and mounted in the chief public square.
•  Not long afterward, new plebeian assemblies came into being alongside the existing one that soon gained far greater power.
• tribunes= Magistrates elected by the plebeians, who eventually gained the power to initiate and veto laws
• The pateicians gave way to the plebeians until by 250B.C the distinction between the two groups no longer mattered in politics and government.
• "Mixed Government"
• The Republic still rested in the hands of the Senate, and though plebeians could now join the Senate, only the wealthy could afford to do so
• Senators and would be senators had to follow a complex career path from lower ranking magistracies to higher ones, in which leapfrogging ranks was frowned upon or was actually illegal.
• Many of these magistracies were elective and to get votes a canadite had to spend large sums for displays and popular entertainments
• They also supported clients, which is a person who provides personal services in return for money and protection form a patron
• Patron= A wealthy person who supports others with money and protection in exchange for personal services
• Republican Values: The City and the Gods
• One common belief was the community's survival and prosperity depended on a god or goddess who was thought to take a particular interest in its destiny
• By the time of the Republic Rome had a special relationship with three deities.
• These deities were the sky god Jupiter, whom the Romans believed was the same as the Zeus whom nearby Greek city states worshiped; his consort, the fertility goddess Juno( the same as Hera); and Minerva( Athena) , goddess of skill and wisdom.
• Responsibility  for maintaining the  'peace of the gods" belonged to the pontiffs
• Pontiff= In ancient Rome, one of the Republics leading priests
• Citizens and the Community
•  The belief that it was right and the duty of the men of the community to fight in wars, and hence also share in its government; and the community solidarity that came from the fact that high-born as well as low born citizens bore the burden of war
• The woman of Rome had no right or duty to share in politics and government, and the women needed guardians for all legal transactions
• The qualities that the Romans most admired in the leaders of their city state
• The Community and Family
• Instead of devoting his life directly to the city state as in Sparta, a Roman man belonged first of all to a family and a clan( a group of families descended from a real or mythical forefather)
• Clans and families were held together by fathers, paticully by men who had the status paterfamilias
• Paterfamilias= the " family father" in ancient Rome, who had unlimited power over his household
• One of the Republics most important deities, besides those worhsipped on the Capital, was Vesta, the goddess of hearth and home
• A married woman bore the title of matron which in latin means matrona or " lady mother.