Tag: Roman Empire

Lectures The Geography of ItalyThe EtruscansThe Roman RepublicRoman Expansion and the Punic WarsThe Civil WarThe Rise of Julius CasearInstructional Goal: Students will know the major elements of the govenment of the Roman Republic and understand how these impacted the formation of the United States ...

With the Lucanians and Bruttians renewing their attacks on Greek cities, the Greek colonies, distrusting Tarentum, in 283 BC appealed to Rome for help. The Romans sent help promptly and effectively. The wiser heads in Tarentum saw no reason to object, but the popular party was furious and began agai...

The Roman civilization was one of the most influential in world history, and its impact can still be felt today in areas such as politics, architecture, language, and law. The Roman Republic, which was established in 509 BCE, was the first known republic in the world, and it laid the foundation for ...

In 133 BC king Attalus III of Pergamum died without heirs. The dynasty had been loyal to Rome through all the shifting policies of the last seventy years. And Attalus, dying, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people, if only to solve the problem of succession. His only demand was that Pergamum an...

Slaves were trained as gladiators, and in 73 BC such a slave, a Thracian named Spartacus, broke out of a gladiator training camp at Capua and took refuge in the hills. The number of his band swelled rapidly and he kept his men well in hand and under strict discipline and routed two commanders who we...

The SenateComitia CuriataComitia CenturiataComitia TributaConcilium PlebisThe Senate had roughly 300 members. In the very early days of Roman history entry to the senate was by birth or rank. Later it was the consuls who nominated new members to the senate. Plebeians gained entry in the course of th...

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During the five years of Pompey's absence in the east Roman politics were as lively as ever.Julius Caesar, the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, was courting popularity and steadily rising in power and influence. However, among the hot-heads of the anti-senatorial party was Lucius Sergius Ca...

When in 64 BC Pompey descended from Cappadocia into northern Syria he needed little more than assume sovereignty on behalf of Rome. Ever since the collapse of the kingdom of the Seleucids sixty years previously, Syria had been ruled by chaos. Roman order was hence welcomed. The acquisition of Syria ...

By July 47 BC Caesar was back in Rome, and was formally appointed dictator for the second time.In Spain the legions were in mutiny. And in Africa the Pompeians were scoring victories.He also found the legions in Campania in mutiny, demanding to be discharged. But what they really wanted was not a di...

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla was yet another nail in he coffin of the Republic, perhaps much in the same mould as Marius. Having already been the first man to use Roman troops against Rome itself. And much like Marius he, too, should make his mark in history with reforms as well as a reign of terror...

The Roman Empire’s achievements in infrastructure, sanitation, public health, and governance are widely celebrated. However, alongside these advancements, a recent study highlights a darker legacy: widespread lead pollution that caused an estimated 2- to 3-point drop in IQ across Europe during the P...