Pre-Roman Peoples of
Ancient Italy
Statue of the She-Wolf Lupa
feeding Romulus and Remus
The Seven Hills of
Rome
Senatus Populusque
Romanorum
“Senate and the People of
Rome”
The Fora in Rome: Meeting
Place of the Movers and
shakers of Rome
The Curia: Meeting house of
the Senate
Interior of the Curia
The Roman Government
• Senate
– Patrician families
– Duties:
• Taxes
• Expenditures
• Public Works
• High Crimes
• Foreign Policy
• Votes to supply the army
• Authorizes the Triumph
The Roman Government
• Tribunes
– Can be Patrician or Plebeian
– The “voice of the people”
– Duties:
• Tries capital cases
• Confirms offices
• Can declare war or call for peace
• Can Veto Senate resolutions
The Roman Government
• Consuls (2)
– Elected from the Senate for one
year terms
– Supreme military commanders:
each one leads half the army
– Calls Senate to order
The Mediterranean
World in 650 BC
The Mediterranean
World in 270 BC
Publius Cornelius Scipio aka
Scipio Africanus
The Punic Wars: Rome
vs. Carthage; 264-241,
218-202, 149-146 BC
Tiberius Gracchus: Tribune of
the People (168-133 BC)
Spartacus’ Slave Revolt:
73-72 BC
The Mediterranean in 86
BC: Rome vs. The
Parthians
Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC)
Europe in 52 BC: Rome vs.
Gallic Tribes
Augustus Caesar (Octavian),
r. 27 BC- 14 AD
Gender in Ancient Rome
• Father is pater familias
– Controlled family wealth
– Controlled all children
– Controlled daughters until they
married
– Signed all legal documents
• Mother
– Had to obey husband
– Could inherit property but needed
a male guardian
– Dowry as insurance policy
– Could divorce an abusive husband
The Women challenge
Patriarchy
• Oppian Law following Second
Punic War
– Limited women’s inheritance
– Limited rights of patrician women
– Fury in the Forum!
• Hortensia’s speech
– After Julius Caesar’s death
– Tax on wealthy women to pay for
civil war
– Hortensia’s speech—a
transcendent theme
Patrician Society
• Patrician men followed cursus
honorum
• Patron/Client relationships
– Built upon reciprocity
– Patron provided money, jobs, and
favors
– Client offered protection, service,
loyalty
– The importance of an Entourage
and the need to “represent”
• Later these obligations became
legal contracts
Roman Architecture
• The Arch
The Arch
Concrete
Roman Aqueduct
Roman Bath
The Roman Termi
Roman Toilets
Roman public toilets shared by men
& women
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
• Temples & government buildings
• Platform for public speaking at the
Roman Forum
Circus Maximus
Circus Maximus for chariot racing
Roman Amphitheater
Roman Female
Athletes
Hadrian’s Wall
N. England, 127 AD
Appian Way
A famous Roman road; one of Romes engineering accomplishment
Roman Roads
Crisis of the Third Century:
Was the Empire to big?
Emperor Constantine (r. 306-
337)