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The story of the origin of the city of Rome is a combination of legend and rality.
*According to the legend ,Rome was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus
*According to historians, the Etruscans and Latins founded the city in a strategic location near the sea. -
Rome was governed by kings of Latin and Etruscan origin.It became the most pòwerful city in its region , know as Latium.
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-Women:they were dependents of their father and when they got married, of their husband.
-Girls: received the same education as boys until adolescens.
-Sons: were educated at home by Greeks masters.They also received military training from a young age.
-Patern familias: was the family´s highest authority. -
During this period,territorial expansion led to social changes:
-Conquest of new territories increased the number of slaves.
-Another social group emerges, Knights. -
... up to 1st century BC:The Roman Republic was a political which lasted 5 centuries.After the kings were expelled, power was help by the patricians,the heads of the leadings families.
The magistracies were the main bodies of goverment.
The main magistrates were:
*Two consuls
*The quaestors
*The aediles
*The praetors
*The censors -
From the period of the Monarchy onwards, Roman society was characterised by social inequality. There were several very distinct social groups:
-Patricians:were descended from the founding families of Rome.
-Plebeians:were free, but had little involment in politics.
-Clients: were semi-free people who served patricians in exchange for pay.
-Slaves: were prisioners of war or the children of slaves. They were not free and they served the patricians. -
-´The fall of Rome: the Heruli overthrew Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperior in the West.
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-Arrival of the Visigoths:however , the division did not improve the situationin the Western half of the Empire. The Visigoths were able to cross the limes and ransack Rome.
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The first system of goverment in Rome was a monarchy.
According to tradition ,Rome had seven kings.
There were 3:
*Sabine kings
*Etruscan kings
*Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
They were supported by 2 institutions:
*The senate
*The comitia -
... up to 3rd BC century: Rome defeated all the remaining peoples of the Italian Peninsula.Once they controlled it, the Romans began their conquest of the western Mediterranean.This led to conflict with Carthage.
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The instability of the Empire made it easier for the barbarians to get past the limes.Several Germanic peoples crossed the border formed by the Rhine and Danube rivers to occupy Roman land.
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-Division of the Empire:Emperor Theodosius decide to divide the Empire between his two sons:*Honorius received the western half, with constantinople as its capital.
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The crisis of the 3rd century:a large part of Roman prosperity was the result of territorial expansion.The great of the Roamn limes made it necessary to constanly defend it against the barbarians.
Sectors:
-The amount of slave labour decreased, causing a drop in production.
-Rome had to raise taxes to mantein its revenue.
-It also had political effects. -
...up to 2nd century BC: The Punic Wars ended with Carthage´s defeat and the Roman conquest of Sicily, Corsica ,North Africa and most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Roman expanded into the Eastern Mediterranean , defeating the Greeks and Macedonians.
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...from the 1st century:The differences between those who had Roman citizens and those who did not were accentuated.
-The nobilitas, knights and plebeians had Roman citizenship.
-Slaves and freedmen were not citizens. -
Their Mediterranena conquest brought the Romans money, slaves and land.
Social revolts:
-Plebeian revolts.
-The slaves rebellion. -
With the subsequent annexation of Syria and Egypt, the Mediterranean became the Roman Mare Nostrum.
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The Roman army was made up of free men, who fought from the ages of sixteen to sixty. In the 1st century BC, it became a professional army, wich meant that the soldiers were paid.
The army´s effectiveness was an essential aspect. -
Diet varied depending on a person´s social class.
-The wealthier classes had a rich diet wich included meat and fish.
-The poorer classes primarly ate bread, soup and barley or wheat porridge. -
-The dirst triumvirate:formed by Pompey the Great,Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus.
-The second triumvirate:formed by the generals Octavian, Marcus Antonius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. -
The Empire experienced a time of peace and stability, reaching its greatest territorial extent.
-The territory was organised into provinces. -
Rome enjoyed a very prosperous economy:
-Agriculture: was the most important activity.
-Livestock farming: was esssentisl, but raising horses was crucial because they were used by the army.
-Mining: was among the economic activities that brought the greatest prosperity.
-Artisanal activity: also became very important, with workshops run by free men and slaves labour.
-Trade: also developed, especially during the Pax Romana. -
Augustus was the first Roman emperor. Rome reached its gratest territorial extent. The Empire began to decline in the 3rd century AD.
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The Romans were polytheists, as they worshipped many gods.Christianity emerged inthe 1st century AD in one of the Empire´s southern proviences, Palestine.
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Rome expanded around the Mediterranean, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Near East provinces.
