The Roman Empire stretched
from northern England to Egypt and completely surrounded the Mediterranean Sea.
The Romans began building their empire in the 4th century bc and it lasted until the 5th century ad.
[color:4d5d=red]WHERE DID THE EMPIRE
BEGIN?[/color]
Rome began as a small
city in central Italy. The city was built on a group of seven low hills near
the River Tiber. At first Rome was ruled by a series of Etruscan kings. The
Etruscan people came from present-day Tuscany and they controlled most of
northern Italy. To the south of Rome, Italy was controlled by a number of Greek
cities, such as Neapolis (present-day Naples). Rome became an independent city
when the Romans expelled their Etruscan king in 506 bc. They decided that Rome would become a republic governed
by two elected consuls.
[color:4d5d=red]BUILDING AN EMPIRE[/color]
The Roman Empire began
in 396 bc when the Romans
conquered the nearby Etruscan city of Veii. In 387 bc Rome was attacked by Celts from the far north of Italy
and the city was badly damaged. After rebuilding their city with a strong wall
around it, the Romans began expanding their territory. The Romans had a strong
army because every adult male citizen was trained as a soldier. They soon
conquered the other peoples of central Italy, including the Sabines and the
Samnites. To the north, the Romans conquered the Etruscans and the Italian
Celts and took over their lands. To the south, they began taking over the Greek
cities. By about 200 bc the Romans
controlled the whole of Italy.
[color:4d5d=red]ROMAN ARMY[/color]
The Roman army was divided
into a number of legions, each with about 6,000 soldiers. A legion was
subdivided into centuries of 100 men under the command of a centurion. Most of
the men in the legions were foot soldiers. They wore iron helmets and other
pieces of armour, and were armed with spears and a short sword. A legion
usually also had specialist troops such as cavalry and archers, together with
engineers who made roads and bridges as well as catapults and other
war-machines.
[color:4d5d=red]WARS WITH CARTHAGE[/color]
During their conquest of
Italy the Romans came into contact with the Carthaginians for the first time.
The Carthaginians were based in the city of Carthage (near present-day Tunis)
in North Africa. They also controlled Spain and most of Sicily. Rome fought a
series of three wars against the Carthaginians. These wars are known as the
Punic Wars—the Carthaginians were originally from Phoenicia (now largely in
present-day Lebanon), and Punic means Phoenician. During the first war (264-241
bc) the Romans built their first
navy, defeated the Carthaginians at sea and conquered Sicily.
[color:4d5d=red]HANNIBAL’S ELEPHANTS[/color]
The second war started
in 218 bc when the Carthaginian
general Hannibal invaded Italy by marching his army (including some
war-elephants) across the Alps Mountains. Hannibal won several battles against
the Romans, but he was unable to conquer Italy. Roman armies drove the
Carthaginians out of Spain, and in 202 bc
they forced Hannibal to retreat to Carthage. During the third war (149-146 bc) the Romans invaded North Africa.
They completely destroyed the city of Carthage and massacred many of its
inhabitants.
[color:4d5d=red]EXPANDING EMPIRE[/color]
During the wars with Carthage
the Romans had added Sicily, Spain, Greece and Tunisia to their empire. After
the wars they continued to expand their empire and they conquered southern
France, most of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) and the eastern coastline of
the Mediterranean Sea (including present-day Israel and Palestine). The peace
of the empire was then threatened by civil war in Italy. In 90 bc a number of Italian cities rebelled
against Roman rule and widespread fighting broke out. The Roman general Lucius
Sulla restored peace and made himself dictator with absolute powers. He had
many of his political opponents put to death.
[color:4d5d=red]CIVIL WARS[/color]
Sulla died in 78 bc, but Roman politics was never
the same again. Civil war broke out again in 49 bc
because of rivalry between two successful generals. Pompey the Great had
further expanded the empire in the east, and Julius Caesar had completed the
conquest of France. In 49 bc Julius
Caesar crossed the River Rubicon and invaded Italy. In 48 bc he defeated Pompey at the Battle of
Pharsalus, in Greece, and became dictator with control over the whole empire.
[color:4d5d=red]CAESAR ASSASSINATED[/color]
Civil war broke out again
after Caesar was assassinated in 44 bc.
Two of his closest supporters, Mark Antony and Octavian, hunted down the
assassins and defeated them at the Battle of Philippi, in Greece, in 42 bc. Afterwards, Antony and Octavian
argued over which of them should rule the empire and civil war broke out once
more. In 31 bc Octavian defeated
Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium, off the coast of Greece, and became the
sole ruler of the Roman Empire.
[color:4d5d=red]THE FIRST ROMAN
EMPEROR [/color]
After his victory at Actium,
Octavian became known as Augustus, which means “the highest one”. He ruled
until ad 14 and he completely
transformed the government of Rome and its vast overseas empire. Augustus
became the first Roman emperor, with absolute power of life and death over
every inhabitant of the empire. He showed himself to be a wise and strong ruler
and was able to establish Rome’s first ruling dynasty. After he died, his
stepson Tiberius inherited the title of emperor.
[color:4d5d=red]A GOLDEN AGE[/color]
The empire continued to
expand during the 1st century ad.
Tiberius conquered parts of northern Germany, and in ad 43 the emperor Claudius began the conquest of Britain. At
the beginning of the 2nd century ad
the emperor Trajan pushed the boundaries of the empire to their furthest limit
when he gained control of Arabia and Mesopotamia. The next emperor, Hadrian,
decided to stop the process of expansion and concentrated on building strong
frontier defences, such as Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. During the 100
years or so, the empire was largely peaceful. This period is known as the
Golden Age of Rome.
[color:4d5d=red]IMPERIAL CAPITAL[/color]
At the beginning of the
1st century ad Rome was by far the
largest city in the world with a population of about 1 million people. The rich
lived in large houses with gardens, built on the sides of the city's seven
hills. Most people, however, lived in crowded apartment blocks between the
hills. Roman apartment blocks were known as [i]insulae[/i] (which means
islands) and had up to seven floors. There were often shops and restaurants on
the ground floor. The houses of the rich were well furnished and often had
paintings on the walls. Ordinary people had very little furniture in their
apartments, perhaps just a low bed and a small table.
[color:4d5d=red]PUBLIC BUILDINGS[/color]
At the centre of the city
was an open space called the Roman Forum. This was the traditional place for
public meetings and announcements. Temples, covered markets and government
offices surrounded the forum. Each emperor tried to construct at least one
large building as a monument to his greatness. Augustus built several temples,
and Nero constructed a huge palace known as the Golden House. Vespasian built
the Colosseum, where gladiatorial contests were held, and Trajan and Caracalla
both built large public baths.
[color:4d5d=red]PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT[/color]
The inhabitants of Rome
greatly enjoyed going to the public baths, which had cold, warm and hot pools.
Instead of soap they rubbed themselves with perfumed oil that they scraped off
with curved sticks. After a visit to the baths, they might wander through the
forum then go to the theatre, listen to a concert or watch chariot racing at
the Circus Maximus. The most popular entertainments were the games that were
held on public holidays. The Roman idea of games was very bloodthirsty. Tens of
thousands of people would crowd into the Colosseum to watch a series of contests
between gladiators, or between wild animals and unarmed prisoners.
[color:4d5d=red]RELIGION[/color]
The Romans traditionally
worshipped a number of gods and goddesses, of which the most important were
Jupiter and Minerva. As the empire grew in size, the Romans also began to
worship some foreign gods, such as Mithras from Persia and Isis from Egypt. At
first the Romans were opposed to Christianity, and persecuted the early
Christians. In the 4th century ad
the emperor Constantine I became a Christian. He stopped worshipping the old
gods and goddesses and made Christianity the official religion of the empire.
[color:4d5d=red]THREATS TO THE
EMPIRE[/color]
During the 3rd century
ad the Roman Empire was attacked
by Germanic tribes from eastern Europe. The power of the emperors was weakened
and the empire began to break up. Some emperors ruled for only a few weeks
before being murdered by their rivals. After about ad 280, a series of strong emperors fought the Germanic
tribes to a standstill and reunited the empire. At the beginning of the 4th
century ad the emperor Diocletian
reorganized the empire with a system of two emperors—one to rule the eastern
part of the empire, and one to rule the western part. In 330 ad the emperor Constantine I founded the
city of Constantinople (present-day İstanbul) as the capital of the eastern
empire.
[color:4d5d=red]FALL OF THE EMPIRE[/color]
At the beginning of the
5th century ad the Germanic tribes
broke through the frontiers and invaded the Roman Empire. The most distant
parts of the empire, such as Britain, were quickly abandoned because the
emperors wanted to concentrate on defending Rome and Constantinople. In ad 476 the Germanic king Odoacer
captured the city of Rome, and the western Roman Empire came to an end. The
eastern part of the Roman Empire survived (it became known as the Byzantine
Empire) and lasted until 1453.
[color:4d5d=red]LASTING IMPACT OF
THE ROMAN EMPIRE[/color]
The Roman Empire has had
a lasting impact on European civilization. Most of the town and cities that the
Romans founded are still inhabited. Modern roads are often built along the same
routes as Roman roads. The ruins of Roman buildings can still be seen in all
parts of the former empire. The Romans introduced Christianity to western
Europe, and some Roman churches are still used today. The Roman alphabet is now
used in most parts of the world. The modern languages of Italian, French and
Spanish are based on the local versions of the Romans’ Latin language. Latin
itself was used by the Christian Church in western Europe for many centuries
after the end of the Roman Empire.
[b]Microsoft
Encarta
2007.
1993-2006
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.[/b]
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