Roman Civilization Essay

Submitted By mparada22
Words: 867
Pages: 4

Rome is an important city in Italy because it is not just a city but it is also the capital too. The Romans believed that their city was founded in the year of 753 BC. The city of Rome and the history is what made this city important. During the history of Rome there were a lot of things that went on such as the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and the beautiful sculptures and architecture. The Roman Republic was ruled first by a succession of kings and then in 509 B.C.E. was constituted itself a republic. The republic lasted until 27 B.C.E. It all started with Romulus himself because he established the traditional Roman distinction between the patricians and the plebeians. There was so much conflict between the patricians and plebeians. Both groups were very political and that’s why they did not get along well. The reason for all the conflict was that the senate was mostly patricians, so they were responsible of making new laws. This made the plebeians form their own legislative assembly. They called themselves the Consilium Plebis. After all the conflicts between the plebeians and patricians, finally in 287 B.C.E. they agreed to bind legislation on all citizens. This established equal citizenship for all. At about the same time this when Rome established a powerful military as well as an empire. In 264 B.C.E. is when the Punic Wars started and they ended in 146 B.C.E. This war was fought between Rome and Carthage. Basically the three wars resulted in the destruction of Carthage and the Romans gaining territories. This is how the Roman Empire expanded and got stronger. After this a Civil war among Roman politics soon erupted. The general of this war was Lucius Cornelius Sulla which ruled as dictator from 82 to 79 B.C.E. In the war he murdered thousands of his opponents and introducing a new constitution. There were also struggles of power between Gaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar which ended in 48 B.C.E. with Caesar’s defeat of Pompey. After Caesar became dictator of the empire the civil wars that followed brought the republic to an end. This is when Caesar Augustus became emperor and rebuilt the empire. After the Republic almost failed Caesar Augustus became an assumed power in 27 B.C.E. and restored the Republic. Caesar Augustus restored the Republic by him retaining power in his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. After Caesar Augustus died there were five good emperors by the names Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius who ruled for a long time. They were all known for expanding the empire even bigger extending from Spain, Britain, Egypt, and the Sahara Desert. After this twenty-five emperors were murdered and also thousands of people died from the plague. This is when the empires borders started began to be threatened by barbarians. After this happened Diocletian came along in 284 B.C.E. and briefly restored order by dividing the emperor into four tetrarchies. During the Roman Empire the Romans created beautiful and amazing architectural structures as well as artwork. The city of Rome had an amazing layout. The city had walls, streets, temples, blocks, theaters, and baths. The baths were meant to be for social gatherings and work outs. Around the city of Rome there were trenches which symbolized were the culture