ROMAN HISTORY

Jim Heitmeyer

28 November 2007

The City of Rome is where early Latin settlers settled somewhere around the year 1000 BC. These early settlements were a far cry from anything like a large city. They lived in primitive round huts, raised cattle, pigs, goats and herded sheep. This is how the mighty city of Rome began. So, most people ask how these archaic beginnings lead to a city that would one day rule the entire world.

For one big reason was the city’s location. Italy was guarded by the nearby Alps to the north, and Rome was nestled next to the Mediterranean Sea. This gave the city of Rome a large majority of the trade market. The Greeks settled to the South of them. This meant that the Etruscans would have to live north. The Romans learned a great deal from their neighbors the Greeks. They learned writing and reading and the Greek mythology. The Romans looked upon the Etruscans as a weak people. The Etruscans owed much to the Greeks too from all that they had learned. At around 650 to 600 BC the Etruscans crossed the Tiber and occupied Latium. It is through this, so one believes, that the settlement on the Palatine Hill was brought together with the settlements on surrounding hills, either in an attempt to fend off the invaders, or, once conquered, by the Etruscan master who sought to rule their kingdom for a structure of city states. It is at this point that the first known, rather than mythical, kings emerge.

Historical details are still too obscure for any definite records of Rome under the kings, All remains half mythical. But it was under the Roman Kings that the Roman ability to create an empire of sorts first came to power, even though any original intentions will hardly have been of an imperial nature.

In all there was said to have been seven kings of Rome covering a period of over two hundred years. The city’s government began with a Republic affairs office. The Latin words res publica which are perhaps best translated as 'public affairs' are the source of today's term 'republic'. These offices included the following;

· Council – Head of State

· Dictator – Handled Crisis

· Pontifex Maximus - Religion

· Censor – Public Morality

· Praetor – Law Officer

· Aedile – Public Works

· Quaestor - Treasurer

· The Senate – Patrician Assembly

· Comitia Curiata - Ward Assembly

· Comitia Centuriata - Military Assembly

· Concilium Plebis - Plebeian Assembly

· Comitia Tributa - Tribal Assembly

Around 510 BC, there was a revolt against the Etruscans Kings rule. The revolt was from a rape that was committed by one of the kings. This act was not to go unpunished or disregarded. What also needs to be kept in mind is that this rebellion was indeed a revolt by the aristocracy of Rome. Rome was never a democracy as we would understand it today, nor as the Greeks understood it.

ROMAN WEAPONS: http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/Romans/weapons/weapons.html

In the early days of the Roman republic all power would reside in the hands of the Roman aristocracy, the so-called patricians ( patricii). From this time on several wars took place. Rome was evidently the largest city within Latium. And the confidence it gained from this knowledge made it lay claim to speak on behalf of Latium itself. And so in its treaty with Carthage (510 BC) the Roman republic claimed control over considerable parts of the countryside around it.
Though such claims the Latin League (the alliance of Latin cities) would not recognize. And so a war arose about the very matter. Rome, having won independence from the Etruscans already faced its next crisis. The very Latin force which had defeated the Porsenna's army at Aricia now was used against Rome.

On the other hand, the man leading the Latin league against the Romans was Octavius Mamilius, the son-in-law of King Tarquin. There may therefore have been other reasons than merely the question of supremacy within the league. In 496 BC the Roman forces met those of the Latin League at Lake Regillus. (Legend has it that the divine twins Castor and Pollux, the Gemini, appeared to senator Domitius before this battle, foretelling the Roman victory.) During this time it was dangerous to speak against anyone of high authority so there were numerous secret gatherings before the battle was to take place.

Very tellingly King Tarquin was present at the battle, fighting the side of the Latin League.
The leader of the Latins, Octavius Mamilius, was killed in battle. King Tarquin was wounded. Rome claimed victory. But if this was really so, is unclear. The battle may well have been an indecisive draw. In either case, Rome's ability to withstand the combined might of Latium, which had earlier defeated the Etruscans, must have been an astonishing fete of military prowess. This crucial victory was quickly announced throughout the land.

In about 493 BC a treaty between Rome and the Latin League was signed (the foedus Cassianum). This might have been due to the Latin League admitting to Roman superiority on the battle field at Lake Regillus. But more likely it was because the Latins sought a powerful ally against the Italian hill tribes who were harassing them. Either way, the war with the Latin League was over. The Roman republic now firmly established, King Tarquin retired to exile in Tusculum, not to be heard of again.

The average Roman family consisted of father, mother, children, married sons, their family, and slaves. If you didn't get married by the age of 15-16, you were punished. The person who decided who his
children marry was the head of the house, the father (PATERFAMILIAS). The family was very important to the Romans. Women were under control of their husbands but controlled how the house was run and were known as (MATERFAMILIAS).

Rome didn't have any public schools, they were private schools consisting of one room and about twelve children.. Most children went to private school or studied at home. Their subjects were reading, writing, and arithmetic. In many homes, the slaves taught the children. Before the age of fourteen, they studied Latin and Greek. The Romans used a kind of paper made from reeds, and wrote on animal skins, but this was too expensive for children to write on. Schoolboys would write on wax tablets with a pointed stick called a stylus. They then rubbed the wax smooth and started again.

A school would only have a few books. Books had to be written by hand. They were usually made from one long piece of paper rolled around a stick. This was called a scroll.

The Romans used only 7 letters to represent all numbers . . .

I V X L C D M
I = 1 V = 5 X = 10 L = 50 C = 100 D = 500 M = 1000

Letters are placed before or after each other to lower or increase their value.

IX = 9 MXI = 1011 MCMLXXXVIII = 1988 IIMM = 1998

Our alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. The Romans spoke Latin.
The letters K, Y and Z weren't used very often. The letter J was the same as I, and U the same as V.

Rich people usually lived in a town house called a domus. Many of them also had a country house called a villa. But most people living in towns and cities rented an apartment called a cenaculum. Most furniture was made from marble, metal and wood. Over time , most furniture made from wood rotted away. Apartments didn’t have kitchens so the people would go into town and purchase food already cooked. I’m sure back then the food wasn’t loaded down with fat and preservatives as they are today

Romans had lots of different hobbies to keep them busy. They had games to play at home, plays to go to see and public events for thousands of people to see. Roman children had seesaws, swings, kites, hoops and toy houses to play with. They also played board games like checkers. The girls had wooden dolls to play with.

The two most popular games the Romans liked were chariot races and Gladiator fights.
The Circus Maximus could have twenty-four chariot races a day. A racing chariot was a
small two-wheeled cart, pulled by fast horses. Racing was very dangerous and riders often
fell off and were killed. There were four teams : the Reds, Blues, Greens and Whites.
People supported one team and cheered on its drivers - just like supporting a football
team today. Gladiators were slaves or prisoners made to fight each other, or wild animals,
in front of crowds. These fights were a part of events called "the games". They took place
in huge open-air buildings called amphitheatres.

At the end of a gladiator fight the emperor would often give a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down" signal. This was to show whether he wanted the loser to live or to die.

TIME LINE OF EVENTS

· 206 BC – Romans conquer Spain

· 146 BC – Romans conquer Greece

· 100 BC – Birth of Julius Caesar

· 55 BC - Julius Caesar's first invasion of Britain

· 27 BC – The beginning of the Roman Empire

· 43 AD – Conquest of Britain begins

· 130 AD – Hadrian’s wall completed

· About 476 AD marked the end of the Roman Empire