History Chapter 13 - From Greece to Rome PDF

# Chapter 13 - From Greece to Rome The appearance of the Roman Republic in the Greek world was contextually speaking, quite unprecedented. After all, the Romans hadn't even existed for most of Athens' or Greece's lifespan. Though they arrived later from a Greek perspective, Rome had been in the mak...

# Chapter 13 - From Greece to Rome The appearance of the Roman Republic in the Greek world was contextually speaking, quite unprecedented. After all, the Romans hadn't even existed for most of Athens' or Greece's lifespan. Though they arrived later from a Greek perspective, Rome had been in the making for at least a thousand years - and by the hand of a mythological Greek character, no less. In the first millennium BCE, a Trojan man called Aeneas left the war-torn remains of his native city at the urging of the goddess Aphrodite - his mother - and his princely father. As a demi-god, he was protected by his powerful mother and was therefore one of the survivors of the ongoing wars with the Greeks. He fled by sea westward until coming upon the Italian shores. He climbed onto the land at the western side of the country and established his home there. Aeneas is credited with the creation of the Roman race, as his offspring and descendants were of mixed Trojan and native Italian heritage. His own son, Ascanius, built the ancient city of Alba Longa in which his own descendants, Romulus and Remus, were born many years later. For centuries, Alba Longa was the largest and most influential city in all of Italy, but its time in the sun would not last. Soon, it would be Rome's turn to dazzle all of Western creation, piggybacking on the culture and success of the Hellenistic kingdoms and establishing itself as a great capital of Europe and the Mediterranean. Romans taught their children that the great city had been founded by the demi-gods Romulus and Remus, who were twin brothers. The brothers had been condemned to death as infants because of a prophecy that said they would be responsible for the fall of their uncle, the King Amulius of Alba Longa. Amulius was willing to risk no chances on his power or his life, so he ordered his slaves to kill the babies. They took pity, however, and instead cast them down the Tiber River where they were found by a she-wolf. The wolf suckled the babies and cared for them in her cave until they were discovered by a shepherd called Faustulus. Faustulus and his wife cared for the brothers as their own children, and Romulus and Remus learned to tend sheep and take part in the rural politics of their adopted community. In young adulthood, they were swept up in a debate concerning the deposition of the ruling king of Alba Longa. Many citizens were in favor of Numitor - the boys' grandfather - over Amulius. Fighting ensued, and Remus was arrested and taken to Alba Longa. Romulus followed him there, and upon meeting the king, all was revealed about the true identities of the young sheepherders. Romulus and Remus did indeed live up to the prophecy, killing Amulius and installing their grandfather, Numitor, as king of Alba Longa. Then, eager for their own land to rule, they set out for the region of the seven hills and looked for the perfect place on which to establish their own grand city. Here, the brothers disagreed about how to proceed. Romulus set his sights on Palatine Hill, just above the very cave where they'd been nurtured by the wolf. Remus, however, preferred Aventine Hill. They could not come to a compromise, and so, they asked the gods for help in choosing a location. When both received signs they interpreted as positive, they still could not agree, and so, Romulus killed his brother and founded Rome on Palatine Hill. He ruled there as its first king for 37 years before disappearing one day in a violent and mysterious storm. Like their not-too-distant neighbors, the Athenians, early Romans enjoyed the benefits of living on an easy trade route. Though not connected directly to the Mediterranean Sea, Rome was able to trade with other Italian communities and seafaring cultures of the Mediterranean thanks to its placement on the Tiber River. In those early years, the city's farmers and merchants imported marble, spices, and precious metals while exporting grains, wine, olives, and olive oil. For middle-class workers and traders of the growing city, slaves were used to manage the import-export business of the day. Like the Greeks, Romans were dependent on slavery to keep building the city and its infrastructure, though unlike the Athenian slaves, Rome's were mostly foreigners who were captured outside the city-state. Rome grew steadily over the next several centuries, its kings amassing a decent amount of land in central Italy while fighting the Etruscans to the north and the Samnites and Greeks to the south. Certainly a force to be reckoned with in local terms, Rome was not particularly important or influential on the international scale until about the 3rd century BCE. Until then, Rome was a mere dot on the map of the known Western world, next to the likes of Mesopotamia and the Persian Empire. Local trade and warfare were the focus of Rome's first kings, as was building a sound infrastructure. Heavily influenced by the ideologies of the democratic cities of Greece, the Roman Kingdom did not last long. This period was characterized by factitious in-fighting and unrealistic financial management aimed at empire-building. Serious conflicts began in 579 BCE under the rule of the Etruscan-born Emperor Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. Priscus had taxed the Roman citizens more than they could stand to fund his endless military campaigns. He liked to show off his plunder and excess with parades in his own honor where he rode on a golden chariot dressed in a gold-embroidered toga. He sat on a special throne, held a scepter, and wore a royal purple garment as part of his outfit to celebrate his power as king and emperor. To his credit, Priscus poured a great deal of that plundered wealth back into Rome, finishing its outer fortifications and digging the Cloaca Maxima. The Cloaca served as one of the ancient world's first sewage systems, by which the recently flooded outlying lands were drained and their excess routed to the Tiber. Priscus was probably responsible for the erection of the Circus Maximus as well, a massive stadium in which crowds would gather to watch chariot races and boxing matches. Despite his attempts to strengthen Rome, Emperor Priscus was killed in a political coup in 579 BCE. In a political twist, Priscus' would-be usurpers were denied the throne in favor of Priscus' own son-in-law, Servius Tullius. Following Tullius, it was either Priscus' son or grandson who would be the last king of Rome: Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. He was violent, relentless, and egotistical. He is said to have murdered family members—including his own king and father-in-law, Servius Tullius—to get to the throne of Rome. Once he'd seized power, he continued the ongoing conquest of nearby city-states and small kingdoms and exhausted Rome's own resources by means of warfare and constant building projects. The citizens were already outraged with their king, and when the noblewoman Lucretia accused Superbus' son, Sextus, of rape, it was the final nail in the coffin of the Roman monarchy. Lucius Junius Brutus, already having gained the loyalty of the Roman army, joined their forces with the support of the local aristocracy and forced Superbus out of the city. Though the deposed king fought back multiple times with the allied help of the Etruscans, he never regained his city and died in exile in 495 BCE. Brutus and Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia, were elected as Rome's first democratic consuls, and the Roman Republic was born.