Romans

The Roman Republic is established

509 BCE

In 509 BC the Etruscans were overthrown and a Roman Republic was established. A Roman Republic is when the leader isn't a monarch and some citizens can vote for representatives, for example, the US is a monarch.

Struggle for Order

494 BCE

Early Rome was divided into two groups, the Patricians and Plebeians. Patricians were wealthy landowners, Rome's ruling class and were fairly small. The Plebeians, on the other hand, are less wealthy artisans, craftspeople, small farmers, merchants, and are somewhat of a large class. In 494 BC, Plebeians decided they weren't happy with the current system and used successio, or strike.

Writing of the Twleve Tables

455 BCE

In 455 BC the first ten laws were written. In 450 BC, two more laws were written, these twelve were called the Twelve Tables. These laws originally only applied to citizens but as they grew so did the need of a better system

Council of Plebs

300 BCE

By using successio the Plebeians got their very own council, the Council of Plebs. They could elect Tribunes and by the third century they could pass laws.

War and Conquest

264 BCE

After 200 years of constant war with enemies, by 264 BC they defeated the Greeks and created a Roman Confederacy. This allowed Romans to have citizenship and other communities were made allies. Allies had to give troops to the military and if they were loyal were given citizenship.

The First Punic War

264 BCE

Carthaginians were in Sicily, Rome sent troops and neither side wanted to give up. Rome built a huge navy when they realized that they needed one. By 241 BC, Romans won the war and Carthage paid a fine and gave up Sicily.

Second Punic War

218 BCE

Hannibal decided to attack Rome, he crossed the Alps and had 46,000 troops, lots of horse, and 37 battle elephants. Rome meets Hannibal head on and loses 40,000 troops. Hannibal is too weak to attack another major city so he wandered around Italy and took smaller areas. At the Battle of Zama, Rome crushes Hannibal and gets Spain as a province and ends the war.

Third Punic War

146 BCE

Lots of Romans wanted the destruction of Carthage. By 146 BC, Carthage was burned to the ground in 10 days. They eventually gained control of the whole Mediterranean.

Spartacus and the Slave Revolt

71 BCE

Spartacus was the leader of a major slave revolt. He lead his gladiators all over the place and defeated many opponents including, the Roman militia, Crixus, and even Crassus.

The First Triumvirate

53 BCE

A triumvirate is a government when there's three people with equal power. The first triumvirate was Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar. They all had their own territory to look over but Crassus died in battle in 53 BC. The Senate sided with Pompey and ordered Caesar to lay down his arms. He refused and committed treason by "crossing the Rubicon". This started a civil war that Caesar won and was appointed dictator in 45 BC. He became too powerful and was eventually assassinated in 44 BC.

The Second Triumvirate

43 BCE

The Second Triumvirate had Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus in it. Octavian was Caesar's heir and grand-nephew, Antony was Caesar's ally and assistant, and Lepidus was the commander of the cavalry. The empire was too small for them so Antony allied with Cleopatra IV in Egypt and battle at Actium in Greece with Octavian in 31 BC. Antony gets defeated and Octavian is the only one left.

Jesus and the Rise of Christianity

1 BCE

Jesus came and believed it was his mission to fulfill the prophecy of salvation. He was eventually crucified by Pontius Pilate. After his death, his followers believed he rose from the dead and was the messiah who would save Israel. Several people, including Nero, didn't like this new religion. It was quite a while but people finally began to accept Christianity when Constantine, the first Christian emperor, released the Edict of Milan.

The Three Authors

17

Virgil was the most famous of the Augustan Age. Aeneid is his masterpiece and it's very similar to the Iliad. Horace wrote mostly satires and liked to point out how people complained about their lives. He's the one who came up with the phrase "Carpe Diem" or "Seize the Day". Livy was the historian who wrote The Early History of Rome and saw history in terms of moral lessons. These three were around from 42 BC-when Virgil started writing-to 17 AD-when Livy died.

The Four "Bad" Emperors

69

There were four "bad" emperors they were Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Each one took more and more power from the Senate. Tiberius and Caligula started out good but something in them must've snapped and they killed everyone. Claudius was only kept alive so that his uncle could make fun of him and Nero was always kind of crazy until he died in 69 AD.

The Five "Good" Emperors

96

The five good emperors were Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian, Nerva and Antonius Pius spanning from 96-180 AD. They respected the ruling class, ended unjust executions, kept the peace, were tolerant, and were good to commoners. Trajan educated the poor, Hadrian worked in construction, and it all ended with Marcus Aurelius who picked Commodus to succeed him.

Germanic Tribes

476

The Germanic tribes were the Huns, Visigoths, Vandals and Ostrogoths, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons. The Huns were under Attila the Hun and pushed other tribes. The Visigoths were pushed by the Huns to the west and south and the Vandals poured into Spain and Africa. These tribes wrecked quite a bit of havoc in Rome and by 476 Romulus Augustulus was removed by Germanic tribes and was the last Roman Emperor.