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SETTING THE SCENE  Romans loved stories of heroes  Horatius  Single handedly held off Etruscan army while his fellow Romans tore down the bridge behind him  He then dove into the river with the bridge and swam to safety on the other side  This story tells us the virtues that Romans admired  Courage  Loyalty  Devotion to duty

Geography  Rome began as a small city-state on the Italian peninsula which is centrally located on the Mediterranean Sea.  Rome is the center of Italy  Italy was much easier to unify than Greece  Apennine Mountains are less rugged.  Broad fertile plains in the north & in the west supported a growing population

People  800BC-  Latins migrated into Italy  Settled along the Tiber River in small villages over seven low-lying hills  These Latins were the ancestors to the Romans  Their villages grew into Rome, the city on 7 hills  Etruscans-  Greek colonists shared Italian peninsula with Romans  Etruscans even ruled over Rome for a time  Romans adapted the alphabet, the use of the arch in building, and gods & goddesses from the Etruscans

The Roman Republic  509BC  Founding of the Roman state by driving out their Etruscan ruler  Set up a republic to keep one person from too much power  Senate was most powerful governing body  300 members were patricians, landholding upper class  Made the laws & served for life  2 consuls  Elected by the senators  Supervised the business of the government  Commanded the armies  Rome had system of checks on the power of government  During war senate could choose a dictator, but they could only rule for 6 months and then had to give up their power

Plebeians  Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, & Traders  Made up most of population, but had no influence  450BC  Government had laws of Rome inscribed on 12 tablets  1 st breakthrough for Plebeians because they had protested that no one knew all of the laws because they were not written down  Plebeians eventually gained right to elect their own officials called tribunes  Tribunes could veto laws they felt were harmful to Plebeians  Plebeians eventually were elected to consuls & other high offices, & then the Senate.  2,000 years later U.S. adapted a Senate, the Veto, & political checks on power

Roman Society  Family was the basic unit of Roman society  Roman law stated the male was the head of household, & had absolute power  His wife was subject to his authority, & was not allowed to take care of her own affairs

Roman Women  Played a larger role in society than Greek women  Most worked at home raising their family, spinning, & weaving  Women gained more freedom as the centuries passed on.  They were eventually allowed to:  Go to public baths  Dine out  Attend theater  Have political influence

Roman Education & Religion  Girls & boys learned to read & write  Children began learning about history later in the republic  Roman gods & Greek gods shared similarities  Jupiter is Zeus  Juno is Hera  Neptune is Poseidon

Expansion  Rome succeeded because of a loyal & well-trained army  5,000 men made up a legion  Fought without pay & supplied their own weapons  Rewards & harsh punishment  Showing courage in battle would get you gifts, but if your unit fled from a battle….1 out of 10 men in the unit were put to death  Defeated enemies had to acknowledge Roman leadership, pay taxes, & supply soldiers, & in return they got to keep their own customs & local government.  Rome placed soldiers throughout the empire & built all- weather military roads  This began the unification of Italy under the Roman Empire