FREE THE FALL OF THE PDF

Plutarch,Rex Warner,Robin Seager | 464 pages | 25 Apr 2006 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780140449341 | English | London, United Kingdom The Fall of The Roman Republic | Open Universities Australia

Internal The Fall of the Roman Republic provoked in BC by economic stagnation in the city of Romeslave revolts without, and dissension in the military precipitated a period of unrelenting political upheaval known as the Roman Revolution, the Late Roman Republicor the Fall of the Republic, BC. In essence, the republic system of government underwent a painful and violent transition from irresponsible oligarchy to a more accountable autocratic form of government. While it is difficult to appreciate the political and social issues that provoked the incessant political disruptions of the late Republic, it is possible to discern a pattern in the devolution of legal, constitutional authority in the Republic. And C. Sempronius Gracchus exploited the power of the plebeian tribuneship to seize power in . They essentially used their sacrosanctitas to veto all other public activity in the city in order to force the senate and the magistrates to focus on their own political agendas. They tried to restore order to the military by reclaiming public land and putting landless poor citizens back on land. Gracchus also attempted to grant Italian allies Roman citizen status. Both men were killed with their political followings through urban mob violence fomented by the aristocracy. When the oligarchy failed to resolve the military problem, Roman generals, specifically C. Marius consulBC and L. Cornelius Sulla consul 88, dictator BCrecruited private armies more loyal to themselves than to the state. In addition to the draft, they recruited landless poor citizens by offering them bounties and land upon discharge. The soldier's status as Roman or allied mattered little to these generals either, both of The Fall of the Roman Republic made extensive grants of citizenship to allied forces. Ultimately, the two men came to blows in 88 BC in the midst of the Social War and the Asian rebellion induced by Mithradates. So violent were popular feelings that Sulla was able to persuade his field army in southern Italy to march on the city of Rome to expel Marius and his followers. Three men, Cn. Pompeius Magnus, M. Licinius Crassus, and C. Julius Caesarcombined their influence to seize power in Rome. was an extremely popular general who defeated numerous enemies of the oligarchy, including a rebellion in led by the renegade Roman general Q. Pompey had a loyal private army, but proved politically incapable The Fall of the Roman Republic delivering on his promises of land and bounties. As an officer of Sulla during the Civil War, Crassus had made himself the wealthiest man in Rome by profiting from Sulla's proscriptionsthat is, the outlawing of Roman citizens by putting their names on lists and putting a price on their heads, wanted dead or alive. All proscribed citizens saw their civil rights nullified and their property confiscated and auctioned off by the state. He used his wealth to buy influence in the Senate and throughout the urban populace and emerged as a powerful, but surreptitious influence on the roman state. Caesar began his career in a seemingly hopeless situation as the nephew of C. Marius confronted by the dictatorship of Sulla. As a young aristocrat he excelled at manipulation of the symbols of Marian reform and public generosity and became the darling of the masses by the late 60s BC. By offering his political abilities to aid Pompey and Crassus The Fall of the Roman Republic their political agendas, he rose to the consulship in 59 BC basically to work as a tool for his two more powerful partners. He delivered necessary legislation in the face of senatorial The Fall of the Roman Republic and received for his effort a year extraordinary command in Gaul. Intense rivalry existed between these three dynasts, but so long as they maintained their illegal political association, the senatorial aristocracy was powerless to thwart them. He hoped to use the aristocracy to reduce Caesar's influence with the army in Gauljust as the aristocracy hoped to use him for the same purpose if only to discard him once Caesar was destroyed. Pompey was defeated at Pharsalus and killed in Egyptand the rest of the oligarchs opposing Caesar were mopped up across the Mediterranean. Having defeated all his enemies, Caesar was granted a year dictatorship for purposes of restoring the republic. His solution was to reconstitute himself as a Roman form of Hellenistic divine king or ruler. Since BC however, the Romans had prided themselves with having obtained their freedom by expelling their Etruscan King. The very word king, REXwas anathema to the Republic mentality. Roman citizens had a civic duty to suppress any attempt at tyranny though political assassination and could do so with impunity. Although carefully avoiding the title "rex", Caesar The Fall of the Roman Republic to collect for himself all facets of constitutional authority, serving at the same time as dictator, as consul, The Fall of the Roman Republic Pontifex Maximus, and as Plebeian for life. He was murdered by a conspiracy of some 60 odd senators a few weeks later. At this point the precedent of rule by one man had been established at Rome. The only question remained which The Fall of the Roman Republic his supporters would most likely succeed him to this position. This turned out to be his great The Fall of the Roman Republic nephew, C. Julius C. Caesar Octavianus, or Octavian. Causes of the Political Decline:. Economic and Social Changes Consequent to Imperialism. Booty and profits of war. Roman overseas conquest resulted in too much wealth coming into Italy too quickly to enable equitable distribution throughout society. In general, wealthier elements benefited while lower elements failed to keep pace. In addition, rising expectations of profits from war led to abuses and illegal behavior by governors and generals in the field. The lex Calpurnia of BC established a permanent court for extortion in the The Fall of the Roman Republic. The prospect of profiting from war led to heightened competition for high office as well and extensive electoral bribery. Heightened Status of Roman Senators. The Roman aristocracy was now recognized as important world leaders. Senators and wealthy knights engaged in extensive practices of conspicuous consumption, creating palatial town houses and monumental "art villas" to demonstrate their high rank in society. The Equites or Knights emerged as a powerful social stratum in society in part because of their involvement in the public contracting that maintained the empire. Development of a slave agricultural economy in Italy and Sicily. Destruction of farmsteads throughout southern Italy by Hannibal led to a reorganization of the rural landscape toward larger estates run by slave laborers. Generally, reports indicate the development of medium sized estates for the purpose of producing wine and oil for export, a development demonstrated by the emergence of Italian transport amphoras as the dominant commercial export container of the western Mediterranean by the late second century BC. Some estates, known as latifundiacould be huge however. Many wealthy investors leased Roman The Fall of the Roman Republic publicus or public land, to developed cattle ranches, again worked by slaves. A conservative estimate suggests that somepersons forcibly migrated from the Mediterranean peripheries to the core regions of Italy and Sicily as a result of enslavement through conflict. Rome and neighboring Italian cities did not have sufficient police forces to monitor slave behavior. Living conditions for slaves were generally harsh and rebellions inevitable. Between BC a massive slave revolt seized control of the island of Sicily ; in BC a second revolt caused upheaval throughout Sicily and southern Italy ; in 72 BC came the famous slave rebellion of Spartacuswho led a sizeable army of slaves throughout the Italian peninsula, remaining undefeated until cornered by M. Licinius Crassus in 70 BC. Emergence of Rome as an imperial capital. Estimated population of Rome stood atby BC. Small farmers, both Roman and Italian, migrated to the capital in search of employment and cultural benefits, even though living conditions remained squalid for all but the wealthiest elements. As late as BC Rome reportedly only had 2 paved streets in the entire city. With profits of war Roman magistrates engaged in sustained building program to develop the necessary urban infrastructure -- roads, granaries, docks, aqueducts, etc. Thousands of slaves were imported to engage in artisan labor for the city. Urban development was made possible by the profits of war, but once Roman conflict ceased after BC, revenues declined, as did public contracting. Evidence of economic stagnation by the s BC, but now Rome had a large surplus population that could not return to the land because of the radical agricultural changes The Fall of the Roman Republic. Changes in the military. Conquest required maintenance of a permanent military establishment in the provinces to cope with rebellions. Roman authorities continued to rely on conscription to man overseas armies, but the prospect evolved for an 18 year old draftee to spend 16 to 20 years The Fall of the Roman Republic Italyall the while receiving minimum pay for military service. Little profit was to be gained from garrison duty in hostile regions such as Spain, Sardinia, and Corsica. Since the draft was based on the property assessments of the Roman census, abandonment of property resulted in decline in civic status and ineligibility for the draft. At the same time Italian allied states became increasingly called upon to sustain Rome's overseas military establishment. Allied states were required to contribute their native forces to Roman war efforts. In this manner the allies complied with their treaty obligations to Rome. However, Roman generals had no obligation to share the profits of war with these allies. Allies received neither land distributions from conquered peoples, nor monetary bounties. The Allies likewise became discontented and began by BC to demand full Roman political status commensurate with their The Fall of the Roman Republic in the maintenance of empire. Sympathetic Roman leaders tried many strategies to obtain greater rights for the allies, but these ultimately failed, provoking a widespread rebellion among allied states known as The Fall of the Roman Republic Social War in 90 BC. This rebellion was ultimately suppressed by force and negotiation, but the process of integrating allied citizens into the Roman state dragged on to the end of the Republican era. The stakes for Roman citizens was clear. In BC the Roman census recorded somemale Roman citizens. This number jumped to c. However, when the first , , conducted a census of all Roman citizens throughout Italy The Fall of the Roman Republic 27 BC, the number reached 5 million. The financial burden of empire was borne by the inhabitants of Roman provinces, paying the tithe to Rome. The effect of this The Fall of the Roman Republic varied from province to province, but generally the tendency was one of rebellion, suppression, and imposition of even greater financial burden. This burden was frequently made intolerable by the rapacious behavior of Roman tax collectors, who leased the tax-collecting contracts from Roman authorities and hence were known as publicani. Rebellions in The Fall of the Roman Republic two provinces of Spain and continued throughout the second century BC; Corsica and Sardinia revolted in BC, culminating in the enslavement of some 89, Sardinians by Ti. Semproinius Gracchus, the father of the Gracchi. Reportedly some 80, Romans, Italians, their families and slave staffs were massacred in Asia, and the rebellion spread across the Aegean to Greece as well. Generally, provincials held decidedly anti-Roman attitudes throughout the Republican era. Roman Republic | Roman History

The crisis of the Roman Republic refers to an extended The Fall of the Roman Republic of political instability and social unrest from about BC to 44 BC that culminated in the demise of the Roman Republic and the advent of the Roman Empire. The exact dates of the crisis are unclear because "Rome teetered between normality and crisis" for many decades. Likewise, the causes and attributes of the crisis changed throughout the decades, including the forms The Fall of the Roman Republic slavery, brigandageThe Fall of the Roman Republic internal and external, land reform, the invention of excruciating new punishments, [2] the expansion of , and even the changing composition of the Roman army. Modern scholars also disagree about the nature of the crisis. Traditionally, the expansion of citizenship with all its rights, privileges, and duties was looked upon negatively by SallustGibbonand others of their schools, because it caused internal dissension, disputes with Rome's Italian allies, slave revolts, and riots. For centuries, historians have argued about the start, specific crises involved, and end date for the crisis of the Roman Republic. As a culture or "web of institutions"Florence Dupont and Christopher Woodall wrote, "no distinction is made between different periods. Harriet I. The Fall of the Roman Republic and Jurgen Von Ungern-Sternberg argue for an exact start date of 10 December BC, with the inauguration of Tiberius Gracchus as tribune[7] or alternately, when he first issued his proposal for land reform in BC. This was the beginning of civil bloodshed and of the free reign [ sic ] of swords in the city of Rome. From then on justice was overthrown by force and the strongest was preeminent. In any case, the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in BC marked "a turning point in Roman history and the beginning of the crisis of the Roman Republic. Barbette S. Spaeth specifically refers to "the Gracchan crisis at the beginning of the Late Roman Republic The rebellion of the slaves in Italy under Spartacus may have been the best organized, but it was not the first of its kind. There had been other rebellions of slaves that afflicted Rome, and we may assume that Spartacus was wise enough to profit by their mistakes. The start of the Social War 91—88 BCwhen Rome's nearby Italian allies rebelled against her rule, may be thought of as the beginning of the end of the Republic. Barry Strauss argues that the crisis really started with " The Spartacus War " in 73 BC, adding that, because the dangers were unappreciated, "Rome faced the crisis with mediocrities". Thornton Wilderin his novel, The Ides of Marchfocuses on the period c. The end of the Crisis can likewise either The Fall of the Roman Republic dated from the assassination of on 15 March 44 BC, after he and Sulla had done so much "to dismantle the government of the Republic," [21] or alternately when Octavian was granted the title of Augustus by the Senate in 27 BC, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. Tiberius Gracchus took office The Fall of the Roman Republic a tribune of the plebs in late BC while "everything in the Roman Republic seemed to be in fine working order. At the same time, Roman society was a highly stratified class system whose divisions were bubbling The Fall of the Roman Republic the surface. This system consisted of noble families of the senatorial rank, the knight The Fall of the Roman Republic equestrian class, citizens grouped into two or three classes depending on the time period - self-governing allies of Rome, landowners, and plebs or tenant freemennon-citizens who lived outside of southwestern Italy, and at The Fall of the Roman Republic bottom, slaves. By law, only men who were citizens could vote in certain assemblies, and only those men who owned a certain amount of real property could serve in the military, which would gain them social prestige and additional benefits of citizenship. Italy was dominated by small landowners. However, sometime after the Punic Warsthis changed due to various factors. Partly due to the availability of cheap grain coming into the Roman food supply, as well as the social displacement caused to farmers who had to serve on long foreign campaigns using their own financial resources and often having to sell out, the countryside came to be dominated by large estates latifundia owned by the Senatorial order. This led to a population explosion in Rome itself, with the plebeians clinging desperately to survival while The Fall of the Roman Republic patricians lived in splendor. This income inequality severely threatened the constitutional arrangements of the Republic, since all soldiers had to be property owners, and gradually property owning was being limited to a small Senate, rather than being evenly distributed across the Roman population. Beginning in BC, Gracchus tried to redress the grievances of displaced smallholders. He bypassed the and used the plebeian assembly to pass a law limiting the amount of land belonging to the state that any individual could farm. Gracchus' moderate plan of agrarian reform was motivated "to increase the number of Roman citizens who owned land and consequently the number who would qualify as soldiers according to their census rating. It was widely believed that the rich Senators had bribed Octavius to veto the proposal. The crisis escalated: Gracchus pushed the assembly to impeach and remove Octavius; the Senate denied funds to the commission needed for land reform; Gracchus then tried The Fall of the Roman Republic use money out of a trust fund left by Attalus III of Pergamum; and the Senate blocked that, too. Ceres' Aventine Temple served the plebeians as cult centre, legal archive, treasury, and court of law, founded contemporaneously with the passage of the Lex sacrata ; [12] the lives and property of those who violated this law were forfeit to Ceres, whose judgment was expressed by her aediles. Tiberius Gracchus had transgressed the laws that protected the equilibrium of the social and political order, the laws on the tribunician sacrosanctitas and attempted tyranny, and hence was subject to the punishment they prescribed, consecration of his goods and person [to Ceres]. Rather than attempting to atone for the murder, the Senate used a mission to Ceres' temple at Henna in Sicily to justify his execution. About nine years later Tiberius's younger brother, Gaiuspassed more radical reforms. In addition to settling the poor in colonies on land conquered by Rome, he passed the lex frumentariawhich gave the poor the right to buy grain at subsidized prices. In the past, the senate eliminated political rivals either by establishing special judicial commissions or by passing a senatus consultum ultimum "ultimate decree of the senate". Some of Gaius' followers caused the death of a man, many historians contend they were attacked and were acting in self-defense. In any case, the death was used by Gaius Gracchus's political rival, Lucius Opimiusto suspend the constitution again with another senatus consultum ultimum. Gaius fled, but he was also probably murdered by the oligarchs. The next major reformer of the time was Gaius Mariuswho like the Gracchi, was a populist. Marius stands accused of paving the way for the so- called lawless, greedy soldiery whose activities were thought to have contributed largely to the decline and fall of the Republic a few generations later. Yet we should not lose sight of the fact that Marius was not the first to enrol the capite censi. Rome was ruled by an aristocratic oligarchy embedded in the Senate. Thus at times of extreme crisis in the past the Senate had impressed them, along with convicts and slaves, for service as legionaries. Marius employed his soldiers to defeat an invasion by the Germanic Cimbri and Teutons. The Senate ordered Marius to put down Saturninus and The Fall of the Roman Republic supporters, who had taken defensive positions on the Capitol. Marius proceeded to do this, but imprisoned Saturninus inside the Curia Hostiliaintending it seems to keep him alive. However, a senatorial mob lynched the tribune regardless, by climbing atop the Senate House and throwing dislodged roof tiles down onto Saturninus and his supporters below. Sullawho was appointed as Marius' in The Fall of the Roman Republic, later contested with Marius for supreme power. In 88, the senate awarded Sulla the lucrative and powerful post of commander in the war against Mithridates over Marius. However, Marius managed to secure the position anyway, through political deal-making with Publius Sulpicius Rufus. Sulla initially went along, but finding support among his troops, seized power in Rome and marched to Asia Minor with his soldiers anyway. There, he fought a largely successful military campaign and was not persecuted by the senate. Marius himself launched a coup with Cinna in Sulla's absence and put to death some of his enemies. He instituted a populist regime, but died soon after. Sulla made peace with Rome's enemies in the east and began to arrange for his return to Rome. Cinna, Marius's populist successorwas killed by his own men as they moved to meet Sulla on foreign soil. When Sulla heard of The Fall of the Roman Republic, he ceased negotiations with Rome and openly rebelled in Invading the peninsula, he was joined by many aristocrats including Crassus and Pompey and defeated all major opposition within a year. He began a dictatorship and purged the state of many populists through proscription. A reign of terror followed in which some innocents were denounced just so their property could be seized for the benefit of Sulla's followers. The Fall of the Roman Republic coup resulted in a major victory for the oligarchs. He reversed the reforms of the Gracchi and other populists, stripped the of the people of much of their power and returned authority over the courts to the senators. Pompey the Greatthe next major leader who aggravated the crisis, was born Gnaeus Pompeius, but took his own cognomen of Magnus "the Great". Pompey's career seems to have been driven by desire for military glory and disregard for traditional political constraints. Pompey refused to disband his legions until his request was granted. Pompey infamously wiped out what remained of Spartacus' troops in 71 BC, who had been pinned down by Marcus Crassus. While many of Pompey's reckless actions ultimately increased discord in Rome, his unlucky alliance with Crassus and Caesar is cited as being especially dangerous to the Republic. In August 48 B. Pompey hoped that King Ptolemyhis former client, would assist him, but the Egyptian king feared offending the victorious Caesar. On 28 September, Pompey was invited to leave his ships and come ashore at Pelusium. As he prepared to step onto Egyptian soil, he was treacherously struck down and killed by an officer of Ptolemy. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . Principate Dominate. Centuriate Curiate Plebeian Tribal. Other countries. Flower [10]. Main article: Brothers Gracchi. Spaeth, The Roman goddess Ceresp. This section needs expansion. You can help by The Fall of the Roman Republic to it. August See also: Constitutional reforms of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Main article: Pompey. See Fields, p. Accessed 7 February See Spaeth p. 's published account of the case is usually known as In Verrem, or Against Verres. Nippels, Public order in ancient Romepp. Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. A History of Rome to A. Retrieved 4 November Ancient Rome topics. The Roman Empire: The Fall of the Roman Republic | Tiberius

A number of important events took place at the end of the Roman Kingdom and beginning of the Roman Republic. The king of Clusium, Lars Porsenna, sieged Rome. The city signed a treaty of support with Carthage, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was consecrated and a new office, called consul, was created. The Fasti consulares documents with The Fall of the Roman Republic names of the consuls or magistrates that described The Fall of the Roman Republic main events of the period are essential to understand the Roman Republic from BC, from when they are considered credible. Another very important method used to understand this period of Roman history is the ritual of the clavus annalis. This practise began one year after the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was consecrated and it consisted in fixing a bronze nail to the right of the altar once a The Fall of the Roman Republic. The first nail was placed in BC. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus had the cella of Jupiter, as well as the cella of Minerva and Juno. The decade after BC the year The Fall of the Roman Republic the last King of Rome was dethroned, while he was away from Rome is a dark period and very little is known, only isolated events. The transition of Rome from a monarchy to a republic led to severe internal social tensions. This lack of control over the city led neighboring tribes to siege the city and reduce its power. This is why Rome had to ratify its identity in numerous occasions during the first seventy years of the Republic. The early years of the Republic are of political turmoil. The population was divided, certain wanted a monarchy, others a republic, others favored the king of Clusium, Lars Porsenna, and others wanted to form part of the Latin civilization. The nobles who had overthrown the king and his family had not come to an agreement regarding the type of government that would replace the monarchy. The consuls, which would later replace the leadership of the Roman kings, was not put in place immediately, but many years later. Many historians believe that in the first stages of the Roman Republic, a maximus was appointed for one year only. Later his duties would be split in two by choosing two consuls at a time to govern The Fall of the Roman Republic. This form of government went on until BC, with the Valeria Horaria law. The political instability led the strongest factions to form alliances between themselves. From BC, the patricians no longer allowed commoners to take part in the government and began to control all civil and religious matters. Moreover, it is also a period when many wars took place for equality between the Roman inhabitants. Until the Tables were written, the Roman law was considered sacred, for having been established by the monarchy and pontiffs. By putting it on paper, it became the basis of all laws in the western world. The Graco brothers, who proposed a series of laws in favor of the plebeians, also led to a social crisis in Rome. Sila, dictator between the years 82 to 79 BC, greatly influenced politics in Rome at the time, concentrating all the political power in the hands of the Senate. This personalism resulted in a triumvirate political regime and the dictatorships of Julius Caesar and Augustus. A new form of government began in Rome, the Roman Empire. Dictatorship: transition from the Republic to the Roman Empire Sila, dictator between the years 82 to 79 BC, greatly influenced politics in Rome at the time, concentrating all the political power in the hands of the Senate. You may also be interested in.