THE ANCIENT ROME

1. FOUNDING OF ROME.
2. BORN THE REPUBLIC.
3. CONQUEST OF ITALY.
4. PUNIC WARS.
5. OWNERS OF ALL THE MEDITERRANY.
6. JULIUS CAESAR.
7. THE EMPIRE
8. DECLINE

INTRODUCTION
The Roman Empire was the most important of classic age, it was the most impressive
Civilization the western world has ever seen.
We owe them fundamental things such as: our calendar, language, civil law, aqueducts,
concrete, newspaper, roads and many other things.
The ancient Rome had 3 history periods:
1) The monarchy: the power belonged to the kings.
2) The republic: the power belonged to the senate.
3) The empire: the power belonged to the emperors.

1. FOUNDING OF ROME.

Legend has it that on April 21, brothers Romulus and Remus founded Rome. Romulus
and Remus were twins born of a princess named Rhea Silvia. His father was the fierce
Roman god of war, Mars. The king where the children lived feared that one day
Romulus and Remus would overthrow him and take his throne. So he left the boys in a
basket on the Tiber River. He thought they would soon die. The children were found by
a she-wolf who nursed and nursed them. Legend also tells us that Romulus eventually
kills Remus to become the first king and names the city after himself. From there he
began to organize the city. The city grew and prospered. For more than 1,000 years
Rome would be one of the most powerful cities in the world. During this stage the main
economic source was agriculture and agriculture.

2. BORN THE REPUBLIC

The year 509 b.C. the romans took down the last King: Tarquinio.
Every year were selected 2 consuls among all the senators, by popular vote. The
consuls were the head of the goverment and the generals of The Republic Army.
Nevertheless, the Roman Republic wasn´t a total democracy. It was an oligarchic
Republic, because into the senate just were admitted the patricians and the richer
people, and their vote had more importance.
3. CONQUEST OF ITALY
At first, Rome was just a state-city, but in the next ages Rome fought and defeated
every single town of Italy: the Etruscan, Latins and Samnitas. All this, was the reason
why Rome became one of the most powerful states of the Mediterranean region on 270
b.C.
4. PUNIC WARS
The other powerful state on Mediterranean was Cartago. It was a great city, founded by
Phoenicians people and located in North Africa. The Carthaginians were a very
advanced civilization because they were great merchants and they had a huge boat
fleet.
Both Mediterranean powerful countries fought in three big and long lasting wars, named
the Punic wars. (These occurred between the years 264 and 146 b.C.)
These two wars were very hard. In the second, Rome lost many battles and 500.000
roman people died. This happened because Cartago had the best General of this time:
Anibal Barca. Despite this, at the end, Rome came out victorious and Cartago
disappeared with all his culture.

5. OWNERS OF ALL THE MEDITERRANEAN

After the Punic wars, Rome was unstoppable. On 146 b.C. It conquered the ancient
kindong of Macedonia (the native land of alexander the great) and all the towns of the
old Greece. Later on 133 b.C. Rome conquered the kingdom of Pergamo, where now it
´s located Turkey and also they sent their army to Hispania and stared its conquest. All
these conquest brought a social change in Rome, because in a short time Rome
became a very rich city, thanks to the war booty.
Unfortunately, from all these conquests, just the senators and their families took
advantage of the war profits, leaving the majority of civilians without any benefit, what
created a huge social inequality. All this caused Rome many internal problems. In
consequence, 2 political factions emerged in the senate: conservatives and popular.
Both factions fought for many years, causing many civil wars in Rome. Even though
Rome kept on expanding its conquest, arriving later with its army to Syria and Judea,
initiating its dominion in the Middle East. The roman became owners of the
Mediterranean Sea and they called it ¨mare nostrum¨, meaning our sea.

6. JULIUS CAESAR
On the 100 b.C. was born the most famous and important roman character of the
history: Julius Caesar.
He was an extraordinary man with impressive qualities, was a great politician and state
man, and the best general of the history, alongside alexander the great. He was a true
genius of the art of war.
In terms of his military career, he was the roman general who conquered the largest
number of lands. He conquered the Gaul, territory that today is: France, Belgium,
Nederland and part of Germany, and he defeated more than a million soldiers in battle.
He did so with an army of only 50.000 roman soldiers. (Fifty thulsen).
He was the first roman general who crossed the English Channel and arrived to
England.
Also, he was a great writer. He wrote many books about his military campaigns abroad.
These writings were sent and published in Rome, with the intention that the citizens
know about his achievements.
Julius Caesar became the most famous roman of his time and roman people love him
and considered him their hero. Unfortunately, his fame generated the envy of many
senators and they planned a strategy to end up with Caesar´s public Carrier.
The senators created a political judgment against Caesar with fake evidence, when he
was still in the Gaul fighting. Caesar must presented in Rome without his army for the
judgment.
Julius Caesar knew he had only two options: to fight or to be judged unjustly. And finally,
he chose to fight. After 4 years of being into a civil war, Caesar won, taking the control of
the goverment in Rome and becoming a dictator.
As sovereign he reactivated the roman economy. He created anti-corruption laws, tried
to improve the life for poor citizen, created new colonies in the conquered lands,
increased the job offer by creating public constructions, instituted the meritocracy in his
goverment and eliminated the nepotism; and restructured the calendar (it changed to
365 days as it is today).
His goverment had been being very successful until on April 15th, 44 b.C., he was
murdered into the senate. The murders were some senators led by Brutus and Casio,
who envied his achievements and hated him on secret. Lately, the roman people
reveled against Caesar´s murders, so they formed a big army and this set off a new civil
war.
On 44 b.C. a new big figure appeared in Rome. His name was Octavio, who was the
nephew grandson and foster son of Caesar. Octavio was only 17 years old, when he
formed an Alliance with the ancient Caesar´s general. Together they defeated Caesar´s
murders in a big battle, avenging the dead of his father in law.
7. THE EMPIRE
On age 27 b.C. Octavio conquered Egypt and defeated Cleopatra, the last queen of
Egypt.
When Octavio came back to Rome with all the treasures of Egypt, he changed his name
to August Caesar and became the first roman emperor. He was a wonderful emperor,
who situated Rome into a period of big prosperity and stability. Among the things he did
in his goverment are:
- Ended up with the civil war
- Finished with the civil war
- Motivated an economic unprecedented growth in Rome
- Continued expanding the power through Europe and Middle East.
 - Drived Rome to an apogee of arts, science and culture
- Turned Rome into the most beautiful and biggest city in the world
- Favored the trade, thanks to the large and safe roads that connected the empire.
This period was called as ¨Pax Romana¨ meaning roman peace, and lasted 200 years.
The Roman Empire was extended from England to the roman gulf thanks to the first
professional army in the history of humanity: the roman legions.

8. DECLINE
Since the beginning of the 3rd century, Rome was into a period of political, social and
economic crisis, what would take it towards to its slow destruction.
This crisis was born by different causes:
- Unskilled emperors
- There were no more conquest
- The corruption of the roman army
- Many civil wars what weakened the army, stragnated the trade and impoverished
the empire.
- The Barbarian invasions
The Roman Empire entered into a long, sad and decadent process, where its institutions
and army collapsed and the empire slowly fell apart on 476 b.C.

1. Which of the following historical periods became part of ancient Rome?

A: Clasico – Monarchy - Empire
B: Monarchy – Republic - Empire
C: Republic – Empire - Clasico
D: Tolteca – Monarchy – Republic
2. Who are Romulus and Remus according to Roman mythology?
A: A popular singing group.
B: Roman military leaders.
C: The creators of Rome
D: Roman gods.

3. System of government by elected representatives.

A: Dictatorship
B: Republic
C: Common wealth
D: Provinc

4. What conflict between Romans and Carthaginians for the control of the
Mediterranean lasted more than a hundred years?
A: Meliac war
B: Samnite War
C: Pyrrhic War
D: Punic War

5. Why was it important to the Romans to control the Mediterranean lands?

It was an important religious, cultural and trading center

6. What was Caesar Augustus famous for?

A: Killing Julius Caesar.
B: Conquering the Eastern Roman Empire.
C: Becoming the first emperor of Rome.
D: He was the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
E: He was a famous Roman playwright

7. What leader became the dictator of Rome and put an end to the Roman
Republic?
A: Nero
B: Julius Caesar
C: Gaius Marius
D: Cicero

8. What was called the period when the Roman world reached its maximum
splendor, power and economic development?
A: Pax Romana
B: Peace Romana
C: Paix Romana
D: Römischer Frieden