Roman Republic

I

Introduction

Roman Republic, political form of the Roman state from 510 bc to 27 bc following the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the kings of Rome.

II

Conquest of Italy (510-264 bc)

In place of the king, two chief magistrates were chosen annually by the whole body of citizens. They were known as praetors, or leaders, but later received the title of consuls. The participation of a colleague in the exercise of supreme power and the limitation of the tenure to one year prevented the chief magistrate from becoming autocratic. The character of the existing advisory body, the Senate, was altered by the enrolment of plebeian members, known as conscripti, and hence the official designation of the senators thereafter was patres conscripti (conscript fathers). Initially, only patricians were eligible for the magistracies, but the discontent of the plebeians led to a violent struggle between the two orders and the gradual removal of the social and political disabilities under which the plebeians had laboured.

In 494 bc a secession of plebeian soldiers led to the institution of the tribuni plebis, who were elected annually as protectors of the plebeians; they had the power to veto the acts of patrician magistrates, and thus served as the leaders of the plebeians in the struggles with the patricians. The appointment of the decemvirate, a commission of ten men, in 451 bc resulted in the drawing up of a code of laws. In 445 bc, under the Canuleian law, marriages between patricians and plebeians were declared legally valid. By the Licinian-Sextian laws, passed in 367 bc, it was provided that one of the two consuls should thenceforth be plebeian. Gradually, the other magistracies were also opened to the plebeians, including the dictatorship, an extraordinary magistracy, the incumbent of which was appointed in times of great danger (356 bc); the censorship (350 bc); the praetorship (337 bc); and the magistracies of the pontifical and augural colleges (300 bc).

These political changes gave rise to a new aristocracy, composed of patrician and wealthy plebeian families, and admission to the Senate became almost the hereditary privilege of these families. The Senate, which had originally possessed little administrative power, became a powerful governing body, dealing with matters of war and peace, foreign alliances, the founding of colonies, and the handling of state finances. Although the rise of this new nobilitas ended the struggles between the two orders, the position of poorer plebeian families did not improve, and the marked contrast between the conditions of the rich and the poor led to struggles in the later Republic between the aristocratic party and the popular party.

Roman foreign policy during this period was mainly one of conquest and expansion. Before the close of the regal period Rome had become the leading power in Latium. Assisted by their allies, the Romans fought wars against the Etruscans, the Volscians, and the Aequians. Between 449 and 390 bc Rome became particularly aggressive. The capture of the Etruscan city of Veii in 396 bc by the soldier and statesman Marcus Furius Camillus signalled the beginning of Etruria's loss of independence. Other Etruscan cities hastened to make peace, and by the mid-4th century bc Roman garrisons had been established in southern Etruria and large numbers of Roman colonists had settled in the region. Victories over the Volscians, the Latins, and the Hernicans gave the Romans control of central Italy and also brought them into conflict with the Samnites of southern Italy, whom they defeated in a series of three wars, between 343 and 290 bc. A revolt of the Latins and Volscians was put down, and in 338 bc the Latin League, a long-established confederation of the cities of Latium, was dissolved. Powerful coalitions were formed against Rome, consisting of Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls in the north, and of Lucanians, Bruttians, and Samnites in the south. They threatened the power of Rome until the northern confederacy was defeated in 283 bc and the southern states soon after. In 281 bc the Greek colony of Tarentum (now Taranto) requested the aid of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, against Rome. His campaigns in Italy and on the island of Sicily from 280 to 276 bc were unsuccessful and he returned to Greece. During the next ten years the Romans completed their subjugation of southern Italy and thus gained control of the entire peninsula as far north as the Arno and Rubicon rivers.

III

A World Power (264-133 bc)

In 264 bc, Rome began its contest with Carthage for control of the Mediterranean Sea. Carthage at this time was the leading maritime power in the world, ruling as absolutely in the central and western Mediterranean as did Rome on the Italian Peninsula.

A

Punic and Macedonian Wars

The first of the Punic Wars was waged mainly over possession of Sicily and was marked by the emergence of Rome as a great naval power. With the support of Hiero II, King of Syracuse, the Romans took Agrigentum (now Agrigento), and in 260 bc their newly created fleet under the consul Gaius Duilius defeated the Carthaginian fleet at the Battle of Mylae. The transfer of the war to Africa resulted in the defeat and capture of the Roman general Marcus Atilius Regulus. After several defeats at sea, the Romans won a great naval victory in 242 bc off the Aegates Islands, west of Sicily. The war ended in 241 bc with the cession to the Romans of the Carthaginian part of Sicily, which became a Roman province; this was Rome's first foreign possession. Sardinia and Corsica were taken from Carthage and annexed as provinces soon after.

Finding Rome an equal match at sea, Carthage prepared for a resumption of hostilities by acquiring a foothold in Spain. Under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca, Carthage occupied the Iberian Peninsula as far north as the Tagus River. Hamilcar's son-in-law Hasdrubal continued the work of subjugation until his death in 221 bc, and between 211 and 219 bc Hannibal extended the conquests of Carthage north to the Iberus (now Ebro) River. The Second Punic War began in 218 bc with Hannibal's invasion of Italy from Carthagian bases in Spain via the Alps. He defeated the Romans in a series of battles and he ravaged most of southern Italy over several years. He was recalled to Africa in 202 to face Scipio Africanus the Elder, who had invaded Carthage. Scipio won a decisive victory over Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 bc, as a result of which Carthage had to give up its navy, cede Spain and its Mediterranean islands, and pay a huge indemnity. Rome was thus left in complete control of the western Mediterranean.

The Romans became harsher in their treatment of the Italian communities under their rule, while the Greek cities in southern Italy that had sided with Hannibal became Roman colonies. Rome also continued to extend its power northward. Between 201 and 196 bc the Celts of the Po Valley were subjugated, and their territory was Latinized, although they themselves were barred from acquiring Roman citizenship. Corsica and Sardinia were subdued, and Spain was held by military occupation, a practice that gave rise to the first Roman standing armies.

During the 3rd and 2nd centuries bc Rome was involved in a struggle with Macedonia for domination of the Aegean Sea known as the Macedonian Wars. On the Macedonian side the first two wars were conducted by Philip V who was finally overcome in 197 bc. With the help of the southern Greek states, the Romans then proceeded against Antiochus III, King of Syria, whom they defeated at Magnesia in 190 bc and forced to surrender his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor. Philip's son and successor, Perseus (c. 212-c. 166 bc) continued to resist the Romans leading to the outbreak of the Third (and final) Macedonian War. In 168 bc his army was routed at Pydna by the general Lucius Aemilius Paullus (c. 229-c. 160 bc). Macedonia became a Roman province in 146 bc. That same year a final revolt by the Achaean League in Greece against Rome resulted in the capture and destruction of Corinth.

Between 143 bc and 146 bc Rome was also involved the Third Punic War. Scipio Africanus the Younger brought it to an end with the capture and destruction of Carthage, which then became part of the Roman province of Africa. A series of Spanish campaigns ended with the capture of Numantia in 133 bc, while in the same year Rome also received the kingdom of Pergamum on the death of its last ruler Attalus III. Shortly after, this territory became the province of Asia.

Thus in 131 years Rome had developed into a world empire, dominating the Mediterranean from Syria to Spain. As a result of these conquests the Romans were brought into contact with the Greeks, first in southern Italy and Sicily, and later in the east, adopting much from ancient Greek art, literature, philosophy, and religion. The development of Latin literature began in 240 bc with the translation and adaptation of Greek epic and dramatic poetry. In 155 bc Greek schools of philosophy were established in Rome.