3.1 The Roman Empire

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 1

Early Rome

8th century bc, Rome was just a small settlement allong the banks of the Tiber River. 

The location of the city of Rome was not accidentally chosen.

Fill in the missing parts in the scheme to illustrate why.

Easy to defend

More traffic can mean more trade

you can see people coming

water and trade route

Early Rome was a Monarchy (kingdom).

Most Kings were Etruskans. 

The last King was exciled in 509 BC

When Rome was a monarchy, the city was still very small. 600 years later Rome would have more than a million inhabitants...

Romulus was the founder of Rome and also its first king. After Romulus, six more kings would rule Rome. All that time Rome was a monarchy.

Even a king can't do everything by himself. The Roman kings were advised by a group of rich, older men: the senators.

The assembly where they met to discuss politics was called the senate. 

But in the end it was the king who could make all the decisions himself.

What natural resource helped Rome become a powerfull and wealthy city?
page 53

In the early yers of the Republic Rome had one real mortal Enemy. The wars the fought against each other were called the Punic wars. With who did they fight ?page 52

Rome, social classes

02:07

wich languages do the Roman kids learn?

1. Dutch and English
2. Latin and Greek
3. Latin and Italian
4. Italian and Greek

04:39

Politics of the Republic (2)

The plebeians were not happy that they could not become senators themselves.

They threatened to leave the city. Without the work of the plebeians the city could not function.

This helped. The patricians gave the plebeians some power. Each year they could elect two Tribunes. Tribunes were representatives of the plebeians. They made sure that the consuls not only made decisions that were good for patricians, but also for the plebeians.

The tribunes had one very strong power; the power of veto.

Veto means “I forbid”. With this power the tribunes could stop any decision made by the consuls.

See a graphic overview of Republic Politics here

the senators are discussing a new law that the consuls want to install

a tribune of the plebeians wants to use his veto to stop the new law of the consuls

the two consuls listen to the tribune who wants to stop their new new law

these are two "lictores", bodyguards of the consuls

The senate during the Roman Republic

What does the abbreviation SPQR stand for?

The abbreviation SPQR means Senatus Populesque Romanus (‘the senate and people of Rome’). Using these letters, the Republic of Rome was shown on the military standards, on public buildings, coins and even park benches. It reminded the people that they were part of the Roman Republic, and no longer ruled by kings.