Rome Notes #6

poor plebs

• the poet Juvenal said the people “anxiously hopes for two things: bread and circuses”
• bread and entertainment, partly to keep them alive, and partly to keep them quiet
  
  
  a change in rule
  • Tiberius Gracchus recognized the advantages of courting the plebeians
  • military generals worked that angle - lead an army that conquers a land, then give them a share in the spoils
  • soldiers’ loyalty was to their military leader, not necessarily to Rome or the Republic
    
    
    nobody did that better than Caesar
    • Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BCE)
    • successful general
    • conquered the huge territory of Gaul

Pop Quiz

Today during class, we took a pop quiz on Rome. The pop quiz was easy except for the legislative, executive, and judicial branch. I was stupid enough to put the president and vice president as the answer for the legislative branch. I don't know why but I thought for a moment that there were four branches in the government. I thought the last question was a trick question. All the other answers I didn't recognize except for the "just grab some land". I didn't trust the answer but it was the only one I  was familiar with so I picked it. And I was surprised I got it right. I thought it was a trick question. The rest of the class we got to use that time to work on our projects with our partner. Caitlyn and I worked on our part of the diary. I got through the background of the persons diary and Caitlyn is working on the cook book.

Rome Video #2

Today during class, we finished the video we had watched yesterday. The video was about patricians taking the plebeians land. Mr. Schick kept replaying the "just grab some land". The video summarizes the topic that we have covered in class.

Rome Video

Today during class we watched a video that summarizes the notes that we took about Rome. The video sound was not working again. Mr. Schick says he wants to commit crimes because the laptop was not working. We spent the whole class watching the video.

Rome Notes #5

Roman Legion
- 5000 soldiers, not in it for pay
   ~ The Roman army's elite heavy infinity
   ~ recruited exclusively from Roman citizen

• group of eighty’s a century
• on horseback is the cavalry
• shield, sword. dagger, and armor and tube

The Punic Wars (264-146 BCE)

Rome vs. Carthage

Three different wars

First Punic War

• 264-241 BCE
• Naval battles for control of the strategically located 
• Rome wins this one

Second Punic War

• island of sicily
• Carthage loses. He travels at the back of Rome and attacks for 15 years but never reaches Rome
• Carthaginians attacks from he North
• Brings along elephants, some die along the way

Last Punic War

• Rome wanted to finally remove the threat of Carthage
• Scipio, Tiberius Gracchus, and others mercilessly attacked the city
• Carthage was burned for 17 days; the city’s walls and buildings were utterly destroyed
• When the war ended, the last 50,000 people in the city were sold into slavery
• The rest of Carthage’s territories were annexed, and made into the Roman province of Africa

Economic change, social upheaval

• Slaves poured into Italy (50,000 carthaginians 150,000 Greek POWs, etc.)
• By the end of the second century BCE there were over a million slaves in Italy
• Small farmers lost their land to aristocrats

Rome Notes #4

Rule of kings is replaced by rule of two consuls

• consuls are elected officials
• term of office: one year
• always aristocrats (patricians)
• patricians traced their descent from a famous ancestor, or pater (“father”)
• duties: dealing justice, making law, commanding the army
• one consul could veto the other (reducing the power of the individual)

  
  

  a challenge from the “regular folks”

  • fifth century BCE - patrician dominance of the government was challenged by the plebs (“people”)
  • plebs were 98% of the population
  • plebs had to serve in the army,

        but could not hold office

  • plebs were threatened with debt slavery
  • plebs had no legal rights
    
    
    “no legal rights,” you say?
    • plebs were victims of discriminatory decisions in judicial trials
    • Rome had no actual laws, just unwritten customs
    • patricians could interpret these to their own advantage
    
    
    So, plebs refused to serve in the military until…
  • laws were written out (The Law of the Twelve Tables)
  • these laws (on tablets) were posted in public (in 450 BCE)
  • tribunes (“tribal leaders”) were elected  
    
    
    SPQR - Senatus Populusque Romanum
  • designates any decree or decision made by “the Roman Senate and People
    
    
    res publica
    brand new republic, ready to run
  • democracy (the people’s assembly and the tribunes
  • aristocracy (the Senate - approx. 300 members)
  • plus monarchy (the consuls)
  • not a tyranny

  
  

  
  

  
  

Free mod

Today during class, we got to do whatever we wanted. We got to work on homework because we were ahead of the other classes.