By the middle 700s BC the Etruscans, Carthaginians and the Greeks were controlling much of the trade on the Italian Peninsula. By this time tribes speaking an Indo-European dialect had made their way into Central Italy and mingled with the earlier inhabitants to form the Latin people. Some of them settled near the mouth of the Tiber River, building huts on low-lying hills along the river. These settlements joined together to form Rome as a city-state around 750 BC.
The Etruscans apparently arrived sometime during the eighth century BC. After gaining control of the north central portion of the country in the seventh century BC, they struck out in all directions. They conquered Latium, and for a time ruled Rome itself. Their superior, urban culture was readily absorbed by the Romans. In 509 BC an uprising ejected the Etruscan kingship and the Roman republican period began.
Early in the fifth century BC the Gauls invaded the Po Valley; later, around 390 BC, they raided southwards and burned the city of Rome. The Greek colonization of Sicily and Southern Italy was so extensive that the Romans called the region Magna Graecia. The Romans, realising that this civilization was more advanced than their own, gradually absorbed Greek ideas and arts into their culture.
Their early campaigns against the Etruscans, Gauls, Greeks and competing Italic tribes were essentially defensive, but by 250 BC all Italy south of the Po Valley was in their hands. They tightened their control over the Italian peninsula by creating a network of colonies in which the settlers enjoyed political rights almost equal to those of Roman citizens.
The Carthaginians’ interest in Sicily lying between Africa and Italy brought them into contact with the Romans. The Greek city-states of Sicily had for centuries been struggling with Carthage for control of the island, and the Romans inherited the struggle when they took over responsibility for protecting their Greek allies. After Carthage’s final defeat in the Punic Wars (264-146 BC), her former possessions became early Roman provinces (Sicily, Spain and Africa).
During the Macedonian Wars (214-148 BC) – Rome was responding to appeals from various Greek city-states for aid in resisting various aggressors – a Roman army for the first time crossed into Asia in pursuit of the Seleucid king Antiochus III (c.54; r.223-187 BC) and his defeat at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC delivered Asia Minor into Roman hands.
From 494 to 287 BC there were five occasions when the plebeians (commoners) engaged in a sort of general strike during which they would withdraw from Rome, leaving the patricians (aristocracy) to themselves, which resulted in the establishment of plebeian tribunes and a Plebeian Assembly.
More problems arose when the small farmers, who were the chief source of recruits for the Roman army, were compelled to sell their farms because of the damage to their lands during the Punic Wars by 05Hannibal Barca (c.65; fl.221-c.183 BC) when he invaded Italy in 218 BC and the consequent neglect of their lands after the Senate extended the period of military service to six years. This meant that landed aristocrats were able to develop large estates that relied on slave and tenant labour. Some of the newly landless families drifted to the cities, especially Rome, forming a large class of day labourers.
Tiberius 12Sempronius Gracchus (c.34; fl.137-c.133 BC) and his brother Gaius 13Sempronius Gracchus (33; fl.123-121 BC) thought that a partial solution to Rome’s troubles would be to resettle many of the city’s poor on small farms and to provide a subsidy of grain for those in Rome, which they hoped would restore the number of independent farmers and reduce the gap between rich and poor.
In 133 BC Tiberius was elected tribune and proposed a law restricting the amount of land a patrician could own. But it was vetoed by the patrician-controlled Senate, and he was later killed by mob violence encouraged by the Senate. His brother Gaius was elected tribune in 123 BC and re-elected in 122 BC. He was soon enacting legislation designed to help the poor. The Senate turned on him, killing Gaius and three thousand of his supporters. The brothers’ attempts to bring reforms by using the tribuneship and the plebeian council had made further instability possible and marked the beginning of the breakdown of the republican form of government.
In 107 BC the general Gaius 01Marius (71; fl.134-86 BC) was elected consul. Needing more troops he broke with the tradition that all Roman soldiers should be landowners (it was thought that the possession of property guaranteed loyalty to the state) and opened up recruitment to all citizens. Not having property, these volunteers inaugurated a professional army that swore allegiance not to the Senate but to a general.
In 88 BC Mithridates VI of Pontus (c.69; r.c.120-63 BC), calculating that the Romans were too preoccupied with the Social War (88/7 BC) to respond, invaded Asia Minor. The consul Lucius 32Cornelius Sulla (c.60; fl.107-78 BC) was allotted the command against Mithridates, but when the tribune Publius 08Sulpicius Rufus (c.33; fl.89-88 BC) transferred this command to Marius, Sulla persuaded his army to march on Rome. Marius fled, and Sulla re-established his command.
In the mid-60s BC 05Pompeius Magnus (58; fl.82-48 BC), an immensely successful general who had been elected consul (70 BC) while still quite young, joined Marcus 13Licinius Crassus (c.62; fl.82-53 BC) and Gaius 04Julius Caesar (56; fl.85-44 BC) in the unofficial military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate (60-53 BC). When Crassus was killed by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, Pompey contended with Caesar for the leadership of the Roman state.
Caesar overran Italy (49 BC) and defeated Pompey at Pharsalus (48 BC). Pompey fled to Egypt and was killed by two officers of the Roman garrison there. Caesar became dictator in 47 BC and then dictator for life in 44 BC. But his excessive powers led to the conspiracy of 13Junius Brutus (43; fl.58-42 BC) and 06Cassius Longinus (fl.53-42 BC), who assassinated him when he visited the Senate on 15 March 44 BC.
Brutus and Cassius spoke of themselves as liberators, but the populace and the army, urged on by the other consul, Mark Antony (53; fl.57-30 BC), turned against them. Antony was soon joined by Gaius 05Octavius (77; fl.44-00-14), Caesar’s grandnephew and chosen heir, and Marcus 16Aemilius Lepidus (c.76; 49-13/12 BC), who had been commander of Caesar’s cavalry. Together, the three formed the Second Triumvirate (43-33 BC) which was legally empowered to rule Rome.
The three commanders pursued the assassins and defeated them in two battles at Philippi in 42 BC. Lepidus was soon shunted aside, and Octavian and Antony then split the Roman Empire between them: Octavius ruling the western half and Antony ruling the eastern half with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII (39; r.51-30 BC). Octavius and Antony fell out and finally at the Battle of Actium (31 BC) Octavian’s forces smashed the army and navy of Antony and Cleopatra, leaving Octavius the sole master of the empire.
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