Politics in the early republic was marked by the long struggle between patricians and plebeians the common people , who eventually attained some political power through years of concessions from patricians, including their own political bodies, the tribunes, which could initiate or veto legislation.
The Roman forum was more than just home to their Senate. In B. These laws included issues of legal procedure, civil rights and property rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil law.
By around B. During the early republic, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in B. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa. In the Third Punic War — B. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence east, defeating King Philip V of Macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into another Roman province.
The first Roman literature appeared around B. The gap between rich and poor widened as wealthy landowners drove small farmers from public land, while access to government was increasingly limited to the more privileged classes. Attempts to address these social problems, such as the reform movements of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus in B. Gaius Marius, a commoner whose military prowess elevated him to the position of consul for the first of six terms in B.
By 91 B. After Sulla retired, one of his former supporters, Pompey, briefly served as consul before waging successful military campaigns against pirates in the Mediterranean and the forces of Mithridates in Asia. During this same period, Marcus Tullius Cicero , elected consul in 63 B.
When the victorious Pompey returned to Rome, he formed an uneasy alliance known as the First Triumvirate with the wealthy Marcus Licinius Crassus who suppressed a slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 B. After earning military glory in Spain, Caesar returned to Rome to vie for the consulship in 59 B.
From his alliance with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar received the governorship of three wealthy provinces in Gaul beginning in 58 B. With old-style Roman politics in disorder, Pompey stepped in as sole consul in 53 B. In 49 B. With Octavian leading the western provinces, Antony the east, and Lepidus Africa, tensions developed by 36 B.
In 31 B. No longer ruled by kings, the Romans established a new form of government whereby the upper classes ruled, namely the senators and the equestrians, or knights. However, a dictator could be nominated in times of crisis. Rome continued to expand through the Republican Period and gained control over the entire Italian peninsula by BC. It was the Punic Wars from BC, along with some conflicts with Greece, that allowed Rome to take control of Carthage and Corinth and thus become the dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean.
Diocletian designated the general Maximian to take charge of the western regions of the Empire, while the emperor governed over the eastern regions. Years later, he would appoint two Caesars. After the abdication of Diocletian in , a series of conflicts took place until , when Constantine became the sole emperor of the West. He was to be the last emperor of the unified empire. He instituted Christianity as the official religion of the Empire.
The capital of the Empire is moved to the ancient city of Byzantium , which is reconstructed. Byzantium, from 8 November, , is renamed Constantinople or the city of Constantine. Again, this is a heavily debated question. There are several contributing factors, some of which were taking place within the empire itself. Severe financial crisis caused by wars and overspending had led to over-taxation and inflation.
This in turn saw Romans fleeing to the countryside as a way of avoiding the taxman. Agricultural and commercial production declined as a result, which in turn affected trade. A series of weak emperors from the second century had seen more than 20 men on the imperial throne in just 75 years, thanks in part to the Praetorian Guard — bodyguards to the emperor — which was using its power to decide to promote, or kill off, would-be emperors. The Senate, too, was rife with corruption and was unable, or unwilling, to rein in the excesses of its rulers.
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