ANCIENT ROME-I

THE civilization of Rome succeeded that of Greece as the major ancient

European civilization. The nucleus of the Roman social formation was Italy,
and later, the entire Mediterranean. By c. 1000 BC there were several
Villanovan bronze age settlements in northern Italy. Around 800 BC there
were some new trends. The area inhabited by the Etruscans was rapidly
undergoing a transition which led to urbanization and the growth of an
agricultural economy based on the exploitation of the fertile plains of
north-western and central Italy. From the eighth century BC the use of
iron became widespread. The Etruscans, who may be regarded as the
most advanced people of pre-Roman Italy, produced a rich civilization
between 800 and 700 BC. Some of the Etruscan cities (city-states) were
ruled by kings. The Etruscan towns were well-planned and fortified.

The foundation of the city of Rome was traditionally supposed to have

taken place in 753 BC . According to the traditional history of the city,
settlements on seven hills along the river Tiber (these seven hills are:
Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal and Viminal) were
enclosed by a wall in 753 BC. This marked the beginning of the city and
Roman dates were often reckoned from this event. the historicity of this
date has not been established. The archaeological evidence suggests that
the city was first fortified c. 550 BC. The early history of Rome is somewhat
obscure. It seems that the city borrowed several elements of Etruscan
social and political organization. The etruscanization of Rome was speeded
up by the fact that some Etruscan families became politically dominant in
the city. Rome acquired a monarchical form of government and for some
time it was ruled by kings who were of Etruscan origin. In 510 BC
monarchy came to an abrupt end in Rome. Two events occurred
simultaneously. Firstly, the Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud (Tarquinius
Superbus) was overthrown. This marked the end of Etruscan rule over
Rome. Secondly, monarchy was abolished. Rome ceased to have a
monarchical form of government and became a republic. 510 BC is the
traditional date for the beginning of the Roman republic. The government
was headed by two consuls who were elected annually. The main
instrument of aristocratic power was the oligarchical council or senate. The
senate emerged as the supreme body of the Roman state with extensive
political, legal and military authority. There were also assemblies of
citizens, though at the beginning of the republic they had virtually no share
in governance. The Roman republic lasted from 510 to 27 BC.
 For over two centuries, from c. 500 to 280 BC, Rome was engaged in bringing
the entire Italian peninsula under its control. The first phase of Roman
expansion was in central Italy, primarily in Latium. Rome forged an alliance with
the Latin speaking people whereby the Romans were able to extend their
influence to the Latin communities. This alliance provided the Romans with
the resources to resist invasions by the Etruscans, the Sabines, the Volsci and
the Aequi. The turning point in the struggle against the non-Latin states came in
396 BC when Rome managed to occupy the Etruscan city of Veii. Veii, situated
close to Rome, At this point Roman expansion was briefly halted due to a major
setback caused by the invasion of Italy by Celtic tribes from the north. . Over a
period of time Celtic speaking Indo-European tribes, especially the Gauls, had
penetrated. northern Italy. Between c. 450 and 350 BC they occupied the area
between the Alps and the river Po. In 390 BC the Celts (Gauls) entered and
plundered Rome. After this invasion the city had to be rebuilt. A new defensive
wall was constructed. By the middle of the fourth century BC the Romans had
recovered and they launched a vigorous expansionist programme. These
campaigns lasted till 338 BC by which date Rome succeeded in subduing the Latin
states. Rome now attempted to bring other parts of Italy under its rule. Rome
was continuously at war with the Samnites till 295 BC before it could consolidate
its position in central Italy. By 295 BC the Romans had also brought most of the
Etruscan territories under their control. After this they focused their
attention on southern Italy.

The Greek states of southern Italy strongly opposed Roman expansion

into the area. . In 282 BC hostilities broke out between Rome and Tarentum.
Tarentum appealed to other Greek states for assistance. Pyrrhus, the
ruler of Epirus state in the northwest part of mainland Greece),
responded to this request. Initially he was successful, but the early
victories of Pyrrhus were at a very great cost in terms of men and
resources (hence the term 'pyrrhic victory', i.e. a victory won at such a great
cost that it cannot really be regarded as a victory). Eventually the Romans
defeated Pyrrhus in 275 BC and southern Italy came under their control.
This completed the first major phase of Roman expansion. At the end of this
phase the entire Italian peninsula had accepted Roman supremacy.

The western Mediterranean had been dominated by the state of

Carthage for several centuries. This settlement had grown into a vast
Carthaginian empire. Sicily was a Carthaginian territory. The economic
prosperity of Carthage was not merely based on trade, but also on the
exploitation of the resources of the Tunisian hinterland. Carthage
maintained an efficient army which was recruited from all over the
Mediterranean. Carthage, like most Phoenician states, was ruled by an
oligarchy which was dominated by rich merchants. When Rome attempted
to gain control over Sicily, it naturally came into conflict with Carthage.
Roman expansion into the Mediterranean could only have taken place at
the expense of Carthage. For over a century Rome fought a series of wars
against the Carthaginians. These wars are known as the Punic Wars (the
word Punic is etymologically linked to Phoenician). There were three Punic
wars: the First Punic War (264-241 BC); the Second Punic War (218-201 BC);
and the Third Punic War (149-146 BC). Of these three wars, the Second Punic
War was the most fierce contest between Rome and Carthage. The
prolonged wars against Carthage were a huge drain on the financial and
human resources of Rome. Nevertheless, the Punic Wars resulted in the
total annihilation of Carthage and the acquisition of overseas territories
by the Romans.

The First Punic War, which started soon after the Roman victory over
Pyrrhus and the Western Greeks, lasted264 to 241 BC. At the end of this
war Carthage was forced to surrender Sicily to the Romans. Sicily became
the first 'province' of Rome. Roman provinces were specific
administrative units of the Roman empire After the First Punic War the
Phoenicians took steps to strengthen themselves militarily so as to
check Roman expansionism. The main architect of Carthaginian military
reorganization was a brilliant general named Hannibal. Hannibal
mobilized a large and well-trained army for waging a war against Rome.
In 218 BC {which marks the beginning of the Second Punic War) Hannibal
reached the Alps with an army of about 40,000 troops with the objective of
launching an offensive against the Romans from the north. This was
something that the Romans were totally unprepared for. Hannibal
successfully crossed the high altitude Alpine mountains with his large army
and entered northern Italy. Here he made an alliance with several
communities which had been subjugated by the Romans. Hannibal
marched southwards in the direction of Rome and in 216 BC he completely
routed the Roman army at Cannae in south Italy. However he was not
successful in capturing the city of Rome. When they had regrouped their
army the Romans launched a campaign against Hannibal. The leader of
this campaign was Scipio Africanus. Hannibal was compelled to retreat
from Italy.

Hannibal had to rush to north Africa to defend Carthaginian

possessions there. Hannibal's army was finally defeated at the battle of
Zama, near Carthage, in 202 BC, The Second Punic War ended in 201 BC with
Carthage accepting Roman peace terms. Carthage had to surrender its
territories in Spain. Carthage had to destroy its naval fleet and was made to
give a large sum to Rome as compensation for the war. Carthage ceased to
be a major power after this, while Rome now dominated the western
Mediterranean. Rome sought to take advantage of the weakening of
Hellenistic states in the last quarter of the third century BC (see chapter
seven). The Hellenistic kingdoms of Macedonia, Egypt and West Asia, ruled
by the Antigonids, Ptolemids and Seleucids respectively, ar. Hannibal
had come to an understanding with Philip V of Macedonia who was
hostile to Rome. Macedonia was resentful of growing Roman
interference in its internal affairs. . Coinciding with the Second Punic War,
the Romans also fought a war against Macedonia. The war with
Macedonia continued after the Punic war and in 196 BC Philip V was
defeated. After 196 BC Rome tightened its grip over the Greek states. Even
after their defeat in the Second Punic War the Carthaginians had not
given up their opposition to Rome. Hannibal (who was alive till 182 BC)
carried out a series of reforms aimed at improving the condition of the
state. . He strengthened his alliance with Philip V by forging ties with
Antiochus III of Syria. Rome looked upon Hannibal's actions with growing
suspicion and began to exert pressure against him. Hannibal was forced
to leave Carthage and seek shelter with Antiochus III. The defeat of
Antiochus III in 189 BC enabled Rome to consolidate its hold over Greece.
Having dealt with Antiochus III the Romans once again shifted their attention to
Macedonia. Yet another war was waged against the Macedonian kingdom,
which was now ruled by the successor of Philip V. At the conclusion of this war
(referred to as the Third Macedonian War, 172-167 BC) the king was removed
and Macedonia was split into four republics which had to pay tribute to Rome.
The final phase of the Roman subjugation of Macedonia took place
simultaneously with the Third Punic War of 149-146 BC.

While Rome had been busy with eastern Mediterranean affairs the
Carthaginians had been successful in reviving their trade. On the other hand
there was a very powerful lobby at Rome which had been demanding that the
state of Carthage should be completely destroyed. It was in this situation that
the Third Punic War broke out in 149 BC. By 146 BC Carthage had been defeated
and it ceased to exist. there were anti- Roman upheavals in the newly formed
republics, as well as in Greece, while the Third Punic War was going on. The
Romans crushed these upheavals and annexed the whole of Macedonia in 147
BC . The Greek rebellion was also suppressed and Corinth was destroyed in
146 BC. By this time Egypt had also been made a Roman protectorate, i. e. its
foreign policy was guided by the Romans. Western Anatolia had come under
Roman rule. Thus, by the middle of the second century BC Roman influence was
predominant in the entire Mediterranean.
II
When the Etruscan monarchy was ousted from Rome in 510 BC political power
passed into the hands of the aristocracy. The aristocracy initially set up an
oligarchical government. The oligarchy exercised its power through an
oligarchical council, called the senate. Throughout the Roman republic the
senate was the single most important centre of authority. However, as we shall
see, the senate was gradually forced to share some of its authority with other
institutions.

Much of our information is based on the work of Fabius Pictor. Pictor was a
Roman historian who participated in the Second Punic War. He produced a
history of Rome written in the Greek language and intended primarily for a
Greek audience.

that right from the beginning of the republic, there was an intense
struggle between the landed aristocracy and the common people of Rome.
Roman society was clearly divided along class lines and the less privileged
sections, particularly the ordinary peasants, resented the monopoly of
political power which the aristocracy enjoyed. This resulted in a prolonged
conflict. As in the case of the Greek states, the Roman aristocracy was not in a
position to completely suppress the struggle of the peasantry and this
struggle became a recurring feature of the republic throughout its
history.

To begin with, the aristocracy lacked the resources to mobilize a large

standing army consisting of professional warrior Moreover, Roman
military organization was heavily dependent on the peasants who
constituted the main fighting force. The Roman army comprised unpaid
soldiers who were primarily recruited from the peasantry. These soldiers,
like the Greek hoplites, had to supply their own fighting equipment and
had to utilize their own means to sustain themselves for the duration of
a campaign. Rome required a huge army not only to create its empire but also to
maintain and defend it. It is not difficult to see why the peasantry could not be
igno seek the support of the peasantry As Rome began to expand, the need to
have the support of the peasant soldiers increased. Initially the peasantry
also derived some small benefits from this expansion. For instance when the
Etruscan city of Veii was conquered in 396 BC, a lot of land in and around Veii
was distributed among the poorer Roman peasants. The growth of the empire
made the aristocracy fabulously wealthy and widened the gap between rich
and poor.

when Rome was engaged in conquering the Italian peninsula, that the
peasantry extracted major political concessions. Through these concessions a
small section of the peasantry got some share in political power. After 510 BC the
aristocracy ruled over Rome through the senate. At the beginning of the
republic the senate was an oligarchical body from which the common people
were completely excluded. Here we must make a reference to a peculiar
feature of Roman society. Roman society was divided into two groups or
'orders': the patrician order and the plebeian order. The patricians
constituted a small close-knit elite while the plebeians were the common
people. To a large extent the struggle between the aristocracy and the
peasantry was a struggle between the patricians and the plebeians and is
often referred to as 'the conflict of the orders'. Patrician social
organization was based on kinship groups called gentes (singular, gens),
which may be regarded as the Roman equivalent of clans.

A citizen was born a patrician or a plebeian. One could not become a

patrician merely by acquiring wealth or political power. Till 445 BC
marriages between patricians and plebeians were prohibited by law . Their
closed kinship structure was so strictly regulated that during the course
of the republic the number of gentes was steadily decreasing. The
evidence indicates that in the fifth century BC there had been 50 gentes in
all. By c. 367 BC the number of gentes had diminished to 22 gentes, divided
into 81 families. At the end of the republic the number had fallen to 14
gentes with 30 families. children of a patrician father and plebeian
mother would be patricians even after the restriction on marriage was
removed. During the last phase of the republic a small section of the
plebeians was given a share in political power, Patricians were able to
exercise a high degree of control over Roman religion. When the republic
came into existence the patricians converted the senate into an exclusive
oligarchical institution for governing Rome. Membership of the senate was by
cooption, i.e. the original members themselves chose additional or new
members of the senate. . In the early republic the senate had 300 members. In
the later republic the number went up to 600 and then to 900 and was eventually
stabilized at 600 after the republic came to an end. A person who had been made
a member of the senate remained senator for the rest of his life. The senate had
wide-ranging powers, most of which were not formally defined. It gave duties
to the magistrates (but did not elect them), advised them on legislation,
financial and military matters, and generally supervised the functioning of the
state. Juries for major trials, especially criminal trials, were composed of
senators. The overwhelming majority of the senators were big landowners.
The highest officials of the Roman republic were called consuls. There were two
consuls and they held office simultaneously. The consulship was an elective
post and elections took place on an annual basis. The authority of the Roman
state was vested in the consuls. They presided over the senate and
performed executive, judicial and military functions. Till 367 BC only
patricians could be consuls. In 367 BC one of the consulships was opened to
the plebeians. For a long time this provision remained a mere formality
because the patricians controlled the electoral process and could
manipulate the choice of candidates.

Besides the consuls there were several other magistrates who looked
after various aspects of administration. Mention may be made of two very
powerful magistrates who were called censors. Two censors were elected
once in every five years. They held office for eighteen months. During the
eighteen months that they held office the two censors were required to
conduct a census of Roman citizens. The censors recorded the names of
citizens and the amount of property possessed by each citizen (only the
names of males were registered). This census determined the eligibility
of a citizen, depending upon the value of his property, to hold various
elective offices of the Roman state. Later, just as in the case of the
consulship, plebeians also became eligible for this magistracy. In
addition to the consuls and censors there were junior magistrates, as for
instance aediles and quaestors. Four aediles were elected annually. They
were in charge of public works and had to maintain roads, drains, and market
places. The aediles had to make arrangements for public festivals as well.
Quaestors assisted the higher magistrates in the discharge of their duties.
One of their main responsibilities was to look after the state treasury and
maintain public accounts.

the government had a host of salaried minor officials for routine day-to-
day tasks. These officials were collectively called apparitores. They were
paid their salaries by the state. These public servants were recruited from
among the relatively poorer sections of the population. The apparitores
included scribes and lictors. Lictors were officials who escorted consuls (or
the even more superior magistrates called dictators

The patricians had worked out a system which totally excluded the
plebeians from governance. But, given the role which the plebeians played
in Roman military organization, they were able to successfully organize
themselves to press for their demands.

The Roman assembly, i. e. the assembly of citizens, was called comitia

curiata. When the patricians assumed power and set up an oligarchical
state the comitia curiata became defunct. It continued to exist formally but
it had no real power. The power enjoyed by the kings had been
transferred to the senate and the magistrates and not to the assembly.
The comitia curiata got its name from a kinship based social unit called
curia into which the primitive inhabitants of Rome were divided. The curiae
were extended clans which included plebeians and should not be
confused with the patrician gentes. At the beginning of the republic there
were thirty curiae which were grouped into three tribes. The chief curio
was the curio maximus, who was always a patrician till 210 BC.

Each curia voted collectively so that only the opinion of the curiae (and
not of individual members) was sought. Using their kinship ties patricians
dominated the respective curiae. They would speak on behalf of the entire
curia. citizens were regrouped to form a new assembly. This assembly
was called comitia centuriata. The comitia curiata was not abolished but
the new assembly was created in addition to it. The comitia centuriata, like
the comitia curiata, was an assembly of all Roman citizens. The difference
between the two lay in the manner in which the citizens were grouped. For
the purpose of the comitia centuriata the citizens were grouped into
'centuries'. For most of the republican period the comitia centuriata was
the main assembly of citizens. This was the assembly which elected the
consuls and censors. Legislation had to be passed by the comitia
centuriata. War and peace were the prerogative of this assembly. All major
decisions of the state had to have the approval of the comitia centuriata.
The comitia curiata now only looked after a few matters of a social and
religious nature. It is believed that the comitia centuriata was formed
c. 450 BC. The working of the new assembly was such that ultimately it did
not solve the problem of giving a share of political power to the plebeians.
The comitia centuriata contained 193 centuries. Each century had one
vote. The centuries were grouped into five classes. The largest number
of centuries were placed in the first three classes, which were classes of
the aristocracy and the wealthy. In other words the first three classes
possessed the majority of votes.