DISCOVERING ANCIENT ROME HERCULES VS MARS One of the best known quarrels in classical mythology was between Mars the god of war and Hercules They fought many times with Hercules usually the winner The nastiest of their fights came when Hercules killed Mars's mortal son Cycnus Mars descended from the heavens to take revenge but Hercules wounded him with a pitchfork Mars was the god of war and as such he was worshipped by virtually all the leading politicians and generals The city state of Rome showed its martial prowess early on and this only continued as the city state evolved into a republic and finally an empire was called Latium Sometime around 600 BCE Rome was con quered by the Etruscans a people to the north Rome was then ruled by a series of Etruscan kings But in 509 BCE the Romans overthrew the last Etruscan monarchTarquin the Proud and started a republic During the early years of the republic Rome was small enough that the general IO
DO body of the male citizens could be sum moned whenever a major decision was needed Over time this became unwork able because the Roman population grew so rapidly There just was not enough room for all the citizens to gather in one place Once that level was reached Rome became a rep resentative republic meaning that the citizens voted for men to represent them Developed over about two centuries the Roman Republic was a clever combination of NVD monarchy aristocracy and democracy Two Consuls elected each year by a military body called the centuriate assembly comitia centuriata were the chief executives of the republic Rome believed in hav ing two men at the top so that if one were injured or disabled the other could fill his shoes These two consuls coequal Imagine the United States hav chief executives of the republic ing two presidents leading the areshadowed by servants carrying the fasces or symbols of country authority The consuls as well About three hundred as senators and tribunes were senators chosen through sacrosanct meaning that no one could physically harm them on pain of death II
DISCOVERING ANCIENT ROME family descent acted as the legislature of Rome they wrote the laws During the early republic the senators were elected but over time it became obvious that men from the wealthiest upper class families would win all the elections A seat in the Senate was there fore made hereditary staying within a family As many as ten tribunes officials cho sen on a yearly basis by the common citizens known as plebeians or plebs sat in the Senate and observed its debates They did not have the power to debate the issues or even to vote but each tribune had the power to veto any acts of the Senate deemed unjust to any citizen veto means I forbid Success in War Between 509 and 202 BCE Rome meta number of enemies There were some defeats as when the Gauls invaded from the north and briefly held Rome in 390 BCE Over time however Rome conquered the rest of Italy and Sicily That conquest brought it into a life or death struggle with ancient Carthage a city state on the Mediterranean Sea southern rim of the Carthage found a hero in the great general Hannibal but Rome with its system of gov ernment and a growing citizen based army 12
FROM KINGDOM To EMPIRE eventually prevailed When Carthage was completely destroyed in 146 BCE Rome was the sole ruler of the western Mediterranean and soon it expanded its control to the east ern Mediterranean By about 133 BCE Rome had entered a long period of unrest and civil war Romans fought each other many times but in 73 71 BCE they also had to put down a dangerous revolt of the slaves led by a Thracian slave Hannibal led the Carthaginian forces against Rome in the Second Punic War one of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage during the second and third centuries BCE 13
