Rore INTRODUCTION ome began as a small city near the Tiber River in central Italy in the eighth century B c Its people were humble farmers who also formed a pow erful army Over the course of 10 centuries that army brought much of Europe western Asia and northern Africa under Roman control As the Romans con quered new lands they brought their culture along In the thousand plus years of its existence Rome was ruled by three distinct governments At first the city functioned as a monarchy with a king as its head By 509 B C the monarchy had collapsed It was replaced by a republic in which citizens took part in electing rul ers and passing laws In 27 B C the republic gave way to an empire ruled by an emperor with absolute power Roman emperors such as Hadrian built structures in the capital city that remain
determined a citizen s Although Rome s government changed over the centuries its eligibility for govern ment service his posi tion in the army and social order did not Throughout its his his obligation to pay a tory Roman society share of taxes was clearly divided The first division was At the top of the social order were the between citizens and wealthy senatorial and noncitizens Citizens equestrian classes ROMAN EMPIRE CIRCA A D 17 at first meant free resi Although these classes dents of the city of Rome Later citizenship was made up only a small percentage of the popula extended to any free inhabitant of the entire em tion they held nearly all the power in the gov pire For men citizenship brought with it a num ernment They also served as military officers and ber of rights including the ability to serve in the held Rome s many priestly offices The plebeians governm nent It also required service in the army or common people who formed the majority of when needed the Roman population had little power They Not all citizens were considered equal how were Rome s laborers its farmers merchants ever Female citizens did not have the same right and artisans Ranking even below the plebeians to participate in government as did males And were slaves and freedmen ex slaves even a male citizen s position in society was le Despite such clear social distinctions gally determined by the census or popula Romans of one class frequently interacted with tion survey The census registered citizens re members of the other classes though never as ports of their wealth age and family heritage equals And although not common some people This information was then used to separate citi of the lower classes did manage to improve their zens into specific orders or classes These orders standing in society Ancient Greek s ies inspired much of the artwork that later Roman citizens
