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Module 2
Chapter 5
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Latium | The plain on which Rome was located |
Apennines | North-South mountain range which divides the Italian peninsula |
Etruscans | City-dwellers settled north of Rome; believed to have emigrated from modern day western Turkey |
Etruscans impact on Rome | constructed the first roadbed of the chief street through Rome; impacted dress (toga and cloak) |
consuls | CEOs of Roman Republic; led the Roman army into battle |
praetor | Primary function was execution of justice; could serve as a consul in one's absence. |
Roman Senate | Not a legislative body and could only advise the magistrates; virtually had the power of law by third century BC. |
Centuriate assembly | the Roman army functioning in its political role. Wealthiest citizens always had the majority. |
patricians and plebeians | patricians - descended from original senators; essentially an aristocratic governing class. Plebeians - poor unprivileged vulnerable men |
Struggle of the orders | wealthy plebians wanted political equality with the patricians |
council of the plebs | given power to protect plebeians against arrest by patrician magistrates |
plebiscita | "opinion of the plebs," essentially laws governing only the plebeians |
Canuleian Law | passed in 445 BC, allowing plebians and patricians to marry |
Hortensian Law | mandated that plebiscita had the force of law over all people, and |
Roman Confederation | Allowed some people to become full citizens; found a way to give conquered states a stake in Rome's success |
Carthage and the Punic Wars | Wars between Rome and Carthage; began with the conquest of Sicily. |
Hannibal | Took command of the Carthaginian forces at 25; proved a formidable opponent to Caesar. |
Scipio Africanus and the Battle of Zama | The final battle deciding the outcome of the punic wars; Spain was made into a roman province. |
Grammaticus and the liberal arts | A Grammaticus was a grammarian; run schools based on liberal arts such as literature, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music |
nobiles | powerful political families; essentially the men whose families were elected to the more important political offices of the Republic. |
optimates vs. populares | Two types of aristocratic leaders, optimates were "the best of men" and populares were "favoring the people" |
equestrians | Struggling political party in Rome; the law barred these men from serving in high offices because it would force them to quit their livelihoods to serve the senate. |
Tiberius and Gaius Graccha | Nobile brothers who served as rulers of Rome; Tiberius was assassinated for his land reform bill, taking large tracts of land from wealthy Romans and redistributing it. Gaius furthered his brother's work and was also killed. |
Marius vs Sulla | Marius ended the war in northern Africa and also challenged the Gauls; Sulla took Rome and spent the rest of his career "reconstituting the Republic," giving power back to the Senators |
Pompey | Senator and later general to Caesar, was asked to abandon his military campaigns; fled to Greece and was opposed by Caesar, then fleeing to Egypt where the king had him killed. |
Julius Caesar | Famous Roman senator-turned-general, credited with the defeat of the Gauls. Generous defeator, eventually assassinated thanks to the belief that the old Republic would return |
Octavian vs. Antony | Octavian took command to replace Caesar; Antony was a companion of Octavian but eventually came to differences with each other. Antony commited suicide,leaving Octavian standing supreme over the Roman world. |
Battle of Actium | The battle in which Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra, sending them both fleeing to Egypt where they committed suicide. |