Roman Republic

Roman Republic
Res Pvblica Romana
Roman Republic Res Pvblica Romana
509 BC–27 BC
	Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus
	Roman provinces on the eve of the assasination of Julius Caesar, c. 44 BC
Capital	Rome
Common languages	Latin
Religion	Roman paganism
Government	Republic
Consul
• 509 BC-508 BC	Lucius Junius Brutus, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus
• 27 BC	Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Legislature	Roman Senate
Historical era	Classical antiquity
• Rape of Lucretia	509 BC
• Caesar proclaimed perpetual dicatator	44 BC
• Battle of Actium	2 September, 31 BC
• Octavian proclaimed Augustus	16 January 27 BC
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Roman Kingdom
Roman Empire

This article refers to the classical republican state which existed from the 6th century BC to the 1st century BC. For alternate meanings, see Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century).

The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c.509 BC and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period. The precise event which signaled the transition of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation. Historians have proposed the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator (44 BC), the Battle of Actium (2 September 31 BC), and the Roman Senate's grant of Octavian's extraordinary powers under the the first settlement (January 16, 27 BC), as candidates for the defining pivotal event.

Determining the precise end of the Republic is a task of modern historians; Roman citizens of the time did not recognize that the Republic had ceased to exist. The early Julio-Claudian "Emperors" maintained that the res publica still existed, albeit under the protection of their extraordinary powers, and would eventually return to its full Republican form. Rome remained a Republic in name until at least the third century and the reforms that created the Dominate form of government.

Location

The city of Rome itself stands on the banks of the river Tiber, very near the west coast of Italy. It marked the border between the regions of Latium (the territory in which the Latin language and culture was dominant) to the south, and Etruria (the territory in which the Etruscan language and culture was dominant) to the north.

The Roman Republic expanded outwards from this single city state. Eventually its empire included all of the Italian peninsula, large parts of Gaul and Iberia, much of the Balkan Peninsula, parts of the Balkans, coastal regions of Asia Minor, part of the North African coastline, Corsica, Sardina, and Sicily.

The Structure of Republican Rome

Inhabitants

The Roman Republic had many different classes of people who existed within the city-state. Each one of them had differing rights, responsibilities, and status under Roman law.

Government

Roman republican government was a complex system, which seems to have had several redundancies within it, and was based on custom and tradition, as much as it was on law. The Roman system of government was loosely based on three elements: monarchial, where they had the two consuls; the oligarchial, which was the senate; and the democratical, which was the plebs voting.

Assemblies and Magistrates

The basis of republican government, at least in theory, was the division of responsibilities between various assemblies, whose members (or blocks of members) would vote on issues placed before their assembly. These assemblies included the Curiate Assembly, the Centuriate Assembly, the Tribal Assembly, the Plebeian Assembly and the Roman Senate. Membership in such assemblies was limited by such factors as class, order, family, and income.

Several of these assemblies had specific and specialized functions, such as the Curiate Assembly which conferred Imperium on the Roman magistrates. However, two of these assemblies dominated the political life of the Republic: the Plebeian Assembly, and the Roman Senate.

Within the various assemblies, there were a number of magistratus — magistrates, who performed specialized functions.

The Romans observed two principles for their magistrates: annuality, the observation of a one-year term, and collegiality, the holding of the same office by at least two men at the same time. The supreme office of Consul, for instance, was always held by two men together, each of whom exercised a power of mutual veto over any actions by the other consul. If the entire Roman Army took the field, it was always under the command of the two consuls who alternated days of command. Many offices were held by more than two men; in the late Republic there were 8 praetors a year and 20 quaestors.

The office of dictator was an exception to annuality and collegiality, and the offices of Censors to annuality. In times of military emergency a single dictator was chosen for a term of 6 months to have sole command of the Roman state. On a regular, but not annual basis two censors were elected: every five years for a term of 18 months.

Evolution of Republican government

During the early and middle Republic, the Roman Senate, highest in prestige and being composed of the aristocratic, rich, and politically influential (towards the end of the Republic, it was exclusively composed of ex-magistrates), was predominant in the state.

During the later years of the Republic, a division developed within the Senate with two factions arising: the Optimates and the Populares. The Optimates held to the traditional forms of Roman government, while the Populares were those who used the fact that the Plebeian Assembly was the only body capable of passing binding laws (plebiscites) on the Republic, to pursue political influence outside the Senate. Since the Senate controlled the finances of the state, this led to conflicts between the Senate and the Plebeian Assembly. Many ambitious politicians used these conflicts to further their political career, advancing themselves as champions either of "Roman tradition", or of "The People".

Military

The Roman legion formed the backbone of Roman military power. Rome used its legions to expand its borders to eventually dominate most of Europe and the area around the Mediterranean Sea.

The Roman legion exhibited high levels of discipline, training and professionalism. It was a standardized, military machine, in which the heroics and bravery of individuals were secondary to the function of the army as a whole. Equipment, tactics, organization, and military law were uniformly implemented. Procedures for everything from training and marching to camp building were laid out specifically, tasks allocated, and each unit and man knew his role and responsibilities within the army as a whole.

The early republic had no standing army. Instead, legions would be conscripted as needed (the term Legion comes from the Latin term Legio — "muster" or "levy"), put into the field to fight the war for which they had been created, and would then disband back to their civilian lives, which for most meant farming. Troops would be levied from Rome and its surrounding colonies, each which would be responsible for providing a particular number of soldiers. Such conscripts were theoretically taken only from those men who were property/land holders wealthy enough to equip themselves, although in time of dire military need this requirement was overlooked. This made the Roman Legion less expensive to the state, and ensured that the Legions were fighting to preserve their own property and way of life as much as trying to protect their country.

In the later republic, Gaius Marius instituted the Marian reforms (107 BC) which completely altered the form of the Legion. Marius restructured the standard legion and updated its equipment and tactical doctrines for modern warfare. He also recast the legions as a standing professional Roman army whose ranks were open to volunteers from any class. Marius did this to to address the new reality that Rome needed dedicated professional armies for extended campaigns lasting years (and not just a season), and to address the severe shortage of eligible middle class landholder recruits whose existence had been decimated by economic changes within Roman society, and the battlefield casualties inflicted by Rome's prolonged military campaigns. Now, instead of being a short term landholder recruit fighting to defend his own home and property, the typical Roman legionnaire was a lower-class "career soldier" who had enlisted for a period of 20 years, working towards a "pension" which was a land grant provided by the state by tradition (but not guaranteed by law) at the end of their service. The fact that such pensions were not guaranteed by law, but had to be proposed before the Senate by the Senator-General who was disbanding his legion(s) had the subtle, but important, effect of refocusing the loyalty of the legionary, who now fought as much for his General who could guarantee his "pension" as for the country.

Each time Rome conquered new lands, the territory would be sectioned off into one or more provinces, under the administration of a Roman governor, chosen annually by the Senate. He would be awarded a promagisterial rank, either proconsular or propraetorial, depending on the size and importance of the province (see Roman provinces for list of governor's ranks). In the later Republic, newly acquired land was often partly used to settle the discharged veterans of the military campaign who had earned their "land grant". This not only "paid off" the army, but had the added benefit of settling Roman people, with Roman customs, bringing Roman culture to newly conquered people: a form of "cultural imperialism" as well as a military one; see Cultural Romanization.

Culture of republican Rome

Greek influence on Rome

It is likely that the Romans first came in contact with Greek civilization through the Greek city-states in southern Italy and in Sicily (both of which formed "Magna Graecia" — "Greater Greece"). These colonies had been established as a result of Greek expansion that took place in these two areas beginning in the eighth century BC. There is a remarkable commonality between the world of classical Athens and the classical world of Magna Graecia. As proof of this, one need look no further than the Greek temples in Akragas and Silinus in Sicily and the Parthenon of Athens to see that they partake of the same style of architecture at virtually the same level of architectural refinement. Thucydides documents the substantial political and military contacts that the Greek city-states of Sicily had with the Sparta and Athens during the Peloponesian War, and how the Syracusans allied with Sparta were able to defeat the military forces of Athens as they laid siege to Syracuse.

This, inasmuch as trading, as well as the mere day to day interaction between peoples of different cultures, provided opportunities for the Romans to gain exposure to Greek culture, literature, architecture, political and philosophical ideas, religious beliefs and traditions. There was a great sharing of ideas and culture among the peoples of the Mediterranean Sea while Rome was developing into the dominant power in the area.

The Latin alphabet was certainly influenced by the Greek alphabet, and the Latin language itself contains many words of Greek origin. Latin literature was also influenced by the Greeks as well. Early Latin plays were sometimes translations of Greek plays, and different types of poetry often were modeled after their counterparts, such as Vergil's Aeneid on the Homeric Epics. It was not uncommon for wealthy Romans to send their sons to Greece for the purpose of study, most notably in Athens. This Roman passion of Hellenic culture would increase over time.

Greek and Latin became the lingua franca of the eastern half of the Mediterranean area.

Religion

According to the German historian Georg Wissowa the Romans distinguished two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the de novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state; see List of Di Indigetes. The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually in response to a specific crisis or need.

The Romans worshipped a number of gods, among which the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were pre-eminent. Later this triad was supplanted by the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Religious ceremonies on behalf of the state were delegated to a strict system of priestly offices under the governance of the College of Pontiffs, with at its head the Pontifex maximus was the most important. Flamens took care of the cults of various gods, while augurs were trusted with taking the auspices. The rex sacrorum, or "sacrificial king" took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings.

From the earliest days of the Republic, foreign gods were imported, especially from Greece, which had a great cultural influence on the Romans. In addition, the Romans connected some of their indigenous deities with Greek gods and goddesses.

Legends

Few sources of Rome have survived which were written before the last decades of the Republic, and none of those is complete. By that time, the Romans retold a lengthy and complex sequence of stories about their own history, which were clearly intended as models of Roman character, good and bad, and examples for living Romans. Unfortunately, there is little evidence for early Roman history aside from this cycle, and strong reasons to believe that many of the stories did not actually happen as they are told. Many of them are borrowed from pre-existing Greek stories; some of them are plainly family stories in praise of great Roman families; some of them are etiologies of Roman institutions which were not invented in Rome, but were common to a much larger area.

Overthrow of the kings

Livy's version of the establishment of the Republic states that the last of the Kings of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus ("Tarquin the proud") had a thoroughly unpleasant son, Sextus Tarquinius, who raped a Roman noblewoman named Lucretia. Lucretia compelled her family to take action by gathering her kinsmen, telling them what happened, and then killing herself. They were compelled to avenge her, and led an uprising that expelled the royal house, the Tarquins, out of Rome into refuge in Etruria.

Lucretia's widowed husband Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus and her brother Lucius Junius Brutus were elected as the first two consuls of the new Republic (Marcus Junius Brutus who later assassinated Gaius Julius Caesar claimed descent from this first Brutus).

History

The origins and early history of Rome are very uncertain. While there are quite specific accounts of Rome's origins and early history, these tend to be of a more mythological nature, and do not stand up as objective history when subjected to modern analysis. There even have been archeological findings in the city of Rome that predate the mythological founding date; on the other hand, the traces of actual settlement do not go back as far as that date. However, Roman origin myths probably do contain aspects of the truth, and were responsible for shaping the Romans' views of themselves.

Founding of Rome

The tradition supplies several different dates for the founding of Rome, of which the most well-known is that given by the Roman historian and chronographer M. Terentius Varro: 753 BC, but this depends on the extremely doubtful traditional chronology of the Roman kings. There are some archaeological finds older than Varro's date; but the earliest traces of continuous settlement are usually dated to the early 600s BC.

According to Roman mythology, after the end of the Trojan war, the Trojan prince Aeneas sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and founded the city of Lavinium. His son Iulus later founded the city of Alba Longa, and from Alba Longa's royal family came the twins Romulus and Remus (supposedly sons of the god Mars by Rhea Silvia), who went on to found the city of Rome on April 21, 753 BC. Thus the Romans traced their origins back to the Helladic world.

Monarchy (sixth century BC)

In the beginning, Rome had kings. The tradition portrays these kings more as culture heroes than as historical figures, each of them being credited with devising some aspect of Roman culture; for example, Numa Pompilius devised Roman religion, and Ancus Marcius the arts of war. It also gives most of them reigns of about forty years, which probably owes more to numerology than to history. Other details have been seen as origin stories of various Roman noble houses.

There is, however, general agreement that Rome did have a series of monarchs (some of whom were of Etruscan origin; the influence of the Etruscans can still be seen on early Roman art and architecture) and that these kings were displaced by the Roman aristocracy sometime around 500–450 BC.

Establishment of the Republic

The traditional date of the revolution against the kings is 509 BC; for the story see Overthrow of the kings above. This is again open to doubt; the arrangement of the consular fasti which support this date squeezes six consuls into the first year of the Republic, and has long stretches without any consuls at all. It is possible that, as a matter of national pride, Roman historians altered the chronology of the early republic to make it appear that Rome freed itself before Cleisthenes brought freedom to Athens.

The early consuls took over the roles of the king with the exception of his high priesthood in the worship of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at the sacred temple on the Capitoline Hill. For that duty the Romans elected a Rex sacrorum — a "king of holy things". It is interesting to note that the Roman Rex Sacrorum was forbidden membership in the Senate; one could not be a Senator and a Rex Sacrorum at the same time. Republican Rome distanced even this vestigial "king" from any possibility of power. Until the end of the Republic, the accusation that a powerful man wanted to make himself "Rex" — "King" — remained a career-shaking charge (Julius Caesar's assassins claimed that they were preserving Rome from the re-establishment of a monarchy).

Conflict of the Orders

The relationship between the plebeians and the patricians sometimes came under such strain that the plebeians would secede from the city, taking their families and moveable possessions, and set up camp on a hill outside the walls. Their refusal to cooperate any longer with the patricians led to social changes. Only about 15 years after the establishment of the Republic in 494 BC, plebeians seceded and chose two leaders to whom they gave the title Tribunes. The plebeians took an oath that they would hold their leaders 'sacrosanct' — 'untouchable' during their terms of office, and that a united plebs would kill anyone who harmed a tribune. The second secession in 471 BC led to further legal definition of their rights and duties and increased the number of tribunes to 10. The final secession ended in 287 BC and the resulting Lex Hortensia gave the vote of the Concilium Plebis or "Council of the Plebeians" the force of law. It is important to note that this force of law was binding for both patricians and plebeians, and in fact made the Council of the Plebeians a leading body for approving Roman laws.

Roman expansion into Italy (340–268 BC)

Throughout the 4th century BC the Romans fought a series of wars with their neighbors, most notably the Sabines and the Samnites, who were their main rivals on the Italian mainland. Eventually, Rome came to dominate the Latin League, a coalition of city-states in the area of Latium, eventually dissolving the league and placing the territory under hegemonic control at the end of the Latin War.

During this era, Rome, and others of the Latin League, clashed with foreign powers as well, and not always successfully. In 390 BC the Gauls from Gallia Cisalpina (modern Po Valley) under the leadership of Brennus, defeated the Roman legions and sacked Rome itself, requiring a huge ransom to avoid completely destroying the city (A Roman senator protested that the weights used to measure the ransom of gold were inaccurate. In response, Brennus threw his sword onto the weights and uttered the famous words: "Vae Victis" — "Woe to the vanquished").

In 283 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus arrived to aid the Greek colony of Tarentum against the Romans. Pyrrhus was widely considered the greatest military leader since Alexander the Great, but even after winning three battles he was unable to defeat the Roman Republic, taking great losses as he did so. Pyrrhus is said to have uttered the phrase: "Another such victory and I shall be lost" coining the term "Pyrrhic victory". Pyrrhus withdrew to fight wars in Sicily and Greece, giving the Romans international military prestige, and bringing them to the attention of the Hellenistic superpowers of the East.

Through its colonies, and allied city-states, Rome had a vast amount of manpower to draw upon, which it used as a recruitment pool for its Legions. This gave it the ability to simply raise legion after legion, continuing to fight where other nations may simply have capitulated. Rome also demonstrated an unwillingness to be, or to stay, beaten. This characteristic determination was shown in such later engagements such as First Punic War where the Roman military, faced with a 70% loss of its fleet in storms, managed to rebuild the entire fleet in a mere two months.

Another unique characteristic of the Republic was its treatment of conquered people. Those conquered by Rome were brought under the "protection" of Rome; they were granted a form of citizenship, and had specific rights under Roman law. They were also held to certain obligations as well, most notably the requirement to provide troops for the Legions. This had a two-fold effect. First, Rome had a large pool of manpower to draw its Legions from (the entire Latin League). This allowed it to simply field army after army, refusing to be defeated. Second, by having several levels of citizenship and rights under Roman law, the attention of conquered people was focused on improving their rights within the Roman law, and in competing with rival client-states for status within the Roman sphere of influence, rather than trying to rid themselves of Roman dominance. This policy of "divide and rule" made conquered people willing participants in their own submission to Roman law.

By 268 BC the Romans dominated most of Italy through a network of allies, conquered city-states, colonies, and strategic garrisons. At that time Rome started to look beyond Italy, towards the islands and the rich trade of the Mediterranean Sea.

Punic Wars

Macedonian and Seleucid wars

Acquisition of Asia

In 133 BC, a dying King Attalus III of Pergamon willed his entire kingdom to the Roman Republic to avoid dynastic disputes amongst his heirs, and to avoid the possibility that Rome would take the opportunity to seize Pergamon by force. Events were complicated by the rebellion of Aristonicus, a relative of Attalus III who was proclaimed king of Pergamon with the title of Eumenes III. After four years of war (133–129 BC) he was defeated and captured by Rome. Pergamon was reorganized into the foundation of the province of Asia, and became one of the most wealthy provinces the Romans ever controlled. Because of the vast wealth of Asia, the province attracted the corrupt and greedy among the Senate, and its Governors were notorious for nearly a century after its acquisition.

This sudden windfall had unforeseen, and perhaps unfortunate, consequences for the political situation in Rome, and the political reform movement of the Gracchi.

Beginning of the end

Political instability

Main article: First Triumvirate

Increasing instability and violence marked the final years of the Republic. This trend, initiated by the Gracchi in the second century BC, and Sulla's proscriptions in the late 80s, ended centuries of relatively peaceful governance. This kind of violent and sensationalist politics only sought to inflame tensions within Roman society, namely the poor and the disenfranchised. However, despite potential for revolution within the lower ranks, revolution itself only threatened twice before the final collapse, during the Social War and the Catiline conspiracy.

Other political problems stemmed from the domination of the consulship by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar.

Economic factors

The expansion of the Roman Empire brought about "the development of a money based economy," which altered the old system based on land ownership. This had many effects, including the weakening of the landed nobilis's position in favour of the wealthy Knights, and finally contributed to the "steadily declining state of public morale in Rome." Out of this depressed situation Catiline led a rabble of economically wounded nobles and veterans on the political platform of debt cancellation; however, Cicero through luck, "patient care, sober judgment and exceptional intelligence," thwarted the attempted revolution and checked the threat of civil war, all without the use of arms. Cicero, now heralded as the 'Saviour of Rome', reached the pinnacle of his fame," and cemented his role as a defender of the Republic; however, the manner in which the Senate dealt with the crisis demonstrated the Senate’s reactionary tendencies to secure its own interests first. This move away from a policy of compromise to self-interested reaction was a key shift in Roman politics which would in the long term contribute to the final collapse of the Republic.

Economic and political strife

Rome's military and diplomatic successes around the Mediterranean resulted in unforeseen economic and political pressures on the state. While factional strife had always been part of Roman political life, the stakes were now far higher; a corrupt provincial governor could acquire unbelievable wealth; a successful military commander needed only the support of his legions to rule vast territories.

Starting with the Punic Wars, the Roman economy began to change, concentrating wealth in the hands of a few powerful clans and causing political tension within Rome.

Much of the newly conquered territories were seized by rich and powerful families. Additionally, as only men who could provide their own arms were eligible to serve in the Legions, the majority of Roman troops came from the middle class land holders who theoretically would be fighting to defend their own lands. With military campaigns now lasting years rather than just a few months, soldiers could not return to work their farms. With their holdings lying fallow, their families quickly fell into debt, and their lands were lost to creditors — typically wealthy landholders who consolidated these properties into vast latifundia. Formerly middle-class soldiers would return from years of campaigning to find themselves landless, unable to support their families, and ironically, unemployable because the successes of the Legions made slaves a much cheaper source of labor.

By 133 BC the economic imbalance was too acute to ignore, but the wealthy patricians and old families in the Senate had a vested interest in preserving the status quo. It seemed that a land reform through the traditional channels was an unlikely prospect.

Gracchi reforms (133 to 121 BC)

In 133 BC, a tribune, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, tried to introduce land reform to redistribute "publicly held land" to the now landless returning soldiers. He proposed the enforcement of a Roman law, which had mostly been ignored, which limited the use of public lands. While "public lands" were technically state owned, such land was often used by wealthy landholders, many of them Senators. Under the enforcement of this law many of them would lose property.

As it seemed unlikely that the Senate would agree to enforce the law, Tiberius bypassed the Senate entirely, and tried to pass his reform through the Plebeian Assembly as a plebiscite, using the legal principle of Lex Hortensia. While technically legal, this was a violation of political custom, and outraged many patricians. The Senate blocked Tiberius by bribing his fellow tribune to veto the bill. Tiberius then passed a bill to depose his colleague from office, violating the principle of collegiality. With the veto withdrawn, the land reform passed. An incensed Senate refused to fund the land commission. Tiberius used the plebeian assembly to divert funds from the income of Pergamon to fund the commission, challenging Senate control of state finances and foreign policy. When it became clear that Tiberius did not have enough time to finish his land reforms, even with political and economic backing, he announced that he would run again for the tribunate, violating annuality. This was the last straw for the patricians, who, fearing that Tiberius was setting himself up as a tyrant, responded by slaughtering Tiberius and 300 of his followers in the streets of Rome.

Tiberius's younger brother Gaius Sempronius Gracchus attempted to continue political reforms using similar tactics almost ten years later. He seems to have been more of a demagogue who attempted to pass a slew of popular laws to gain popular support rather than to be a political reformer with a specific agenda like his brother. He was neither as successful, nor as popular, as his elder brother, but he managed to create many political enemies. Escalating political tensions finally exploded once again in violence on the Capitoline Hill, where Gaius Gracchus and 3,000 of his followers were killed.

Whatever their intentions, the political careers of the Gracchi brothers had broken the political traditions of Rome, and introduced mob violence as a tool of Roman political life. It was a change from which the Republic would never recover.

Marius and Sulla

Gaius Marius (107–100 BC)

"Marius amid the Ruins of Carthage" by John Vanderlyn

Following the scandal of the Gracchi, Roman politics became a mix of traditional forms, demagoguery, and mob violence. Additionally, Rome was finding the military demands of its holdings extremely taxing.

The badly executed, and unpopular, Jugurthine War (112–105 BC) was dragging on in Numidia. It would launch the career of Gaius Marius, and bring about fundamental changes in the Republic.

Marius was a "novus homo" from Arpinum who had wealth and minor political influence, but who was not a member of the Roman aristocracy. After serving as a minor officer in the Jugurthine War, Marius returned to Rome, and stood for election as Consul in 107 BC, based on the promise to end the war within a year. Surprisingly, Marius was elected.

Upon attaining the Consulship, and over the extreme protests of the Senate, Marius instituted the Marian reforms in 107 BC. These reorganized the tactical structure of the Roman legion, and allowed the recruitment of poor and landless Roman citizens into the legions, at state expense. Soldiers would enlist for a period of 20 years, and would be rewarded with a land grant at the end of their term of service. This would change the nature of the legions, as legionaries would from this point on be professional soldiers fighting for their "pension", and the general who would obtain it for them, as much as for "the state".

With his new "head count" armies, Marius returned to Numidia as the Consular commander.

Although Marius did not complete the war within the year, he was elected Consul for a second time, and in absentia (both amazingly unusual exceptions), to complete the war. In 105 BC, Marius defeated Jugurtha, who was captured by King Bocchus I of Mauretania and handed over to one of Marius' quaestors, Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

After returning to Rome a military hero, Marius was quickly confronted with a near catastrophe brought about by the disastrous Battle of Arausio in 105 BC. The defeat led to a serious breach in the defenses of northern Italy. For the first time since the wars of Hannibal the Roman heartland was open to invasion, though this time the opponents were not the relatively civilized Carthaginians but rather were the migrating Cimbri and Teutoni tribes, a people the Romans saw as nothing more than barbarians. Amazingly, Marius was elected Consul for three more years (104–102 BC) to fight the remainder of the Cimbrian War.

He raised new Legions from plebeian volunteers, trained them, crushed the Teutoni at the Battle of Aquae Sextae in 102 BC, and aided Quintus Lutatius Catulus to likewise defeat the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC. Having saved Rome, Marius was elected to Consul an unprecedented 6th time in 100 BC.

However, Marius would prove that his skills as a general General would not translate into political aptitude or even competence. After a humiliating political scandal concerning Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, Marius completely withdrew from public political life.

Social war (91 to 88 BC)

With Marius' retirement, the way was cleared for the political career of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Sulla was a patrician, and a traditional political conservative, who had served under Marius as a competent officer in Numidia and Germany. However, there was political enmity between the two, as Marius had "slighted" Sulla by failing to credit him with the capture of Jugurtha.

In 91 BC, a tribune and political champion of the rights of the Latin allies, Marcus Livius Drusus, attempted to pass a law granting full Roman citizenship to all the Italian allies living south of the Po River. When Drusus was murdered, many of the Italian allies, especially those among the Samnites, exploded into the rebellion of the Social war (Socius is Latin for ally).

Ironically, to try to end the war, Rome offered full citizenship to any of the rebelling allies who would cease the conflict. Most of the allies ceased fighting, but several continued the rebellion. In response, Gaius Marius came out of retirement, and commanded the Roman forces in northern Italy, while Lucius Cornelius Sulla commanded the Roman legions in southern Italy, bringing the war to an end in 88 BC. Following their joint victory, Sulla stood for election as Consul, and was elected.

First Mithridatic and Roman civil wars (88–83 BC)

When Mithridates VI of Pontus overran Bithynia as the Social war ended, and slaughtered perhaps tens of thousands of Roman citizens in the Asiatic Vespers, the Senate gave Sulla the Consular command of the expeditionary force sent to exact revenge against Mithridates.

Gaius Marius did not wish to return to political obscurity, and bribed the passage of a bill through the Plebeian Assembly to give himself command of Sulla's armies. When Sulla heard of this while raising his legions in southern Italy, he turned his armies on Rome itself. Sulla's legions captured the city after protracted and bloody street fighting in Rome, and Marius was forced to flee to Africa. Sulla then departed to confront Mithridates and his allies. Marius returned to Rome with Lucius Cornelius Cinna and captured the city with his legions. Marius appointed himself Consul for a seventh time and proceeded to butcher Sulla's supporters. However, only a few weeks later Marius died of a massive brain hemorrhage. Cinna retained power, and in an almost comedic episode, decided to ignore Sulla's existence completely, even sending a second army to Pontus. Sulla eventually took over that army and combined it with his own. The war came to a close with the Treaty of Dardanos in 85 BC.

Sulla then returned to Rome with his Legions in 83 BC.

Sulla (82–80 BC)

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix — a denarius portrait issued by his grandson

Cinna was killed by his own troops trying to muster them against the returning Legions of Sulla, leaving Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and other of Marius's supporters to deal with Sulla's return. In 83 BC Sulla landed in southern Italy, and full scale Roman civil war broke out in the Italian countryside. The war raged on for a year and a half, but Sulla's legions (aided by Metellus Pius, Marcus Licinius Crassus and a young Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) finally prevailed, taking the city of Rome at the Battle of the Colline Gate.

Sulla then instituted a bloody series of purges, subjecting his enemies to proscription: a process named for the lists of the condemned posted in the Roman forum. People whose names appeared on the lists were stripped of their legal rights and protection, had their (and their family's) property impounded by the state, and a bounty placed on their lives. Each day, the lists in the forum were updated by Sulla and his supporters. New names could be added to the list and others removed based solely on the whim of Sulla. This allowed him to maintain a grip of fear among those now under his control and keep anyone who may consider plotting against him fearful that his name may appear at any moment on the infamous lists. Thousands of Romans who opposed Sulla, or even those who simply had wealth that he and his followers coveted, were butchered in this fashion over a period of two years.

Sulla was appointed dictator "for the writing of laws and reorganizing of the state" ([rei publicæ constituendæ causa] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), and began reorganizing Roman political institutions to return power to the Senate. He strongly curtailed the power of the Plebeian Assembly, doubled the size of the Roman Senate, gave the Senate veto power over the decrees of the Plebeian Assembly, and stripped the Tribunes of much of their power. He reorganized the legal system, curtailed the actions of provincial governors and expanded the Pomerium, among other constitutional reforms.

With his reforms in place, Sulla then resigned the dictatorship in 80 BC, and was elected consul with Metellus Pius as his colleague. In 79 BC he withdrew completely from public life, and retired to his country estates where he finished his memoirs (now lost) and died in 78 BC.

First Triumvirate

Civil war

The key issue was whether or not Caesar would be able to stand for the consulship of 48 BC in absentia. Caesar's governorship would expire at the end of 49 BC, and so would his immunity from trial. He was sure to be charged with violations of the constitution stemming from his consulship of 59 BC, which could result in his political and probably even physical, death. If he was allowed to run in absentia, he could immediately assume another consulship, and then following that, immediately assume a new governorship, always maintaining his immunity. The optimates were heavily opposed to Caesar's standing in absentia, and on the first of January, 49 BC, passed a law declaring Caesar a public enemy and demanded his return to Rome to stand trial. Pompey was given absolute authority to defend the Roman Republic. This news reached Caesar probably on January 10, and proclaiming "alea iacta est" — "the die is cast" (in fact, he said it in Greek, quoting Menander), Caesar crossed the Rubicon River (the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy) with his army. Civil war had begun again.

Caesar, leading a tough veteran army, quickly swept down the Italian peninsula, and encountered meager resistance from freshly recruited legions. The only exception was at Corfinium, where Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus was defeated. Caesar pardoned him, under his notable policy of clemency — he wanted to let everyone know that he would not be the next Sulla. He took Rome without opposition, and then marched south to try to stop Pompey, who was trying to withdraw from Brundisium across the Adriatic Sea to Greece. Caesar came close, but Pompey and his armies were able to escape at the last minute.

In 48 BC Pompey controlled the seas, and his legions heavily outnumbered Caesar's; but the legions of Caesar, after ten years of vigorous campaigns, were experienced veterans. Caesar, for his lack of a navy, solidified his control over the western Mediterranean, notably at Massilia and in Spain. Then he invaded Greece. The two leaders first faced each other at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, where Pompey won. Nevertheless, Pompey failed to follow up on his victory, and Caesar was able to regroup and win a decisive victory at the Battle of Pharsalus on the 9th of August. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he hoped to find assistance.

File:Ac.cleopatra.jpg

Bust of Cleopatra, with her hair in a Greek-style bun

Caesar, pursuing Pompey, arrived in Alexandria, capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, to find the breadbasket of the Mediterranean in a state of civil war. Agents of the young king, Ptolemy XIII, had assassinated Pompey and presented his head to Caesar, believing it would please him and that he would support Ptolemy against his sister, Cleopatra. Caesar was too a cunning politician to make such a mistake. In a careful way he lamented the inglorious death of Pompey, a fellow Roman, and supported the militarily weaker side, whose gratitude would logically be much greater. He even began an affair with Cleopatra. A long, drawn-out city battle resulted, one of the most dangerous of Caesar's career, but he triumphed and placed Cleopatra on the throne along with another brother, Ptolemy XIV. Cleopatra later gave birth to Caesar's son, Caesarion, titled Ptolemy Caesar. Caesar, hearing of an invasion in Asia Minor led by Pharnaces II of Pontus, the son of the old Roman enemy Mithridates, advanced there in 47 BC, and won a quick victory at the Battle of Zela. It was then that Caesar famously said: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" — "I came, I saw, I conquered."

In 46 BC Caesar went to North Africa to deal with the regrouping remnants of the pro-Pompeian forces under Cato the Younger and Titus Labienus. After a slight setback in the Battle of Ruspina he defeated them at the Battle of Thapsus. Much to Caesar's chagrin, Cato committed suicide. Caesar had wanted to pardon Cato, his most intractable foe, in order to gain popularity through further clemency. In 45 BC, he went to Spain, and won the final victory over the pro-Pompeian forces in the terrifying Battle of Munda. He said that before, he always had fought for victory, but in Munda he had fought for his life. He then returned to Rome; he had less than a year to live.

In that final year Caesar launched many reforms. He tightly regulated the distribution of free grain, keeping those who could afford private grain from having access to the grain dole. He reformed the calendar, changing from a Lunar to a Solar calendar and giving his gens name to the 7th month (July). This calendar, with minor changes made by Octavian (who would later rename the 8th month (August) after one of his titles) and Pope Gregory in 1582, has survived until now. He also reformed the debt problem. At the same time, he continued to accept enormous honors from the Senate. He was named Pater Patriae — "Father of his Country", and began wearing the purple toga of the old Roman kings. This deepened the rift between Caesar and the aristocratic republican Senators, many of whom he had pardoned during the civil war.

In 45 BC he had been named dictator for ten years. This was followed up in 44 BC with his appointment of dictator for life. A two-fold problem was created; first, all political power would be concentrated in the hands of Caesar for the foreseeable future, in effect subordinating the Senate to his whims; and second, only Caesar's death would end this. As such, a group of about 60 senators, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, conspired to assassinate Caesar in order to save the republic. They carried out their deed on the Ides of March — 15 March 44 BC, three days before Caesar was scheduled to go east to fight the Parthians.

Second Triumvirate

After Caesar's assassination, his friend and chief lieutenant, Marcus Antonius, seized the last will of Caesar and using it in an inflammatory speech against the murderers, incited the mob against them. The murderers panicked and fled to Greece. In Caesar's will, his grand-nephew Octavianus who also was the adopted son of Caesar, was named as his political heir. Octavian returned from Apollonia (where he and his friends Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Gaius Maecenas had been studying and helping in the gathering of the Macedonian legions for the planned invasion of Parthia) and raised a small army from among Caesar's veterans. After some initial disagreements, Antony, Octavian, and Antony's ally Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, formed the Second Triumvirate. Their combined strength gave the triumvirs absolute power. In 42 BC, they followed the assassins into Greece, and mostly because of the generalship of Antony, defeated them at the Battle of Philippi on 23 October. To pay for about forty legions that were engaged by the triumvirate for this purpose, proscriptions were declared against about 300 senators and 2000 equites, including Cicero, who was killed at his villa. After the victory, about 22 of the largest Italian cities suffered confiscations to provide land for the veterans.

In 40 BC, Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus negotiated the Pact of Brundisium. Antony received all the richer provinces in the east, namely Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus (roughly modern Greece), Bithynia, Pontus and Asia (roughly modern Turkey), Syria, Cyprus and Cyrenaica and he was very close to Ptolemaic Egypt, then the richest state of all. Octavian on the other hand received the Roman provinces of the west: Italia (modern Italy), Gaul (modern France), Gallia Belgica (parts of modern Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), and Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal), these territories were poorer but traditionally the better recruiting grounds; and Lepidus was given the minor province of Africa (modern Tunisia) to govern. Henceforth, the contest for supreme power would be between Antony and Octavian.

In the west, Octavian and Lepidus had first to deal with Sextus Pompeius, the surviving son of Pompey, who had taken control of Sicily and was running pirate operations in the whole of the Mediterranean, endangering the flow of the crucial Egyptian grain to Rome. In 36 BC, Lepidus, while besieging Sextus forces in Sicily, ignored Octavian's orders that no surrender would be allowed. Octavian then bribed the legions of Lepidus, and they deserted to him. This stripped Lepidus of all his remaining military and political power.

Antony, in the east, was waging war against the Parthians. His campaign was not as successful as he would have hoped, though far more successful than Crassus. He took up an amorous relationship with Cleopatra, who gave birth to three children by him. In 34 BC, at the Donations of Alexandria, Antony "gave away" much of the eastern half of the empire to his children by Cleopatra. In Rome, this donation, the divorce of Octavia Minor and the affair with Cleopatra, and the seized testament of Antony (in which he famously asked to be buried in his beloved Alexandria) was used by Octavian in a vicious propaganda war accusing Antony of "going native", of being completely in the thrall of Cleopatra and of deserting the cause of Rome. He was careful not to attack Antony directly, for Antony was still quite popular in Rome; instead, the entire blame was placed on Cleopatra.

In 31 BC war finally broke out. Approximately 200 senators, one-third of the Senate, abandoned Octavian to support Antony and Cleopatra. The final confrontation of the Roman Republic occurred on 2 September 31 BC, at the naval Battle of Actium where the fleet of Octavian under the command of Agrippa routed the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra; the two lovers fled to Egypt. After his victory, Octavian skillfully used propaganda, negotiation, and bribery to bring Antony's legions in Greece, Asia Minor, and Cyrenaica to his side.

Bronze statue of Octavian, Archaeological Museum, Athens

Octavian continued on his march around the Mediterranean towards Egypt, receiving the submission of local kings and Roman governors along the way. He finally reached Egypt in 30 BC, but before Octavian could capture him, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra did the same within a few days. The period of civil wars were finally over. Thereafter, there was no one left in the Roman Republic who wanted to, or could, stand against Octavian, as the adopted son of Caesar moved to take absolute control. He designated governors loyal to him to the half dozen "frontier" provinces, where the majority of the legions were situated, thus, at a stroke, giving him command of enough legions to ensure that no single governor could try to overthrow him. He also reorganized the Senate, purging it of unreliable or dangerous members, and "refilled it" with his supporters from the provinces and outside the Roman aristocracy, men who could be counted on to follow his lead. However, he left the majority of Republican institutions apparently intact, albeit feeble. Consuls continued to be elected, tribunes of the plebeians continued to offer legislation, and debate still resounded through the Roman Curia. However it was Octavian who influenced everything and ultimately, controlled the final decisions, and had the legions to back it up, if necessary.

The Roman Senate and the Roman citizens, exhausted by lengthy civil war, were willing to relinquish the rule of the Senate and popular assemblies in favor of a temporary security. By 27 BC the transition, though subtle and disguised, was made complete. In that year, Octavian offered back all his extraordinary powers to the Senate, and in a carefully staged way, the Senate refused and in fact titled Octavian Augustus — "the revered one". He was always careful to avoid the title of rex — "king", and instead took on the titles of princeps — "first citizen" and imperator, a title given by Roman troops to their victorious commanders. All these titles, alongside the name of "Caesar", were used by all Roman Emperors and still survive slightly changed to this date. Prince derives from "Princeps" and Emperor from "Imperator", Caesar became "Kaiser" (German) and "Czar" (Russian). The Roman Empire had been born, and popular sovereignty would not be restored for over a thousand years.

Figures of the Republic

Early Republic

Late Republic

Latin literature of the Republic

Tourist resorts

References

Francis Owen, "The Germanic people; their Origin Expansion & Culture", 1993 Barnes & Noble Books ISBN 0880295791
"The conquest of Gaul" by Gaius Julius Caesar ISBN 0-14-044433-5
Harriet I. Flower (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, Cambridge 2004.
"The Cambridge Ancient History", vols. 7–9, Cambridge 1990ff.
"The Enemies of Rome" by Philip Matyszak edited by Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-25124-X
"Rubicon : the last years of the Roman Republic" by Tom Holland edited by Doubleday ISBN 0-385-50313-X
"The Complete Roman Army" by Adrian Goldsworthy edited by Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-05124-0
"Scipio Africanus — Greater than Napoleon" by B. H. Liddell Hart published by DA CAPO Press ISBN 0-306-81363-7
"The Roman Army" by Peter Connolly

External links

www.roman-empire.net, about the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
The Roman Republic from In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)
http://www.unrv.com Roman Empire History

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