The Romans

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The boys were abandoned by their uncle to die on the banks of the river Tiber in central Italy. But they were rescued by a she-wolf, and later found and raised by a shepherd.

To repay the she-wolf, Romulus and Remus vowed to build a city in her honour on the Palatine Hill where she had found them. In a quarrel about the city boundaries, Remus was killed and Romulus became the first king of Rome. From humble beginnings as a small group of villages, Rome grew to become the capital of the most powerful empire the western world had ever seen.

At first, Rome was ruled by kings, but, in about 509 BC, King Tarquin the Proud was expelled from Rome, and for almost the next 500 years Rome was run as a republic. Power passed to the Senate, a law-making body made up of nobles and headed by two officials, called consuls. The consuls were elected each year to manage the affairs of the Senate and the army. By about 50 BC, Rome had conquered most of the lands around the Mediterranean. But rivalry between army generals plunged Rome into civil war. In 27 BC, Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, became the first Roman emperor. He was charged with restoring peace.

Under the emperors, Rome gained control of much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The Roman army was originally formed to protect the city of Rome. It was made up largely of volunteer soldiers. General Marius (155-86 BC) reorganized the army into a more efficient force. Soldiers were paid wages and joined up for 20 to 25 years. Ordinary soldiers were grouped into units called legions, each made up of about 5,000 men. The legions, in turn, were made up of smaller units, called centuries, of 80 men. These were commanded by soldiers called centurions.

Roman society was divided into citizens and non-citizens.

There were three classes of citizens – patricians, the richest aristocrats; equites, the wealthy merchants; and plebeians, the ordinary citizens. All citizens were allowed to vote in elections and to serve in the army. They were also allowed to wear togas.

Building, mining and all hard manual labour was done by the vast workforce of salves. Many salves were treated cruelly, but some were paid a wage and could eventually buy their freedom.

CHRISTIANITY AND ROME

The Romans worshipped many gods and often adopted new religions from the people they conquered. Jesus Christ was born (probably in 4 BC) in Palestine, which was then a Roman province. His teachings attracted fervent followers, but upset local Jewish leaders, and he was crucified by the Romans. Christ’s followers, among them the apostle Paul, spread the new religion of Christianity throughout the Roman world. Despite persecution, the faith grew and, in AD 391, it became the official religion of Rome.

HANNIBAL

From 264 to 146 BC, Rome waged a series of wars, called the Punic Wars, against the Phoenician city of Carthage in North Africa, to gain control of the Mediterranean. In 218 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal led a surprise attack on the Romans. He marched over the Alps into Italy with 35,000 men and 37 elephants. Carthage was eventually defeated.