Roman Republic (509–27 BCE)

Roman Republic Rēs pūblica Rōmāna
509 BCE–27 BCE
The Roman Republic in 44 BCE
Capital	Rome
Official languages	Latin
Dominant mode of production	Slavery
Government	Aristocratic plutocratic republic
Area
• Total	1,950,000 km²(50 BCE)
Preceded by Succeeded by Roman Kingdom Roman Empire

The Roman Republic was an ancient country that originated in the Italian peninsula and expanded to include parts of Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. It succeeded the Roman Kingdom and preceded the Roman Empire.

History

Foundation

The last king of Rome was overthrown around 509 BCE and a republic was proclaimed.

Struggle of the Orders

The internal class struggle of the early Roman Republic involved small farmers (plebeians) struggling against the Senate, which was controlled by wealthy, aristocratic patricians. Plebeians formed city militias but often refused to fight as a form of strike action. The Struggle of the Orders ended with a compromise that gave plebeians increased political power but did not overthrow the ruling class. The Roman aristocracy could not tax or indebt the plebeians as much, so they turned to foreign expansion.

Expansion

Rome conquered the rest of the Italian peninsula during the third and fourth centuries BCE. After defeating Carthage in the First Punic War, it took control of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica in 261 BCE. Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy in the Second Punic War (218–202 BCE) but was eventually defeated, allowing Rome to take control of the Iberian peninsula. Wealthy families funded the war effort, and the state rewarded them with newly conquered land.

Rome conquered Carthage in 146 BCE, beginning its colonization of North Africa. After helping Greek city-states fight against Macedonia, Rome subjugated Greece and made it a Roman province. It defeated the Spartan kings Agis and Cleomenes, who tried to cancel the debts of their citizens. The Romans assimilated members of conquered foreign ruling classes and offered to reward them for participation in future conquests. They also used the spoils of war to bribe poor Romans to support their wars.

From 154 to 133 BCE, Rome sent tens of thousands of soldiers to fight in the Iberian Peninsula. As farmers left to become soldiers, patricians filled the countryside with their slaves. In Sicily, the center of the slave trade, slaves revolted from 136 to 134 BCE and again from 103 to 101 BCE.

Internal social conflict

Tiberius Gracchus was elected as a tribune in 133 BCE and planned to revive an old law limiting land ownership to 125 hectares. He would compensate landowners for their land and redistribute it to the poor. He convened the Tribal Assembly of the People to pass the law, but Marcus Octavius, another tribune, vetoed it. Gracchus took the issue to the public forum, which removed Octavius from office and passed the agrarian reform law. After he ran for reelection, the Senate organized his assassination.

The Social War occurred between 91 and 88 BCE and was fought over the rights of non-Romans living in Italy.

After the death of reactionary ruler Sulla in 78 BCE and the threat of a social revolution, Senate aristocrats reorganized Sulla's supporters and appointed Pompey to put down unrest.

In 74 BCE, Spartacus began a slave revolt. It grew to a strength of over 100,000, but Marcus Crassus defeated it in 71 BCE and crucified 6,000 rebels.

Rise of Caesar

Julius Caesar became high priest in 64 BCE and passed a moderate land reform bill, which Cicero, a consul, opposed. In 60 BCE, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate. Pompey had prestige from war, while Crassus had financial resources and Caesar had popular support. The First Triumvirate collapsed in 53 BCE after Parthians killed Crassus after a failed military campaign in Western Asia and Caesar's daughter Julia, who was also Pompey's wife, died. Pompey split with Caesar and joined the optimates. The Senate appointed Pompey as the sole consul of Rome in 52 BCE.

Vercingetorix, a Gallic leader, waged a resistance campaign against the Romans in 52 BCE. After being defeated, he was imprisoned for six years and then executed.

In 50 BCE, Curio vetoed a Senate proposal to replace Caesar as proconsul. He instead proposed that Caesar and Pompey both resign their military commands. Ultraconservative optimates wanted to completely disarm Caesar and give Pompey all military power. Mark Antony, Caesar's ally and Curio's successor, fled north to Gaul to join Caesar. In 49 BCE, Caesar's followers crossed the Rubicon river and reentered Italy without permission of the Senate. Most of the Senate and both consuls fled, and Lepidus nominated Caesar as dictator.

Civil war

Caesar defeated Pompey's forces at Pharsalus in northern Greece in 48 BCE. Pompey then fled to Egypt, where Ptolemy's ministers killed him. Caesar sieged Alexandria and installed Cleopatra and Ptolemy as co-rulers of Egypt. The civil war ended in 45 BCE when Caesar defeated Pompey's sons in Spain. After Caesar's assassination, civil war resumed, with Caesar's supporters Antony and Octavian defeating the senatorial opposition of Brutus and Cassius. Antony and Octavian then divided the Republic between themselves before turning against each other. Octavian was victorious and became Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, ruling an expansionist military dictatorship.

Social classes

One third of the population were slaves who mainly worked on plantations (latifundia) and in mines. Rome enslaved many people through conquests and also used slavery as a punishment for capital crimes or being unable to pay back debt. Above the slaves were a proletarian class who lived in urban slums. There were also landowning middle peasants and a small middle class of merchants and minor officials.

The slave-owning ruling class contained less than 2,000 families. It was divided into a lower equestrian class that included bankers, state contractors, tax collectors, and large landowners. The equestrians were similar to knights under feudalism, although by the end of the republic most of them did not actually serve in the military. Above the equestrians were the patricians, who had a similar level of wealth to the equestrians but more political influence.

In the later republic, a class of debtors and tenant farmers emerged who worked on the plantations. They eventually developed into the serfs of feudalism.

Politics

Ancient Rome weighed voting according to how much land people owned, giving the ruling class control over the government even though many poor people could also vote.

Two consuls held executive power and served one-year terms. They were able to veto each other's decisions and presided over the Senate. Only patricians could be members of the Senate.

Following the Struggle of the Orders, the Assembly of the Plebs had to approve all laws and a military body called the Assembly of the Centuries had to approve declarations of war. Tribunes of the plebs could also block unpopular proposals.

Starting in the second century BCE, Roman politics divided into two factions. The larger group was the conservative, elitist optimates, while the smaller group, the populares, were reformers who frequently sided with the common people.

War

In a typical year, one-eighth of Roman citizens would be serving in the army, leaving their farms uncultivated. Big landowners often bought up these farms and made foreign slaves work on them.

Further reading

• The Assassination of Julius Caesar