Rome: HIS 111 200V FA23 - World Civilizations Pre-1500 CE

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• Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra’s forces in 31 B.C., at Actium

• together they formed a Second Triumvirate when they invited the governor of the western provinces, Lepidus, to join them in this political alliance.

• The peninsula offers protection with seas on three sides

• its height stretched from Mesopotamia to Britain and from North Africa to modern-day Germany.

• There are two important rivers on the peninsula, the Po River in the northern part and the Tiber River in the center.

• Both offered fertile lands.  That, combined with the mild Mediterranean climate, made Italy ideal for agricultural development

• Later, when the Romans became interested in trade and expanding the empire, their central location in the center of the Mediterranean allowed them to dominate the region

• beautiful marble that they would use for their impressive architecture

• . The first Indo-Europeans arrived in the peninsula in between 2000 BC and 1000 BC.  They settled first around the Po River

• Later, a group called the Latins moved to the area of the Tiber River around 800 B.C.  The Latins established farming villages along the Tiber River

• Sometime around 600 BC, the Etruscans, from Asia Minor, arrived.

• They took over and introduced the idea of city states to the region and established a monarchy. It is believed that the name Rome is derived from an Etruscan word, “Roma

• In the southern part of the Italian peninsula, Greeks established trading colonies around 750 BC.  This area was called “Magna Graecia” or “Greater Greece”. The settlers in the south were isolated from the other groups to their north.

• One version of how Rome was founded comes from Virgil’s Aeneid, which tells the story of Aeneas.

• It is believed that Aeneas founded Rome.

• Another Roman legend states that the city of Rome was founded by two brothers. These two royal brothers, Romulus and Remus, had been left in a river to die.  The brothers were rescued and raised by a she-wolf who found them. In adulthood, Romulus and Remus decided to build a city in the same area where the she-wolf found them.

• . The city of Rome is located close to the point at which the Tiber River empties into the sea. For this reason, Rome became a center for trade of the peninsula.

• Instead, Rome started as a monarchy, evolved into a republic, and then finally into an empire ruled by an all powerful emperor

• n 509 BC, the Romans kicked out the Etruscan king and established a republic, “res publica or public affairs”.

• In the Roman Republic, the “Imperium” or power was shared