The Romans created the largest empire in antiquity, starting with the founding of Rome in 753 BC and ending with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. Over this 1200 year period, Rome transitioned from a monarchy to a republic and then an empire that dominated territories across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Key events included the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC, the Punic Wars with Carthage, the expansion across the Mediterranean under the empire, and the division of the empire into Western and Eastern halves in 395 AD prior to the fall of the Western Empire.

1. Ancient Rome
The Romans created the largest
empire in Antiquity.
The history of Ancient Rome
started with the foundation of the
city of Rome in 753 BC
It ended with the fall of the
Western Roman Empire in 476 AD
That’s 1200 years of History!
Octavian Augustus, first emperor of Rome

2. What do you
already know
about the Romans?

3. The legendary foundation of Rome
took place in 753 AD.
According to the legend (but it’s just
a legend!), Rome was founded by
Romulus and Remus (Spanish: Rómulo
y Remo).
Romulus and Remus were abandoned,
and a shewolf fed them until a
shepherd found the two kids.
The story tells us that Romulus killed
his twin brother Remus. Romulus
became the first king of Rome.

4. Rome was founded on a valley close to the mouth of river Tiber in
Central Italy, on a region called Latium (Sp: Lacio)
The city of Rome was surrounded by seven hills. The
most important ones were the Palatine (Sp: Palatino) and
the Capitoline (Sp: Capitolio)
Latium

5. The question is:
How could a small village in Italy dominate so many
different territories in Europe, Asia and Africa?
From this... To this!

6. The history of Rome can be divided into three periods:
753 BC: Foundation
of Rome
27 BC: Octavian
Augustus was
proclaimed
emperor.
476 AD: Fall of the
Western Roman
Empire.

7. The Monarchy (753 BC – 509 BC)
At the beginning, Rome was ruled by a king.
There were seven kings during this period. Remember
that the first king of Rome was Romulus.
The first four kings were of
Latin origin (that is, they
were from Latium - the
region were Rome was
located)
The three last kings were of
Etruscan origin.

8. • During the monarchy, the king
was helped by the Senate.
• The members of the Senate
(the senators) were
descendants of the founders
of Rome.
I am a member of the
Roman Senate.
I am a patrician.
Patricians are the
descendants of the
founders of Rome.
Patricians
owned most
of the land,
and were
wealthy!

9. The rest of the population
were the plebeians (Sp:
plebeyos).
They had no political rights.
They could not be members
of the Senate.
But they paid taxes, and
served in the army as
soldiers.

10. The last king of Rome was
Tarquin the Proud (Sp:
Tarquino el soberbio).
Apparently, his son raped a
famous patrician lady called
Lucrecia.
Lucrecia felt dishonoured, and
commited suicide. This made
Tarquin very unpopular. So
there was a revolt against the
king, and a Republic was
established.
The death of Lucrecia, by a Spanish painter
called Luis Rosales. It was painted in 1871 AD.

11. The Republic (509 BC – 27 BC)
During the Republic a king did not rule. The power
was divided into three institutions:
- The popular assemblies.
- The magistrates.
- The Senate.

12. The popular assemblies
• Members: all the Roman citizens, including the patricians
and the plebeians.
• Tasks:
- to pass laws.
- to elect the magistrates.

13. The magistrates
• They were elected by the popular
assemblies.
• Each magistrate was in charge of a specific
matter.
• They were in charge only for one year.
• The most important were:
- The consuls: they were in charge of
the army.
- The praetors: they were basically
judges.
In very rare ocasions, a magistrate called
dictator could be elected. They had absolute
power whenever Rome was in danger.

14. The Senate
- Members: 300 men who had previously been magistrates.
- Tasks:
- give advice to the magistrates.
- control the magistrates.
- foreign policy.

15. Social confrontations between patricians and plebeians.
Because the magistrates were not paid, only the
patricians (who were rich) could have access to become
magistrates. The plebeians could not live without working.
The plebeians fought to have more rights. After
long confrontations, they managed to have the right to
become magistrates.

16. The start of the
territorial expansion
It was during the
Republic when Rome
started its territorial
expansion.
Rome had a very well-
organised army. Those
who owned land had to
fight in the army.

17. First, Rome dominated
the different peoples
of the Italian Peninsula

18. Secondly, Rome had to fight against another empire in the
West: the Carthaginians (Sp: Cartagineses)
The Carthaginians
came from nowadays
Lebanon in Asia, and
established in North
Africa
They had expanded
territorially in the
Mediterranean.
Their capital was
Carthage in the north
of Africa.
Both the Carthaginians
and the Romans wanted
to dominate the
Mediterranean.

19. The Romans and the Carthaginians
fought in three wars: the Punic Wars
- The first punic war was for the
control of Sicily.
- The second punic war was the most
important punic war:
- The Carthaginians decided to
attack Rome. They nearly conquered
the capital.
- It was during this war that
the Romans arrived in Spain to fight
against Carthage.
- In the third punic war, Carthage
was completely destroyed by Rome.
Hannibal crossing the Alps towards Rome

20. Thirdly, the
Romans expanded
to Macedonia,
Greece and Syria.
In Greece the
Romans had
contact with the
Greek culture
which influenced
Rome a lot.

21. The consequences of the territorial expansion:
- There was more land available for the Roman citizens
outside Italy. Many Romans migrated to the new conquered areas.
- Rome obtained slaves, and wealthy items (gold, jewels...).
- The land was controlled only by the rich.
Now the land was cultivated by the slaves. It was cheaper to do it
like this.
Many small free Roman farmers became poor. However, the rich
became even richer.

22. - In the 1st century BC, the
peasants rebelled. They
wanted to receive land.
- Also, some slaves rebelled
because of their horrible
conditions of work. The
most famous revolt was led
by Spartacus. He created
an army of slaves that
nearly conquered the
capital!

23. To pacify these
revolts, Julius Caesar
was appointed
dictator. He
accumulated a lot of
power.
However, he ended up
being murdered in the
Senate by a group of
senators, who
thought that Caesar
wanted to become a
king and end with the
Republic.

24. After a number of civil wars Octavian Augustus ended the
Republic, and in 27 BC established the Empire.

25. The Empire (27 BC – 476 AD)
From Octavian Augustus
onwards, the emperors controlled all
the powers that the magistrates had
during the Republic:
- they were the military leaders
- they took the main political
decisions, and decided about the
laws.
- they were the Pontifex
maximus (the main religious leader).
Marco Aurelio, Roman emperor
in the 2nd century AD

26. The Senate and the magistrates
still existed, but all of them were
controlled by the emperor.
The Roman conquests continued
during the Empire: England,
Mesopotamia, Dacia (nowadays
Romania), Hispania and other
territories were conquered.
With Trajan (98-117 AD) the
territory ruled by Rome reached
its greatest extension.

27. It was during the Empire that
the romanisation happened: the
peoples conquered by Rome
adopted their language (Latin),
the Roman customs and the
Roman laws.
Rome founded several cities all
over the territories they
controlled.
The Roman empire was divided
into provinces, and were
connected with each other with
a network of roads (Sp:
calzadas)

28. The crisis of the Empire (3rd, 4th and 5th centuries AD)
The reasons for the crisis were the following:
- The Roman Empire was too big, and difficult to control.
Sometimes the Roman generals in the provinces were too powerful, and
proclaimed themselves emperors. There were frequent civil wars.
- The barbarians (coming from outside Rome, from the North and
the East) started to attack the empire.
- Because the conquests had stopped, the Romans did not obtain
slaves and wealth.
- The cities were abandoned because the taxes in the countryside
were lower.

29. To stop this crisis, in 395 AD emperor Theodosius I divided
the empire in two:
- the Western Roman Empire (capital = Rome).
- the Eastern Roman Empire (capital = Constantinople)

30. However, in 476 AD
the last Roman Empire
(Romulus Augustulus)
was overthrowned by
some Barbarian
tribes.
It was the end of the
Western Roman
Empire. The Eastern
Roman Empire (or
Byzantine Empire)
continued existing
until 1453.