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Rome 's Creation Of A Mediterranean Empire

Decent Essays

I. Rome’s Creation of a Mediterranean Empire, 753 b.c.e.–330 c.e. A. Geography and Resources 1. Italy and Sicily are at a crossroads of the Mediterranean and serve as a link between Africa and Europe. Rome is at a crossroads of the Italian peninsula. 2. Italy’s natural resources included navigable rivers, forests, iron, a mild climate, and enough arable land to support a large population of farmers whose surplus product and labor could be exploited by the Roman state. B. A Republic of Farmers, 753–31 b.c.e. 1. Rome was inhabited at least as early as 1000 b.c.e. According to legend, it was ruled by seven kings between 753 b.c.e. and 507 b.c.e. Kingship was eliminated in 507 b.c.e. when representatives of the senatorial class of large landholders overthrew the last king and established a republic. 2. The centers of political power were the two consuls and the Senate. In practice, the Senate made laws and governed. 3. The Roman family consisted of several generations living under the absolute authority of the oldest living male, the paterfamilias. 4. Society was hierarchical. Families and individuals were tied together by patron/client relationships that institutionalized inequality and gave both sides of the relationship reason to cooperate and to support the status quo. 5. Roman women had relatively more freedom than Greek women, but their legal status was still that of a child, subordinate to the paterfamilias of their own or their husband’s family. Eventually procedures

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