Rome 's Transformation Of Power Of The Entire Mediterranean Basin

With Augustus Caesar began the two centuries of the Pax Romana. During this time all of Rome became a collection of states rather than conquered provinces. The only threats that ever came were from the unorganized barbarian tribes who's conquest brought nothing to the Empire. (Mahoney, 2001)

Between 500 BCE and 500 CE, the Roman civilization experienced changes both politically and culturally. Firstly, Rome’s government transitioned from a Republic to an Empire. Later, that empire was split into two parts; east and west. In terms of changes in culture, it was impacted by the shift in religion, as the Romans shifted from polytheism to monotheism. Despite all the changes, Rome still remained culturally diverse.

The soldiers would enter the battle in chariots, launching javelins into the enemy formations, then dismount for hand-to-hand combat with more javelin throwing, rock throwing, and hand to hand sword and shield fighting. In the Iliad Homer also mentions the use of the phalanx formation being used by the Greeks. The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, or similar weapons . Scholars suggest that the Greeks would have used this tactic because the alignment of shields minimises the chances of projectiles hitting the men, and the men can move as one, strong unit.

In the beginning of the Roman Empire, the economy was booming and Pax Romana came and went. Rome began in 750 BC, and soon bringing power with it. The leaders in Rome changed from being a republic to being more military control. Their attitude on how to improve Rome was very military based and with great rulers to lead them. However, when Rome was coming to its end it was hard to control the Roman people and they were invaded by the Germanic tribes, but this rooted from a series of problems. Leaving the Roman empire to fall because of their military problems, political assassinations, and foreign invasions.

The large population led to the classification of social status. According the Document D, second paragraph, the citizens were ranked into distinct classes based on different standards of living. They were ranked by wealth, heritage, administrative competence, martial status, and physical and moral fitness. These classes determined the citizen’s political privileges, level of taxation, and military service. Under the rule of Emperor Trajan and many others, Rome reached its highest peak. It was distinctively large compared to Athens, and analogically expressed as an elephant to a

Romans fought in a manner very similar to the Greeks. In early times they utilized the phalanx and a cavalry back-up, but around the 1st century BCE they began to form a “checkered board” pattern. This allowed them to cover more ground and allow men room to fight. In the first century they also retired using a cavalry (Cartwright). The form of foot soldiers only with no horseback cavalry was uncommon. In

The Roman Republic conquered and overcame a lot of other cities but to do that they had to Provide Public Services, Promote Rule of Law, Prepare a common defense, Support the economic system and Protect rights, So were they meeting the common good.

In 509 B.C Rome became a republic, from there the Romans were expanding more and more every year. Over a 500 hundred year time period the Romans grew from a big city to a vast empire of many countries with a tremendous army. Rome changed over time because of when Rome change their government to a Republic, to allow their people to elect officials of the government, the important results for the Romans were getting wealthy from trade, and expanding Rome into a immense empire. First, when they formed the Republic it made a organized way to elect citizens to rule Rome. The second reason, is the road system they built. The wanted lots of money from all of their empire and they got from thousands of miles connected roadways. When Rome drove out their Etruscan ruler and formed a Republic, the Romans wanted to spread their beliefs, farther than Italy.

The Phalanx is one of the most safe war strategies in the ancient world. It could move in all directions and also obtained a big circular shield to protect the soldiers. The Greek phalanx was made up of 256 men, which was a square that was 16x16. This strategy was used to take down the Persians. The Greeks used about 10 foot spears in the phalanx, and the men also carried a sword in case a spear broke or a soldier got killed, they would be replaced(The Career of Alexander the Great).In order to have a Greek phalanx, they had to have thousands of trained men in the

Rome’s ferocity in the regal period began a cycle of war they would eventually become infamous for. Their soldiers came from all but the poorest of social classes and a large chunk of the Roman army was dependent upon the revenue war brought in. Any land won would be given to the wealthiest of Romans, usually patricians, who would use it as a means to control the poorer classes, usually plebeians. During

In the 7th Century BC a new era of warfare strategy evolved. Before this new strategy, foot soldiers (known as hoplites) engaged in battle in the form of one mob for each army which on the command of their generals runs at each other and proceeds to hack blindly at the enemy with little to no direction other then to kill the enemy in front of them. This proved to be very messy and the tide of battle depended mostly on emotion and size of an army. In the name of strategy and organization, the phalanx was developed. A phalanx is simply defined as a line formation with its width significantly larger then its depth. The depth of the phalanx is a variable which some suggest was decided by the army itself rather then by the leaders of the army.

Ancient Rome’s neighborhood was somewhat like the Greek city-states, consisted of small states competing against each other during the early years of the Roman Republic. Most of the people were farmers at the time, for that reason the need for fertile land intensified as the population increased. The need for additional resources and a desire to dominate the region created numerous wars in Rome’s neighborhood. brfencing.org (n.d.). According to brfencing.org (n.d.). “Roman politicians knew that they could relieve population pressures at Rome by fighting to gain more land, so political leaders, who were also, you remember, military leaders actively sought wars.”

Mediterranean Powers Prior to the Punic Wars, Carthage, a large port city located on the coast of modern Tunisia, was the dominant power in the Mediterranean region. It was an extremely powerful city-state founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century B.C. and had a lucrative empire because of the trades it has across the Mediterranean Sea. Out of all the other city-states in the Mediterranean region, only Rome rivaled its power and wealth.

The ancient Rome started developing in civilization as early as 8th century BC on the Italian Peninsula. The Roman republic consisted of two main classes of people or citizen by birth, who directly and indirectly participated in the development of the city. The first class of citizens were the Patricians and the Plebeians were the second class of people. Unlike slaves, as they have equal rights, but they did not share equal rights and treated entirely different to one another both in economically and politically. (Kent, 2013)

Mediterranean region included the land and sea called “Our Sea.” The sea was an important infrastructure need for the operation of the Roman Empire. Rome is located on a large peninsula far away the Mediterranean. Nature gives the Mediterranean some gifts such as the warming climate, sunny day during the year causing a mild winter, and no significant tie from the sea. Advantages in nature allowed Mediterranean civilization develop in trading, exchange cultures, fast and easy maritime communication. Greece of Mediterranean region was remarked as a center of the Mediterranean. It was a wealth and prosperity civilization under Alexander the Great. It was the most successful civilizations that influenced widespread to other Empires. The Romans