Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The Public Thing

-The Romans had established a small amount of territory, wanted to spread their territory into eastern Italy.
   -They also still had the Etruscans to deal with in the North.
-According to legend, the last king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was overthrown in 509 BC.
   -We don't really know what happened during this time because the Gauls sacked Rome in 389 BC and destroyed all the records.
-By the time of the Republic, the Roman population had grown to about 130,000.
   -2 groups- the patricians and the plebeians.
      -Patricians were descendants of the original 100 senators.
         -Usually rich, but not always.
      -Plebeians couldn't trace their lineage to the original 100 senators.
         -Usually poor, but not always.
-Starting out, the Republic was really just an oligarchy of the Roman elite.  However, as some plebs grew more and more wealthy, they demanded more government representation.
   -Women, slaves, and immigrants, however, had no power.
   -Majority of the people were just farmers.
      -The land was owned, of course, by the elites, who also controlled the import/export trade, so they benefited the most from these farms.
      -The farms produced crops for food and trade.
-Consuls- 2 of them, ruled annually so they couldn't get too powerful.
   -Originally called praetors.
   -They had almost absolute power, just like the kings before them.
   -Consuls could also veto each other.
   -The first 2 consuls were Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.
      -Collatinus was cousin to the Tarquin family, so in order to calm people down he stepped down and was replaced by Publius Valerius.
-Not everyone was happy with the consul system.  Some elites who lived well under the kings plotted a counter-revolution.
   -A collection of young nobles, including 2 sons of Lucius Junius Brutus, conspired with envoys of now-exiled Tarquin the Proud to retake the city.
      -However, they were exposed by a slave, and all the conspirators were arrested.
-Meanwhile, Tarquin the Proud tried to appeal to Veii to attack Rome, as he tried to convince them that this Republic-ism could spread to Veii and other cities in the region.
   -It worked, and Veii attacked, but they lost, although they did manage to kill the consul Lucius Junius Brutus.
-Publius Valerius now ruled alone, but he assured everyone that he wasn't going to be a tyrant.
   -He made 2 new laws:
      -Any man who tried to crown himself king could at anytime be killed by anyone else.
      -Any decision made by the magistrates could be appealed to by the People's Assembly.
      -He also called for an election to fill the second consul spot.
         -Marcus Horatius Pulvius was elected after some other dude who was originally elected died of old age.
-At this time, patricians were still weary of the masses and their revolution capabilities, and the plebs felt like the elites still being in control wasn't that much different from being ruled over by kings.

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