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According to legend, the history of Rome began in 753 BC when a basket, floating on the River Tiber, was washed ashore at
a place near seven hills. The basket carried twin infants, Romulus
and Remus. Their mother was the daughter of a local king, and their father, appropriately, was Mars, the god of war. The villain was their uncle, who had set them adrift to prevent them from challenging his title to the throne. Fortunately for the brothers, a she-wolf found and nursed the infants. Later a shepherd discovered them and took them home, where he and his wife raised them.
When they reached manhood, Romulus and Remus set things right by deposing their wicked uncle and replacing him on the throne with their grandfather. Then they built a city, choosing the Palatine Hill for
its location. Romulus welcomed fugitives to his hill and provided wives by hosting a festival for a neighbouring tribe, the Sabines
, then seizing their women.The story of Romulus and Remus is fantastic and yet based on truth. Rome had humble beginnings in the myth, and indeed it did in
reality. In the legend, the founders of Rome had the god of war for a father and had been raised on wolf milk, representing a skill in warfare on which the Romans prided themselves. Early in Rome's history, the city
was conquered by the Etruscans, the most notable civilization in Italy before Rome's rise to power. The Etruscans, who would influence Roman civilization, had migrated to Italy from Asia Minor, probably in the 12th century BC. Their distant past is a mystery, because their language has no
relationship to any other group of languages. Their Italian homeland, Etruria, consisted of a loose confederation of city-states. They were noted for their metalworking and their fine pottery. The Etruscans were at the
height of their power during the 6th century BC. By 500 BC their civilization was in decline, and at about that time the Romans rose up and claimed power in their city, establishing a republic.
A patrician class initially ruled Rome, but over time the Plebs, or common
people, gained influence. As late as 390 BC, when Greece and Persia
were great powers in the world, Rome was still so weak that it was sacked by the Gauls. However, during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, the Romans became masters of central and southern Italy. Roman armies entered Greece, where they were both conquerors and conquered: they defeated the Greek armies, but they were overawed by Greek culture and brought back to Rome a taste for fine art and literature.
Rome's most powerful rival was now the distant city of Carthage, ruler
of North Africa and the western Mediterranean. During the Punic Wars, the
Carthaginian army occupied Roman territory for more than a decade. Neither Rome nor Carthage, led by the great general Hannibal, could prevail. Finally, the Carthaginians were forced to withdraw. In 202 BC at the Battle of Zama, Rome defeated Carthage. The two nations lived in peace for a few
decades, then another Punic War erupted. Rome prevailed again, this time obliterating Carthage.During the next two centuries the Roman Empire expanded rapidly, gobbling up many of the territories once ruled by
Alexander the Great, including Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. While
venturing out to rule the Mediterranean world, Rome also defined its own civilization and polity. Reluctantly, the city extended its prized citizenship outward to other Italian towns and downward to social classes
previously disenfranchised.In 60 BC a triumvirate
(rule shared by three leaders), consisting of Gaius Julius Caesar,
Pompey the Great, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, led Rome. Caesar had come to power as a popular democratic leader. He was also an
outstanding general. During the next decade he fought the Gallic Wars, leading a Roman army as far north as Britain.Caesar returned to a nation in turmoil. Ordered to halt his army at the River Rubicon, he crossed in 49 BC and waged war for the control of Italy. Successful there, he pursued his
foes into Greece and Egypt. At Alexandria, his presence resulted in one of
the greatest tragedies in the history of learning: the burning of the great Library of Alexandria, depository of almost 500,000 manuscripts from Europe and Asia. But Caesar had his mind on love as well as war. Victorious, he established Cleopatra
as queen of Egypt and as his mistress. In 47 BC he won the battle of Zela and sent home the most famous words ever uttered by a triumphant warrior, "Veni, vidi, vici"—"I came, I saw, I conquered".Caesar
returned to Rome, where his presence led to both admiration and envy. In the presence of such a man, the old ideal of the Roman republic seemed to fade. William Shakespeare later expressed the republican distrust of the general in his tragedy Julius Caesar:
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus; and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves. In 44 BC Caesar was murdered by a group of senators led by Gaius Cassius Longinus
and Marcus Junius Brutus. The empire he had founded, with its autocratic tendencies, lasted long after his death. |
