Thin+Mintz

= = = = = __The rise and fall of the Roman Republic__ =

Part 1 Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 BC and was murdered on December 7, 43 BC. His life ended with the decline of the Roman Republic, and he was an important actor in many political events in his time and his writings are now a valuable source of information. He was an orator, lawyer, politician, and philosopher. He placed politics above philosophical study to have more political action. The only periods of his life in which he wrote philosophical works were the times he was forced from not taking part in politics. in rome during his life civil and social wars were going on. There was many of these going on between people. The biggest one was between Marius and Sulla. Then after most of this was over Cicero became the elected consul. Pompey was big in leading the conquering as well. Then some time later the first triumvirate was formed between Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus. In this triumvirate Pompey was friends with Crassus and Crassus was friends with Caesar. Then while this group was doing good the friends got scared that each was getting to much power so Caesar ended up fighting with Pompey and he killed him in the end of the civil war. Then after Pompey was killed Caesar was getting in charge and getting a lot of power so something had to be done about this, so he was killed as well. After all this stuff happened cicero ended up dieing the next year in 43 BC.

Part 2

Cicero to Cassius (Ad Fam. 12.4) Feb. 2, 43 B.C.
I wish that on the Ides of March you had invited me to dinner: of left-overs there would have been none {a reference to Brutus' refusal to turn the assassination into a purge, and the consequent survival of Mark Antony}. Now your left-overs are what worry me, and indeed me beyond the others....Nothing is more foul than that concerning Philippus and Piso, the ambassadors, nothing more disgraceful. When they were sent to announce to Antony, by the Senate's vote, certain definite things; when that man obeyed none of those things, they besides brought from him to us his intolerable demands....

The ides of march was the 15th of March. It was the day that Caesar was killed by his so called followers. Brutus and Cassius both thought Caesar was getting to much power in Rome. They killed him in front of Pompey's statue. They did has a fatal mistake by letting Mark Anthony live. This would end up killing the men who assassinated Caesar. Cicero is worried for the men and tell them that they have to killed Anthony because he can destroy them. He wanted to be with the men to kill Caesar too and wished they invited him to be in this killing. Cicero also is saying that Anthony is getting the power he doesn't deserve. He is not liking the idea of Anthony getting all the approval from the senate's votes.

Part 3 The Romans started by pushing the last of the Etruscans out of the soon to be Roman Empire. The Republic started by the Romans was one of a kind in this day of age. The first Punic war was a start to many wars in the Roman age. The war was between Roman Republic and Carthage. It was a land and naval battles. Italy soon was under Roman control because Rome's powerful army that wins most of their battles. The second Punic war was a very close battle with the Carthages winning the first couples battles. The armies then went to Africa to fight and Rome was victorious after being in Africa. The Carthage was soon destroyed and really never got back the power they use to have. The first Sicilian Slave War was an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Romans on the island of Sicily, in Enna. It was led by Eunus, a former slave claiming to be a prophet, and a Cilician "Cleon", his military general. After some minor battles won by the slaves, a larger Roman army arrived in Sicily and defeated the rebels. Gracchi made a new program. He would redistribute the major patrician landholding to the plebeians. It came to be a very popular vote and side were drawn. Finally it was vetoed and the brother were killed. Marius and Sulla do not like anything about each other it came to the point when a civil war broke out. It was also a social war because there were definite sides to the war. Sulla moved out of Rome he came back with his own kind of army. He defeated Marius and was again wanting the highest rank but took his army east and marched. Cicero is now consul and has many people behind him. At the same time Pompey was out trying to conquer over cities. He got the eastern Mediterranean all locked down in no time. The first Triumvirate with Pompey,Crassus and Caesar. It helped a lot when Rome needed people to take charge a war or battle but they began to fight and soon they hated each other. The civil war between Caesar and Pompey was a very heated one. Caesar used his abilities to get the most men and he defeated Pompey. Caesar was thought to have much power and Brutus made a plan to kill Caesar. Brutus soon had many followers and they killed Caesar but let Mark Anthony live. It was a fatal mistake. Anthony soon made the city of Rome go after the killers. The Second Triumvirate that included Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian. This Triumvirate was a legally established. It was still unstable and jealousy took over the group and ruined it. The battle of Actium was the Final battle of the Roman Republic. It was fought against Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian was trying defeat them them both. The battle was at the Lonian Sea. Octavian's fleet was very powerful and was very well adapted to Cleopatras' Naval power. In the end Octavian was victorious and now he will rule over Rome. He put in the first citizen from the title Princeps. The senate gave the name Augustus to Octavian like Caesar. This was the end of The Roman Republic. They started to put more control into a single person. It was a very redundant thing because this was the one perspective that they hated when the Roman Republic was created.

Part 4 Part 5
 * 509 BC || Expulsion of last Etruscan king;beginning of Roman republic ||
 * 265-241 BC || First Punic War ||
 * 264 BC || All of Italy under Roman control ||
 * 218-202 BC || Second Punic War (Hannibal Barca and Scipio Africanus Major) ||
 * 149-146 BC || Third Punic War; Carthage destroyed. ||
 * 136-132 BC || First Sicilian Slave War ||
 * 133-121 BC || Gracchi reform programs ||
 * 91-82 BC || Social War and civil war (Marius vs. Sulla) ||
 * 79-27 BC || Era of civil wars ||
 * 63 BC || Cicero elected consul;Pompey conquers eastern Mediterranean ||
 * 60 BC || First Triumvirate(Pompey, Crassus and Caesar) ||
 * 49-48 BC || Civil war (Caesar defeats Pompey) ||
 * 44 BC || Caesar murdered ||
 * 43-32 BC || Second Triumvirate(Antony, Lepidus and Octavian) ||
 * 31 BC || Octavian defeats Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium ||

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Part 6 1. When and why was Caesar killed? 2. Who were some main contributers in the development and destruction of Rome? 3. How were Rome's ideas used in or to help our culture? 4. Why was being popular and having a lot of power not a good thing in Roman times? 5. Why did the Roman republic fall? What caused this to happen? 6. What was the purpose of the first sicilan war? 7. Why were there so many civil wars? and what one had the biggest impact? 8. Was winning the war worth the fall of Rome?

Sites we used "Roman Republic." __Wikipedia__. 13 Mar. 2008. 20 Feb. 2009 . "The history of Roman Republic." __Roman Republic__. 28 Oct. 2008. 27 Feb. 2009 . "Rome Government." __Ohio University__. 8 Oct. 2004. 27 Feb. 2009 . "Roman Republic." __Museum of Art and History__. 14 Feb. 2009. 27 Feb. 2009 . "Rome." __Wisconsin University__. 6 June 1999. 27 Feb. 2009 .