How Does Rome Go from Republic to Empire?

The Punic Wars (264 – 146 BCE)

• Both Rome and Carthage want control of the Mediterranean Sea.

• In the first war, Rome wins and forces Carthage to hand over three islands off the coast of Italy (Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia).

• But Carthage is angry and in 218 BCE, Hannibal sets out to take revenge.

• In the end, Carthage is defeated and Rome defended successfully.

• Carthage is forced to give up all its holdings in the Mediterranean (except land in North Africa).

• Eventually, Rome decides to destroy the threat that Carthage could pose in the future and destroys the city, pouring salt over the ruins and selling the survivors into slavery.

Map Credit: The Encyclopaedia Britannica OnlineMap Credit: The Encyclopaedia Britannica Online

Impact of the Punic Wars (133 – 59 BCE)

• Rome now has all of the Carthage’s Mediterranean lands and trade routes.

• Huge estates, called Latifundia, are built.

• The gap between the rich and the poor begins to grow.

• Angry mobs of unemployed farmers start to riot in the streets.

“By 146, Rome had been at war for nearly a hundred years, almost without respite. The effort had taken its toll. The city now ruled an empire that stretched from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, but it ruled that empire with a government that had been designed to rule a city-state.”

“The savage beasts in Italy have their particular dens, they have their places of repose and refuge; but the men who bear arms and expose their lives for the safety of their country enjoy in the meantime nothing more in it but the air and light . . . They fought and were slain, but it was to maintain the luxury and wealth of other men. They were styled the master of the world, but had in the meantime not one foot of ground which they could call their own.”

— Tiberius

The Gracchus Brothers

• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus want to reform the Republic.

• Tiberius is elected Tribune in 133 and Gaius is elected Tribune in 123 BCE.

• Both brothers want to give grain and land to the plebeians.

• But the Senate distrusts the Gracchus brothers and orchestrates riots.

• The brothers are killed and civil war follows.

Julius Caesar

• In 59 BCE Julius Caesar becomes consul.

• In 58 BCE Caesar goes to Gaul (France) to fight.

• By 52 BCE, Caesar has subdued Gaul and parts of Germany and Britain.

For the Love of Caesar

“He was so much master of the good-will and hearty service of his soldiers that those who in other [battles did nothing extraordinary], displayed a courage past defeating or withstanding when they went upon any danger where Caesar's glory was concerned.”

--- Plutarch, The Gallic Wars

Why So Loved?

“[Caesar] showed them that he did not heap up wealth from the wars for his own luxury, or the gratifying his private pleasures, but that all he received was but a public fund laid by the reward and encouragement of valour, and that he looked upon all he gave to deserving soldiers. Added to this also, there was no danger to which he did not willingly expose himself, no labour from which he pleaded an exemption.”

--- Plutarch, The Gallic Wars

“[ . . . I]t was evident to every one that war was designed against Caesar, yet he resolved to submit to any thing, as long as there were hopes left of deciding the dispute in an equitable manner, rather than to have recourse to arms.”

--- Plutarch, The Gallic Wars

Julius Caesar (cont’d)

• Caesar decides to conquer Rome instead, and is successful by 48 BCE.

• Caesar declares himself “Dictator for Life” and creates the title “First Citizen” – or princeps.

Caesar’s Fate

“When his friends advised him to have a guard, and several offered their service, he would not hear of it; but said it was better to suffer death once, than always to live in fear of it.”

-- Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars

The Rise of Octavian

• Julius Caesar is assassinated on March 15, 44 BCE (the Ides of March).

• Julius’ nephew, Octavian, teams up with Julius’ head general, Marc Antony, to capture Caesar’s assassins.

• But Octavian and Antony begin fighting.

• In 31 BCE, Octavian defeats Antony in Egypt, where Antony had teamed up with Cleopatra.

• Octavian changes his name to Augustus Caesar.