History Chapter 6 2
Terms
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- REPUBLIC
- The political order in a country where the people or their elected representatives hold supreme power.
- EMPIRE
- A large area, usually encompassing different peoples, ruled by a single supreme authority, usually an emperor.
- Octavian (Augustus)*
- The first Roman emperor, ending almost five hundred years of republican self-government.
- Struggle of the Orders
- Roman constitution came from this conflict. Between the patricians and the commoners, or plebeians.
- PLEBEIANS
- The commone people of ancient Rome
- Plebeian/Tribal Assembly
- This assmeble could elect tribunes, officials who were empowered to protect plebeian rights.
- Twelve Tables
- The first Roman code of laws. Gave Plebeians some degree of protection against unfair and oppressive patrician officials, who could interpret customary law in an arbitrary way.
- First Punic War
- 264-241 First war between Carthage and Rome
- Hannibal*
- Commanded the carthaginian army. Military genius astounded the ancients.
- Scipio Africanus*
- Defeated Hannibal at the battle of Zama in North Africa in 202 B.C., ending the Second Punic War.
- Phillip V*
- of Macedonia, formed an alliance with Hannibal.
- Jus gentium
- Roman jurists empirically fashioned the jus gentium, the law of nations, or peoples, which graduall was applied throughout the Empire.
- Equites
- Financers, that also included prosperous landowners.
- Spartacus*
- Led gladiators, that broke out of their barracks and were joined by tens of thousads of runaways. Aimed to escape from Italy to Gaul and Thrace, the homelands of many slaves.
- The Elder Pliny*
- Wrote on many topics but is most famous for "Natural History."
- Cicero*
- Rome's greatest orator, as well as a leading statesman. An unsurpassed Latin stylist and a student of Greek philosophy. His letters, more that 800 of which have survived, provide modern historians with valuable insights into the politics of the late Republic.
- Cato the Censor*
- Roman moralists, denounced Socrates for undermining respect for Athenian law and warned that Greek philosophy might lure Roman youth into similar subversive behavior.
- Gravitas
- Seriousness. The virtue most cherished by Romans. Enabled Romans to conduct public affairs effectively.
- Platus*
- Rome's greatest playwright, adopted features of fourth-and third century Greek comedy.
- Terence*
- Another playwright, originally from North Africa and was brought to Rome as a slave. Influenced by Menander, the 4th century Athenian comic playwright. His Latin style, graceful and polished, was technically superior to that of Platus. But lacked the boisterousness of Platus, plays were less popular.
- Catullus*
- Generally regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets in world literature. A native of northern italy. Came to Rome and fell in love with Clodia; she was the wife of the governor of Cisalpine Gaul.
- Lucretius*
- The leading Roman Epicurean philosopher, was influenced by the civil war fostered by two generals, Marius and Sulla. Yearned for philosophical tranquility. "On the Nature of Things" expresses his appreciation of Epicurus.
- Cato the Elder*
- Forewarned the deteriation of Rome's civic spirit.
- Horace*
- Roman poet. Said this "perverted greed" and "lack of principle" has caused "impious slaughter...intestine fury...and lawless license."