Rome originated in the 8th century BC, to transform from a small city on the bank of river Tiber to a great empire extends from the Britain island west to Mesopotamia east. But how this city originated and how it occupied the Italian peninsula then expanded east and west to create its sprawling empire. This what we try to explain in this series of articles that deals with the Roman history.
Origins of Rome
We don’t have enough information about Rome’s origins, but according to the legend which Romans believe that there is a twin, Romulus and Remus, were born to Rhea Civilia the daughter of the king of Alba Longa after she got pregnant by the God of War, Mars. After that, the king’s brother named Emilius usurped the kingdom from his brother and want to kill the twin to secure his throne, so he drowned them in the river Tiber. Somehow the twin survived. As they float on in the beach a she-wolf came to them and nursed them. After that a peasant picked them and raised them. After the twin matured, they knew their right in kingship so they raised an army and overthrew the king Emilius. Disputes occurred between the tow brothers leads to make Romulus kills Remus and to become the sole master of the kingdom. Many years later, Romulus went to the bank of the Tiber river to establish the city of Rome. Six kings came after Romulus, the last one was king Tarquinius Superbus who was overthrown by the senate in 509 BC. And by that the Etruscan kings’ period ended to move to the republican age. A lot of modern historian are sceptical about this narrative and deem it just a legend no more. Some historians think the origin of the Romans goes back to the Greeks, as many Greeks migrated to Italy and set up a colony there, but there are no enough evidence to support this opinion.
The republican age
The republican age begins after the overthrowing the last Etruscan king in 509 BC, to establish a new era. The republican age have very different characteristics from the previous age at the level of running the country and the way by which the governor elected. It also experienced a great expansion, made Rome control the whole Italian peninsula.
The political system in the Republican age
The senate used to elect tow magistrates called consuls to govern the Republic. Their reign ended after one year only to be replaced by new consuls. The duty of these tow consuls was also to lead the army in war.
Although the senate members were elected by the people, yet most of them belong to the aristocracy, as the way to become a member in the senate was wealth and family linage. So the Roman senate consists of the aristocrats only, who called { patricians } while the common people who called { plebeians } have no chance to reach the centres of powres in the Republic unless they have wealth.
In 450 BC, the first Roman law code was established. This code was written on the twelve bronze plaques. These plaques contain the legal procedures, civil rights and the property rights.
One of these laws was when a crisis strikes the Republic and threaten its existence , the senate immediately elects a temporary dictator, who have an absolute power with no restrictions to get through the crisis. After the end of the crisis everything return to the normal, as the status of dictator will be abolished and tow consuls will be elected again. On of the famous examples of this situation was when the Carthaginian commander, Hannibal, invaded the Roman Republic in the second Punic war in 218 BC after crossing the Alps and defeating the Romans in three crushing battles led the senate to elect Fabian as a dictator of the Republic.
See the Arabic translation👇
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