The Roman Republic

What little we may know about Rome's cloudy origins comes from centuries of oral legend. In central Italy's fertile Tiber valley in 753 B.C., brothers Romulus and Remus seem to have founded on Palatine Hill a city that would expand to include a total of seven hills. The community was strategically located between the mysterious Etruscan society to the north, and the new Greek colonies forming Magna Graecia to the south. Seven kings are said to have ruled the city, until Tarquin the Proud was overthrown by Lucius Brutus in 509 and a republican government took over.

The Roman Republic's top position was shared by two consuls elected annually, working with the elite Senate. (In 449 the Twelve Tables were publicly displayed as the basis of the Roman law code.) Military organization was a high priority, and Roman control expanded into the region of Latium and beyond. The Etruscans were overrun, but the city still faced danger from Gallic and German raids. By 280 all of Italy south of the Rubicon River was Roman territory.

The Republic continued to expand into the Mediterranean region. Its strongest rival was the Carthaginians, a Phoenician community in North Africa which reached its peak under the brilliant general Hannibal, but Carthage was defeated and ultimately destroyed in three wars. And Rome expanded into the Greek-speaking Hellenistic lands to the east, facing their strongest resistance from Asia Minor's Mithridates VI but eventually winning out. Only the Parthians further east checked the Roman advance.

As their territory grew, the Republican system of government came under growing pressure. The Gracchus brothers' attempts at reform were ended by lynch mobs. Civil wars and Spartacus' lengthy slave revolt further undermined the system. Julius Caesar, who'd conquered Gaul, seized power in 49 and reorganized his realm into the Roman Empire, which his heir Augustus made permanent. But many of the Republic's traditions would continue to be honoured, at least superficially, by successive emperors.

For background reading, you can try David M. Gwynn's The Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction.

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