The Roman Republic (Latin: Res Publica Romana) was the period of the ancient Roman civilization when the government operated as a republic.
It
began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated
around 509 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two
consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate. A
complex constitution gradually developed, centered on the principles of a
separation of powers and checks and balances. Except in times of dire
national emergency, public offices were limited to one year, so that, in
theory at least, no single individual could dominate his fellow
citizens.
Roman provinces on the eve of the assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC
Roman
society was hierarchical. The evolution of the Constitution of the
Roman Republic was heavily influenced by the struggle between the
patricians, Rome's land-holding aristocracy, who traced their ancestry
back to the early history of the Roman kingdom, and the plebeians, the
far more numerous citizen-commoners. Over time, the laws that gave
patricians exclusive rights to Rome's highest offices were repealed or
weakened, and a new aristocracy emerged from among the plebeian class.
The leaders of the Republic developed a strong tradition and morality
requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military
and political success inextricably linked.
During the first two
centuries of its existence the Republic expanded through a combination
of conquest and alliance, from central Italy to the entire Italian
peninsula. By the following century it included North Africa, the
Iberian Peninsula, Greece, and what is now southern France. Two
centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included
the rest of modern France, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By
this time, despite the Republic's traditional and lawful constraints
against any individual's acquisition of permanent political powers,
Roman politics was dominated by a small number of Roman leaders, their
uneasy alliances punctuated by a series of civil wars.
The victor
in one of these civil wars, Octavian, reformed the Republic as a
Principate, with himself as Rome's "first citizen" (princeps). The
Senate continued to sit and debate. Annual magistrates were elected as
before, but final decisions on matters of policy, warfare, diplomacy and
appointments were privileged to the princeps as "first among equals"
later to be known as imperator due to the holding of imperium, from
which the term emperor is derived. His powers were monarchic in all but
name, and he held them for his lifetime, on behalf of the Senate and
people of Rome.
The Roman Republic was never restored, but neither
was it abolished, so the exact date of the transition to the Roman
Empire is a matter of interpretation. Historians have variously proposed
the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator in 44 BC, the
defeat of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the Roman
Senate's grant of extraordinary powers to Octavian under the first
settlement and his adopting the title Augustus in 27 BC, as the defining
event ending the Republic.
Many of Rome's legal and legislative
structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world
in modern nation states and international organizations. Latin, the
language of the Romans, has influenced language across parts of Europe
and the world.
Constitution
The Constitution of the Roman
Republic was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down
mainly through precedent. The Roman constitution was not formal or even
official. It was largely unwritten, uncodified, and constantly evolving.
The
Roman Forum, the commercial, cultural, and political center of the city
and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of
the government
Senate of the Roman Republic
The Senate's
ultimate authority derived from the esteem and prestige of the
Senate.This esteem and prestige was based on both precedent and custom,
as well as the high calibre and prestige of the Senators.The Senate
passed decrees, which were called senatus consulta. This was
officially "advice" from the Senate to a magistrate. In practice,
however, these were usually obeyed by the magistrates.The focus of the
Roman Senate was directed towards foreign policy.Though it technically
had no official role in the management of military conflict, the Senate
ultimately was the force that oversaw such affairs.
Legislative Assemblies
The
legal status of Roman citizenship was strictly limited and was a vital
prerequisite to possessing many important legal rights such as the right
to trial and appeal, to marry, to vote, to hold office, to enter
binding contracts, and to special tax exemptions. Not all those rights
were available to every citizen - women could be citizens, but were
denied the rights to vote or hold elected office.
An adult male
citizen with the full complement of legal and political rights was
called "optimo jure." The optimo jure elected their assemblies,
whereupon the assemblies elected magistrates, enacted legislation,
presided over trials in capital cases, declared war and peace, and
forged or dissolved treaties.There were two types of legislative
assemblies. The first was the comitia ("committees"),which were assemblies of all optimo jure. The second was the concilia ("councils"), which were assemblies of specific groups of optimo jure.
Assembly of the Centuries Citizens
were organized on the basis of centuries and tribes. The centuries and
the tribes would each gather into their own assemblies. The Comitia
Centuriata ("Century Assembly") was the assembly of the centuries. The
president of the Comitia Centuriata was usually a consul.The centuries
would vote, one at a time, until a measure received support from a
majority of the centuries. The Comitia Centuriata would elect
magistrates who had imperium powers (consuls and praetors). It
also elected censors. Only the Comitia Centuriata could declare war, and
ratify the results of a census. It also served as the highest court of
appeal in certain judicial cases.Assembly of the Tribes
The
assembly of the tribes, the Comitia Tributa, was presided over by a
consul, and was composed of 35 tribes. The tribes were not ethnic or
kinship groups, but rather geographical subdivisions.The order that the
thirty-five tribes would vote in was selected randomly by lot. Once a
measure received support from a majority of the tribes, the voting would
end. While it did not pass many laws, the Comitia Tributa did elect
quaestors, curule aediles, and military tribunes.
Plebeian Council
The
Plebeian Council was an assembly of plebeians, the non-patrician
citizens of Rome, who would gather into their respective tribes. They
elected their own officers, plebeian tribunes and plebeian aediles.
Usually a plebeian tribune would preside over the assembly. This
assembly passed most laws, and could also act as a court of appeal.
Since it was organised on the basis of the tribes, its rules and
procedures were nearly identical to those of the Comitia Tributa.
Executive Magistrates
Each magistrate was vested with a degree of maior potestas
("major power"). Each magistrate could veto any action that was taken
by a magistrate of an equal or lower rank. Plebeian tribunes and
plebeian aediles, on the other hand, were independent of the other
magistrates.
Magisterial powers, and checks on those powers Each republican magistrate held certain constitutional powers. Only the People of Rome (both plebeians and patricians) had the right to confer these powers on any individual magistrate. The most powerful constitutional power was imperium. Imperium was held by both consuls and praetors. Imperium
gave a magistrate the authority to command a military force. All
magistrates also had the power of coercion. This was used by magistrates
to maintain public order.While in Rome, all citizens had a judgement
against coercion. This protection was called provocatio (see
below). Magistrates also had both the power and the duty to look for
omens. This power would often be used to obstruct political opponents.
One
check on a magistrate's power was his collegiality. Each magisterial
office would be held concurrently by at least two people. Another such
check was provocatio. Provocatio was a primordial form of due process. It was a precursor to habeas corpus.
If any magistrate tried to use the powers of the state against a
citizen, that citizen could appeal the decision of the magistrate to a
tribune.In addition, once a magistrate's one year term of office
expired, he would have to wait ten years before serving in that office
again. This created problems for some consuls and praetors, and these
magistrates would occasionally have their imperium extended. In effect, they would retain the powers of the office (as a promagistrate), without officially holding that office.
Consuls, Praetors, Censors, Aediles, Quaestors, Tribunes, and Dictators
of Marius, had been put on full display. The populares party took full advantage of this opportunity by allying itself with Marius.
Several
years later, in 88 BC, a Roman army was sent to put down an emerging
Asian power, king Mithridates of Pontus. The army, however, was
defeated. One of Marius' old quaestors, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, had been
elected consul for the year, and was ordered by the senate to assume
command of the war against Mithridates. Marius, a member of the "populares" party, had a tribune revoke Sulla's command of the war against Mithridates. Sulla, a member of the aristocratic ("optimates")
party, brought his army back to Italy and marched on Rome. Sulla was so
angry at Marius' tribune that he passed a law intended to permanently
weaken the tribunate.He then returned to his war against Mithridates.
With Sulla gone, the populares under Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna soon took control of the city.
During the period in which the populares
party controlled the city, they flouted convention by re-electing
Marius consul several times without observing the customary ten-year
interval between offices. They also transgressed the established
oligarchy by advancing unelected individuals to magisterial office, and
by substituting magisterial edicts for popular legislation.
Sulla
soon made peace with Mithridates. In 83 BC, he returned to Rome,
overcame all resistance, and recaptured the city. Sulla and his
supporters then slaughtered most of Marius' supporters. Sulla, having
observed the violent results of radical popular reforms, was
naturally conservative. As such, he sought to strengthen the
aristocracy, and by extension the senate.Sulla made himself dictator,
passed a series of constitutional reforms, resigned the dictatorship,
and served one last term as consul. He died in 78 BC.
Pompey, Crassus and the Catilinarian Conspiracy
A Roman marble head of Pompey (now found in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
In
77 BC, the senate sent one of Sulla's former lieutenants, Gnaeus
Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great"), to put down an uprising in Spain.
By 71 BC, Pompey returned to Rome after having completed his mission.
Around the same time, another of Sulla's former lieutenants, Marcus
Licinius Crassus, had just put down the Spartacus led gladiator/slave
revolt in Italy. Upon their return, Pompey and Crassus found the populares party fiercely attacking Sulla's constitution. They attempted to forge an agreement with the populares
party. If both Pompey and Crassus were elected consul in 70 BC, they
would dismantle the more obnoxious components of Sulla's constitution.
The two were soon elected, and quickly dismantled most of Sulla's
constitution.
Around 66 BC, a movement to use constitutional, or
at least peaceful, means to address the plight of various classes began.
After several failures, the movement's leaders decided to use any means
that were necessary to accomplish their goals. The movement coalesced
under an aristocrat named Lucius Sergius Catilina. The movement was
based in the town of Faesulae, which was a natural hotbed of agrarian
agitation. The rural malcontents were to advance on Rome, and be aided
by an uprising within the city. After assassinating the consuls and most
of the senators, Catiline would be free to enact his reforms. The
conspiracy was set in motion in 63 BC. The consul for the year, Marcus
Tullius Cicero, intercepted messages that Catiline had sent in an
attempt to recruit more members. As a result, the top conspirators in
Rome (including at least one former consul) were executed by
authorisation (of dubious constitutionality) of the senate, and the
planned uprising was disrupted. Cicero then sent an army, which cut
Catiline's forces to pieces.
The most important result of the Catilinarian conspiracy was that the populares
party became discredited. The prior 70 years had witnessed a gradual
erosion in senatorial powers. The violent nature of the conspiracy, in
conjunction with the senate's skill in disrupting it, did a great deal
to repair the senate's image.
First Triumvirate
In 62 BC,
Pompey returned victorious from Asia. The Senate, elated by its
successes against Catiline, refused to ratify the arrangements that
Pompey had made. Pompey, in effect, became powerless. Thus, when Julius
Caesar returned from a governorship in Spain in 61 BC, he found it easy
to make an arrangement with Pompey. Caesar and Pompey, along with
Crassus, established a private agreement, now known as the First
Triumvirate. Under the agreement, Pompey's arrangements would be
ratified. Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BC, and would then serve
as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised a future
consulship.
Caesar became consul in 59 BC. His colleague, Marcus
Calpurnius Bibulus, was an extreme aristocrat. Caesar submitted the laws
that he had promised Pompey to the assemblies. Bibulus attempted to
obstruct the enactment of these laws, and so Caesar used violent means
to ensure their passage. Caesar was then made governor of three
provinces. He facilitated the election of the former patrician Publius
Clodius Pulcher to the tribunate for 58 BC. Clodius set about depriving
Caesar's senatorial enemies of two of their more obstinate leaders in
Cato and Cicero. Clodius was a bitter opponent of Cicero because Cicero
had testified against him in a sacrilege case. Clodius attempted to try
Cicero for executing citizens without a trial during the Catiline
conspiracy, resulting in Cicero going into self-imposed exile and his
house in Rome being burnt down. Clodius also passed a bill that forced
Cato to lead the invasion of Cyprus which would keep him away from Rome
for some years. Clodius also passed a bill that gave the populace a free
grain dole, which had previously just been subsidised.
The end of the First Triumvirate
Clodius
formed armed gangs that terrorised the city and eventually began to
attack Pompey's followers, who in response funded counter-gangs formed
by Titus Annius Milo. The political alliance of the triumvirate was
crumbling. Domitius Ahenobarbus ran for the consulship in 55 BC
promising to take Caesar's command from him. Eventually, the triumvirate
was renewed at Lucca. Pompey and Crassus were promised the consulship
in 55 BC, and Caesar's term as governor was extended for five years.
Crassus led an ill-fated expedition with legions led by his son,
Caesar's lieutenant, against the Kingdom of Parthia. This resulted in
his defeat and death at the Battle of Carrhae. Finally, Pompey's wife,
Julia, who was Caesar's daughter, died in childbirth. This event severed
the last remaining bond between Pompey and Caesar.
Beginning in
the summer of 54 BC, a wave of political corruption and violence swept
Rome. This chaos reached a climax in January of 52 BC, when Clodius was
murdered in a gang war by Milo. On 1 January 49 BC, an agent of Caesar
presented an ultimatum to the senate. The ultimatum was rejected, and
the senate then passed a resolution which declared that if Caesar did
not lay down his arms by July of that year, he would be considered an
enemy of the Republic. On 7 January of 49 BC, the senate passed a senatus consultum ultimum,
which vested Pompey with dictatorial powers. Pompey's army, however,
was composed largely of untested conscripts. On 10 January, Caesar
crossed the Rubicon with his veteran army (in violation of Roman laws)
and marched towards Rome. Caesar's rapid advance forced Pompey, the
consuls and the Senate to abandon Rome for Greece. Caesar entered the
city unopposed.
The period of transition (49-29 BC)
The
era that began when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC and ended
when Octavian returned to Rome after Actium in 29 BC, saw the
constitutional evolution of the prior century accelerate at a rapid
pace. By 29 BC, Rome had completed its transition from being a
city-state with a network of dependencies, to being the capital of a
world empire.
With Pompey defeated and order restored, Caesar
wanted to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed.
The powers which he would give himself would ultimately be used by his
imperial successors.He would assume these powers by increasing his own
authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political
institutions.
Caesar would hold both the dictatorship and the
tribunate, but alternated between the consulship and the proconsulship.
In 48 BC, Caesar was given permanent tribunician powers. This made his
person sacrosanct, gave him the power to veto the senate, and allowed
him to dominate the Plebeian Council. In 46 BC, Caesar was given
censorial powers, which he used to fill the senate with his own
partisans. Caesar then raised the membership of the Senate to 900. This
robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige, and made it
increasingly subservient to him. While the assemblies continued to meet,
he submitted all candidates to the assemblies for election, and all
bills to the assemblies for enactment. Thus, the assemblies became
powerless and were unable to oppose him.
Near the end of his life,
Caesar began to prepare for a war against the Parthian Empire. Since
his absence from Rome would limit his ability to install his own
consuls, he passed a law which allowed him to appoint all magistrates in
43 BC, and all consuls and tribunes in 42 BC. This, in effect,
transformed the magistrates from being representatives of the people to
being representatives of the dictator.
Caesar's assassination and the Second Triumvirate Caesar
was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. The assassination was led by Gaius
Cassius and Marcus Brutus. Most of the conspirators were senators, who
had a variety of economic, political, or personal motivations for
carrying out the assassination. Many were afraid that Caesar would soon
resurrect the monarchy and declare himself king. Others feared loss of
property or prestige as Caesar carried out his land reforms in favor of
the landless classes. Virtually all the conspirators fled the city after
Caesar's death in fear of retaliation. The civil war that followed
destroyed what was left of the Republic.
After the assassination,
Mark Antony formed an alliance with Caesar's adopted son and
great-nephew, Gaius Octavian. Along with Marcus Lepidus, they formed an
alliance known as the Second Triumvirate. They held powers that were
nearly identical to the powers that Caesar had held under his
constitution. As such, the Senate and assemblies remained powerless,
even after Caesar had been assassinated. The conspirators were then
defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. Eventually, however, Antony
and Octavian fought against each other in one last battle. Antony was
defeated in the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and he committed
suicide with his love, Cleopatra. In 29 BC, Octavian returned to Rome as
the unchallenged master of the Empire and later accepted the title of
Augustus- "Exalted One" .
Culture
Julius Caesar, from the bust in the British Museum, in Cassell's History of England (1902).
Life
in the Roman Republic revolved around the city of Rome, and its famed
seven hills. The city also had several theatres,gymnasiums, and many
taverns, baths and brothels. Throughout the territory under Rome's
control, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to
country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, to the residences on
the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The vast majority of the population lived in the city center, packed into apartment blocks.
Most
Roman towns and cities had a forum and temples, as did the city of Rome
itself. Aqueducts brought water to urban centers and wine and cooking
oil were imported from abroad. Landlords generally resided in cities and
left their estates in the care of farm managers. To stimulate a higher
labour productivity, many landlords freed large numbers of slaves.
Beginning
in the middle of the 2nd century BC, Greek culture was increasingly
ascendant,in spite of tirades against the "softening" effects of
Hellenised culture. By the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household
slaves taught the Roman young (sometimes even the girls). Greek
sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape gardening on the Palatine or in
the villas, and much of Roman cuisine was essentially Greek. Roman
writers disdained Latin for a cultured Greek style.
Social history and structure
Many
aspects of Roman culture were borrowed from the Greeks. In architecture
and sculpture, the difference between Greek models and Roman paintings
are apparent. The chief Roman contributions to architecture were the
arch and the dome. Rome has also had a tremendous impact on European
cultures following it. Its significance is perhaps best reflected in its
endurance and influence, as is seen in the longevity and lasting
importance of works of Virgil and Ovid. Latin, the Republic's primary
language, remains used for liturgical purposes by the Roman Catholic
Church, and up to the 19th century was used extensively in scholarly
writings in, for example, science and mathematics. Roman law laid the
foundations for the laws of many European countries and their colonies.
The
center of the early social structure was the family, which was not only
marked by blood relations but also by the legally constructed relation
of patria potestas.The Pater familias was the absolute head of the
family; he was the master over his wife, his children, the wives of his
sons, the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen, disposing of them and of
their goods at will, even putting them to death. Roman law recognised
only patrician families as legal entities.
Slavery and slaves were
part of the social order; there were slave markets where they could be
bought and sold. Many slaves were freed by the masters for services
rendered; some slaves could save money to buy their freedom. Generally,
mutilation and murder of slaves was prohibited by legislation. It is
estimated that over 25% of the Roman population was enslaved.
Clothing and dining
Roman clad in a toga.
Men typically wore a toga, and women a stola. The woman's stola
differed in looks from a toga, and was usually brightly coloured. The
cloth and the dress distinguished one class of people from the other
class. The tunic worn by plebeians, or common people, like shepherds and
slaves, was made from coarse and dark material, whereas the tunic worn
by patricians was of linen or white wool. A knight or magistrate would
wear an augusticlavus, a tunic bearing small purple studs. Senators wore tunics with broad red stripes, called tunica laticlavia. Military tunics were shorter than the ones worn by civilians. Boys, up until the festival of Liberalia, wore the toga praetexta, which was a toga with a crimson or purple border. The toga virilis, (or toga pura) was worn by men over the age of 16 to signify their citizenship in Rome. The toga picta was worn by triumphant generals and had embroidery of their skill on the battlefield. The toga pulla was worn when in mourning.
Even
footwear indicated a person's social status. Patricians wore red and
orange sandals, senators had brown footwear, consuls had white shoes,
and soldiers wore heavy boots. The Romans also invented socks for those
soldiers required to fight on the northern frontiers, sometimes worn in
sandals.
Romans had simple food habits. Staple food was generally
consumed at around 11 o'clock, and consisted of bread, salad, cheese,
fruits, nuts, and cold meat left over from the dinner the night before.
The Roman poet, Horace mentions another Roman favorite, the olive, in
reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "As for
me, olives, endives, and smooth mallows provide sustenance." The family
ate together, sitting on stools around a table. Fingers were used to eat
solid foods and spoons were used for soups.
Wine was considered a
staple drink, consumed at all meals and occasions by all classes and
was quite cheap. Cato the Elder once advised cutting his rations in half
to conserve wine for the workforce. Many types of drinks involving
grapes and honey were consumed as well. Drinking on an empty stomach was
regarded as boorish and a sure sign for alcoholism, the debilitating
physical and psychological effects of which were known to the Romans. An
accurate accusation of being an alcoholic was an effective way to
discredit political rivals. Prominent Roman alcoholics included Mark
Antony, and Cicero's own son Marcus (Cicero Minor). Even Cato the
Younger was known to be a heavy drinker.
Education and language
Following
various military conquests in the Greek East, Romans adapted a number
of Greek educational precepts to their own fledgling system. Physical
training to prepare the boys to grow as Roman citizens and for eventual
recruitment into the army. Conforming to discipline was a point of great
emphasis. Girls generally received instruction from their mothers in
the art of spinning, weaving, and sewing. Schooling in a more formal
sense was begun around 200 BC. Education began at the age of around six,
and in the next six to seven years, boys and girls were expected to
learn the basics of reading, writing and counting. By the age of twelve,
they would be learning Latin, Greek, grammar and literature, followed
by training for public speaking. Oratory was an art to be practiced and
learnt, and good orators commanded respect.
The native language of
the Romans was Latin. Although surviving Latin literature consists
almost entirely of Classical Latin, an artificial and highly stylised
and polished literary language from the 1st century BC, the actual
spoken language was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from
Classical Latin in grammar, vocabulary, and eventually pronunciation.
Rome's expansion spread Latin throughout Europe, and over time Vulgar
Latin evolved and dialectised in different locations, gradually shifting
into a number of distinct Romance languages. Many of these languages,
including French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish, flourished,
the differences between them growing greater over time. Although
English is Germanic rather than Roman in origin, English borrows heavily
from Latin and Latin-derived words.
The arts
Roman
literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek
authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics
telling the early military history of Rome. As the republic expanded,
authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy. Virgil
represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His Aeneid tells the story of flight of Aeneas from Troy and his settlement of the city that would become Rome. Lucretius, in his On the Nature of Things,
attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. The genre of satire was
common in Rome, and satires were written by, among others, Juvenal and
Persius. The rhetorical works of Cicero are considered to be some of the
best bodies of correspondence recorded in antiquity.
In the 3rd
century BC, Greek art taken as booty from wars became popular, and many
Roman homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists. Portrait
sculpture during the period utilised youthful and classical proportions,
evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. Advancements
were also made in relief sculptures, often depicting Roman victories.
Music was a major part of everyday life. The word itself derives from Greek μουσική (mousike),
"(art) of the Muses". Many private and public events were accompanied
by music, ranging from nightly dining to military parades and
manoeuvres. In a discussion of any ancient music, however,
non-specialists and even many musicians have to be reminded that much of
what makes our modern music familiar to us is the result of
developments only within the last 1,000 years; thus, our ideas of
melody, scales, harmony, and even the instruments we use would not be
familiar to Romans who made and listened to music many centuries
earlier.
Over time, Roman architecture was modified as their urban
requirements changed, and the civil engineering and building
construction technology became developed and refined. The Roman concrete
has remained a riddle, and even after more than 2,000 years some Roman
structures still stand magnificently. The architectural style of the
capital city was emulated by other urban centers under Roman control and
influence. Roman cities were well planned, efficiently managed and
neatly maintained.
Sports and entertainment
The city of
Rome had a place called the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars"), which was a
sort of drill ground for Roman soldiers. Later, the Campus became
Rome's track and field playground. In the campus, the youth assembled to
play and exercise, which included jumping, wrestling, boxing and
racing. Equestrian sports, throwing, and swimming were also preferred
physical activities. In the countryside, pastime included fishing and
hunting. Board games played in Rome included dice (Tesserae or Tali),
Roman Chess (Latrunculi), Roman Checkers (Calculi), Tic-tac-toe (Terni
Lapilli), and Ludus duodecim scriptorum and Tabula, predecessors of
backgammon.There were several other activities to keep people engaged
like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances.
Religion
Roman
religious beliefs date back to the founding of Rome, around 800 BC.
However, the Roman religion commonly associated with the republic and
early empire did not begin until around 500 BC, when Romans came in
contact with Greek culture, and adopted many of the Greek religious
beliefs. Private and personal worship was an important aspect of
religious practices. In a sense, each household was a temple to the
gods. Each household had an altar (lararium), at which the family
members would offer prayers, perform rites, and interact with the
household gods. Many of the gods that Romans worshiped came from the
Proto-Indo-European pantheon, others were based on Greek gods. The two
most famous deities were Jupiter (the king God) and Mars (the god of
war). With its cultural influence spreading over most of the
Mediterranean, Romans began accepting foreign gods into their own
culture, as well as other philosophical traditions such as Cynicism and
Stoicism.
Military
Structural history
The
structural history of the Roman military describes the major
chronological transformations in the organisation and constitution of
the Roman armed forces. The Roman military was split into the Roman army
and the Roman navy, although these two branches were less distinct than
they tend to be in modern defence forces. Within the top-level branches
of army and navy, structural changes occurred both as a result of
positive military reform and through organic structural evolution.
Hoplite armies (509-c. 315 BC)
During
this period, Roman soldiers seem to have been modelled after those of
the Etruscans to the north, who themselves seem to have copied their
style of warfare from the Greeks. Traditionally, the introduction of the
phalanx formation into the Roman army is ascribed to the city's
penultimate king, Servius Tullius (ruled 578 to 534 BC). According to
Livyand Dionysius of Halicarnassus,the front rank was composed of the
wealthiest citizens, who were able to purchase the best equipment. Each
subsequent rank consisted of those with less wealth and poorer equipment
than the one before it.
One disadvantage of the phalanx was that
it was only effective when fighting in large, open spaces, which left
the Romans at a disadvantage when fighting in the hilly terrain of
central Italian peninsula. In the 4th century BC, the Romans abandoned
the phalanx in favour of the more flexible manipular formation. This
change is sometimes attributed to Marcus Furius Camillus and placed
shortly after the Gallic invasion of 390 BC; it is more likely, however,
that they were copied from Rome's Samnite enemies to the south,
possibly as a result of Samnite victories during the Second Samnite War
(326 to 304 BC).
Manipular legion (c. 315-107 BC)
During
this period, an army formation of around 5,000 men (of both heavy and
light infantry) was known as a legion. The manipular army was based upon
social class, age and military experience. Maniples were units
of 120 men each drawn from a single infantry class. The maniples were
typically deployed into three discrete lines based on the three heavy
infantry types.
Each first line maniple were leather-armoured
infantry soldiers who wore a bronze breastplate and a bronze helmet
adorned with 3 feathers approximately 30 cm (12 in) in height and
carried an iron-clad wooden shield. They were armed with a sword and two
throwing spears. The second infantry line was armed and armoured in the
same manner as was the first infantry line. The second infantry line,
however, wore a lighter coat of mail rather than a solid brass
breastplate. The third infantry line was the last remnant of the
hoplite-style (the Greek-style formation used occasionally during the
early Republic) troops in the Roman army. They were armed and armoured
in the same manner as were the soldiers in the second line, with the
exception that they carried a lighter spear.
The three infantry
classes may have retained some slight parallel to social divisions
within Roman society, but at least officially the three lines were based
upon age and experience rather than social class. Young, unproven men
would serve in the first line, older men with some military experience
would serve in the second line, and veteran troops of advanced age and
experience would serve in the third line.
The heavy infantry of
the maniples were supported by a number of light infantry and cavalry
troops, typically 300 horsemen per manipular legion.The cavalry was
drawn primarily from the richest class of equestrians. There was an
additional class of troops who followed the army without specific
martial roles and were deployed to the rear of the third line. Their
role in accompanying the army was primarily to supply any vacancies that
might occur in the maniples. The light infantry consisted of 1,200
unarmoured skirmishing troops drawn from the youngest and lower social
classes. They were armed with a sword and a small shield, as well as
several light javelins.
Rome's military confederation with the
other peoples of the Italian peninsula meant that half of Rome's army
was provided by the Socii, such as the Etruscans, Umbrians, Apulians,
Campanians, Samnites, Lucani, Bruttii, and the various southern Greek
cities. Polybius states that Rome could draw on 770,000 men at the
beginning of the Second Punic War, of which 700,000 were infantry and
70,000 met the requirements for cavalry. Rome's Italian allies would be
organized in alae, or wings, roughly equal in manpower to the Roman legions, though with 900 cavalry instead of 300.
A
small navy had operated at a fairly low level after about 300 BC, but
it was massively upgraded about forty years later, during the First
Punic War. After a period of frenetic construction, the navy mushroomed
to a size of more than 400 ships on the Carthaginian ("Punic") pattern.
Once completed, it could accommodate up to 100,000 sailors and embarked
troops for battle. The navy thereafter declined in size.
The
extraordinary demands of the Punic Wars, in addition to a shortage of
manpower, exposed the tactical weaknesses of the manipular legion, at
least in the short term. In 217 BC, near the beginning of the Second
Punic War, Rome was forced to effectively ignore its long-standing
principle that its soldiers must be both citizens and property owners.
During the 2nd century BC, Roman territory saw an overall decline in
population, partially due to the huge losses incurred during various
wars. This was accompanied by severe social stresses and the greater
collapse of the middle classes. As a result, the Roman state was forced
to arm its soldiers at the expense of the state, which it had not had to
do in the past.
The distinction between the heavy infantry types
began to blur, perhaps because the state was now assuming the
responsibility of providing standard-issue equipment. In addition, the
shortage of available manpower led to a greater burden being placed upon
Rome's allies for the provision of allied troops. Eventually, the
Romans were forced to begin hiring mercenaries to fight alongside the
legions.
The legion after the reforms of Gaius Marius (107-27 BC)
Bust of Gaius Marius, instigator of the Marian reforms.
In
a process known as the Marian reforms, Roman consul Gaius Marius
carried out a programme of reform of the Roman military. In 107 BC, all
citizens, regardless of their wealth or social class, were made eligible
for entry into the Roman army. This move formalised and concluded a
gradual process that had been growing for centuries, of removing
property requirements for military service.The distinction between the
three heavy infantry classes, which had already become blurred, had
collapsed into a single class of heavy legionary infantry. The heavy
infantry legionaries were drawn from citizen stock, while non-citizens
came to dominate the ranks of the light infantry. The army's
higher-level officers and commanders were still drawn exclusively from
the Roman aristocracy.
Unlike earlier in the Republic, legionaries
were no longer fighting on a seasonal basis to protect their land.
Instead, they received standard pay, and were employed by the state on a
fixed-term basis. As a consequence, military duty began to appeal most
to the poorest sections of society, to whom a salaried pay was
attractive. A destabilising consequence of this development was that the
proletariat "acquired a stronger and more elevated position within the
state.
The legions of the late Republic were, structurally, almost entirely heavy infantry. The legion's main sub-unit was called a cohort and consisted of approximately 480 infantrymen. The cohort was therefore a much larger unit than the earlier maniple
sub-unit, and was divided into six centuries of 80 men each.Each
century was separated further into 10 "tent groups" of 8 men each.
Legions additionally consisted of a small body, typically 120 men, of
Roman legionary cavalry. The cavalry troops were used as scouts and
dispatch riders rather than battlefield cavalry. Legions also contained a
dedicated group of artillery crew of perhaps 60 men. Each legion was
normally partnered with an approximately equal number of allied
(non-Roman) troops.
However, the most obvious deficiency of the
Roman army remained its shortage of cavalry, especially heavy cavalry.
As Rome's borders expanded and its adversaries changed from largely
infantry-based to largely cavalry-based troops, the infantry-based Roman
army began to find itself at a tactical disadvantage, particularly in
the East.
After having declined in size following the subjugation
of the Mediterranean, the Roman navy underwent short-term upgrading and
revitalisation in the late Republic to meet several new demands. Under
Caesar, an invasion fleet was assembled in the English Channel to allow
the invasion of Britannia; under Pompey, a large fleet was raised
in the Mediterranean Sea to clear the sea of Cilician pirates. During
the civil war that followed, as many as a thousand ships were either
constructed or pressed into service from Greek cities.
Campaign history
The
core of the campaign history of the Roman Republican military is the
account of the Roman military's land battles. Despite the encompassing
of lands around the periphery of the Mediterranean sea, naval battles
were typically less significant than land battles to the military
history of Rome.
As with most ancient civilisations, Rome's
military served the triple purposes of securing its borders, exploiting
peripheral areas through measures such as imposing tribute on conquered
peoples, and maintaining internal order. From the outset, Rome's
military typified this pattern and the majority of Rome's campaigns were
characterised by one of two types. The first is the territorial
expansionist campaign, normally begun as a counter-offensive, in which
each victory brought subjugation of large areas of territory. The second
is the civil war, of which examples plagued the Roman Republic in its
final century.
Roman armies were not invincible, despite their formidable reputation and host of victories. Over the centuries the Romans "produced their share of incompetents"
who led Roman armies into catastrophic defeats. Nevertheless, it was
generally the fate of even the greatest of Rome's enemies, such as
Pyrrhus and Hannibal, to win the battle but lose the war. The history of
Rome's campaigning is, if nothing else, a history of obstinate
persistence overcoming appalling losses.
Early Republic (458-274 BC) Early Italian campaigns (458-396 BC)
The
first Roman republican wars were wars of both expansion and defence,
aimed at protecting Rome itself from neighbouring cities and nations and
establishing its territory in the region. Initially, Rome's immediate
neighbours were either Latin towns and villages, or else tribal Sabines
from the Apennine hills beyond. One by one Rome defeated both the
persistent Sabines and the local cities that were either under Etruscan
control or else Latin towns that had cast off their Etruscan rulers.
Rome defeated Latin cities in the Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 BC, the
Battle of Mons Algidus in 458 BC, the Battle of Corbione in 446 BC, the
Battle of Aricia, and an Etruscan city in the Battle of the Cremera in
477 BC
By the end of this period, Rome had effectively completed
the conquest of their immediate Etruscan and Latin neighbours, as well
as secured their position against the immediate threat posed by the
tribespeople of the nearby Apennine hills.
Celtic invasion of Italia (390-387 BC)
By
390 BC, several Gallic tribes had begun invading Italy from the north
as their culture expanded throughout Europe. The Romans were alerted of
this when a particularly warlike tribe invaded two Etruscan towns from
the north. These two towns were not far from Rome's sphere of influence.
These towns, overwhelmed by the size of the enemy in numbers and
ferocity, called on Rome for help. The Romans met them in pitched battle
at the Battle of Allia River around 390-387 BC. The Gauls, under their
chieftain Brennus, defeated the Roman army of around 15,000 troops and
proceeded to pursue the fleeing Romans back to Rome itself and sacked
the city before being either driven off or bought off. Now that the
Romans and Gauls had bloodied one another, intermittent warfare was to
continue between the two in Italy for more than two centuries. The
Celtic problem would not be resolved for Rome until the final
subjugation of all Gaul by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Alesia in 52
BC.
Roman expansion into Italia (343-282 BC)
After
recovering surprisingly swiftly from the sack of Rome,the Romans
immediately resumed their expansion within Italy. The First Samnite War
of between 343 BC and 341 BC was a relatively short affair: the Romans
beat the Samnites in two battles, but were forced to withdraw from the
war before they could pursue the conflict further due to the revolt of
several of their Latin allies in the Latin War. Rome bested the Latins
in the Battle of Vesuvius and again in the Battle of Trifanum, after
which the Latin cities were obliged to submit to Roman rule.
The
Second Samnite War, from 327 BC to 304 BC, was a much longer and more
serious affair for both the Romans and Samnites. The fortunes of the two
sides fluctuated throughout its course. The Romans then proved
victorious at the Battle of Bovianum and the tide turned strongly
against the Samnites from 314 BC onwards, leading them to sue for peace
with progressively less generous terms. By 304 BC the Romans had
effectively annexed the greater degree of the Samnite territory,
founding several colonies.
Seven years after their defeat, with
Roman dominance of the area looking assured, the Samnites rose again and
defeated a Roman army in 298 BC, to open the Third Samnite War. With
this success in hand they managed to bring together a coalition of
several previous enemies of Rome. In the Battle of Populonia in 282 BC
Rome finished off the last vestiges of Etruscan power in the region.
Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC)
Route of Pyrrhus of Epirus
By
the beginning of the 3rd century, Rome had established itself as a
major power on the Italian Peninsula, but had not yet come into conflict
with the dominant military powers in the Mediterranean Basin at the
time: Carthage and the Greek kingdoms.
When a diplomatic dispute
between Rome and a Greek colony erupted into open warfare in a naval
confrontation, the Greek colony appealed for military aid to Pyrrhus,
ruler of the northwestern Greek kingdom of Epirus. Motivated by a
personal desire for military accomplishment, Pyrrhus landed a Greek army
of some 25,000 men on Italian soil in 280 BC.
Despite early
victories, Pyrrhus found his position in Italy untenable. Rome
steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyrrhus as long as his army
remained in Italy. Facing unacceptably heavy losses with each encounter
with the Roman army, Pyrrhus withdrew from the peninsula (thus deriving
the term "pyrrhic victory"). In 275 BC, Pyrrhus again met the Roman army
at the Battle of Beneventum. While Beneventum was indecisive, Pyrrhus
realised his army had been exhausted and reduced, by years of foreign
campaigns, and seeing little hope for further gains, he withdrew
completely from Italy.
The conflicts with Pyrrhus would have a
great effect on Rome. Rome had shown it was capable of pitting its
armies successfully against the dominant military powers of the
Mediterranean, and that the Greek kingdoms were incapable of defending
their colonies in Italy and abroad. Rome quickly moved into southern
Italia, subjugating and dividing the Greek colonies. Now, Rome
effectively dominated the Italian peninsula,and won an international
military reputation.
Mid-Republic (274-148 BC) Punic Wars (264-146 BC)
Theatre of the Punic Wars
The
First Punic War began in 264 BC when settlements on Sicily began to
appeal to the two powers between which they lay - Rome and Carthage - to
solve internal conflicts. The war saw land battles in Sicily early on,
but the theatre shifted to naval battles around Sicily and Africa.
Before the First Punic War there was no Roman navy to speak of. The new
war in Sicily against Carthage, a great naval power, forced Rome to
quickly build a fleet and train sailors.
The first few naval
battles were catastrophic disasters for Rome. However, after training
more sailors and inventing a grappling engine,a Roman naval force was
able to defeat a Carthaginian fleet, and further naval victories
followed. The Carthaginians then hired Xanthippus of Carthage, a Spartan
mercenary general, to reorganize and lead their army. He managed to cut
off the Roman army from its base by re-establishing Carthaginian naval
supremacy. With their newfound naval abilities, the Romans then beat the
Carthaginians in naval battle again at the Battle of the Aegates
Islands and leaving Carthage without a fleet or sufficient coin to raise
one. For a maritime power the loss of their access to the Mediterranean
stung financially and psychologically, and the Carthaginians sued for
peace.
Continuing distrust led to the renewal of hostilities in
the Second Punic War when Hannibal Barca attacked a Spanish town, which
had diplomatic ties to Rome. Hannibal then crossed the Italian Alps to
invade Italy. Hannibal's successes in Italy began immediately, and
reached an early climax at the Battle of Cannae, where 70,000 Romans
were killed.
In three battles, the Romans managed to hold off
Hannibal but then Hannibal smashed a succession of Roman consular
armies. By this time Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal Barca sought to cross
the Alps into Italy and join his brother with a second army. Hasdrubal
managed to break through into Italy only to be defeated decisively on
the Metaurus River. Unable to defeat Hannibal himself on Italian soil,
the Romans boldly sent an army to Africa under Scipio Africanus with the
intention of threatening the Carthaginian capital. Hannibal was
recalled to Africa, and defeated at the Battle of Zama.
Carthage never managed to recover after the Second Punic War and
the Third Punic War that followed was in reality a simple punitive
mission to raze the city of Carthage to the ground. Carthage was almost
defenseless and when besieged offered immediate surrender, conceding to a
string of outrageous Roman demands. The Romans refused the surrender,
and the city was stormed after a short siege and completely destroyed.
Ultimately, all of Carthage's North African and Spanish territories were
acquired by Rome.
Kingdom of Macedonia, the Greek poleis, and Illyria (215-148 BC)
Rome's
preoccupation with its war with Carthage provided an opportunity for
Philip V of the kingdom of Macedonia, located in the north of the Greek
peninsula, to attempt to extend his power westward. Philip sent
ambassadors to Hannibal's camp in Italy, to negotiate an alliance as
common enemies of Rome. However, Rome discovered the agreement when
Philip's emissaries were captured by a Roman fleet. The First Macedonian
War saw the Romans involved directly in only limited land operations,
but they ultimately achieved their objective of pre-occupying Philip and
preventing him from aiding Hannibal.
Macedonia began to encroach
on territory claimed by Greek city states in 200 BC and these states
pleaded for help from their newfound ally Rome. Rome gave Philip an
ultimatum that he must submit several parts of Greater Macedonia to Rome
and give up his designs on Greece. Philip refused, and Rome declared
war starting the Second Macedonian War. Ultimately, in 197 BC, the
Romans decisevely defeated Philip at the Battle of
Cynoscephalae,subsequently Macedonia was reduced to a central rump
state.
Rome now turned its attentions to one of the Greek
kingdoms, the Seleucid Empire, in the east. A Roman force defeated the
Seleucids at the Battle of Thermopylae and forced them to evacuate
Greece. The Romans then pursued the Seleucids beyond Greece, beating
them in the decisive engagement of the Battle of Magnesia.
In 179
BC, Philip died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his
throne and showed a renewed interest in Greece. Rome declared war on
Macedonia again, starting the Third Macedonian War. Perseus initially
had some success against the Romans. However, Rome responded by simply
sending another stronger army. The second consular army decisively
defeated the Macedonians at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC and the
Macedonians duly capitulated, ending the Third Macedonian War.The
Kingdom of Macedonia was then divided by the Romans into four client
republics.
The Fourth Macedonian War, fought from 150 BC to 148
BC, was fought against a Macedonian pretender to the throne who was
attempting to re-establish the old Kingdom. The Romans swiftly defeated
the Macedonians at the Second battle of Pydna. The Achaean League chose
this moment to rebel against Roman domination but was swiftly defeated.
Corinth was besieged and destroyed in 146 BC, the same year as the
destruction of Carthage, which led to the league's surrender.
Late Republic (147-30 BC) Jugurthine War (111-104 BC)
The
Jugurthine War of 111-104 BC was fought between Rome and Jugurtha of
the North African kingdom of Numidia. It constituted the final Roman
pacification of Northern Africa, after which Rome largely ceased
expansion on the continent after reaching natural barriers of desert and
mountain. Following Jugurtha's usurpation of the throne of Numidia, a
loyal ally of Rome since the Punic Wars, Rome felt compelled to
intervene. Jugurtha impudently bribed the Romans into accepting his
usurpation. Jugurtha was finally captured not in battle but by
treachery.
The Celtic threat (121 BC) and the new Germanic threat (113-101 BC)
In
121 BC, Rome came into contact with two Celtic tribes (from a region in
modern France), both of which they defeated with apparent ease. The
Cimbrian War (113-101 BC) was a far more serious affair than the earlier
clashes of 121 BC. The Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons
migrated from northern Europe into Rome's northern territories, and
clashed with Rome and her allies. At the Battle of Aquae Sextiae and the
Battle of Vercellae both tribes were virtually annihilated, which ended
the threat.
Internal unrest (135-71 BC)
The extensive
campaigning abroad by Roman generals, and the rewarding of soldiers with
plunder on these campaigns, led to a general trend of soldiers becoming
increasingly loyal to their generals rather than to the state. Rome was
also plagued by several slave uprisings during this period, in part
because vast tracts of land had been given over to slave farming in
which the slaves greatly outnumbered their Roman masters. In the last
century BC at least twelve civil wars and rebellions occurred. This
pattern did not break until Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) ended it by becoming a successful challenger to the Senate's authority, and was made princeps (emperor).
Between
135 BC and 71 BC there were three "Servile Wars" involving slave
uprisings against the Roman state. The third and final uprising was the
most serious, involving ultimately between 120,000 and 150,000 slaves
under the command of the gladiator Spartacus. Additionally, in 91 BC
the Social War broke out between Rome and its former allies in Italy
over dissent among the allies that they shared the risk of Rome's
military campaigns, but not its rewards. Although they lost militarily,
the allies achieved their objectives with legal proclamations which
granted citizenship to more than 500,000 Italians.
The internal
unrest reached its most serious state, however, in the two civil wars
that were caused by the consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla at the beginning
of 82 BC. In the Battle of the Colline Gate at the very door of the city
of Rome, a Roman army under Sulla bested an army of the Roman Senate
and entered the city. Sulla's actions marked a watershed in the
willingness of Roman troops to wage war against one another that was to
pave the way for the wars which ultimately overthrew the Republic, and
caused the founding of the Roman Empire.
Conflicts with Mithridates (89-63 BC) and the Cilician pirates (67 BC)
Mithridates
the Great was the ruler of Pontus, a large kingdom in Asia Minor
(modern Turkey), from 120 to 63 BC. Mithridates antagonised Rome by
seeking to expand his kingdom, and Rome for her part seemed equally keen
for war and the spoils and prestige that it might bring.In 88 BC,
Mithridates ordered the killing of a majority of the 80,000 Romans
living in his kingdom. The massacre was the official reason given for
the commencement of hostilities in the First Mithradatic War. The Roman
general Lucius Cornelius Sulla forced Mithridates out of Greece proper,
but then had to return to Italy to answer the internal threat posed by
his rival, Gaius Marius. A peace was made between Rome and Pontus, but
this proved only a temporary lull.
The Second Mithridatic War
began when Rome tried to annex a province that Mithridates claimed as
his own. In the Third Mithridatic War, first Lucius Licinius Lucullus
and then Pompey the Great were sent against Mithridates. Mithridates was
finally defeated by Pompey in the night-time Battle of the Lycus.The
Mediterranean had at this time fallen into the hands of pirates, largely
from Cilicia. The pirates not only strangled shipping lanes but also
plundered many cities on the coasts of Greece and Asia. Pompey was
nominated as commander of a special naval task force to campaign against
the pirates. It took Pompey just forty days to clear the western
portion of the sea of pirates and restore communication between Iberia
(Spain), Africa, and Italy.
Caesar's early campaigns (59-50 BC)
Map of the Gallic Wars
During
a term as praetor in the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain),
Pompey's contemporary Julius Caesar defeated two local tribes in
battle. Following his term as consul in 59 BC, he was then appointed to a
five-year term as the proconsular Governor of Cisalpine Gaul (current
northern Italy), Transalpine Gaul (current southern France) and Illyria
(the modern Balkans). Not content with an idle governorship, Caesar
strove to find reason to invade Gaul, which would give him the dramatic
military success he sought. When two local tribes began to migrate on a
route that would take them near (not into) the Roman province of
Transalpine Gaul, Caesar had the barely sufficient excuse he needed for
his Gallic Wars, fought between 58 BC and 49 BC.
Caesar defeated
large armies at major battles 58 BC and 57 BC. In 55 and 54 BC he made
two expeditions into Britain, becoming the first Roman to do so. Caesar
then defeated a union of Gauls at the Battle of Alesia, completing the
Roman conquest of Transalpine Gaul. By 50 BC, the entirety of Gaul lay
in Roman hands. Gaul never regained its Celtic identity, never attempted
another nationalist rebellion, and, other than the crisis of the 3rd
century, remained loyal to Rome until the fall of the western empire in
476.
Triumvirates and Caesarian ascension (53-30 BC)
By
59 BC an unofficial political alliance known as the First Triumvirate
was formed between Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") to share power and
influence. In 53 BC, Crassus launched a Roman invasion of the Parthian
Empire (modern Iraq and Iran). After initial successes, he marched his
army deep into the desert; but here his army was cut off deep in enemy
territory, surrounded and slaughtered at the Battle of Carrhae in which
Crassus himself perished. The death of Crassus removed some of the
balance in the Triumvirate and, consequently, Caesar and Pompey began to
move apart. While Caesar was fighting in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a
legislative agenda for Rome that revealed that he was at best ambivalent
towards Caesar and perhaps now covertly allied with Caesar's political
enemies. In 51 BC, some Roman senators demanded that Caesar not be
permitted to stand for consul unless he turned over control of his
armies to the state, which would have left Caesar defenceless before his
enemies. Caesar chose civil war over laying down his command and facing
trial.
By the spring of 49 BC, the hardened legions of Caesar
crossed the river Rubicon and swept down the Italian peninsula towards
Rome, while Pompey ordered the abandonment of Rome. Afterwards Caesar
turned his attention to the Pompeian stronghold of Iberia (modern Spain)
but decided to tackle Pompey himself in Greece. Pompey initially
defeated Caesar, but failed to follow up on the victory, and was
decisively defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, despite
outnumbering Caesar's forces two to one, albeit with inferior quality
troops. Pompey fled again, this time to Egypt, where he was murdered.
Pompey's
death did not result in an end to the civil war as Caesar's enemies
were manifold and continued to fight on. In 46 BC Caesar lost perhaps as
much as a third of his army, but ultimately came back to defeat the
Pompeian army of Metellus Scipio in the Battle of Thapsus, after which
the Pompeians retreated yet again to Iberia. Caesar then defeated the
combined Pompeian forces at the Battle of Munda.
Caesar was now
the primary figure of the Roman state, enforcing and entrenching his
powers and his enemies feared that he had ambitions to become an
autocratic ruler. Arguing that the Roman Republic was in danger a group
of senators hatched a conspiracy and murdered Caesar in the Senate in
March 44 BC. Mark Antony, Caesar's lieutenant, condemned Caesar's
assassination, and war broke out between the two factions. Antony was
denounced as a public enemy, and Caesar's adopted son and chosen heir,
Gaius Octavian, was entrusted with the command of the war against him.
At the Battle of Mutina Antony was defeated by the consuls Hirtius and
Pansa, who were both killed.
Octavian came to terms with
Caesarians Antony and Lepidus in 43 BC when the Second Triumvirate was
formed. In 42 BC Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fought the Battle of
Philippi with Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius. Although Brutus
defeated Octavian, Antony defeated Cassius, who committed suicide.
Brutus joined him shortly afterwards.
However, civil war flared
again when the Second Triumvirate of Octavian, Lepidus and Mark Antony
failed. The ambitious Octavian built a power base of patronage and then
launched a campaign against Mark Antony. At the naval Battle of Actium
off the coast of Greece, Octavian decisively defeated Antony and
Cleopatra. Octavian was granted a series of special powers including
sole "imperium" within the city of Rome, permanent consular powers and
credit for every Roman military victory, since all future generals were
assumed to be acting under his command. In 27 BC Octavian was granted
the use of the names "Augustus" and "Princeps" indicating his primary
status above all other Romans, and he adopted the title "Imperator
Caesar" making him the first Roman Emperor.