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Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its 12-century existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a Roman Republic based on a combination of oligarchy and democracy, to an autocracy Roman Empire. It came to dominate Western Europe and the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea through invasion and cultural assimilation.

The Roman empire went into decline in the 5th century AD. The Western Roman Empire, including Hispania, Gaul, and Italy, broke into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. The eastern empire, governed from Constantinople, is usually referred to as the Byzantine Empire after 476. This is the traditional date for the "fall of Rome" and for the onset of the Early Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages.

Roman civilization is often grouped into "classical antiquity" with ancient Greece, a civilization that inspired much of the culture of ancient Rome. Ancient Rome contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology and language in the Western world, and its history of Rome continues to have a major influence on the world today.]

History Monarchy in 750s BC by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.

According to legend, Rome was founding of Rome on April 21, 750s BC by twin descendants of the Troy prince Aeneas, Romulus and Remus.Adkins, 1998. page 3. The Latin King Numitor of Alba Longa was ejected from his throne by his cruel brother Amulius and Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to Romulus and Remus. The Founding of Rome. Accessed 2007-March 8.Livy, 1998. page 8. Rhea Silvia was a Vestal Virgin who was raped by Mars (mythology), making the twins demigod. The new king feared that Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, so they were to be drowned.Livy, 1998. page 8. A she-wolf (or a shepard's wife in some accounts) saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor.Durant, 1944. Pages 12-14.Livy, 1998. pages 9-10. The twins then founded their own city, but Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over which one of them was to reign as the first of seven Roman Kingdom, as well as become the source of the city's name.Livy, 1998. pages 10-11. As the city was bereft of women, legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins and the Sabines. Myths and Legends- Rome, the Wolf, and Mars. Accessed 2007-March 8.

The city of Rome grew from settlements around a ford on the river Tiber, a crossroads of traffic and trade.a According to archaeology evidence, the village of Rome was probably founded sometime in the 8th century BC, though it may go back as far as the 10th century BC, by members of the Latins of Italy, on the top of the Palatine Hill. 2003. page 19.Duiker, 2001. page 129. The Etruscan civilization, who had previously settled to the north in Etruria, seem to have established political control in the region by the late 7th century BC, forming the aristocratic and monarchial elite. The Etruscans apparently lost power in the area by the late 6th century BC, and at this point, the original Latin and Sabine tribes reinvented their government by creating a republic, with much greater restraints on the ability of rulers to exercise power.Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire by Michael Kerrigan. Dorling Kindersley, London: 2001. ISBN 0-7894-8153-7. page 12.

Republic , a Roman general and politician who dramatically reformed the Military history of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Republic was established around 609 BC, according to later writers such as Livy, when the last of the seven kings of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was deposed, and a system based on annually-elected magistratus and various representative assemblies was established.Matyszak, 2003. pages 43-44. A constitution of the Roman Republic set a series of checks and balances, and a separation of powers. The most important magistrates were the two consuls, who together exercised executive authority in the form of imperium, or military command.Adkins, 1998. pages 41-42. The consuls had to contend with the Roman Senate, which was initially an advisory council of the ranking nobility, or patricians, but grew in size and power over time. Rome: The Roman Republic by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-March 24. Other magistracies in the Republic include praetors, aediles, and quaestors. Magistratus by George Long, M.A. Appearing on pages 723-724 of A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D. Published by John Murray, London, 1875. Website written 2006-December 8. Accessed 2007-March 24. The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians, but were later opened to common people, or plebs.Livy II Republican voting assemblies included the comitia centuriata (centuriate assembly), which voted on matters of war and peace and elected men to the most important offices, and the comitia tributa (tribal assembly), which elected less important offices.Adkins, 1998. page 39.

The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, including the Etruscans.Haywood, 1971. pages 350-358. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Taranto, a major Ancient Greece colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 281 BC, but this effort failed as well. Pyrrhus of Epirus (2) and Pyrrhus of Epirus (3) by Jona Lendering. Livius.org. Accessed 2007-March 21.Haywood, 1971. pages 357-358. The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic areas, establishing stable control over the region.Haywood, 1971. page 351. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Rome clashed with Carthage in the first of three Punic Wars. These wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests, of Sicily and Hispania, and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power.Haywood, 1971. pages 376-393. Rome: The Punic Wars by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-March 22. After defeating the Macedonian and Seleucid Empires in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the dominant people of the Mediterranean Sea.Bagnall 1990 Rome: The Conquest of the Hellenistic Empires by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-March 22.

But foreign dominance led to internal strife. Senators became rich at the Roman province' expense, but soldiers, who were mostly small-scale farmers, were away from home longer and could not maintain their land, and the increased reliance on foreign slavery in antiquity and the growth of latifundia reduced the availability of paid work.Duiker, 2001. pages 136-137. Fall of the Roman Republic, 133-27 BC. Purdue University. Accessed 2007-March 24. Income from war booty, mercantilism in the new provinces, and tax farming created new economic opportunities for the wealthy, forming a new class of merchants, the equestrian (Roman). Eques (Knight) by Jona Lendering. Livius.org. Accessed 2007-March 24. The lex Claudia forbade members of the Senate from engaging in commerce, so while the equestrians could theoretically join the Senate, they were severely restricted in terms of political power.Adkins, 1998. page 38.a The Senate squabbled perpetually, repeatedly blocking important land reforms and refusing to give the equestrian class a larger say in the government. Violent gangs of the urban unemployed, controlled by rival Senators, intimidated the electorate through violence. The situation came to a head in the late 2nd century BC under the Gracchi brothers, a pair of tribunes who attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. Both brothers were killed, but the Senate passed some of their reforms in an attempt to placate the growing unrest of the plebeian and equestrian classes. The denial of Roman citizenship to allied Italian cities led to the Social War (91–88 BC) of 91 BC–88 BC.Durant, 1944. pages 120-122. The military reforms of Gaius Marius resulted in soldiers often having more loyalty to their commander than to the city, and a powerful general could hold the city and Senate ransom. Long-lasting Effects of Removal of Land Requirement. Accessed 2007-March 23. This led to civil war between Marius and his protegé Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and culminated in Sulla's Roman dictator of 81 BC-79 BC.Scullard 1982, chapters I-IV

In the mid-1st century BC, three men, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, formed a secret pact—the First Triumvirate—to control the Republic. After Caesar's Gallic Wars, a stand-off between Caesar and the Senate led to Caesar's civil war, with Pompey leading the Senate's forces. Caesar emerged victorious, and was made Roman dictator for life.Scullard 1982, chapters VI-VII In 44 BC, Caesar was Assassination by senators who opposed Caesar's assumption of absolute power and wanted to restore constitutional government, but in the aftermath a Second Triumvirate, consisting of Caesar's designated heir, Augustus, and his former supporters, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir), took power. Julius Caesar (100BC - 44BC). bbc.co.uk. Accessed 2007-March 21. Augustus (31 B.C. - 14 A.D.) by Garrett G. Fagan. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2004-July 5. Accessed 2007-March 21.However, this alliance soon descended into a struggle for dominance. Lepidus was exiled, and when Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, he became the undisputed ruler of Rome.Scullard 1982, chapter VIII

Empire reached its greatest extent in the year 116.

With his enemies defeated, Octavian took the name Augustus and assumed almost absolute power, retaining only a pretense of the Republican form of government. Augustus (63 BC. - AD 14) from bbc.co.uk. Accessed 2007-March 12 His designated successor, Tiberius, took power without serious opposition, establishing the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which lasted until the death of Nero in 68.Duiker, 2001. page 140. The territorial expansion of what was now the Roman Empire continued, and the state remained secure, The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 B.C.-68 A.D.). by the Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Written October, 2000. Accessed 2007-March 18. despite a series of emperors widely viewed as depraved and corrupt (for example, Caligula is argued by some to have been insane and Nero had a reputation for cruelty and being more interested in his private concerns than the affairs of the state Nero (54-68 A.D.) by Herbert W. Benario. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2006-November 10. Accessed 2007-March 18). Their rule was followed by the Flavian dynasty.Suetonius During the reign of the "Five Good Emperors" (96–180), the Empire reached its territorial, economic, and cultural zenith. Five Good Emperors from UNRV History. Accessed 2007-March 12. The state was secure from both internal and external threats, and the Empire prospered during the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace").O'Connell, 1989. page 81. Lecture 12: Augustus Caesar and the Pax Romana by Steven Kreis. The History Guide. Written 2006-February 28. Accessed 2007-March 21. With the conquest of Dacia during the reign of Trajan, the Empire reached the peak of its territorial expansion; Rome's dominion now spanned 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square kilometre).Scarre 1995

The period between 193 and 235 was dominated by the Severan dynasty, and saw several incompetent rulers, such as Elagabalus.Haywood, 1971. pages 589-592. This and the increasing influence of the army on imperial succession led to a long period of imperial collapse and external invasions known as the Crisis of the Third Century. Crisis of the Third Century (235-285) History of Western Civilization, by E.L. Skip Knox, Boise State University. Accessed 2007-March 20.Haywood, 1971. pages 592-596. The crisis was ended by the more competent rule of Diocletian, who in 293 divided the Empire into an eastern and western half ruled by a tetrarchy of two co-emperors and their two junior colleagues. Diocletian ( 284-305 A.D.) by Ralph W. Mathisen. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 1997-February 17. Accessed 2007-March 20. The various co-rulers of the Empire competed and fought for supremacy for more than half a century. On May 11, 330, Emperor Constantine I (emperor) firmly established Byzantium as the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople. Constantine I (306 - 337 A.D.) by Hans A. Pohlsander. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2004-January 8. Accessed 2007-March 20. The Empire was permanently divided into the Eastern Roman Empire (later known as the Byzantine Empire) and the Western Roman Empire in 395. Honorius (395-423 A.D.) by Ralph W. Mathisen. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 1999-June 2. Accessed 2007-March 21.

The Western Empire was constantly harassed by barbarian invasions, and the gradual decline of the Roman Empire continued over the centuries.Duiker, 2001. page 155. In the fourth century, the westward migration of the Huns caused the Visigoths to seek refuge within the borders of the Roman Empire. The Germanic Invasions of Western Europe The University of Calgary. Written August 1996. Accessed 2007-March 22. In 410, the Visigoths, under the leadership of Alaric I, sacked the city of Rome itself.Lapham, Lewis (1997). The End of the World. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-25264-1. pages 47-50. The Vandals invaded Roman provinces in Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa, and in 455 sacked Rome.Duiker, 2001. page 157. On September 4, 476, the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the west, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Romulus Augustulus (475-476 A.D.)--Two Views by Ralph W. Mathisen and Geoffrey S. Nathan. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 1997-August 26. Accessed 2007-March 22. Having lasted for approximately 1200 years, the rule of Rome in the West came to an end.Durant, 1944. page 670.

The Eastern Empire, by contrast, would suffer a similar fate, though not as drastic. Justinian managed to briefly reconquer Northern Africa and Italy, but Byzantine possessions in the West were reduced to southern Italy and Sicily within a few years after Justinian's death.Duiker, 2001. page 347. In the east the Byzantines were threatened by the rise of Islam, whose followers rapidly conquered territories in Syria and Egypt and soon presented a direct threat to Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-April 8. The Byzantines, however, managed to stop Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century, and beginning in the 9th century reclaimed the conquered lands.Duiker, 2001. page 349.a In 1000 A.D. the eastern Empire was at its height: Basil II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia, culture and trade flourished. Basil II (A.D. 976-1025) by Catherine Holmes. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2003-April 1. Accessed 2007-March 22. However, soon after the expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert. This finally lead the empire into a dramatic decline. Several centuries of internal strife and Turkic peoples invasions ultimately paved the way for Emperor Alexius I Comnenus to send a call for help to the West in 1095. The Byzantine Empire by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-April 8. The West responded with the Crusades, eventually resulting in the Fourth Crusade#Final capture of Constantinople by participants in the Fourth Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 would see the fragmentation of what little remained of the empire into successor states, the ultimate victor being that of İznik.Gibbon, Edward. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Chapter 61. Accessed 2007-April 11. After the recapture of Constantinople by imperial forces, the empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegean Sea coast. The Eastern Empire came to an end when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453. Mehmet II by Korkut Ozgen. Theottomans.org. Accessed 2007-April 3.

Society was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, and served as a hub for daily Roman life.

Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, located on Seven hills of Rome. The city had a vast number of monumental structures like the Colosseum, the Forum of Trajan and the Pantheon, Rome. It had fountains with fresh drinking-water supplied by hundreds of miles of Aqueduct (Roman), Roman theatre (structure), gymnasium (ancient Greece)s, thermae complete with libraries and shops, marketplaces, and functional sewers. Throughout the territory under the control of ancient Rome, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to Roman villa. In the capital city of Rome, there were Roman Empire residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The low and middle classes lived in the city center, packed into apartments, which were almost like modern ghettos.

The imperial city of Rome was the largest urban center of its time, with a population of about one million people (about the size of London in the early 19th century, when London was the largest city in the world), with some high-end estimates of 14 million and low-end estimates of 450,000.Duiker, 2001. page 149. Abstrat of The population of ancient Rome. by Glenn R. Storey. HighBeam Research. Written 1997-December 1. Accessed 2007-April 22. The Population of Rome by Whitney J. Oates. Originally published in Classical Philology.Vol. 29, No. 2 (Apr. 1934), pp101‑116. Accessed 2007-April 22. The public spaces in Rome resounded with such a din of hooves and clatter of iron chariot wheels that Julius Caesar had once proposed a ban on chariot traffic during the day. Historical estimates indicate that around 20 percent of population under the jurisdiction of the ancient Rome (25% to 40%, depending the standards used, in Roman ItalyN.Morley, Metropolis and Hinterland (Cambridge, 1996) 174-83) lived in innumerable urban centers, with population of 10,000 and more and several military settlements, a very high rate of urbanization by pre-industrial standards. Most of these centers had a Forum (Roman) and temples and same type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome.

Government , whose rise to power and assassination set the stage for Augustus to establish himself as the first Princeps.

Initially, Rome was ruled by Roman Kingdom, who were elected from each of Rome's major tribes in turn.Matyszak, 2003. pages 16-42. The exact nature of the king's power is uncertain. He may have held near-absolute power, or may also have merely been the chief executive of the SPQR. At least in military matters, the king's authority (Imperium) was likely absolute. He was also the head of the Roman religion. In addition to the authority of the King, there were three administrative assemblies: the Roman Senate, which acted as an advisory body for the King; the Curiate Assembly, which could endorse and ratify laws suggested by the King; and the Comitia Calata, which was an assembly of the priestly college which could assemble the people in order to bear witness to certain acts, hear proclamations, and declare the Festival and holiday schedule for the next month.

The class struggles of the Roman Republic resulted in an unusual mixture of democracy and oligarchy. The word republic comes from the Latin res publica which literally translates to public business. Roman laws traditionally could only be passed by a vote of the Popular assembly (Comitia Tributa). Likewise, candidates for public positions had to run for election by the people. However, the Roman Senate represented an oligarchic institution, which acted as an advisory body. In the Republic, the Senate held great authority (auctoritas), but no actual legislative power; it was technically only an advisory council. However, as the Senators were individually very influential, it was difficult to accomplish anything against the collective will of the Senate. New Senators were chosen from among the most accomplished patricians by Censor (ancient Rome)s (Censura), who could also remove a Senator from his office if he was found "morally corrupt"; a charge that could include bribery or, as under Cato the Elder, embracing one's wife in public. Later, under the reforms of the dictator Sulla, Quaestors were made automatic members of the Senate, though most of his reforms did not survive.

The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy, and collected Taxation through the practice of tax farming. Government positions such as quaestor, aedile, or praefect were funded from the office-holder's private finances. In order to prevent any citizen from gaining too much power, new magistrates were elected annually and had to share power with a colleague. For example, under normal conditions, the highest authority was held by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary Roman dictator could be appointed. Throughout the Republic, the administrative system was revised several times to comply with new demands. In the end, it proved inefficient for controlling the ever-expanding dominion of Rome, contributing to the establishment of the Roman Empire.

In the early Empire, the pretense of a republican form of government was maintained. The Roman Emperor was portrayed as only a 'princeps', or "first citizen", and the Senate gained legislative power and all legal authority previously held by the popular assemblies. However, the rule of the emperors became increasingly autocratic over time, and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body appointed by the emperor. The Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy from the Republic, since the Republic did not have any permanent governmental structures apart from the Senate. The Emperor appointed assistants and advisers, but the state lacked many institutions, such as a centrally-planned budget. Some historians have cited this as a significant reason for the decline of the Roman Empire.

The territory of the Empire was divided into Roman province. The number of provinces increased with time, both as new territories were conquered and as provinces were divided into smaller units to discourage rebellions by powerful local rulers. Upon the rise of Augustus and the Principate, the provinces were divided into imperial and senatorial provinces, depending on which institution had the right to select the governor. During the Tetrarchy, the provinces of the empire were divided into 12 dioceses, each headed by a praetor. The civilian and military authority were separated, with civilian matters still administered by the governor, but with military command transferred to a dux.

On a local level, towns were divided into Colonia (Roman), colonies composed of former soldiers or members of the Roman underclass, and municipia, towns composed of enfranchised provincials. These cities were given constitutions based on the Roman model, with the elected duovirs and aediles serving as magistrates, and with the local curia, appointed from men of property for life, serving in an advisory capability, similar to the Senate.

Law The roots of the legal principles and practices of the ancient Romans may be traced to the law of the twelve tables (from 449 BC) to the Corpus Iuris Civilis of Emperor Justinian I (around 530). Roman law as preserved in Justinian's codes continued into the Byzantine Empire, and formed the basis of similar codifications in continental Western Europe. Roman law continued, in a broader sense, to be applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 17th century.

The major divisions of the law of ancient Rome, as contained within the Justinian and Theodosian law codes, consisted of Ius Civile, Ius Gentium, and Ius Naturale. The Ius Civile ("Citizen law") was the body of common laws that applied to Roman citizens.Adkins, 1998. page 46. The Praetor#Praetor Urbanus (sg. Praetor Urbanus) were the individuals who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens. The Ius Gentium ("Law of nations") was the body of common laws that applied to foreigners, and their dealings with Roman citizens.Duiker, 2001. page 146. The Praetor#Praetor Peregrinus (sg. Praetor Peregrinus) were the individuals who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens and foreigners. Ius Naturale encompassed natural law, the body of laws that were considered common to all being.

Economy denarius, a standardized silver coin.Ancient Rome commanded a vast area of land, with tremendous natural and human resources. As such, Rome's economy remained focused on agriculture and trade. Agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the 1st century BC, vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers, who were unable to match the imported grain price. The annexation of Egypt, Sicily and Tunisia in North Africa provided a continuous supply of grains. In turn, olive oil and wine were Italy's main exports. Two-tier crop rotation was practiced, but farm productivity was overall low, around 1 ton per hectare.

Industry and manufacturing activities were smaller. The largest such activity were the mining and quarrying of stones, which provided basic construction materials for the buildings of that period. In manufacturing, production was on a relatively small scale, and generally consisted of workshops and small factories that employed at most dozens of workers. However, some brick factories employed hundreds of workers.

Some economic historians (like Peter Temin) argue that the economy of the Early Roman Empire was a market economy and one of the most advanced agricultural economies to have existed (in terms of productivity, urbanization and development of capital markets), comparable to the most advanced economies of the world before the industrial revolution, the economies of XVIII century England and XVII century Netherlands. There were markets for every type of good, for land, for cargo ships; there was even an insurance market.

The economy of the early Republic was largely based on smallholding and paid labor. However, foreign wars and conquests made slavery in antiquity increasingly cheap and plentiful, and by the late Republic, the economy was largely dependent on slave labor for both skilled and unskilled work. Slaves are estimated to have constituted around 20% of the Roman Empire's population at this time and 40% in the city of Rome. Only in the Roman Empire, when the conquests stopped and the prices of slaves increased, did hired labor become more economical than slave ownership.

Although barter (economics) was used in ancient Rome, and often used in tax collection, Rome had a very developed coinage system, with brass, bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the Empire and beyond—some have even been discovered in India. Before the 3rd century BC, copper was traded by weight, measured in unmarked lumps, across central Italy. The original copper coins (as (coin)) had a face value of one Pound (weight)#Origins of copper, but weighed less. Thus, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic value as metal. After Nero began debasing the silver denarius, its legal tender value was an estimated one-third greater than its intrinsic.

Horses were too expensive, and other pack animals too slow, for mass trade on the Roman roads, which connected military posts rather than markets, and were rarely designed for wheels. As a result, there was little transport of commodity between Roman regions until the rise of Roman commerce#Sea routes in the 2nd century BC. During that period, a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia Antica (archaeological site), spanning the entire length of the Mediterranean Sea. Transport by sea was around 60 times cheaper than by land, so the volume for such trips was much larger.

Class structure , the distinctive garment of ancient Rome.

Roman society was strictly social hierarchy, with slavery in antiquity (servī) at the bottom, freedman (libertī) above them, and free-born citizens (civēs) at the top. Free citizens were themselves also divided by class. The broadest, and earliest, division was between the patricians, who could trace their ancestry to one of the 100 Patriarchs at the founding of the city, and the plebs, who could not. This became less important in the later Republic, as some plebeian families became wealthy and entered politics, and some patrician families fell on hard times. Anyone, patrician or plebeian, who could count a consul as his ancestor was a nobility (nobilis); a man who was the first of his family to hold the consulship, such as Gaius Marius or Cicero, was known as a novus homo ("new man") and ennobled his descendants. Patrician ancestry, however, still conferred considerable prestige, and many religious offices remained restricted to patricians.

A class division originally based on military service became more important. Membership of these classes was determined periodically by the Censor (ancient Rome), according to property. The wealthiest were the Senatorial class, who dominated politics and command of the army. Next came the equestrian (Roman) (equites, sometimes translated "knights"), originally those who could afford a warhorse, who formed a powerful mercantile class. Several further classes, originally based on what military equipment their members could afford, followed, with the proletarii, citizens who had no property at all, at the bottom. Before the reforms of Marius they were ineligible for military service and are often described as being just barely above freed slaves in terms of wealth and prestige.

Voting power in the Republic was dependent on class. Citizens were enrolled in voting "tribes", but the tribes of the richer classes had fewer members than the poorer ones, all the proletarii being enrolled in a single tribe. Voting was done in class order and stopped as soon as a majority of the tribes had been reached, so the poorer classes were often unable even to cast their votes.

Allied foreign cities were often given the Latin Right, an intermediary level between full citizens and foreigners (peregrini), which gave their citizens rights under Roman law and allowed their leading magistrates to become full Roman citizens. While there were varying degrees of Latin rights, the main division was between those con suffrage ("with vote"; enrolled in a Roman tribe and able to take part in the comitia tributa) and sans suffrage (without vote; unable to take part in Roman politics). Some of Rome's Italian allies were given full citizenship after the Social War (91–88 BC) of 91 BC–88 BC, and full Roman citizenship was extended to all free-born men in the Empire by Caracalla in 212. Women shared some basic rights with their male counterparts, but were not fully regarded as citizens and were thus not allowed to vote or participate in politics.

Family The basic units of Roman society were households and Family.Duiker, 2001. page 146. Households included the head (usually the father) of the household, pater familias (father of the family), his wife, children, and other relatives. In the upper classes, slaves and servants were also part of the household. The head of the household had great power (patria potestas, "father's power") over those living with him: He could force marriage and divorce, sell his children into slavery, claim his dependents' property as his own, and even had the right to kill family members (though this last right apparently ceased to be exercised after the first century B.C.).Casson, 1998. pages 10-11.

Patria potestas even extended over adult sons with their own households: A man was not considered a paterfamilias, nor could he truly hold property, while his own father lived. Family Values in Ancient Rome by Richard Saller. The University of Chicago Library Digital Collections: Fathom Archive. Written 2001. Visited 2007-April 14. During the early period of Rome's history, a daughter, when she married, fell under the control (manus) of the paterfamilias of her husband's household, although by the late Republic this fell out of fashion, as a woman could choose to continue recognizing her father's family as her true family.Adkins, 1998. page 339. However, as Romans reckoned Kinship and descent through the male line, any children she had would belong to her husband's family.Adkins, 1998. page 340.

Groups of related households formed a family (gens). Families were based on blood ties (or adoption), but were also political and economic alliances. Especially during the Roman Republic, some powerful families, or Gens, came to dominate political life.

Ancient Roman marriage was often regarded more as a financial and political alliance than as a romantic association, especially in the upper classes. Fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when they reached an age between twelve and fourteen. The husband was almost always older than the bride. While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower class women often married in their late teens or early twenties.

Education In the early Republic, there were no public schools, so boys were taught to read and write by their parents, or by educated slaves, called wiktionary:paedagogus, usually of Ancient Greece origin. Lecture 13: A Brief Social History of the Roman Empire by Steven Kreis. Written 2006-October 11. Accessed 2007-April 2.Adkins, 1998. page 211.Werner, 1978. page 31. The primary aim of education during this period was to train young men in agriculture, warfare, Roman culture, and public affairs.a Young boys learnt much about civic life by accompanying their fathers to religious and political functions, including the Senate for the sons of nobles.a The sons of nobles were apprenticed to a prominent political figure at the age of 16, and campaigned with the army from the age of 17 (this system would still be in use among some noble families well into the imperial era).a Educational practices were modified following the conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the Third Century BC and the resulting Greek influence, although it should be noted that Roman educational practices were still significantly different from Greek ones.Duiker, 2001. page 143.a If their parents could afford it, boys and some girls at the age of 7 were sent to a private school outside the home called a wiktionary:lūdus, where a teacher (called a litterator or a wiktionary:magister, and often of Greek origin) taught them basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and sometimes Greek, until the age of 11. Roman Education. Latin ExCET Preparation. Texas Classical Association. Written by Ginny Lindzey, September 1998. Accessed 2007-March 27.a Beginning at age 12, students went to secondary schools, where the teacher (now called a grammaticus) taught them about Greek literature and Roman literature literature.aa At the age of 16, some students went on to rhetoric school (where the teacher, almost always Greek, was called a wiktionary:rhetor).aa Education at this level prepared students for legal careers, and required that the students memorize the laws of Rome.a Pupils went to school every day, except religious festivals and market days. There were also summer holidays.

Culture Language , a Latin text from circa the 6th century BC, is one of the earliest known examples of Roman writing. "Latin alphabet." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed 2007-April 19.

The native language of the Romans was Latin, an Italic languages the Latin grammar relies little on word order, conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems. Latin Online: Series Introduction by Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum. Linguistics Research Center. The University of Texas at Austin. Written 2007-February 15. Accessed 2007-April 1. Its Latin alphabet was based on the Etruscan alphabet, which was in turn based on the Greek alphabet. The Latin Alphabet by J. B. Calvert. University of Denver. Written 1999-August 8. Accessed 2007-April 1. Although surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, an artificial and highly stylized and polished literary language from the 1st century BC, the actual spoken language of the Roman Empire was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar and vocabulary, and eventually in pronunciation. Classical Latin Supplement. page 2. Accessed 2007-April 2. left by soldiers of Legio XII Fulminata, I century AD.

While Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, Greek language came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which later became the Byzantine Empire, Latin was never able to replace Greek, and after the death of Justinian Greek became the official language of the Byzantine government.Adkins, 1998. page 203. The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and over time Vulgar Latin evolved and dialectized in different locations, gradually shifting into a number of distinct Romance languages.

Although Latin is an extinct language with very few remaining fluent speakers, it remains in use in many ways, such as through Ecclesiastical Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church and the official language of the Vatican City. Additionally, even after fading from common usage Latin maintained a role as western Europe's lingua franca, an international language of academia and diplomacy. Although eventually supplanted in this respect by Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its 12-century existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a Roman Republic based on a combination of oligarchy and democracy, to an autocracy Roman Empire. It came to dominate Western Europe and the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea through invasion and cultural assimilation.

The Roman empire went into decline in the 5th century AD. The Western Roman Empire, including Hispania, Gaul, and Italy, broke into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. The eastern empire, governed from Constantinople, is usually referred to as the Byzantine Empire after 476. This is the traditional date for the "fall of Rome" and for the onset of the Early Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages.

Roman civilization is often grouped into "classical antiquity" with ancient Greece, a civilization that inspired much of the culture of ancient Rome. Ancient Rome contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology and language in the Western world, and its history of Rome continues to have a major influence on the world today.]

History Monarchy in 750s BC by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.

According to legend, Rome was founding of Rome on April 21, 750s BC by twin descendants of the Troy prince Aeneas, Romulus and Remus.Adkins, 1998. page 3. The Latin King Numitor of Alba Longa was ejected from his throne by his cruel brother Amulius and Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to Romulus and Remus. The Founding of Rome. Accessed 2007-March 8.Livy, 1998. page 8. Rhea Silvia was a Vestal Virgin who was raped by Mars (mythology), making the twins demigod. The new king feared that Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, so they were to be drowned.Livy, 1998. page 8. A she-wolf (or a shepard's wife in some accounts) saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor.Durant, 1944. Pages 12-14.Livy, 1998. pages 9-10. The twins then founded their own city, but Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over which one of them was to reign as the first of seven Roman Kingdom, as well as become the source of the city's name.Livy, 1998. pages 10-11. As the city was bereft of women, legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins and the Sabines. Myths and Legends- Rome, the Wolf, and Mars. Accessed 2007-March 8.

The city of Rome grew from settlements around a ford on the river Tiber, a crossroads of traffic and trade.a According to archaeology evidence, the village of Rome was probably founded sometime in the 8th century BC, though it may go back as far as the 10th century BC, by members of the Latins of Italy, on the top of the Palatine Hill. 2003. page 19.Duiker, 2001. page 129. The Etruscan civilization, who had previously settled to the north in Etruria, seem to have established political control in the region by the late 7th century BC, forming the aristocratic and monarchial elite. The Etruscans apparently lost power in the area by the late 6th century BC, and at this point, the original Latin and Sabine tribes reinvented their government by creating a republic, with much greater restraints on the ability of rulers to exercise power.Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire by Michael Kerrigan. Dorling Kindersley, London: 2001. ISBN 0-7894-8153-7. page 12.

Republic , a Roman general and politician who dramatically reformed the Military history of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Republic was established around 609 BC, according to later writers such as Livy, when the last of the seven kings of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was deposed, and a system based on annually-elected magistratus and various representative assemblies was established.Matyszak, 2003. pages 43-44. A constitution of the Roman Republic set a series of checks and balances, and a separation of powers. The most important magistrates were the two consuls, who together exercised executive authority in the form of imperium, or military command.Adkins, 1998. pages 41-42. The consuls had to contend with the Roman Senate, which was initially an advisory council of the ranking nobility, or patricians, but grew in size and power over time. Rome: The Roman Republic by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-March 24. Other magistracies in the Republic include praetors, aediles, and quaestors. Magistratus by George Long, M.A. Appearing on pages 723-724 of A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D. Published by John Murray, London, 1875. Website written 2006-December 8. Accessed 2007-March 24. The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians, but were later opened to common people, or plebs.Livy II Republican voting assemblies included the comitia centuriata (centuriate assembly), which voted on matters of war and peace and elected men to the most important offices, and the comitia tributa (tribal assembly), which elected less important offices.Adkins, 1998. page 39.

The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, including the Etruscans.Haywood, 1971. pages 350-358. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Taranto, a major Ancient Greece colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 281 BC, but this effort failed as well. Pyrrhus of Epirus (2) and Pyrrhus of Epirus (3) by Jona Lendering. Livius.org. Accessed 2007-March 21.Haywood, 1971. pages 357-358. The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic areas, establishing stable control over the region.Haywood, 1971. page 351. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Rome clashed with Carthage in the first of three Punic Wars. These wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests, of Sicily and Hispania, and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power.Haywood, 1971. pages 376-393. Rome: The Punic Wars by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-March 22. After defeating the Macedonian and Seleucid Empires in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the dominant people of the Mediterranean Sea.Bagnall 1990 Rome: The Conquest of the Hellenistic Empires by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-March 22.

But foreign dominance led to internal strife. Senators became rich at the Roman province' expense, but soldiers, who were mostly small-scale farmers, were away from home longer and could not maintain their land, and the increased reliance on foreign slavery in antiquity and the growth of latifundia reduced the availability of paid work.Duiker, 2001. pages 136-137. Fall of the Roman Republic, 133-27 BC. Purdue University. Accessed 2007-March 24. Income from war booty, mercantilism in the new provinces, and tax farming created new economic opportunities for the wealthy, forming a new class of merchants, the equestrian (Roman). Eques (Knight) by Jona Lendering. Livius.org. Accessed 2007-March 24. The lex Claudia forbade members of the Senate from engaging in commerce, so while the equestrians could theoretically join the Senate, they were severely restricted in terms of political power.Adkins, 1998. page 38.a The Senate squabbled perpetually, repeatedly blocking important land reforms and refusing to give the equestrian class a larger say in the government. Violent gangs of the urban unemployed, controlled by rival Senators, intimidated the electorate through violence. The situation came to a head in the late 2nd century BC under the Gracchi brothers, a pair of tribunes who attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. Both brothers were killed, but the Senate passed some of their reforms in an attempt to placate the growing unrest of the plebeian and equestrian classes. The denial of Roman citizenship to allied Italian cities led to the Social War (91–88 BC) of 91 BC–88 BC.Durant, 1944. pages 120-122. The military reforms of Gaius Marius resulted in soldiers often having more loyalty to their commander than to the city, and a powerful general could hold the city and Senate ransom. Long-lasting Effects of Removal of Land Requirement. Accessed 2007-March 23. This led to civil war between Marius and his protegé Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and culminated in Sulla's Roman dictator of 81 BC-79 BC.Scullard 1982, chapters I-IV

In the mid-1st century BC, three men, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, formed a secret pact—the First Triumvirate—to control the Republic. After Caesar's Gallic Wars, a stand-off between Caesar and the Senate led to Caesar's civil war, with Pompey leading the Senate's forces. Caesar emerged victorious, and was made Roman dictator for life.Scullard 1982, chapters VI-VII In 44 BC, Caesar was Assassination by senators who opposed Caesar's assumption of absolute power and wanted to restore constitutional government, but in the aftermath a Second Triumvirate, consisting of Caesar's designated heir, Augustus, and his former supporters, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir), took power. Julius Caesar (100BC - 44BC). bbc.co.uk. Accessed 2007-March 21. Augustus (31 B.C. - 14 A.D.) by Garrett G. Fagan. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2004-July 5. Accessed 2007-March 21.However, this alliance soon descended into a struggle for dominance. Lepidus was exiled, and when Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, he became the undisputed ruler of Rome.Scullard 1982, chapter VIII

Empire reached its greatest extent in the year 116.

With his enemies defeated, Octavian took the name Augustus and assumed almost absolute power, retaining only a pretense of the Republican form of government. Augustus (63 BC. - AD 14) from bbc.co.uk. Accessed 2007-March 12 His designated successor, Tiberius, took power without serious opposition, establishing the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which lasted until the death of Nero in 68.Duiker, 2001. page 140. The territorial expansion of what was now the Roman Empire continued, and the state remained secure, The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 B.C.-68 A.D.). by the Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Written October, 2000. Accessed 2007-March 18. despite a series of emperors widely viewed as depraved and corrupt (for example, Caligula is argued by some to have been insane and Nero had a reputation for cruelty and being more interested in his private concerns than the affairs of the state Nero (54-68 A.D.) by Herbert W. Benario. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2006-November 10. Accessed 2007-March 18). Their rule was followed by the Flavian dynasty.Suetonius During the reign of the "Five Good Emperors" (96–180), the Empire reached its territorial, economic, and cultural zenith. Five Good Emperors from UNRV History. Accessed 2007-March 12. The state was secure from both internal and external threats, and the Empire prospered during the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace").O'Connell, 1989. page 81. Lecture 12: Augustus Caesar and the Pax Romana by Steven Kreis. The History Guide. Written 2006-February 28. Accessed 2007-March 21. With the conquest of Dacia during the reign of Trajan, the Empire reached the peak of its territorial expansion; Rome's dominion now spanned 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million square kilometre).Scarre 1995

The period between 193 and 235 was dominated by the Severan dynasty, and saw several incompetent rulers, such as Elagabalus.Haywood, 1971. pages 589-592. This and the increasing influence of the army on imperial succession led to a long period of imperial collapse and external invasions known as the Crisis of the Third Century. Crisis of the Third Century (235-285) History of Western Civilization, by E.L. Skip Knox, Boise State University. Accessed 2007-March 20.Haywood, 1971. pages 592-596. The crisis was ended by the more competent rule of Diocletian, who in 293 divided the Empire into an eastern and western half ruled by a tetrarchy of two co-emperors and their two junior colleagues. Diocletian ( 284-305 A.D.) by Ralph W. Mathisen. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 1997-February 17. Accessed 2007-March 20. The various co-rulers of the Empire competed and fought for supremacy for more than half a century. On May 11, 330, Emperor Constantine I (emperor) firmly established Byzantium as the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople. Constantine I (306 - 337 A.D.) by Hans A. Pohlsander. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2004-January 8. Accessed 2007-March 20. The Empire was permanently divided into the Eastern Roman Empire (later known as the Byzantine Empire) and the Western Roman Empire in 395. Honorius (395-423 A.D.) by Ralph W. Mathisen. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 1999-June 2. Accessed 2007-March 21.

The Western Empire was constantly harassed by barbarian invasions, and the gradual decline of the Roman Empire continued over the centuries.Duiker, 2001. page 155. In the fourth century, the westward migration of the Huns caused the Visigoths to seek refuge within the borders of the Roman Empire. The Germanic Invasions of Western Europe The University of Calgary. Written August 1996. Accessed 2007-March 22. In 410, the Visigoths, under the leadership of Alaric I, sacked the city of Rome itself.Lapham, Lewis (1997). The End of the World. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-25264-1. pages 47-50. The Vandals invaded Roman provinces in Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa, and in 455 sacked Rome.Duiker, 2001. page 157. On September 4, 476, the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the west, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Romulus Augustulus (475-476 A.D.)--Two Views by Ralph W. Mathisen and Geoffrey S. Nathan. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 1997-August 26. Accessed 2007-March 22. Having lasted for approximately 1200 years, the rule of Rome in the West came to an end.Durant, 1944. page 670.

The Eastern Empire, by contrast, would suffer a similar fate, though not as drastic. Justinian managed to briefly reconquer Northern Africa and Italy, but Byzantine possessions in the West were reduced to southern Italy and Sicily within a few years after Justinian's death.Duiker, 2001. page 347. In the east the Byzantines were threatened by the rise of Islam, whose followers rapidly conquered territories in Syria and Egypt and soon presented a direct threat to Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-April 8. The Byzantines, however, managed to stop Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century, and beginning in the 9th century reclaimed the conquered lands.Duiker, 2001. page 349.a In 1000 A.D. the eastern Empire was at its height: Basil II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia, culture and trade flourished. Basil II (A.D. 976-1025) by Catherine Holmes. De Imperatoribus Romanis. Written 2003-April 1. Accessed 2007-March 22. However, soon after the expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert. This finally lead the empire into a dramatic decline. Several centuries of internal strife and Turkic peoples invasions ultimately paved the way for Emperor Alexius I Comnenus to send a call for help to the West in 1095. The Byzantine Empire by Richard Hooker. Washington State University. Written 1999-June 6. Accessed 2007-April 8. The West responded with the Crusades, eventually resulting in the Fourth Crusade#Final capture of Constantinople by participants in the Fourth Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 would see the fragmentation of what little remained of the empire into successor states, the ultimate victor being that of İznik.Gibbon, Edward. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Chapter 61. Accessed 2007-April 11. After the recapture of Constantinople by imperial forces, the empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegean Sea coast. The Eastern Empire came to an end when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453. Mehmet II by Korkut Ozgen. Theottomans.org. Accessed 2007-April 3.

Society was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, and served as a hub for daily Roman life.

Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, located on Seven hills of Rome. The city had a vast number of monumental structures like the Colosseum, the Forum of Trajan and the Pantheon, Rome. It had fountains with fresh drinking-water supplied by hundreds of miles of Aqueduct (Roman), Roman theatre (structure), gymnasium (ancient Greece)s, thermae complete with libraries and shops, marketplaces, and functional sewers. Throughout the territory under the control of ancient Rome, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to Roman villa. In the capital city of Rome, there were Roman Empire residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The low and middle classes lived in the city center, packed into apartments, which were almost like modern ghettos.

The imperial city of Rome was the largest urban center of its time, with a population of about one million people (about the size of London in the early 19th century, when London was the largest city in the world), with some high-end estimates of 14 million and low-end estimates of 450,000.Duiker, 2001. page 149. Abstrat of The population of ancient Rome. by Glenn R. Storey. HighBeam Research. Written 1997-December 1. Accessed 2007-April 22. The Population of Rome by Whitney J. Oates. Originally published in Classical Philology.Vol. 29, No. 2 (Apr. 1934), pp101‑116. Accessed 2007-April 22. The public spaces in Rome resounded with such a din of hooves and clatter of iron chariot wheels that Julius Caesar had once proposed a ban on chariot traffic during the day. Historical estimates indicate that around 20 percent of population under the jurisdiction of the ancient Rome (25% to 40%, depending the standards used, in Roman ItalyN.Morley, Metropolis and Hinterland (Cambridge, 1996) 174-83) lived in innumerable urban centers, with population of 10,000 and more and several military settlements, a very high rate of urbanization by pre-industrial standards. Most of these centers had a Forum (Roman) and temples and same type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome.

Government , whose rise to power and assassination set the stage for Augustus to establish himself as the first Princeps.

Initially, Rome was ruled by Roman Kingdom, who were elected from each of Rome's major tribes in turn.Matyszak, 2003. pages 16-42. The exact nature of the king's power is uncertain. He may have held near-absolute power, or may also have merely been the chief executive of the SPQR. At least in military matters, the king's authority (Imperium) was likely absolute. He was also the head of the Roman religion. In addition to the authority of the King, there were three administrative assemblies: the Roman Senate, which acted as an advisory body for the King; the Curiate Assembly, which could endorse and ratify laws suggested by the King; and the Comitia Calata, which was an assembly of the priestly college which could assemble the people in order to bear witness to certain acts, hear proclamations, and declare the Festival and holiday schedule for the next month.

The class struggles of the Roman Republic resulted in an unusual mixture of democracy and oligarchy. The word republic comes from the Latin res publica which literally translates to public business. Roman laws traditionally could only be passed by a vote of the Popular assembly (Comitia Tributa). Likewise, candidates for public positions had to run for election by the people. However, the Roman Senate represented an oligarchic institution, which acted as an advisory body. In the Republic, the Senate held great authority (auctoritas), but no actual legislative power; it was technically only an advisory council. However, as the Senators were individually very influential, it was difficult to accomplish anything against the collective will of the Senate. New Senators were chosen from among the most accomplished patricians by Censor (ancient Rome)s (Censura), who could also remove a Senator from his office if he was found "morally corrupt"; a charge that could include bribery or, as under Cato the Elder, embracing one's wife in public. Later, under the reforms of the dictator Sulla, Quaestors were made automatic members of the Senate, though most of his reforms did not survive.

The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy, and collected Taxation through the practice of tax farming. Government positions such as quaestor, aedile, or praefect were funded from the office-holder's private finances. In order to prevent any citizen from gaining too much power, new magistrates were elected annually and had to share power with a colleague. For example, under normal conditions, the highest authority was held by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary Roman dictator could be appointed. Throughout the Republic, the administrative system was revised several times to comply with new demands. In the end, it proved inefficient for controlling the ever-expanding dominion of Rome, contributing to the establishment of the Roman Empire.

In the early Empire, the pretense of a republican form of government was maintained. The Roman Emperor was portrayed as only a 'princeps', or "first citizen", and the Senate gained legislative power and all legal authority previously held by the popular assemblies. However, the rule of the emperors became increasingly autocratic over time, and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body appointed by the emperor. The Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy from the Republic, since the Republic did not have any permanent governmental structures apart from the Senate. The Emperor appointed assistants and advisers, but the state lacked many institutions, such as a centrally-planned budget. Some historians have cited this as a significant reason for the decline of the Roman Empire.

The territory of the Empire was divided into Roman province. The number of provinces increased with time, both as new territories were conquered and as provinces were divided into smaller units to discourage rebellions by powerful local rulers. Upon the rise of Augustus and the Principate, the provinces were divided into imperial and senatorial provinces, depending on which institution had the right to select the governor. During the Tetrarchy, the provinces of the empire were divided into 12 dioceses, each headed by a praetor. The civilian and military authority were separated, with civilian matters still administered by the governor, but with military command transferred to a dux.

On a local level, towns were divided into Colonia (Roman), colonies composed of former soldiers or members of the Roman underclass, and municipia, towns composed of enfranchised provincials. These cities were given constitutions based on the Roman model, with the elected duovirs and aediles serving as magistrates, and with the local curia, appointed from men of property for life, serving in an advisory capability, similar to the Senate.

Law The roots of the legal principles and practices of the ancient Romans may be traced to the law of the twelve tables (from 449 BC) to the Corpus Iuris Civilis of Emperor Justinian I (around 530). Roman law as preserved in Justinian's codes continued into the Byzantine Empire, and formed the basis of similar codifications in continental Western Europe. Roman law continued, in a broader sense, to be applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 17th century.

The major divisions of the law of ancient Rome, as contained within the Justinian and Theodosian law codes, consisted of Ius Civile, Ius Gentium, and Ius Naturale. The Ius Civile ("Citizen law") was the body of common laws that applied to Roman citizens.Adkins, 1998. page 46. The Praetor#Praetor Urbanus (sg. Praetor Urbanus) were the individuals who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens. The Ius Gentium ("Law of nations") was the body of common laws that applied to foreigners, and their dealings with Roman citizens.Duiker, 2001. page 146. The Praetor#Praetor Peregrinus (sg. Praetor Peregrinus) were the individuals who had jurisdiction over cases involving citizens and foreigners. Ius Naturale encompassed natural law, the body of laws that were considered common to all being.

Economy denarius, a standardized silver coin.Ancient Rome commanded a vast area of land, with tremendous natural and human resources. As such, Rome's economy remained focused on agriculture and trade. Agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the 1st century BC, vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers, who were unable to match the imported grain price. The annexation of Egypt, Sicily and Tunisia in North Africa provided a continuous supply of grains. In turn, olive oil and wine were Italy's main exports. Two-tier crop rotation was practiced, but farm productivity was overall low, around 1 ton per hectare.

Industry and manufacturing activities were smaller. The largest such activity were the mining and quarrying of stones, which provided basic construction materials for the buildings of that period. In manufacturing, production was on a relatively small scale, and generally consisted of workshops and small factories that employed at most dozens of workers. However, some brick factories employed hundreds of workers.

Some economic historians (like Peter Temin) argue that the economy of the Early Roman Empire was a market economy and one of the most advanced agricultural economies to have existed (in terms of productivity, urbanization and development of capital markets), comparable to the most advanced economies of the world before the industrial revolution, the economies of XVIII century England and XVII century Netherlands. There were markets for every type of good, for land, for cargo ships; there was even an insurance market.

The economy of the early Republic was largely based on smallholding and paid labor. However, foreign wars and conquests made slavery in antiquity increasingly cheap and plentiful, and by the late Republic, the economy was largely dependent on slave labor for both skilled and unskilled work. Slaves are estimated to have constituted around 20% of the Roman Empire's population at this time and 40% in the city of Rome. Only in the Roman Empire, when the conquests stopped and the prices of slaves increased, did hired labor become more economical than slave ownership.

Although barter (economics) was used in ancient Rome, and often used in tax collection, Rome had a very developed coinage system, with brass, bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the Empire and beyond—some have even been discovered in India. Before the 3rd century BC, copper was traded by weight, measured in unmarked lumps, across central Italy. The original copper coins (as (coin)) had a face value of one Pound (weight)#Origins of copper, but weighed less. Thus, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic value as metal. After Nero began debasing the silver denarius, its legal tender value was an estimated one-third greater than its intrinsic.

Horses were too expensive, and other pack animals too slow, for mass trade on the Roman roads, which connected military posts rather than markets, and were rarely designed for wheels. As a result, there was little transport of commodity between Roman regions until the rise of Roman commerce#Sea routes in the 2nd century BC. During that period, a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia Antica (archaeological site), spanning the entire length of the Mediterranean Sea. Transport by sea was around 60 times cheaper than by land, so the volume for such trips was much larger.

Class structure , the distinctive garment of ancient Rome.

Roman society was strictly social hierarchy, with slavery in antiquity (servī) at the bottom, freedman (libertī) above them, and free-born citizens (civēs) at the top. Free citizens were themselves also divided by class. The broadest, and earliest, division was between the patricians, who could trace their ancestry to one of the 100 Patriarchs at the founding of the city, and the plebs, who could not. This became less important in the later Republic, as some plebeian families became wealthy and entered politics, and some patrician families fell on hard times. Anyone, patrician or plebeian, who could count a consul as his ancestor was a nobility (nobilis); a man who was the first of his family to hold the consulship, such as Gaius Marius or Cicero, was known as a novus homo ("new man") and ennobled his descendants. Patrician ancestry, however, still conferred considerable prestige, and many religious offices remained restricted to patricians.

A class division originally based on military service became more important. Membership of these classes was determined periodically by the Censor (ancient Rome), according to property. The wealthiest were the Senatorial class, who dominated politics and command of the army. Next came the equestrian (Roman) (equites, sometimes translated "knights"), originally those who could afford a warhorse, who formed a powerful mercantile class. Several further classes, originally based on what military equipment their members could afford, followed, with the proletarii, citizens who had no property at all, at the bottom. Before the reforms of Marius they were ineligible for military service and are often described as being just barely above freed slaves in terms of wealth and prestige.

Voting power in the Republic was dependent on class. Citizens were enrolled in voting "tribes", but the tribes of the richer classes had fewer members than the poorer ones, all the proletarii being enrolled in a single tribe. Voting was done in class order and stopped as soon as a majority of the tribes had been reached, so the poorer classes were often unable even to cast their votes.

Allied foreign cities were often given the Latin Right, an intermediary level between full citizens and foreigners (peregrini), which gave their citizens rights under Roman law and allowed their leading magistrates to become full Roman citizens. While there were varying degrees of Latin rights, the main division was between those con suffrage ("with vote"; enrolled in a Roman tribe and able to take part in the comitia tributa) and sans suffrage (without vote; unable to take part in Roman politics). Some of Rome's Italian allies were given full citizenship after the Social War (91–88 BC) of 91 BC–88 BC, and full Roman citizenship was extended to all free-born men in the Empire by Caracalla in 212. Women shared some basic rights with their male counterparts, but were not fully regarded as citizens and were thus not allowed to vote or participate in politics.

Family The basic units of Roman society were households and Family.Duiker, 2001. page 146. Households included the head (usually the father) of the household, pater familias (father of the family), his wife, children, and other relatives. In the upper classes, slaves and servants were also part of the household. The head of the household had great power (patria potestas, "father's power") over those living with him: He could force marriage and divorce, sell his children into slavery, claim his dependents' property as his own, and even had the right to kill family members (though this last right apparently ceased to be exercised after the first century B.C.).Casson, 1998. pages 10-11.

Patria potestas even extended over adult sons with their own households: A man was not considered a paterfamilias, nor could he truly hold property, while his own father lived. Family Values in Ancient Rome by Richard Saller. The University of Chicago Library Digital Collections: Fathom Archive. Written 2001. Visited 2007-April 14. During the early period of Rome's history, a daughter, when she married, fell under the control (manus) of the paterfamilias of her husband's household, although by the late Republic this fell out of fashion, as a woman could choose to continue recognizing her father's family as her true family.Adkins, 1998. page 339. However, as Romans reckoned Kinship and descent through the male line, any children she had would belong to her husband's family.Adkins, 1998. page 340.

Groups of related households formed a family (gens). Families were based on blood ties (or adoption), but were also political and economic alliances. Especially during the Roman Republic, some powerful families, or Gens, came to dominate political life.

Ancient Roman marriage was often regarded more as a financial and political alliance than as a romantic association, especially in the upper classes. Fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when they reached an age between twelve and fourteen. The husband was almost always older than the bride. While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower class women often married in their late teens or early twenties.

Education In the early Republic, there were no public schools, so boys were taught to read and write by their parents, or by educated slaves, called wiktionary:paedagogus, usually of Ancient Greece origin. Lecture 13: A Brief Social History of the Roman Empire by Steven Kreis. Written 2006-October 11. Accessed 2007-April 2.Adkins, 1998. page 211.Werner, 1978. page 31. The primary aim of education during this period was to train young men in agriculture, warfare, Roman culture, and public affairs.a Young boys learnt much about civic life by accompanying their fathers to religious and political functions, including the Senate for the sons of nobles.a The sons of nobles were apprenticed to a prominent political figure at the age of 16, and campaigned with the army from the age of 17 (this system would still be in use among some noble families well into the imperial era).a Educational practices were modified following the conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the Third Century BC and the resulting Greek influence, although it should be noted that Roman educational practices were still significantly different from Greek ones.Duiker, 2001. page 143.a If their parents could afford it, boys and some girls at the age of 7 were sent to a private school outside the home called a wiktionary:lūdus, where a teacher (called a litterator or a wiktionary:magister, and often of Greek origin) taught them basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and sometimes Greek, until the age of 11. Roman Education. Latin ExCET Preparation. Texas Classical Association. Written by Ginny Lindzey, September 1998. Accessed 2007-March 27.a Beginning at age 12, students went to secondary schools, where the teacher (now called a grammaticus) taught them about Greek literature and Roman literature literature.aa At the age of 16, some students went on to rhetoric school (where the teacher, almost always Greek, was called a wiktionary:rhetor).aa Education at this level prepared students for legal careers, and required that the students memorize the laws of Rome.a Pupils went to school every day, except religious festivals and market days. There were also summer holidays.

Culture Language , a Latin text from circa the 6th century BC, is one of the earliest known examples of Roman writing. "Latin alphabet." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed 2007-April 19.

The native language of the Romans was Latin, an Italic languages the Latin grammar relies little on word order, conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems. Latin Online: Series Introduction by Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum. Linguistics Research Center. The University of Texas at Austin. Written 2007-February 15. Accessed 2007-April 1. Its Latin alphabet was based on the Etruscan alphabet, which was in turn based on the Greek alphabet. The Latin Alphabet by J. B. Calvert. University of Denver. Written 1999-August 8. Accessed 2007-April 1. Although surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, an artificial and highly stylized and polished literary language from the 1st century BC, the actual spoken language of the Roman Empire was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar and vocabulary, and eventually in pronunciation. Classical Latin Supplement. page 2. Accessed 2007-April 2. left by soldiers of Legio XII Fulminata, I century AD.

While Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, Greek language came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which later became the Byzantine Empire, Latin was never able to replace Greek, and after the death of Justinian Greek became the official language of the Byzantine government.Adkins, 1998. page 203. The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and over time Vulgar Latin evolved and dialectized in different locations, gradually shifting into a number of distinct Romance languages.

Although Latin is an extinct language with very few remaining fluent speakers, it remains in use in many ways, such as through Ecclesiastical Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church and the official language of the Vatican City. Additionally, even after fading from common usage Latin maintained a role as western Europe's lingua franca, an international language of academia and diplomacy. Although eventually supplanted in this respect by

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