LO-1 The Roman Empire

Hello,

Here is my paragraph on the Roman Empire that we learned today.


Today I will be talking about the Roman Public: The Senate and the People. At first, their city-state was rules on the Etruscan model by powerful kings. The king was advised by a council of elders called the Senate, whose members he appointed. Usually he chose among the patricians or-that is, with fathers who already belonged to this hereditary group of leading families. When a king died, his successor was chosen by the Senate from among its own members, subject to approval by an assembly of all male citizens. Besides the king, it was the Senate and the patricians who dominated the city-state. Around 500 B.C., Rome overthrew its Etruscan rulers, and the monarchy was also abolished. The government of Rome became officially the "people's business"-in Latin, res publica, from which the word republic is derived. Rome, like Greece went underwent a long and turbulent development under the influence of social struggles between aristocrat and commoners. The result was a Greek democracy and an oligarchy combined.

There were two major sides of the Republic which were the plebeians and the patricians. The plebeians were people like workers, small farmers, and sometimes quite wealthy citizens. The plebeians at first deferred to patrician rule, but as Rome grew and plebeians became wealthier, they were tired of being treated like second-class citizens. This led to the constant battle of the plebeians vs. the Roman Government.