The Roman Civilization
At the time when the Greek Civilization was coming to an end, another great civilization was coming up not far away. This was the Roman Civilization. The Roman Civilization, the second great civilization, was emerging in Europe after the Greek Civilization. The initial colonizers of the Roman Civilization spent their life along the southern coast of Italy and the River Tiber. They used to live in small tribes and farm and raise sheep and cattle. They worshiped many gods. Jupiter was known as the king of the gods and Mars was called the god of war.
2,500 years ago, some tribes made a decision to live together. They thought that if they lived and worked together, they would be stronger and happier. Together they worked to build the city of Rome and announced it as their capital. Rome was also called the ‘City of Seven Hills’ just because its construction on seven hills.
How Rome was built
There was an interesting story behind the establishment of Rome. It is story of two twins, Romulus and Remus, who were the children of a princess. Her cruel uncle was the king who ordered a slave to kill the babies by throwing them into the River Tiber. The king was afraid that the children would exterminate him when they grew up and snatch away his throne. But the slave didn’t want to kill the babies. He felt very sorry for them and therefore, he kept them in a basket and floated them down the river. The twins were saved by a she-wolf and she took care of them and nursed them till they grew up.
Later a shepherd found them. He and his wife had no babies and so they kept the babies. When the twins grew up, they told the people about the cruel king. Later, they became the leader of those people and killed the king. Then they decided to build a city along the banks of the Tiber. But each brother selected a different hill and waited for a sign from the sky to see where the city should be set up. Remus saw six birds flying in the sky. On the other hand, Romulus found twelve birds in the sky. Therefore, he made a city and it was named after him.
The Roman people and their Government
Initially, the kings ruled the Romans. There was a leader in each tribe. When the decision of living and working together were made by the tribes, a group was formed by their leaders. The group was called the senate. Members of the senate had a debate about important matters. They used to make the decision about all the things that were to be implemented in Rome. The king led the senate, but he also had to listen to the senate members. He was not allowed to make decision alone. Before doing that he also had to talk with the senate members. The kings ruled over the Roman people for almost 200 years. But some of their kings were brutal and unfair. So the Romans decided to end king’s rule and started to force their king to go away from the city.
How Rome became a Republic nation
After the king was taken out of the city, the people got together and formed a republic. The Romans chose their ruler and government by doing election in a republic. In Rome, elected government was called consuls. An assembly was made, in which every adult man was a member. It was an assembly of the Roman people. The assembly, senate and council constituted the government of Rome. The function of the government was to look after Rome and its inhabitants. It made laws, made roads and also led Rome in war. Of course, it always made effort to win these wars.
The Patricians and the Plebeians
The Romans were segregated into two classes. They were the rich land-owners and powerful people who belonged to the upper class. Only they were allowed to become consuls. In Latin, which is the Roman language, the people of the upper class were known as the patricians. The remaining people were called plebeians. The plebeians included traders, farmers, workers and craftspeople. They were not allowed to become consuls or member of senator. This meant that the plebeians could not participate in the government. They were not allowed to decide how Rome would be governed.
The patricians were very rich. They were not aware of how the poor plebeians spent their life. They could never know how much difficulties the plebeians faced to collect food for them and clothes to wear. The heavy taxes were collected from the plebeians so that the government can use the tax money to run the nation. The plebeians also worked as soldiers.
How tribunes were made
The plebeians were not happy because they had to pay huge taxes and were also forced to participate in the war declared by the patricians. They thought if they lived together, they would be stronger. Then, they could make a demand for a change and be able to decide how Rome should be run. A group was created by the plebeians. They discussed about these things for several years with the patricians. Ultimately the patricians allowed the plebeians to choose their own leaders. The leaders of the plebeians were the tribunes. The tribunes ensured that the government looked after the requirements of the plebeians too.
The tribunes forced the senate to note down the laws of Rome, so that every people of Rome could read them. Once the laws were written down, every Roman came to know his or her rights. People could also ensure that both the rich and the poor were judged by the same laws.
After a period, Rome ruled over most of the world known to Europe. Everywhere, in the Roman kingdom, the same laws, the same government and the same language were used.