Notes on Ancient Rome

Here are the notes I took in class today......

• 9th century= Etruscan's, Greeks, and Latins move into Italy.
• Greeks had colonies on the Tiber River.
• Remus and Romulus were brothers.
• River carried them to safety, a she-wolf saved them and raised them.
• Romulus killed Remus over an argument about where to found a city.
• The Etruscan people, originally from the east, had settled in the north of Italy and were an early influence on the Romans.
• The Romans were also influenced by the Greek settlements to their south and learned the alphabet and city-state organization from them.
•  The Roman Republic: The Senate and the people
• Originally, Rome was a monarchy on the Etruscan model with a counsel of elders called the Senate.
• C. 500 B.C. the Romans overthrew their monarchy and established a "Republic" 
• Since the senate was populated only by Patricians (aristocratic men), the Plebeians (ordinary citizens fought for a vote in Romes government.
• Each year the Senate elected two rulers, "consuls", who each served a term of one year.
• As in the Greek city-states , the Romans would appoint a single dictator in times of war or conflict.
• Eventually the plebeians gained power in the Senate by electing their own magistrates, called "tribunes."
• In 450 B.C., the laws of Rome were codified and written into the "Twelve Tablets."
• The "mixed" government of Patricians and Plebeians had many of the checks and balances that modern democracies have today.