Thursday, September 6th

• 2.4.6 day • Will not be here tomorrow (Friday)– Those who need to take the test-

Monday/Tuesday before or after school (7:00 or 2:15)

• Agenda: – Growing Unrest in the Republic Notes– Engineering an Empire video– Have a great weekend

Friday, September 7th

• Happy Friday!

• You have a sub today…BE RESPECTFUL!– If they feel the need to write down your name for ANY

REASON, I will write a referral for you on Monday- NO QUESTIONS

– Follow their instructions

• To do Today– Notes (1st 20 minutes)– Engineering an Empire (remaining time of class)

Goals:

• Understand how the Republic of Rome led to revolts.

• Understand the impact of slavery in Rome. • View how the empire of Rome was

engineered (video)

Growing Unrest in Rome

The Senate• By 2nd century B.C., the Senate had

become the governing body of the Roman State.

• Members were mostly the wealthy landed aristocracy

• Remained senators for life• In charge of the wars, foreign and

domestic affairs– Regular people, or plebeians, did not like

this

Growing Unrest

• Senate was controlled by the wealthy

• Small farmers were unable to compete with large, wealthy landowners and lost their land– (kind of like Wal-Mart!)

• Wealthy land owners used slave labor, which meant they made more money for less labor

• Landless farmers drifted into the cities, creating a large class of poor

Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus • Two brothers• Urged the Council of Plebs to

pass alnd-reform bills– Called for the government to take

back public land held by large landowners and give it to the landless Romans (poor)

• RESULT: Senators were furious • They later killed both brothers

• The reforms of the Gracchus brothers angered the senate, which saw them as a threat to its power.

• The brothers and thousands of their followers were killed in waves of street violence set off by senators and their hired thugs.

A New Role for the Army

• Recruiting Armies in new ways• 107 B.C., General Marius became consul– Recruited his armies by promising the rural poor

that he would give them land if they swore an oath to HIM, not to Rome.

• Result: This type of army was not in government control. – More power in the hands of the generals

Lucius Cornelius Sulla • Was given command of a war in

Asia by the Senate– The council of plebs tried to stop this– Instead, he took over Rome with his

army, and conducted a reign of terror.

• He restored power to the Senate, and eliminated the power of people in assemblies. – Legacy= Seize power with an army

The Wealthy Class

• Built lavish mansions– luxuries

• Huge estates; called latifundia.

• Those captured in war to work as slaves

• The widespread use of slave labor= hurt small farmers– Were unable to produce food as cheaply

• The farmers’ problems :– huge quantities of grain pouring in from the conquered lands drove down grain

prices. – Many farmers fell into debt and had to sell their land

Slavery in Ancient Rome

What they did:• landless farmers flocked to Rome and other cities looking for jobs. • There, they joined an already restless class of unemployed people. As

the gap between rich and poor widened, angry mobs began to riot.• In addition, the new wealth led to increased corruption.

Slave Labor