Rome as a kingdom lasted until
about 507 BC, when the people
rose up against the tyrannical
King Tarquinius and established
a
Republic , appointing
the first two consuls and
instituting a more democratic
form of government. The city
prospered under the Republic,
growing greatly in size and
subduing the various tribes of
the surrounding areas - the
Etruscans
to the north, the
Sabines
to the east, the
Samnites
to the south. The Etruscans were
subdued in 474 BC, the Samnites
a little later, and despite a
heavy defeat by the
Gauls
in 390 BC, by the following
century the city had begun to
extend its influence beyond the
boundaries of what is now
mainland Italy, pushing south
into Sicily and across the ocean
to Africa and Carthage. By the
time it had fought and won the
third
Punic War against its
principal rival,
Carthage
, in 146 BC, it had become the
dominant power in the
Mediterranean, subsequently
taking control of present-day
Greece and the Middle East, and
expanding north also, into what
is now France, Germany and
Britain.
Domestically, the Romans
built roads - notably the Via
Appia, which dates back to 312
BC - and developed their civic
structure, with new laws and
far-sighted political reforms,
one of which cannily brought all
of the Republic's vanquished
enemies into the fold as Roman
citizens. However, the history
of the Republic was also one of internal
strife , marked by factional
fighting among the patrician
ruling classes, as everyone
tried to grab a slice of the
riches that were pouring into
the city from its plundering
expeditions abroad - and the
ordinary people, or plebeians,
enjoying little more justice
than they had under the Roman
monarchs. This all came to a
head in 44 BC, when Julius
Caesar , having proclaimed
himself dictator, was murdered
in the Theatre of Pompey on 15
March, by conspirators concerned
at the growing concentration of
power into one man's hands.
After his murder, Julius
Caesar's deputy, Mark Antony
, briefly took control, joining
forces with Lepidus and Caesar's
adopted son, Octavian, in a triumvirate
that marshalled armies that
fought and won against those
controlled by Caesar's
assassins, Brutus and Cassius,
in a famous battle at Philippi,
in modern-day Greece, in 42 BC.
Their alliance was further
cemented by Antony's marriage to
Octavians's sister, Octavia, in
40 AD, but in spite of this a
brief period of turmoil
followed, in which Antony,
unable to put his political
ambitions before his emotional
alliance with the queen of
Egypt, Cleopatra, was defeated
by Octavian at the battle of
Actium in 31 BC - escaping to
Alexandria, where he committed
suicide, with his lover, the
queen.
