1. Alps form a wall to the north (barrier)2. Peninsula3. Traded with Greece, Egypt, and others a. influenced by a variety of

cultures

1. Mediterranean Sea2. Shaped like a boot; toe on the west -

kicking Sicily3. Apennines a. runs down center from north to

south b. made travel difficult4. Volcanoes a. Mount Etna in Sicily b. Mount Vesuvius – destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79

5. Fertile plains a. Po River valley b. Latium i. west coast of central Italy ii. The Tiber River runs through

the center.6. Tiber River a. Rome (start of Italy)

1. Earliest people = Etruscans2. 510 B.C. – Etruscan kings kicked out

and Roman Republic was founded.3. Republic – government leaders voted

into office

1. Patricians – powerful group from Rome’s wealthiest families

2. Plebians – poor farmers and shopkeepers who could not hold office

3. Both = citizens a. person who is born in a country

or who becomes a member of a country by law

4. Military power – conquered most of Italian peninsula

5. Citizens a. paid taxes b. males – served in army

6. Consuls a. elected 2 leaders i. prevented forming of dictator

(an oppressive ruler) or taking advantage of power

b. both had to agree, but one could veto (turn down) other consul’s plan

c. needed Senate body to approve plans

1. Citizens – who felt patrician government was unfair

2. 494 B.C. – went on strike a. refused to open shops b. serve in the army c. farmers refused to bring their crops

into Rome3. Result – plebeians were given a plebeian

assembly to elect reps. called tribunes a. could veto laws and review judges’

decisions

4. 50 years later – new demand a. no idea of laws because never

posted5. Result – placed on display in Rome’s

public marketplace6. Laws = Twelve Tables (carved on stone

tablets)

1. 3rd group in Rome2. Captured during wars3. Anyone could become a slave4. Some legal rights a. could even buy freedom5. Hard life especially for gladiators

6. Gladiators a. fought each other or wild

animals to the death in large arenas (colosseums)

7. 73 B.C. – 70,000 slaves joined gladiator, Spartacus in a revolt

a. Spartacus and the slaves were defeated, and they were put to death.

1. Carthage a. Phoenician city in northern

Africa2. Punic Wars a. between Carthage and Rome

1. 218 B.C. Carthaginian army invaded Italy and defeated Rome

a. Hannibal – Carthaginian general2. Rome invaded northern Africa and

Hannibal returned3. Rome defeated Carthage in 146 B.C. a. sold survivors into slavery and

burned buildings b. Rome ruled Mediterranean world.

1. Civil War between wealthy Romans and powerful generals

a. civil war – war between groups within a country

2. Julius Caesar a. armies conquered Gaul,

present-day France b. led soldiers into Rome and

made himself dictator

2. Caesar’s changes a. revised Roman calendar b. gave land and grain to the poor c. increased the number of people

in the Senate d. granted citizenship to foreigners3. Caesar had many enemies. (March

15th)