A Book Report On Ancient Rome

Zach Barnes

Instructor’s Name

November 14, 2016

Ancient Rome

Book Report

I decided to do my book report on Ancient Rome by Simon James. The book focuses on the development of Rome and then the success and eventually the fall of Rome. I found the book interesting because I particularly love history.

The book starts off explaining how Rome came about, stating that “According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by the brothers Romulus and Remus, sons of the war god Mars.” It was built on the seven hills beside the Tiber River. Rome was ruled by kings up until 509 B.C., when the nobles had drove out the Etruscan King Tarquin the proud. After this, Rome became a republic, meaning it wasn’t ruled by just one person. Two consuls were elected

Order was restored when Caesar’s son who was adopted, Octavian, left the civil war as the last standing warlord. He was a very smart politician, he would go on to restore balance to the Roman world and bring it to peace. He would become the king but he knew the Roman citizens hated the idea of kingship. So he restored the old republic and crowned himself the “first citizen.” However, Rome would later be ruled by Augustus, who would pass away in A.D. 14 and pass the throne to his son Tiberius. This would spark a chain that led Rome to be an empire for the next 400 years.

Rome was known as the most powerful and successful armies of all time. It was made up of many legions, each had about 5,000 infantry, who were all Roman citizens. Legionnaires, the heart of the army, were brutally trained, disciplined, and well armed. aries in the second century. There were around 150,000

Careers in the army were primarily taken by poor people because it offered good money and gave you a good life. Soldiers were not supposed to get married, but there was a loophole to where they just would act like they were married without the wedding or the official announcement. The citizens from conquered cities would join the army because they would be granted Roman citizenship and so would their families. Legionaries would be granted land or money after they retired from the military. Legionaries could even be promoted to centurions, who would lead 80 men. The Roman rule would continue to grow because of intermarriage by socials and local women, spreading the ways of the Roman culture.

Now, on to the social scale, or the social classes. People from the first empire were divided up into three different groups, the Roman citizens, non-citizens, and slaves. Slaves were obviously at the bottom of the social ranks. Citizens were divided into ranks of their own and given special rights over non-citizens. The emperor controlled the Senate, then the consuls were chosen from its members, who were all wealthy. The equestrians were made up of rich men as well, served in the army and