| First Triumvirate | Grouping of
three strong Romans who supposedly ran the government. They
were Julius Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey. They all became
jealous of each other and fought each other for control of
Rome. Julius Caesar won this struggle, mainly because his
two rivals died in the struggle. |
| Forum | Main place of
business and commerce in Rome. Merchants, politicians, and
just about everyone else did business at the Forum.
Religious ceremonies took place there, as did public
speeches. The Forum was surrounded by temples and other
important buildings. Eventually, the Forum proved too small
for the growing population. Emperors built their own Forums,
which were much larger. Other cities built their own forums
as well. |
| Gaius Marius | General who
became consul and was re-elected six times, serving seven
terms in all. He made it possible for the poor to become
soldiers. (Before, only landowners could join the legions.)
He was opposed Sulla, who defeated him in battle and seized
the government in a dictatorship. |
| Gaul | Large area
covering what is now France and more. Settled by Celts and
others long before the Romans arrived on the scene.
Barbarians in Gaul played both sides in the Second Punic
war, alternately helping and harassing Hannibal on his
march over the Alps and into Italy. Romans under Julius
Caesar conquered Gaul and followed the refugees to
Britain. |
| Gladiator | Warriors who
were usually enslaved and forced to fight to the death in
arenas all over the Empire. The most famous of these arenas
was the Colosseum, in Rome. One of the most famous
gladiators of all was Spartacus, who led a slave revolt that
began in 73 B.C. and ended with his death two years
later. |
| Goths | Germanic
tribes that invaded, became part of, then ended the Western
Roman Empire. The term "Goth" also included the Visigoths
and Ostrogoths. Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome in the 5th
century. Some historians have speculated that the Goths were
driven into the Empire by the Huns, who invaded the Gothic
homeland from the east. However, the story of the Goths is
not only of invasion. For many years, Goths served as
mercenaries in the Roman army. |
| Gracchi | Government
reformers who were killed for trying to implement their
controversial ideas. Both brothers (Tiberius and Caius)
tried separately to redistribute land more evenly, so the
middle class in Rome could have more of a share of lands
gained by conquering other peoples. But many in the Senate
and elsewhere in government didn't want this kind of land
reform. First Tiberius and then Caius got his way for awhile
but then was voted out of office and killed. |
| Hadrian | Emperor who
is most famous for directing the building of Hadrian's Wall,
the wall across northern Britain, to keep out raging Picts.
He directed the building of other walls and fortresses
throughout the Empire, focusing on keeping what the Romans
had gotten rather than continuing to get more. |
| Hadrian's Wall | Wall built by
the Romans to keep marauding Picts on their side of the
island. The wall stretched from coast to coast in northern
Britain and was ordered built by the emperor Hadrian, who
gave it his name. |
| Hamilcar Barca | Carthaginian
leader and enemy of Rome. His son, Hannibal, was even more
famous.
|
| Hannibal | Carthaginian
general and one of the most feared enemies of Rome ever. He
was introduced to the hatred of Rome by his father, Hamilcar
Barca, and he swore to fight Rome all his life. He is famous
for his brilliant victories in the Second Punic War,
including Lake Trasimene, Trebia River, and Cannae.
Desperate to invade Rome but unable to sail across the
Mediterraenan (because Roman ships ruled the seas), Hannibal
took his troops through Spain, over the Alps, and down into
northern Italy. His troops ravaged Italy for years, hoping
the peoples surrounding Rome would band together against the
Romans. However, Rome stood fast. Finally, Roman troops,
under Scipio Africanus, took the battle to the Carthaginian
homeland. Hannibal got home in a hurry, and the two forces
fought Hannibal's final battle (and first defeat) at Zama.
This ended the Second Punic War and made Hannibal an
outcast. He fled Carthage and never returned. |
| Hanno | Carthaginian
geographer who sailed the ocean blue. He is believed to have
sailed around Africa and reached Arabia, founding several
colonies along the way. |
| Huns | The Huns came
from Central Asia and drove other barbarian tribes before
them into the teeth of the Roman defenses. It has been
argued that some of the barbarian invasions of the Goths and
Visigoths were really attempts to escape the ravaging hordes
of the Huns. Their famous (or infamous) leader was
Attila. |
| Julius Caesar | One of the
leaders of early Rome. He was a brilliant general who won
many victories for Rome, including the subjugation of Gaul. He then became the head of the
government at a time when the Roman Senate still wanted to
rule. He was killed by Senators, some of whom he thought
were his friends. When Rome became an empire, emperors took
the name of Caesar as their last name. |
| Juno | Wife of
Jupiter. Protector of marriage, children, and the home.
Known as the Greek goddess Hera. |
| Jupiter | King of the
gods. God of the weather. Husband of Juno. Father of Mercury
and Minerva. Known as the Greek god Zeus. |
| Kings | First seven
rulers of Rome. The formation of the Republic ended the
kingship. The Republic came about because people didn't
trust the king to respect their wishes. |
| Lake Trasimene | Second of
Hannibal's great victory over Rome. Roman soldiers under
Consul Flaminius had pursued Hannibal to Lake Trasimene.
Hannibal made a great show of entering the area around the
lake by a narrow pathway. Despite warnings to the contrary,
Flaminius decided to pursue what he thought were retreating
troops. The narrow pathway wound between a high mountain and
a deep lake. When the Romans began their pursuit, mists from
the lake were already obscuring the way. Suddenly, the
entire Carthaginian army descended onto the startled Roman
troops. The victory was short and very bloody. Hannibal's
men killed 15,000 Romans and captured 10,000. |
| Latifundia | Large farms
that were formed when landowners bought up smaller farms.
Most were sheep and cattle ranches, and some grew olives and
grapes. They were created in part after the Second Punic
War, during which many Romans burned their farms rather than
let the invading Carthaginian General Hannibal live off
their land. |
| Laws | The Romans
were the first to employ lawyers full-time. Roman law was a
revelation in standards and practice. In other words, it
worked very well over a very large number of territories by
employing a very large number of people. The number of Roman
laws grew every year, beginning with the Twelve Tables. As
the number of laws grew, so did the number of lawyers and
judges required to study and interpret those laws. Roman
judges applied the laws evenly throughout the Republic and
the Empire. The penalty for stealing was the same in Roman
Africa as it was in Rome itself. |
| Legion | Roman
fighting unit consisting of 6,000 men who fought as a unit
and wielded several different weapons, including swords and
spears. Their discipline and training turned the tide in
several wars in which the Roman soldiers were
outnumbered. |
| Lepidus | Part of the Second
Triumvirate, along with Marc Antony and Octavian. |
| Marc Antony | Famed general
who cast his lot with Julius Caesar and then Cleopatra. He
supported Caesar during the Civil War, made a famous speech
at Caesar's funeral, and then joined forces with Cleopatra
to fight Octavian in yet another Roman civil war. Antony was
part of the Second Triumvirate, along with Octavian and
Lepidus. He chose to go to Egypt with Cleopatra and was
killed in a great battle with Octavian. |
| Marcus Aurelius | Roman emperor
who was a conqueror and also a philosopher. He firmly
believed in Stoicism, a Greek theory of philosophy. He also
made it a practice to oppose corruption at all levels of
government. He sold his own property to raise money for the
Empire, freed slaves whenever he could and ordered
gladiators to fight with blunted weapons. He won great
victories, especially against the barbarians of the north,
but grew old and tired and was succeeded by his son,
Commodus, who proved to be a disastrous emperor. |
| Mars | God of war.
Known as the Greek god Ares. |
| Mediterranean Sea | Sea that
touched nearly all parts of the Greek world, stretching from
the Asia Minor colonies in the east to beyond Syracuse in
the west, from the Peloponnesus in the north to the shores
of Africa in the south. |
| Mercury | God of
speakers and writers, business, and games. Protector of
mischief-makers. Messenger to mortals. Son of Jupiter. Known
as the Greek god Hermes. |
| Minerva | Goddess of
wisdom. Patron of household crafts. Known as the Greek
goddess Athena. |
| Neptune | God of the
sea and earthquakes. His sea kingdom is unlike any other.
Creatures of his own making swim freely all around the
world. Known as the Greek god Poseidon. |
| Nero | Emperor who
tried to follow the example of Claudius, ruling by the laws,
but ended up withdrawing into his own primitive circle of
needs. He was famous for his wild parties and uneven
justice. He was one of the most famous of the persecutors of
Christians. He made no secret of wanting to build new
buildings in Rome, and the great fire that occurred during
his reign makes historians wonder whether he had a hand in
it. (By the way, Nero didn't "fiddle" while Rome burned. He
played the harp. The fiddle wasn't invented until hundreds
of years later.) Nero eventually went completely mad and was
killed. |
| Odoacer | Barbarian
king who deposed the last emperor of the Western Empire,
Romulus Augustulus. Odoacer declared himself king/emperor,
but he too soon fell victim to the decay and corruption that
ended the empire in the West. |
