Rome: The Beginnings of a Republic

The Roman Republic: Rooted in Mythology

According to legend, Rome was founded by  Romulus and Remus, twin brothers who were said to be the sons of the god Mars and a mortal priestess. Unwanted, the boys were left to die. However, the boys survived and were raised by a she-wolf. They recovered, eventually gathering followers and building a city. Initially, they were both supposed to be in control, but they fought for supremacy, and one brother killed the other. Romulus went on to control Rome, giving his name to the new settlement.

In reality, the city-state of Rome was likely formed by Latium villagers joining with settlers from the surrounding hills in 625 BC. However, some historians believe Rome may have been founded as far back as 1700 BC.

The Beginnings of the Republic

By the mid-sixth century BC, Rome was in turmoil. Its seventh king, Tarquinius Superbus, was not in his people’s good books. Thanks to his extravagant lifestyle and relentless warmongering, he was becoming increasingly unpopular. An army was raised against him, and Tarquin was deposed by his nephew Brutus (not to be confused with the Brutus involved in Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC)

In retaliation, Tarquin made several attempts to retake the throne. But in the eyes of the people and the senate, Rome’s days of monarchy were over. They’d seen what happens when power is concentrated in the hands of one man with a lifetime mandate. So, in 509 BC, the Roman Kingdom became the Roman Republic.

Caesar: A Run-In With Pirates

In 75 BC, pirates captured Caesar as he travelled across the Aegean Sea. They initially demanded a ransom of twenty talents of gold (around four hundred kilograms). Caesar, not to be undervalued, insisted they more than double their price. While they waited for the money to be raised, he made use of his time by writing and practising his public speaking. He spent thirty-eight days on board the pirate’s ship, reading his poems aloud to his captors.

When he said he’d have them executed when he was released, the pirates assumed he was joking. He wasn’t. The first thing he did when he was freed was to raise a fleet of ships and capture them. But they had treated him well, so he showed them a form of leniency. Before they were crucified, the merciful Julius Caesar had their throats cut.

The Ides of March

Caesar was a powerful ruler, a well-spoken politician, and an excellent warrior, but he grew a little too big for his boots. Instead of adhering to the rules of Rome, he effectively declared himself King. He controlled the Senate and made decisions himself that should have been decided by committee. It was decreed that he should be assassinated.

On the morning of the 15th of March 44 BC, Caesar mounted the steps to the theatre of Pompey and took his seat on the Senate floor. Immediately, he was surrounded. He didn’t notice the daggers until it was too late. After the first strike, he tried to get away, but blinded by blood, he fell. In his last moments, he understood the depth of the conspiracy – not one of the several dozen senators tried to help him.

The great fear the Romans had was the return of a king. It's the reason Caesar was murdered. The problem is there's no plan for what happens next. They seem to have just assumed that if you kill Caesar, you go back to the Old Republic.

Dr David Gwynn, Professor of Roman History at Royal Holloway University

The End of the Republic

A decade of civil war followed Caesar’s death, eventually won by Octavian in 31 BC. Four years later, Octavian had a rebrand, naming himself Emperor Augustus. Despite centuries of successful wars and expansion, the Roman Republic fell not to external invasion but to greed. Its carefully built institutions stood for more than half a millennium, and were it not for that insatiable hunger for sole power, it might have stood for a millennium more.