2.+450+BCE+to+175+BCE

The Laws of the Twelve Tables

The laws of the Twelve Tables are one of the earliest law coded known at this point in Ancient Rome. The law is covered by both civil and criminal matters. It is commonly believed that the laws were served to the existing customs in Rome. The actual codes did not survive over the years. The Roman historians tells us that the laws were written for the protection of the Romans from any harm. Some of the modern scholars believe this is an actual historical event. The tables did not only provide a valuable insight into the Roman law, but in to the culture as well.

=445 BCE The Lex Canuleia=

The Lex Canuleia was a law that allowed intermarriage between Patricians and Plebeians. This law is often referred to as The Conflict of the Orders because it continued the struggle of the patricians and the plebeians.

Plebeians before this law, were prohibited from marrying Patricians. They were also not allowed to participate in Senate and all other public offices, except the military. Plebeians were considered the working class and some even were slaves for Patricians.



=329 BCE Circus Maximus=

Circus Maximus is a stadium in Rome, which held chariot races. King Tarquinius Priscus created the track. The track was placed between the Palatine and Aventine hills. In 329 B.C., the first official starting gates were made. A series of 3 fires destroyed the wooden structure of Circus Maximus and forced Trajan to rebuild the stadium in 103 A.D. The stadium was now 3 stories and the lower level, where the seating is located, was built in marble. This stadium could seat up to 250,000 people, or ¼ of Rome’s total population. Today, only the outline of the track can be seen, which it lies in a grassy plain.

=300 BCE The Ogulnian Law=

The Ogulnian law was named after Gnaeus and Quintus Ogulnian. This law increased the number of pontiffs from four to eight and increased the number of augurs (prophets) from four to nine. The most important thing that the law did was required that the new openings must be filled by plebians.

A pontiff is a Pagan highest form of a priest otherwise known today as a pope. The Ogulnian law says that half = =

=185 BCE- Cornelia Gracchus=

It would be hard to find a woman who was held in higher esteem in by the Roman people than Cornelia Gracchus. She was the daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, who was the conqueror of Hannibal in the Second Punic War. She was also the wife of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, who Plutarch had said "had been once censor, twice consul, and twice had triumphed, yet was more renowned and esteemed for his virtue than his honours." =264 BCE - 146 BCE THE PUNIC WARS...=

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The First Punic War happened in 264 BC. The focus was on the island of Sicily. Rome took over a lot of the Carthaginian cities on Sicily, and when Carthage tried to raise the fight with its navy, the Romans pretty much destroyed the navy. For the first time since the rise of the Carthaginian empire, they had lost power over the sea-ways. ======

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The war ended with no warning over the other. In 241 BC, the Carthaginians and Romans signed a treaty that said Carthage had to give up Sicily, and to repay to cover Roman costs for the war, But Carthage received rebellion from its troops and Rome, in 238 BC, They took advantage of the confusion by getting the island of Corsica. The Romans feared the Carthaginians. ======

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The Carthaginians were so mad at them taking the island of corsica. The Carthaginians began to shore up their presence in Europe. They sent first the general Hamilcar and then his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, to Spain to build colonies and an army. Both Hamilcar and Hasdrubal made friends among the native Iberians, and their armies, they go people from Iberians and crept up the Iberian peninsula. ======