Terms : Hide Images
| 86145675 | Roman Republic | The period from 507 to 31 B.C.E., during which Rome was largely governed by the Aristocratic Senate. | 0 | |
| 86145676 | Roman Senate | A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman State and the growing empire. | 1 | |
| 86145677 | Patron/client relationship | In ancient Rome, a fundamental social relationship in which the patron-a wealthy and powerful individual-provided legal and economic protection and assistance to clients, men of lesser status and means, and in return the clients supported the political careers and economic interests of their patron. | 2 | |
| 86145678 | Roman Principate | A term used to characterize Roman gov't. in the first three centuries B.C.E., based on the ambiguous title "princeps" ("first citizen") adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship. | 3 | |
| 86145679 | Augustus | Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roan principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate. After defeating all rivals, he laid the groundwork for several centuries of stability and prosperity in the Roman Empire. | 4 | |
| 86145680 | Equites | In ancient Italy, prosperous landowners second in wealth and status to the senatorial aristocracy. The Roman emperors allied with this group to counterbalance the influence of the old aristocracy and used the equites to staff the imperial civil service. | 5 | |
| 86145681 | Pax Romana | Literally, "Roman peace", it connoted the stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries C.E. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas. | 6 | |
| 86145682 | Romanization | The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. The Roman gov't did not actively seek to Romanize the subject peoples in the provinces, but indigenous peoples in the provinces often chose to Romanize because of the political and economic advantages that it brought, as well as the allure of Roman success. | 7 | |
| 86145683 | Jesus | A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. Hailed as Messiah and son of God by his followers, he became the central figure in Christianity, a belief system that developed centuries after his death. | 8 | |
| 86145684 | Paul | A Jew from the Greek city of Tarsus in Anatolia, he initially persecuted the followers of Jesus but, after receiving a revelation on the road to Syrian Damascus, became a Christian. Taking advantage of his Hellenized background and Roman citizenship, he travled throughout Syria-Palestine, Anatolia, and Greece, preaching the new religion and establishing churches. Finding his greatest success among pagans (gentiles), he began the process by which Christianity separated from Judaism. | 9 | |
| 86145685 | Latifundia | Huge estates bought up by newly wealthy Roman citizens. | 10 | |
| 86145686 | Primogeniture | A system of inheritance in which the eldest son in a family received all of his father's land. The nobility remained powerful and owned land, while the 2nd and 3rd sons were forced to seek fortune elsewhere. Many of them turned to the New World for their financial purposes and individual wealth. | 11 | |
| 86145687 | Aqueduct | A conduit, either elevated or underground, using gravity to carry water from a source to a location-usually a city-that needed it. The Romans built many aqueducts in a period of substantial urbanization. | 12 |
