"I don't think that being a strong person is about ignoring your emotions and fighting your feelings. Putting on a brave face doesn't mean you're a brave person. That's why everybody in my life knows everything that I'm going through. I can't hide anything from them. People need to realise that being open isn't the same as being weak."

- Taylor Swift

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Rome: The Late Republic.

The History of Rome is divided into basic eras:
  • The Roman Kingdom (753 BC - 509 BC) and the Etruscan civilization (800 BC - 300 BC)
  • The Roman Republic (509 BC - 27 BC)
  • The Roman Empire (27 BC - AD 476) and the Western Roman Empire (285-476)
  • The Byzantine Empire (395 - 1453) 
And this is where Wikipedia fails me :)

A popular era of study is referred to by Scullard as 'From the Gracchi to Nero'. This refers to the time of the Brothers Gracchi (2nd century BC) to the Emperor Nero (1st century AD), and so is the late Roman Republic to the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the Roman Republic. So far I have studied up to the First Triumvirate, but my particular area of interest is from the First Triumvirate to the fall of the Fall of the Roman Republic.

Please don't feel bad if you didn't understand any of the above.

I don't really want to zero in on particular events or dates because, to be honest, I'm neither an expert at those nor am I particularly interested. However, as a rough guide, my writing should apply to the period from the Brothers Gracchi to the fall of the Roman Republic - the period which I consider to be the Late Roman Republic.

1 comment:

Adelaide Dupont said...

I definitely remember Nero!

The Gracchi brothers...

they ring fewer bells.

Any other good websites on the Late Republic? Would be good to have a few multimedia resources.

The Gracchi really illustrate many principles and practices of the Late Republic, particularly in politics. (How representative were their examples, I do wonder?)

If we learn anything from the Gracchi: it's probably the irreversibility of history.

Ah! Scullard [2010?]! Very current!

(I was very lucky to see a history book within a decade of its release when I was actively studying the subject).

Immigration seems to have been important in distinguishing nobles and plebians. Essentially, the nobles came from an earlier generation than the plebians.