Roman Republic facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roman Republic Official name (as on coins): Roma after c. 100 BC: Senatus Populusque Romanus  (Latin) (SPQR) (The Senate and People of Rome)
509 BC–27 BC
Denarius of Brutus, 54 BC, showing the first Roman consul, Lucius Junius Brutus, surrounded by two lictors and preceded by an accensus.
Roman provinces on the eve of the assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC
Capital	Rome
Common languages	Latin (official) Etruscan, Greek, Osco-Umbrian, Venetic, Ligurian, Rhaetian, Nuragic, Sicel, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Punic, Berber, Illyrian, Iberian, Lusitanian, Celtiberian, Gaulish, Gallaecian, Aquitanian (unofficial, but commonly spoken)
Religion	Roman polytheism
Government	Constitutional republic
Consuls
• 509–508 BC	Lucius Junius Brutus, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus (first)
• 27 BC	Gaius Octavianus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (last)
Legislature	Legislative Assemblies Roman Senate
Historical era	Classical antiquity
• Overthrow of Tarquinius Superbus	509 BC
• Dissolution of the Latin League	338 BC
• Caesar proclaimed dictator	47 BC
• Battle of Actium	2 September 31 BC
• Octavian proclaimed Augustus	16 January 27 BC
Area
326 BC	10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi)
50 BC	1,950,000 km2 (750,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Roman Kingdom Roman Empire

The Roman Republic was a phase in history of the Ancient Roman Civilization. According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by Romulus in 753 BC. It was a kingdom until 510 BC, when the last King, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown. With that date, the Roman Republic began.

The Roman Republic was very well organized for ancient times. The Roman people elected Consuls, who ruled for a short time. Some of the ideas of the Roman Republic are still used today.

The end of the republic is still a matter of dispute; different scholars will give different dates for it. Usually, the dates of the start of the First Triumvirate or the Second Triumvirate are given. (The Triumvirates were groups of three men who had much power)

The end of the republic is often said to be when Gaius Julius Caesar was appointed as dictator (single ruler) by the Roman Senate. This happened after a series of civil wars that lasted from about 49 BC to the year 44 BC.

Some people say the republic ended with the naval Battle of Actium between Marcus Antonius and Octavian. They both had been in the Second Triumvirate. It was fought on September 2, 31 BC. Octavian won. Later on, he was proclaimed Roman Emperor. The end date could also be when Octavian was given the title of the first Augustus. This was on January 16, 27 BC.

These are modern views though. In the view of the early emperors, the res publica (what is translated to Republic) still existed. It was simply "under their protection". They promised it would some day, maybe, be restored to its original form, even though this never happened. After the Roman Republic ended, the Roman Empire began. The Triumvirate faced many problems as with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the input of Lepidus and Octavius with Marc Antony.

The Republic got most of its wealth from trading and taxation. The Republic had few enemies but it was constantly on war with the Gauls, who were conquered by Caesar later. The Punic Wars against Carthage were fought all over the Mediterranean coasts, mainly because of Sicily and trade disputes. The third enemy being the Germanic tribes or simply barbarians (uncivilized people).

The Republic suffered many disasters including Spartacus (the leader of a slave revolt) Spartacus defeated one consul's army before being captured, the Republic suffered at the hands of Hannibal, who after crossing the Alps defeated the Roman Army at Cannae and many other battles which saw Rome with a great fear of being destroyed by Hannibal.

Images for kids

• 

  The "Capitoline Brutus", a bust possibly depicting Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the revolt against Rome's last king and was a founder of the Republic.

• 

  Map showing Roman expansion in Italy.

• 

  The Temple of Hercules Victor, Rome, built in the mid 2nd century BC, most likely by Lucius Mummius Achaicus, who won the Achaean War.

• 

  Pyrrhus' route in Italy and Sicily.

• 

  Bust of Pyrrhus, found in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, now in the Naples Archaeological Museum. Pyrrhus was a brave and chivalrous general who fascinated the Romans, explaining his presence in a Roman house.

• 

  Coin of Hiero II of Syracuse.

• 

  The Roman Republic before the First Punic War.

• 

  Denarius of C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius, 125 BC. The reverse depicts the triumph of his great-grandfather Lucius, with the elephants he had captured at Panormos. The elephant had thence become the emblem of the powerful Caecilii Metelli.

• 

  A Carthaginian quarter shekel, perhaps minted in Spain. The obverse may depict Hannibal under the traits of young Melqart. The reverse features one of his famous war elephants.

• 

  Roman marble bust of Scipio Africanus, found in the Tomb of the Scipios.

• 

  Bust, traditionally identified as Gaius Marius, instigator of the Marian reforms.

• 

  Denarius of Faustus Cornelius Sulla, 56 BC. It shows Diana on the obverse, while the reverse depicts Sulla being offered an olive branch by his ally Bocchus I. Jugurtha is shown captive on the right.

• 

  A Roman marble head of Pompey (now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek).

• 

  The Tusculum portrait, a Roman sculpture of Julius Caesar, Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

• 

  The Curia Julia, the senate house started by Julius Caesar in 44 BC and completed by Octavian in 29 BC, replacing the Curia Cornelia as the meeting place of the Senate.

• 

  The Roman Forum, the commercial, cultural, religious, and political center of the city and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of the government

• 

  Detail from the Ahenobarbus relief showing (centre-right) two Roman foot-soldiers c. 122 BC. Note the Montefortino-style helmets with horsehair plume, chain mail cuirasses with shoulder reinforcement, oval shields with calfskin covers, gladius and pilum.

• 

  Roman warrior, fresco in Pompeii, ca. 80—20 BC

• 

  A Roman naval bireme depicted in a relief from the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste, c. 120 BC; now in the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican Museums

• 

  Temple of Janus as seen in the present church of San Nicola in Carcere, in the Forum Holitorium of Rome, Italy, dedicated by Gaius Duilius after his naval victory at the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC

• 

  An inscribed funerary relief of Aurelius Hermia and his wife Aurelia Philematum, former slaves who married after their manumission, 80 BC, from a tomb along the Via Nomentana in Rome

• 

  The "Togatus Barberini", depicting a Roman senator holding the imagines (effigies) of deceased ancestors in his hands; marble, late 1st century BC; head (not belonging): mid 1st century BC

• 

  Ruins of the Aqua Anio Vetus, a Roman aqueduct built in 272 BC

• 

  The Temple of Portunus, god of grain storage, keys, livestock and ports. Rome, built between 120 and 80 BC

• 

  The tomb of the Flavii, a necropolis outside the Nucerian gate (Porta Nocera) of Pompeii, Italy, constructed 50–30 BC

• 

  Inside the "Temple of Mercury" at Baiae, a swimming pool for a Roman bath, built during the late Roman Republic, and containing one of the largest domes in the world before the building of the Pantheon

• 

  The ruins of the Servian Wall, built during the 4th century BC, one of the earliest ancient Roman defensive walls

• 

  The Orator, c. 100 BC, an Etrusco-Roman statue of a Republican senator, wearing toga praetexta and senatorial shoes; compared to the voluminous, costly, impractical togas of the Imperial era, the Republican-era type is frugal and "skimpy" (exigua).

• 

  The Amphitheatre of Pompeii, built around 70 BC and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius 79 AD, once hosted spectacles with gladiators.

See also

In Spanish: República romana para niños