Referred to the history of Europe, ancient Greece must be noticed. Because it is the base and origin of modern Europe, Alcock has claimed it has made the great contributions to European civilization (Alcock, 2002: 1-15). The second stupendous symbol also must be noticed, is Rome. From 753 BC to 565 AD, lasting 1318 years, Rome occupied the Europe as a majestic lion. It has controlled huge territories, including Italy, the Mediterranean, explaining why it is called Rome Empire. However, what should pay attention is “Empire”. There are two different perspectives on Empire, the Empire as dominance over other territories, and the Empire as a form of government. This essay will focus on the former one, analyzing the expansion of Empire which includes
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What was valued in the history was Senate set in the early Rome Republic. Senate, as a basic political organization of Republic, consisted of 300 members coming from aristocratic families. Though it looked that the whole state was in the hand of aristocrats by sharing the seats of Senate, it was not true, and the function of Senate is giving advice to the Consuls and Praetors. The right of choosing Consuls and Praetors was controlled by the normal people with some popular assemblies, for example, the Comitia Centuriata. It was organized by people in army units and could elect the Consuls (Alcock, 2002: 19). This kind of election reveals a circumstance people had their own voice to affect the decision of state’s issues, which can be considered as an incipient democracy. Exactly because this advanced social structure provided a sound political fundamental, Roman could manage to conquer other states’ territories. Another should be noticed is the specific rule of the slaves, manumission (freeing a slave). Freed slaves could have some limited rights, including selling or transferring property, and writing a will. In other words, they were not as normal Roman citizens who could be totally free, but at least have some rights to change their lives which considered by their masters and owners before as a subject or an animal. Moreover, Joshel found they were constantly craftsmen or shopkeepers (Joshel, 2010: 41-47). To a certain extent, because of the encouraging law, the Roman society based on numbers of slaves had been improved, especially on economic issues. Therefore, it could offer a great economic basis of invasion, and satisfy some desires, effectively cut the possibility of the slavery reform in some time, contribute to the state’s stability. Another important to stability was the policy of Augustus. He has claimed, “I transferred the state from my power into the control of the Roman Senate and people” (Cooley, 2009: document).
What was valued in the history was Senate set in the early Rome Republic. Senate, as a basic political organization of Republic, consisted of 300 members coming from aristocratic families. Though it looked that the whole state was in the hand of aristocrats by sharing the seats of Senate, it was not true, and the function of Senate is giving advice to the Consuls and Praetors. The right of choosing Consuls and Praetors was controlled by the normal people with some popular assemblies, for example, the Comitia Centuriata. It was organized by people in army units and could elect the Consuls (Alcock, 2002: 19). This kind of election reveals a circumstance people had their own voice to affect the decision of state’s issues, which can be considered as an incipient democracy. Exactly because this advanced social structure provided a sound political fundamental, Roman could manage to conquer other states’ territories. Another should be noticed is the specific rule of the slaves, manumission (freeing a slave). Freed slaves could have some limited rights, including selling or transferring property, and writing a will. In other words, they were not as normal Roman citizens who could be totally free, but at least have some rights to change their lives which considered by their masters and owners before as a subject or an animal. Moreover, Joshel found they were constantly craftsmen or shopkeepers (Joshel, 2010: 41-47). To a certain extent, because of the encouraging law, the Roman society based on numbers of slaves had been improved, especially on economic issues. Therefore, it could offer a great economic basis of invasion, and satisfy some desires, effectively cut the possibility of the slavery reform in some time, contribute to the state’s stability. Another important to stability was the policy of Augustus. He has claimed, “I transferred the state from my power into the control of the Roman Senate and people” (Cooley, 2009: document).