Economic, Economic And Economic Growth Of The Roman Empire

The extensive growth of the Roman Empire from 218BC to 133BC lead to the most extensive political, economic and social transformations in western civilization. From its origin as a city-state on the peninsula of Italy, to its rise as an empire covering much of Southern Europe, Western Europe, Near East and North Africa by 133BC, the Roman Empire spread its power and influence and became “the unchallenged mistress of the western Mediterranean.” By the latter part of the 2nd Century BC, this rapid expansion brought about severe political, economic and social problems. The vast expanse of area meant that the empire could no longer afford infrastructure, defence and administrative costs, which in turn severely weakened its administration and …show more content…
The Roman Senate decided certain matters without reference to the assembly of the people. While there was still considerable opposition to Roman power in the Mediterranean, the Romans suddenly found themselves as the only western super-power and the governing of this power would soon prove difficult for the former republica ways. With the administration of new provinces came the question of how to control and run them. The past history of leading monarchies and tyrants had proved that single man ruling did not work so instead the Senatus Populusque Romanus was developed. Theoretically, this system was designed to ensure that all political operations had the people’s best interests at heart. The system valued the sharing of political roles and no man having too much power for any length of time. With each new province, Rome created new praetorships to fill the roles. Mackay wrote “with the number of territorial provinces exceeding the annual number of praetors... the senatorial oligarchy would find it more and more difficult to deal with the administrative burden of providing the necessary governors.” As the number of required magistrates grew, and the power base expanded, more people gained auctoritas or more competition, leading to corruption and greed. As a solution, the Romans believed that someone needed to be in charge for a longer period of time. …show more content…
The expansion of empire led to an influx of wealth into Italy, much of it into the hands of the Roman élite, and the investment of this wealth in land and the exploitation of slaves captured during years of continual warfare gradually transformed the economy of much of central Italy. Hopkins wrote “huge numbers of people, values and resources flowed into Italy and the existing political structure had no way of absorbing or administrating it all.” However instead of this wealth benefiting all the classes, the majority went to the governing classes. These classes became wealthier while the poorer classes were exploited. As Rome became a dominant power throughout the Mediterranean the instability came not from outside its borders but from within. Many of the best agricultural lands in Italy were devastated from wars, as many Roman farmers had burned their fields and crops to prevent enemy soldiers from living off the land, and many wealthy opportunists had profited during the war and were no longer inclined to finance small farmers. Slavery fuelled the Roman economy, and its rewards for the wealthy turned out to be disastrous for the working classes. Alongside this growth of the large estates, was the shrinkage of the towns and a decline in the quality and extent of ancient civilisation. The cities began to wither away and urbanisation slowed down as the empire became more and more based around a